Wednesday, December 16, 2009

So where's mine then?

The Government is spending £8 million of taxpayers money on freebies.

BBC.
The government has defended planned spending of £8m on merchandise and promotional items such as mugs, hats, and Frisbees over the next four years.
Individual departments and public bodies use the goods to promote policy campaigns, to support public sector recruitment and to reward staff.
The Conservatives said the expenditure was "vanity marketing" when ministers should be saving every penny they can.
But a government spokesman said only "practical everyday items" were bought.
Government departments and public bodies spent £3m on merchandise last year.
This figure "fluctuated" from year to year, the spokesman said, with forecast spending of £2m a year between 2010 and 2014.
Among the items set to be ordered from 58 UK-only suppliers include promotional pens, key rings, travel wallets, tea towels, polo shirts, lip balms and "beanie" hats.
In a press release announcing the four-year contract, the Central Office of Information - which provides marketing and publicity services to government - said the firms would provide "high quality and cost-effective solutions" to departments and other public bodies.
They don't get it, it's not their money it's ours they are wasting on this stuff, I know they are buying from UK suppliers but still all that means is that the taxpayer is subsidising these companies too.
The government of this country should be the absolute minimum necessary to do the job required of it, there should be no compulsory spending, intervention, and regulation, except those whose only function is to protect individuals from aggression. The only government functions should be courts, military, and police, in other words no frills, no massively bloated bureaucracy, no quangocracies, just the sheer bloody minimum to do a quality if limited job.
Everything else should be devolved down to local level and individual choice because anything else is just daylight robbery by politicians and civil servants for politicians and civil servants.

2 annotations:

James Higham said...

A frisby rewards staff?

Furor Teutonicus said...

FOUR years?

Do they already know the result of the next "election" then?