It takes quite a lot to get me wound up. Well that’s what I think. So there.<\/p>\n
But a story on BBC’s website slipped, very easily, straight beneath my skin and pushed my ‘React’ button.<\/p>\n
And here’s why. And this might surprise you.<\/p>\n
The Taxpayers Alliance are getting their knickers in a knot about local authorities and their spending on ‘publicity’.<\/p>\n
The Taxpayers Alliance have got a little information from just a few local authorities and have extrapolated that across every local authority in the country, in a ‘mean average’ kind of way.<\/p>\n
So it’s not exactly accurate<\/em> data and that’s an important point to make.<\/p>\n The second, far more important point is the definition of ‘publicity’, and we need to examine this – we really do, it’s bloody important!<\/p>\n Under local authority accounting regulations as laid down by the Audit Commission (prop: Her Majesty’s Government), financial outlay on ‘publicity’ is defined as, and I quote from the Local Government Handbook (1993 – it’s the only copy I could get hold of at such short notice – thank goodness the library had a copy!):<\/p>\n “any communication, in whatever form (that is) addressed to the public at large or to a section of the public”.<\/p>\n So that’s mail-outs to tell people about changes in service whether upwards or downwards, or communicating variations in office hours or venues or letters to school pupils or youth centre newsletters and – wait for it – all public-facing web-developments.<\/p>\n The Taxpayers Alliance doesn’t come right out and say that they don’t want<\/em> local authorities to communicate to the public, but they are ‘… incredibly disappointed…’ at the figures.<\/p>\n Arseholes.<\/p>\n The third, and most important fact to give anyone who picks up the story is that in a list of spending on anything<\/em> it is very likely that Birmingham City Council will always<\/em> come top.<\/p>\n This is because Birmingham City Council is the largest local authority in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n Yeah, it really is.<\/p>\n The housing department of Birmingham City Council deals with more people than the entire number of people that the London Borough of Camden has on their books.<\/p>\n So when you’re talking about Birmingham, get used to reading really big numbers. And, at the same time take some comfort in economies of scale.<\/p>\n