tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post2271479758874419952..comments2024-03-04T17:54:32.559+00:00Comments on Iain Dale's Diary: Extent of Government Funded Lobbying RevealedIain Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03270146219458384372noreply@blogger.comBlogger47125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-23405684937884016462009-08-07T10:04:19.365+01:002009-08-07T10:04:19.365+01:00Millions of pounds of taxpayers money is being pou...Millions of pounds of taxpayers money is being poured into organisations campaigning against lapdancing clubs: Eaves: 3,608,395 pounds of taxpayers money out of its total funding of 5,220,603 pounds; Fawcett Society: 62,886 pounds.Reasonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-46381821839448896892009-08-05T12:26:05.797+01:002009-08-05T12:26:05.797+01:00Hmmm. We could have a baby and bathwater problem. ...Hmmm. We could have a baby and bathwater problem. Government funding of external groups is not all bad. Thinking about 3 of the groups I am involved in:<br /><br />One is a small group that exists to try and influence government policy. It is a group of disparate experts whose day jobs give them knowledge and expertise in a particular area. We have caused useful changes, not through making a public fuss, but through reasoned argument backed by good stats. We receive no public money, but maybe should. Our work could not be duplicated in-house as the forum of disparate experts is key.<br /><br />Another group receives government money for an employment-related scheme. It offers excellent value for money because of the large volunteer element. The charity does not see itself as bought and sold over funding for a project that is aligned with its aims but could disappear with no substantial impact on the organisation.<br /><br />Lastly, I have long been a member and a critic of an EU-funded pressure group, created and funded by an EU unit. I can see where the unit is coming from. It needs to be able to demonstrate public support for its proposals. But our sector does not come together Europe-wide (and in most cases not even nation-wide) in any single organisation or forum, without their providing a focus it would be very hard to hold any discussion with us, to show us how to add our voices to theirs.<br /><br />(The sums involved here are trivial -- part of the point is that our sector has little money, but that doesn't mean we get treated generously by the powers that be. For instance, where we have a specialist government advisory group, ours is the type where members are unpaid, as opposed to those for fatcat sectors.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-36674155944746380922009-08-04T18:39:37.149+01:002009-08-04T18:39:37.149+01:00Is this like all those "Charities" who g...Is this like all those "Charities" who get funding and instructions from the government to implement their gestapo policies with respect to the ill in this country who receive social security payments?He who pays the piper calls the tunenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-29695523060334214932009-08-04T17:51:11.051+01:002009-08-04T17:51:11.051+01:00It looks like, in my previous post, I have once ag...It looks like, in my previous post, I have once again overestimated the integrity of the lying, thieving, genocidal, fascist parasites. Why do I not learn not to give them the benefit of the doubt?<br /><br />Anyway the report says it is "leaving out, for example, the £540 million budget of the Central<br />Office of Information in 2008-0912 and the £430 million spent on publicity by councils in<br />2007" p 13 (that being only an "example"!) & that "There is no systematic way of deciding which organisations’ accounts to look through,<br />short of going through the entire Charity Commission database" p15 & of Labour think tanks Institute for Public Policy Research, the New<br />Economics Foundation and the New Local Government Network - "The Freedom of Information request sent is provided in Appendix 1. It is highly unlikely we have discovered all of their public sector funding, though" p16 etc. Also these are 2007 figures which will have increased with inflation, with the fact that spending really went ballistic then & with an approaching election.<br /><br />It seems that my earlier estimate of "tens of times" larger than £38m was wrong & it is likely to be several times the billion (38m + 540m +430m) given above, guessing £5 bn plus or minus 2.<br /><br />Which is a significant part of our deficit.neil craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09157898238945726349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-43837696789912864812009-08-04T17:42:53.213+01:002009-08-04T17:42:53.213+01:00Hilariously loads of this money will of course be ...Hilariously loads of this money will of course be spent on fringe events at the party conferences, helping the Tories among others balance the books.Chris Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15679067503215414300noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-54896312311731096332009-08-04T17:23:53.065+01:002009-08-04T17:23:53.065+01:00http://fakecharities.org/http://fakecharities.org/Deannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-22053076383057676562009-08-04T17:07:09.858+01:002009-08-04T17:07:09.858+01:00@ TFaT 10:06AM
The list in the OP contains detail...@ TFaT 10:06AM<br /><br />The list in the OP contains details of the funding for Alcohol Concern, one of my least favourite fakecharities which received less than 1% of its income from public donations (according to the latest accounts) and includes lobbying the government for policy change as one of its objectives (according to its website). The government is the primary source of income for this 'charity' that lobbies the government for policy change. <br /><br />I can think of a more cost effective way of proceeding .. .. ..manwiddicombehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02499331812704446499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-3534722143910244972009-08-04T17:05:44.384+01:002009-08-04T17:05:44.384+01:00And of course it is not counting any of the exerci...And of course it is not counting any of the exercises in lobbying parliament and ministers by departments pushing departmental policy, dressed up as policy research or as public consultation. You might be able to add dozens of millions for that.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-25688349723379106582009-08-04T16:29:43.020+01:002009-08-04T16:29:43.020+01:00Mark,
I would recommend you read the thread on Sl...Mark,<br /><br />I would recommend you read the thread on Slugger in full. The Stratagem case (they sponsor the Slugger Political Awards for Northern Ireland), is important only insofar as it points out the flaw in the research design and the disjuncture between the headline claim and what it actually says.<br /><br />In short, if you did not know that Stratagem in question was an events company and not a lobby company, it stands to reason you have no idea precisely what any of the companies in your research were actually paid for.<br /><br />You were working on the basis of what their core competences were. In short, the research cannot be worth the paper its not printed on.<br /><br />I urge you to have a look: http://url.ie/263w.Mick Fealtyhttp://www.sluggerotoole.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-30511717333554477762009-08-04T14:37:46.694+01:002009-08-04T14:37:46.694+01:00Mick, it's clearly an error by Scottish Enterp...Mick, it's clearly an error by Scottish Enterprise, not us. We contacted them to ask them to confirm the data and they did so - again without any queries or qualms.<br /><br />I know that you have a personal relationship to Stratagem yourself, but it would be wrong to let that cloud your judgement on this serious issue.Mark Wallacehttp://www.taxpayersalliance.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-15017745938325626672009-08-04T14:25:15.137+01:002009-08-04T14:25:15.137+01:00Deborah Mattinson.
