The terrible attack on the UK parliament last week which
claimed the lives of four innocent people would have been a lot worse were it
not for the actions of the security and other emergency services. As it was,
one police officer was killed in the line of duty and politicians from all
sides were quick to praise the work of the police on the front line in
maintaining law and order. But we should not allow these warm words to deflect
us from the fact that the police service, like many other publicly funded
bodies, has had its funding slashed over the past seven years.
The Mayor of London warned in January (here) that “it would become increasingly difficult to keep Londoners safe from growing security threats if the Government continues to underfund the Met, or makes further cuts in funding” and this is a message which is being heard up and down the country. A report last year from the impartial House of Commons Library (here) noted that between fiscal 2010-11 and 2015-16, the central government grant to police was cut by 22% in real terms. Although the police in England are able to rely on some local government funding, the report notes that two-thirds of its revenue derives from central government. The total number of full-time police officers in England and Wales has fallen by 11.8% since 2010 compared with a planned decline of 11.2% and total staff numbers are down by 15.6% versus a planned 12.7%. In fairness, the report also notes that most police forces have coped well with the additional austerity. But this does not disguise the fact that there are limits as to how much further budgets can be cut.
Another report issued by the HoCL around the same time (here) reported that since 2010-11, funding for the fire and rescue services has been slashed by between 26% and 39%. Taken together with the cuts to police funding, it is clear that these are not insignificant cuts and they underline the belief of a growing number of people that we have gone way beyond the point of trimming fat from the public sector and we are now cutting into the bone and muscle. A recent article in The Economist – not exactly a supporter of big government – made the point that the public sector is under increasing strain and that it may be about to break under the load. Citizens Advice – a voluntary organisation that provides help and support to those who are struggling to get what they need from the state – has seen a sharp rise in demand for its services. The government’s decision to cut back on its Legal Aid budget has left many people with no recourse to legal representation, with CA taking up the slack, and changes to the benefits system have resulted in many people falling through the cracks.
I have highlighted before the excellent report by the Institute for Government which argues very strongly that recent additional cuts in government spending are beginning to erode the fabric of public services. The evidence-based analysis makes the point that although there has been a big rise in real spending on hospitals since 2010, admissions rose at an even faster pace. Or take the case of prisons, where the prison population has remained unchanged since 2010 but the number of officers has fallen by almost 25% with the result that assaults on staff have risen by 70%.
None of this is news. Nor is it an ideological point about how we have to spend more money on public services. However, the evidence before our eyes is mounting to suggest that public services are struggling to cope and they are increasingly unable to offer the level of service which the public demands of them. With the best will in the world, a police officer cannot be in two places at once. If we continue to starve our public services of resources, this will continue to eat away at morale and they may reach a tipping point beyond which it is very difficult to recover. Indeed, taxpayers as a group are not finding that the exchequer is taking any less tax yet they are getting far less in return.
I am reminded of the story that was frequently told of British Rail – the old and (at the time) unloved nationalised body responsible for running Britain’s railways – about how in the 1970s it was one of the world’s most cost-effective railways in terms of spending per passenger mile (even today, UK railways still receive far less public money per passenger mile than other major European networks – see chart). But it was criticised for poor service; lack of staff morale; the frequency with which workers went on strike; the quality of the food served and the general state of the trains. It did, however, get people from A to B, even if it was a utilitarian service, before it was abolished in the 1990s when the railways were privatised.
The Mayor of London warned in January (here) that “it would become increasingly difficult to keep Londoners safe from growing security threats if the Government continues to underfund the Met, or makes further cuts in funding” and this is a message which is being heard up and down the country. A report last year from the impartial House of Commons Library (here) noted that between fiscal 2010-11 and 2015-16, the central government grant to police was cut by 22% in real terms. Although the police in England are able to rely on some local government funding, the report notes that two-thirds of its revenue derives from central government. The total number of full-time police officers in England and Wales has fallen by 11.8% since 2010 compared with a planned decline of 11.2% and total staff numbers are down by 15.6% versus a planned 12.7%. In fairness, the report also notes that most police forces have coped well with the additional austerity. But this does not disguise the fact that there are limits as to how much further budgets can be cut.
Another report issued by the HoCL around the same time (here) reported that since 2010-11, funding for the fire and rescue services has been slashed by between 26% and 39%. Taken together with the cuts to police funding, it is clear that these are not insignificant cuts and they underline the belief of a growing number of people that we have gone way beyond the point of trimming fat from the public sector and we are now cutting into the bone and muscle. A recent article in The Economist – not exactly a supporter of big government – made the point that the public sector is under increasing strain and that it may be about to break under the load. Citizens Advice – a voluntary organisation that provides help and support to those who are struggling to get what they need from the state – has seen a sharp rise in demand for its services. The government’s decision to cut back on its Legal Aid budget has left many people with no recourse to legal representation, with CA taking up the slack, and changes to the benefits system have resulted in many people falling through the cracks.
I have highlighted before the excellent report by the Institute for Government which argues very strongly that recent additional cuts in government spending are beginning to erode the fabric of public services. The evidence-based analysis makes the point that although there has been a big rise in real spending on hospitals since 2010, admissions rose at an even faster pace. Or take the case of prisons, where the prison population has remained unchanged since 2010 but the number of officers has fallen by almost 25% with the result that assaults on staff have risen by 70%.
None of this is news. Nor is it an ideological point about how we have to spend more money on public services. However, the evidence before our eyes is mounting to suggest that public services are struggling to cope and they are increasingly unable to offer the level of service which the public demands of them. With the best will in the world, a police officer cannot be in two places at once. If we continue to starve our public services of resources, this will continue to eat away at morale and they may reach a tipping point beyond which it is very difficult to recover. Indeed, taxpayers as a group are not finding that the exchequer is taking any less tax yet they are getting far less in return.
I am reminded of the story that was frequently told of British Rail – the old and (at the time) unloved nationalised body responsible for running Britain’s railways – about how in the 1970s it was one of the world’s most cost-effective railways in terms of spending per passenger mile (even today, UK railways still receive far less public money per passenger mile than other major European networks – see chart). But it was criticised for poor service; lack of staff morale; the frequency with which workers went on strike; the quality of the food served and the general state of the trains. It did, however, get people from A to B, even if it was a utilitarian service, before it was abolished in the 1990s when the railways were privatised.
Today, people look back to the halcyon days of an integrated
railway network which conducted world class research and built its own rolling stock,
providing jobs for many thousands. This demonstrates that if governments do not put money
into public services, the quality of service deteriorates and public trust is
eroded, even if in accounting terms it offers good value for money. But when
you replace it with something else, it is often not perceived to be as good. As
Joni Mitchell put it, “You don’t know
what you’ve got till it’s gone.”
No comments:
Post a Comment