As I suggested last week the HMRC fiasco is rather more systemic than was originally implied. The ‘skilled incompetence’ aspect (see blog entry 08.11.07) just grows. The lost discs are to a degree a side issue as there is much wider managerial and governance questions to answer, never mind the question around trust and miscommunication. And since when has a merger with the reduction of job losses become an excuse to flout every rule in the book or even basic common sense unless of course its sabotage..................
NHS
Good news in that the NHS is forecast to be around £3bn cash surplus this financial year which may surprise a number of people. The not so good news is that apparently £36m was spent on turnaround teams helping over 100 ailing Trusts – that’s an awful lot of Trusts who are/were ailing........
Graduates
News that graduates are over qualified is again doing the rounds as more market research suggests that 1 in 3 graduates are in jobs that don’t require degrees – so is it poor job design or over-education or both or something else? (see my blog entry 30.10.07) .
Also, there still appears to be a market differentiation between degrees gained from the pre-92 universities versus those gained from the post-92 ones (i.e. former polytechnics). Also an observation picking up on a number of top recruiters comments. They are/were differentiating on students gaining 2:1s as opposed to any specific subject which is interesting. What does that say about the relevant differentiation of degree subjects and the value for money concept?
Wouldn't be better if everybody just did the same degree course? (Well it would be boring for sure!)
Qinetiq
The story of Qinetiq seems to be causing some gnashing of teeth (though I wonder how much of it is envy-driven?). The NAO report is quite scathing about the former civil servants earning 19,900% return (in three years, as against about 12% in a building society for example) on what now appears to have been another cheap government sell-off at tax-payers expense is opening some eyes.
It does open up a larger conundrum regarding public funded organisations and the opportunity to become entrepreneurs. I’ve no doubt a lot of small businesses will be aghast given the risks they have to endure just to make ends meet. Normally share returns of this sort aren’t unusual for successful entrepreneurs given the risks they take. But could somebody tell me exactly what risks were undertaken by the incumbent Qinetiq management?
However, the issue isn’t really Qinetiq management (well apart from setting their own remuneration) but the whole area of public funding. This case is not that materially different from that of a university start-up (albeit it was more established) which makes it interesting. The real question is where tax-payers money effectively funds a business, it would be logical to conclude that any material pay-off should include the tax-payer and limit the bizarre reward-risk issues that arise...........I am sure this is enough to make some university professors splutter in their bowl of ‘golden nugget cornflakes’.
This is a growing problem highlighted by the likes of the BBC and other publicly or part-publicly funded agencies who are commercialising. For example if the BBC is making profits on exports I would quite naturally expect the TV licence to be reduced. PERIOD. Expect this to become a European legal issue in future with big ramifications........
And lastly, Heathrow.......
As somebody who lives quite close to the airport and having received more literature on how expansion isn’t going to be that bad, I realised that in taking a new look at this, the answer is obvious once you get past the skilled incompetence, (i.e. making the undiscussability undiscussable - see previous blog on 'skilled incompetence' mentioned above) .- namely that Heathrow needs to relocate........yes that’s right... RELOCATE.
There are a number of 21st Century alternatives. But I guess it’s just too big to admit it. Better to stay collectively in denial I guess......just think there wouldn’t even be disruption. If we can do it with Eurostar why can’t we do it with Heathrow?
Have a good day!
