You are now the Prime Minister...

[Norman Verona]

As above, you're now the PM and you have a golden chance to run the country for the next 5 years.

What will you do?

If only to relieve MY frustration at what I see this is my programme.

1) A 3 year plan to withdraw from all global wars and reduce our military might to a level with the threat to this country (which is about zero as far as conventional armed attack )

2) Form a panel of Doctors and senior nurses to take over the direction of the NHS. Their main brief will to convert the money spent on management into front line service. This will reduce the money spent on counting what the NHS is doing as the extra resource will mean it can treat people very quickly and how the medics want. 3 Weeks in France will show how to do it.

3) Form a panel from the teaching profession to take over the direction of our education system. Provide the funds to do the job properly.

4) Overhaul our tax and benefit system. Set a 5 year plan to convert to a negative tax system where everyone is paid the minimum wage (electronically) by the state . The the first lump of tax is the amount paid. Stop all other benefits other than special circumstances, such as money for medical needs. Creat local panels made up of doctors, Councillors and Policemen etc to access anyone who claims for extra money. Non workers will have 6 months to find a job then will take anything that's offered and after a further 3 months have the standard payment reduced by 10% per 3 months until it's at 50% level (unlerss the panel decide on special circumstances)

5) Set in motion a review by our main business leaders on how we can use technology to reduce the head count in the civil service and our medical and teaching  services. This will reduce the number of "parasites" (no disrespect implied or meant) we have in our systems.

6) Reduce corporation tax to 10% which will encourage world business to move to the UK. The increase in employment and tax payments from the extra people employed will more than compensate for the reduction.

7) Create a very strong panel who will have the power to control the financial sector. The balance is between risk and prudence. Banking is a risk business with big rewards for the risks taken. However it must be controlled so that the risk doesn't become so big the whole country is put in jeopardy.

8) Change the balance of funding for local councils away from central government back to local government. This way local people can have a say how their tax money is spent which will lead to a more efficient way of running local services.

9) Do as all the other  EU countries do and only implement the Brussels rules that help US.

The name of my party?

The Common Sense Party.

It will not have 100 years of dogma behind it. It will make decisions based on common sense rather than a party philosophy.

And, finally, I would move away from American influence and turn to Europe. At least that way I know who's going to stab me in the back rather than smile and claim a "special" relationship whilst doing all they can to undermine our great country.

Phew  

ed to add that I would never forget that the people of this country have elected me as their leader and that my job is to manage their money for their benefit. Nothing else matters.

[jerryhzx12]

Not much to disagree with there.....

[Captain Colonial]

Retire immediately. No way do I want to be in charge of a cabinet of idiots and be hated and unappreciated by a public who can't agree on who should win the X Factor, let alone anything serious.

[Mat Jackson]

Hmmm,

It is a common thought to have teachers running education and doctors running the NHS, as they are thought to be experts.  BUT, they are experts at a frontline level, not experts at running efficient large organisations.  I would look at bringing in successful business leaders to runthem

[Norman Verona]

Matt, The problem with using business people to run services is that they see them as businesses. There are more than enough medical people around who have business acumen to run a health SERVICE as a service and not a business.

Look at the French model which is managed by the doctors. In France I got my heart checked the same day I had a problem. In the UK I've been waiting since May for the same thing. My UK doctor tells me I have a lot longer to wait as there is a backlog.

Why?

Both countries have the same population. Both countries spend about the same on health.

The difference, as far as I can see, is that the French don't spend 1/3rd of the budget on admin.

[Norman Verona]

capt'n, but as PM YOU choose your team.

As far as getting the teachers and doctors to run things lets examine the alternative.

A Governments job is to create the environment for others to succeed. In my opinion this means provide the money for the doctors and teachers to do their jobs. It does NOT mean that our politicians should attempt to dictate how things are run. It also means create the environment for business to succeed.

[lippydave]

Errr, how about take away civil servants privileged pensions so that they're on a level playing field with the private sector who pay their wages whilst losing their own pensions?

I'm not really taking this seriously am I?      

Norm the problem with posing an open question like this is that we are not in possession of all of the facts.

I'm fairly sure that despite my inherent innate dislike of politicians, most of 'em (of whatever ilk), go into government with good intentions....

Then they get to see the real sorry state we are in and have to revise policies accordingly...

Perhaps if I was Prime Minister I would try to instill a little more informative disclosure of facts on particular issues so that the electorate could at least understand why we're being a bunch of a**es....  

Oh and I would put a huge surcharge on underperforming hybrid vehicles like the Prius for it's excessively consumptive usage of very difficult to recycle rare earth materials whilst providing a non-effective usable range on it's "alternative technology".....    

I would give kit car manfacturers some financial incentives and encouragment for their recycling of existing componentry and technology.....

Cyclist and horse riders wouldbe forced to pay some form of road tax and insurance or be unable to use public roads....

All able bodied benefit claimants under the age of 35 would be given civic duties to perform which must be fulfilled before they're given free money.....

Like I said I'm not really taking it seriously...      

[Norman Verona]

Dave, civil service pensions. Before you join the Daily Mail brigade think how you'd feel if you took a job that offered you a salary and pension and then your employer tried to stop part of the package. The argument goes that they took lower paid jobs because the pension was good as and as far as I can see they are right.

If the private sector allow(ed) their employers to reduce their entitlement that's their problem.

Other than that I think your getting the idea.

[Fat Albert]

Norm

The old joke about the difference between God and Doctor being that God doesn't think he's Doctor is based on fact, that's why if you're a pilot and a doctor in the USA, you pay DOUBLE insurance premiums.

At the request of the consultant in charge, I performed a business process review in a department of an NHS provincial teaching hospital. What I found shocked me!

