Overlaps and quangos must go and a more practical culture be ushered in, says Kevin Hawkins
Dear Secretary of State, I trust that by now you've shredded most of the gratuitous advice you've had from client groups and assorted nanny-staters, most of it aimed at persuading you to do more of this, that or the other.
By now you will have realised that your main task will be to decide what your Defra can no longer do as its resources shrink. Less money and fewer staff dictates a rigorous review of your priorities. Well you didn't accept this job to be popular, did you?
So what, exactly, is your core purpose the one thing that no other part of government can do and which really matters to the UK economy? I think it's to help British farmers produce more food that consumers want and can afford to buy.
Farming is going through a long period of structural concentration driven by low inflation and scale economies. Productivity growth, however, has been sluggish, held back by inadequate returns on investment and a lack of confidence in the future. Your department's job is to identify every constraint on improving the output, quality and saleability of British food and focus on removing or alleviating each one.
That means a change in the culture of your department. Less emphasis on elegantly crafted advice to ministers and a lot more on getting things done at the level where it matters. Get some people in from the private sector who know how to manage projects. Avoid a recurrence of anything like the ineptitude that ruined the launch of the single farm payment scheme.
What can you stop doing?
First, put an end to the ridiculous overlap with the Department of Health and Food Standards Agency on nutrition and with the latter on food safety. A rational solution would transfer all responsibility for nutrition to the DoH, leaving the FSA in sole charge of safety.
Second, scrutinise every quango that falls within your budget with the aim of scrapping at least half of them over the next two years. Most are ad hoc responses to particular problems that your predecessors didn't care to deal with themselves. Once in being, with a budget and staff, they are very good at justifying their continued existence. Cull as many as you dare.
Oh and don't forget to use the prefix "sustainable" whenever possible. It makes everyone feel so much better.
Kevin Hawkins is a sustainable independent retail consultant.
Dear Secretary of State, I trust that by now you've shredded most of the gratuitous advice you've had from client groups and assorted nanny-staters, most of it aimed at persuading you to do more of this, that or the other.
By now you will have realised that your main task will be to decide what your Defra can no longer do as its resources shrink. Less money and fewer staff dictates a rigorous review of your priorities. Well you didn't accept this job to be popular, did you?
So what, exactly, is your core purpose the one thing that no other part of government can do and which really matters to the UK economy? I think it's to help British farmers produce more food that consumers want and can afford to buy.
Farming is going through a long period of structural concentration driven by low inflation and scale economies. Productivity growth, however, has been sluggish, held back by inadequate returns on investment and a lack of confidence in the future. Your department's job is to identify every constraint on improving the output, quality and saleability of British food and focus on removing or alleviating each one.
That means a change in the culture of your department. Less emphasis on elegantly crafted advice to ministers and a lot more on getting things done at the level where it matters. Get some people in from the private sector who know how to manage projects. Avoid a recurrence of anything like the ineptitude that ruined the launch of the single farm payment scheme.
What can you stop doing?
First, put an end to the ridiculous overlap with the Department of Health and Food Standards Agency on nutrition and with the latter on food safety. A rational solution would transfer all responsibility for nutrition to the DoH, leaving the FSA in sole charge of safety.
Second, scrutinise every quango that falls within your budget with the aim of scrapping at least half of them over the next two years. Most are ad hoc responses to particular problems that your predecessors didn't care to deal with themselves. Once in being, with a budget and staff, they are very good at justifying their continued existence. Cull as many as you dare.
Oh and don't forget to use the prefix "sustainable" whenever possible. It makes everyone feel so much better.
Kevin Hawkins is a sustainable independent retail consultant.
No comments yet