In the midst of the cuts and austerity of the new regime, George Osborne's come up with a cunning wheeze to save money at the Treasury.
He's planning to sublet office space to other Government departments; Treasury sources say that the building is currently being “under utilised” and there is room for up to 500 extra staff to move in.
It's all breathtakingly simple. To achieve this 'workplace optimisation', the 1700 staff already in residence will be given smaller desks and have to sit closer together to take up less room.
It's hardly a new tactic - after all, the NHS has been moving beds closer together for years, and the advent of round table seating allowed schools to cram far more pupils into the classroom. It was only in Government offices that there was room for green glass peace pods and massage rooms.
So what's new is that this is leading from the top - Whitehall suffering the same inconveniences as the rest of us in the interests of economy. There's plenty of scope: they could move Ed Balls' old department into the Treasury and let out his spectacular office suite for a fortune.
With the Government leading by example, there's no excuse for local authority profligacy and overspending. Who knows, we might even see County Halls following suit - if they consolidated their operations, it would free up plenty of prime office space for hard-pressed local businesses.
And, what's more, with desks closer together it'll be far easier to see who's not pulling their weight - we could even see an increase in efficiency (though I, for one, am not holding my breath).
It's hardly a new tactic - after all, the NHS has been moving beds closer together for years, and the advent of round table seating allowed schools to cram far more pupils into the classroom. It was only in Government offices that there was room for green glass peace pods and massage rooms.
So what's new is that this is leading from the top - Whitehall suffering the same inconveniences as the rest of us in the interests of economy. There's plenty of scope: they could move Ed Balls' old department into the Treasury and let out his spectacular office suite for a fortune.
With the Government leading by example, there's no excuse for local authority profligacy and overspending. Who knows, we might even see County Halls following suit - if they consolidated their operations, it would free up plenty of prime office space for hard-pressed local businesses.
And, what's more, with desks closer together it'll be far easier to see who's not pulling their weight - we could even see an increase in efficiency (though I, for one, am not holding my breath).
"Who knows, we might even see County Halls following suit..."
ReplyDeleteBut where would all those councillors plug in their iPads then?