New Labour's Creative Management Accounting Hurts The Most Vulnerable in Bristol
March 10, 2005 12:00 PM
By Philip C James, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesman for Bristol East
By Philip C James, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesman for Bristol East
Restricting eligibility cuts number of meals delivered on wheels - the wheels still cost the same so the meals appear more and more expensive
Sir, anyone writing a textbook on the pitfalls of management accountancy will want to frame the letter from the New Labour executive member for social services and health and hang it above their mantelpiece (Letters, 4 March). Cllr Robin Moss wrote "Continuing to provide meals in their current form is becoming more expensive as fewer people use the service, pushing up the real cost of each meal...". New Labour has made a classic error that business administration students learn about before they are knee-high to their guru.
First, New Labour cuts the number of people eligible for meals on wheels. So the fixed costs of providing the service have to be spread across fewer meals, making each meal appear more expensive. As they haven't made the budget savings they expected, they tighten the eligibility rules again, increasing the apparent unit cost of a meal even more.
And so it goes on until, lo and behold, the meals-on-wheels service has become too uneconomic to afford and New Labour can, with apparent justification, axe it.
In fact, true demand - the needs of those vulnerable residents for which the service is a lifeline - and the cost-base of supplying it are likely to have changed little. But by the wizardry of creative accounting and blinkered thinking - Shazzam! New Labour can claim to have solved a problem largely of its own making.
The people of Bristol deserve a change from New Labour's tired old thinking, on the council and in Parliament. The Liberal Democrats are ready and able to serve.
Yours faithfully
Philip C James
[Letter as sent to the Bristol Evening Post]
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