Firstly, from the janitors to the consultants they were in general, people who believed they were doing more than a job, but they were also hopelessly, woefully ignorant of the most simple business practice, e.g. shelf life. Quite literally, every day chemicals were being poured down the drain because new stock had been placed on a shelf in front of old stock which then was out of date before being used. No one had ever told them!

But far worse existed, every shop floor foreman knows that machine Operator 'A' is faster than Operator 'B' so they calculate their factory loading on the basis of what throughput can be achieved by the team, working together

Consider an over simplified scenario, Consultant 'A' routinely & consistently sees 12 patients an hour while Consultant 'B', doing the same job, only achieves 8. Appointments are booked at 20 an hour, this results in Consultant 'A' twiddling his thumbs for 15% of his time while Consultant 'B's list is 25% queued every hour. This issue is the CORE of NHS waiting lists, it has nothing to do with demand, funding or facilities, it's entirely due to Consultant's REFUSING to allow or act upon any form of performance measuring citing the 'every patient is different' mantra.

I bet you would not allow shop floor foreman or skilled machine operators to run an engineering business, why on earth do you think the biggest employer in the UK should be run by their equivalents?

I 100% agree about reverse income tax, it has long puzzled me why we have one enormous bureaucracy (HMRC) whose sole job is to collect money (income tax) from individuals only to hand most of the money to another enormous bureaucracy (DHSS) who dole it out, frequently to the same people they took it from!

Insanity

[s2k7]

And, finally, I would move away from American influence and turn to Europe. At least that way I know who's going to stab me in the back rather than smile and claim a "special" relationship whilst doing all they can to undermine our great country

Yep, we only do this to the French. Smile and stab!

You will be talking German by now if not for the Yanks.  

....oh we do the same if I'm the Prez here. Get out of Europe & United Nations.

[combatsapph]

As above, you're now the PM and you have a golden chance to run the country for the next 5 years.

What will you do?

Dissolve government and hand power to community co-operatives.

Promote direct worker-ownership of the means of production alternatively through independent syndicates, workplace democracies, or worker cooperatives.

In fact, rather than typing it all out just read the Wiki page on Scientific socialism.

[carpetstu]

It matrons back in charge of hospital wards!

Get rid of freeloading local MP' who generally do fleck all for stupid money!

Close all the loop holes that allow Tesco , Asda , Sainsbury' , Marks and Spencer and all the other national companies to pay zero corporation tax!

[Norman Verona]

Robs got the idea, I just wrapped it up to protect the daily mail reader.

FA, I've been managing people for over 40 years. Not every shop floor worker is unable to manage his section. In fact most of my managers have been from the "shop floor".

Indeed, I started on the shop floor and ended in the boardroom.

The French use doctors to manage the department. Maybe they get a better education but they don't seem to have the problems you cite. In any case those problems are very easy to solve, it's just a case of simple training. As for waiting times, the French doctor allows half an hour per patient and usually runs over. He will nearly always work an hour later than the closing time. The patients wait, er, patiently. Another aspect is that in France you pay the doctor (22€ per session) and then claim it back. This has the effect of people only going to the doctor when they really need to. My doctors "cabinet" (surgery) has a far higher patient list than the average UK doctor but they aren't seeing dozens of patients

daily who really don't need to see a doctor.

s2k7, I won't bother responding other than to say read some history books.

[Mat Jackson]

Fair comment Norm, I think we are both probably suggesting similar solutions.  In my mind a good business leader would have the business leadership skills and also either know how things run at the coal face and ensure part of his change / improvement team were from the front line.

Tesco have been through a huge change over the years supplying customers what they want whilst cutting out waste and inefficiency.  Imagine if that kind of improvement could be applied to public sector organisations such as schools and the NHS.  I firmly agree that these should not be seen as businesses, but the connection is that a business needs to supply what a customer wants as efficiently as possible - a service needs to supply it's paitients with what they need as efficiently as possible.

I work as a Lean Champion, which is all about driving out waste and creating extra value in an organisation.  They are trying to do this in the NHS, and whilst it is a huge mountain to climb I see this as having the potential to make a huge difference.

[jeff oakley]

This is a good thread but one where there is no answer because we cannot get the facts.

In the NHS you cannot have Doctors running the NHS without some controls, otherwise you will have even worse postcode lottery medical treatments as Doctors are won over by the drug companies. Not all who work in back room functions in the NHS is useless but the culture is one of overstaffing because of various reasons. For example the company I work for has one HR guy for 900 people, the wifes trust has almost 30 for the same number, why?

If we want to sack someone for poor performance it takes a couple of weeks it takes months in the NHS.

The real culprit for waste is the civil service mandarins who are the real power of the country. It is their advice that shapes the way the goverment governs, watch Yes minister to see how accurate it is.

but in answer to your question I would do the following

Cut forgien aid to a level that is sensible and link it to disbanding armies in those areas of need.

Make all goverment departments, council, police etc buy British goods

reduce corparation tax

Have a flat rate income tax, this encourages work.

Bring back the death penalty for crimes where there is no shadow of doubt.

Make prison less comfortable and have automatic sentence increases for bad behaviour.

Become very harsh with benefit cheats and those who won't work.

Stop the madness of giving the UK a disadvantage by following a green agenda for no good reason.

Give tax breaks for innovation so we do not see good ideas go abroard.

Give encouragement to employers in this country to use british people, even the NHS and some goverment departments have back office functions in India. If necessary set up goverment run call centres where wages are fair and pensions are not gold plated unaffordable ones.

Stop pandering to lobbying groups and the media and do what is right.

Stop the lunacy of Wales and Scottish assembly spending. Why should English pay for prescriptions and old age care and University education when they don't?

The French put France first we should do the same for Britain.