Starmer's vision quest

[multitool]

It doesn't really matter whether it is the 5th, 6th, 7th. The point of my OP was that the 20-30,000 positions that will be lost are less than half a percent of the workforce.

As a wider point, it is somewhat worrying that the country's largest employer, Europe's largest employer and the world's 5-7th largest employer is actually too small to meet the demand of a nation that is in the process of creating even greater demand through demographic ageing.

 

[Psamathe]

As a wider point, it is somewhat worrying that the country's largest employer, Europe's largest employer and the world's 5-7th largest employer is actually too small to meet the demand of a nation that is in the process of creating even greater demand through demographic ageing.

To what extent is that a "largest" on paperwork as in the UK different groups are effectively under a single administrative employer whereas eg in France the similar numbers of employees are distributed across a number of different employers but still paid for through the Government.

To me the important factor is how many people are actually doing the work and how much the Government is paying in relation to other comparable countries. Whether all those working are under the same or different employers seems more paperwork

eg NHS GPs are funded by Government but are not employed by them. So add GPs into the NHS "employees" and they might move higher up the rankings. A fair number of NHS Consiluatnts also undertake a fair amount of private work yet I suspect counted as an NHS employee.

Ian

 

[multitool]

Again, whilst this might make for an interesting offshoot discussion, it isn't relevant to the discussion at hand at the point at which I posted this stat

 

[BoldonLad]

It doesn't really matter whether it is the 5th, 6th, 7th. The point of my OP was that the 20-30,000 positions that will be lost are less than half a percent of the workforce.

As a wider point, it is somewhat worrying that the country's largest employer, Europe's largest employer and the world's 5-7th largest employer is actually too small to meet the demand of a nation that is in the process of creating even greater demand through demographic ageing.

Now, to me, THAT is a very interesting situation

 

[Psamathe]

To me one of the big frauds perpetuated by our politicians is we can "hold them to account" which they say means vote them out after another <n> years of damage. And reality is that however much a politician needs to be "held to account" most constituencies vote for the party of their choice so for politician who should be "held to account" in a safe seat there is no losing their seat.

And if it does get bad then all minister does is stand down at next election and step sideways with a seat in the House of Lords and several overpaid non-exec. directorships often in the sector they caused such damage to in their spell in Government.

So where is the "held to account"? Meaningless way to divert public criticism of political control.

Ian

 

[Ian H]

"If voting changed anything they'd abolish it."

 

[the snail]

...

So where is the "held to account"? Meaningless way to divert public criticism of political control.

Ian

The country is run by government ministers, who are accountable to parliament, and we elect the members of parliament. IMO the number of people working for NHS England is irrelevant. The NHS is a state body, it should be controlled by ministers answerable to parliament, and not by an arms-length body. I just hope that we're not just entering another period of chaos while the deckchairs are rearranged.

 

[craigwend]

The DWP refuse to release statistics relating to suicides among those waiting for their claims and those who are going through review processes and those who have been sanctioned. They claim this is because it is "not in the public interest". Which i find to be nonsense and in my opinion, means that it doesn't make for positive reading on the DWP's part. All we know for certain is that suicide rates have been steadily increasing per 100,000 people since about 2008. This could be related to the story and as someone who supports assisted dying in some situations, is a cause for concern, however, i believe that the benefits system causes deaths right now and is set up to be punitive and degrading and is one aspect that few really discuss, in part, probably down to the refusal of the DWP to release the statistics on suicides.

Whatever people's opinions of the welfare state, it's reforms and how it is used, it should not itself be a cause of death or leading contributor to death for anybody using it.

I think speeding up the claims, reviews and appeals will help, but fundamentally, the claims process is confusing, degrading and lengthy. People feel despair and worthlessness which can only exasperate negativity in their lives...

The reasons are always multiple and complex, sadly and consistently 3 out 4 suicides are not known to any services, economic downturn, reduced mental health services and still the impact of Covid will impact figures for many years. The figures that are released are often 1-2 years after the death, so how it would be determined would be difficult / limited within the confines of coroners decisions. Concerning generaly though.