Enough said.Deborah Mattinson.<br /><br /><br />Enough said.Unsworthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08307116169498533047noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-45887717349541812462009-08-04T14:06:17.179+01:002009-08-04T14:06:17.179+01:00In my view we need to end this whole culture of re...In my view we need to end this whole culture of relying upon consultants. Too many of the large consultancies (and it is not just the PR / Comms / Lobbying ones) are getting very fat at our expense. <br /><br />Instead, I think we need a leadership revolution of small creative ideas! <br /><br />We need councils, the police, the civil service and the NHS (etc.) to support, celebrate and stimulate all the ideas that their staff have to improve efficiency and effectiveness. <br /><br />(There may still be room for some consultants - I hope so because I am one - but strictly on the basis that they do nothing for government agencies that they could not do for themselves and they share all their skills and insights.)<br /><br />Let's see some visionary leadership that takes government agencies off being dependant on the drip feed of consultants!<br /><br />Let's see some more small creative ideas!!<br /><br />http://smallcreativeideas.blogspot.com/Jon Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12792245973965010468noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-59990918020086289812009-08-04T13:59:10.665+01:002009-08-04T13:59:10.665+01:00This barely scratches the surface. I would estimat...This barely scratches the surface. I would estimate that public bodies attending and doing things at the three main party conferences alone comes to around £10m.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-32822217042023105922009-08-04T13:56:37.771+01:002009-08-04T13:56:37.771+01:00MB: Yes. It's a shameless attempt to rig the i...MB: Yes. It's a shameless attempt to rig the immigration system so that it imports even more left wing votes (moral, if you don't like the electorate you've got, find a new one).<br /><br />Yet it has passed almost unremarked, even amonsgt right wing bloggers. Will the modern PC Conservatives dare to challenge it, I wonder? My guess is not.Salmondnethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04135160187810480222noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-42264150037913662252009-08-04T13:44:00.334+01:002009-08-04T13:44:00.334+01:00Sorry, should have left a link. Slugger has some o...Sorry, should have left a link. Slugger has some of the detail: http://url.ie/262tMickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09172035156183790535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-72295165377261405032009-08-04T13:15:52.297+01:002009-08-04T13:15:52.297+01:00• 77 public sector organisations were found to be ...• 77 public sector organisations were found to be spending on political consultancies, the biggest spender being Scottish Enterprise, which spent over £1 million<br /><br /> and another thing ,thats English money the celtic paracsites are spendingAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-77192350831530774212009-08-04T13:12:45.691+01:002009-08-04T13:12:45.691+01:00The corollary of the TPA argument is that only pri...The corollary of the TPA argument is that only private money should be used for lobbying. That's not a level playing field between the public and private sectors. It just means more privatisation, which is the TPA's real agenda.<br /><br />I agree that private political consultancies should not be used. Public sector bodies should have in-house skills to perform this vital work.<br /><br />But I bet the TPA and its shadowy membership do not support the proper registration of activities by all lobbyists, private and public.Pelagiusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-40251570295972239872009-08-04T13:10:32.760+01:002009-08-04T13:10:32.760+01:00@ Andrew
"you would have thought this would ...@ Andrew<br /><br />"you would have thought this would be an easy way to save the taxpayer money"<br /><br />Equally why should a party which is in opposition save the Government's bacon? This is not a national coalition, after all. Anyway, maybe it's better if Brown doesn't get his hands on the cash - he'd only piss it all away on yet another of his crackpot ponzi schemes.Unsworthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08307116169498533047noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-70652886986606546572009-08-04T12:59:08.447+01:002009-08-04T12:59:08.447+01:00I'm afraid I'd like to see a second opinio...I'm afraid I'd like to see a second opinion on this work.<br /><br />I know for certain they've mistaken an Scottish events company for an Irish lobbyist. That accounts for nearly a million. What else have they mistakenly added to the total?<br /><br />Easy enough to do if your work goes out unchecked (we blogger's do it all the time). But I would treat this 'research' with the utmost caution. <br /><br />It certainly doesn't help to give us any clearer sight on what needs cutting and what doesn't.Mickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09172035156183790535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-68010103623872902092009-08-04T12:56:34.026+01:002009-08-04T12:56:34.026+01:00More sexism from Harriet Harman, Brown has his chi...<a href="http://thatsnews.blogspot.com/2009/08/tuesday-morning-more-sexism-from.html" rel="nofollow">More sexism from Harriet Harman, Brown has his chips p**sed on and he is keeping very bad company indeed. Gordon Brown. Friend of dictators</a><br /><br />And Brown has recognised the Iranian dictatorship with unseemly haste. Hell. Who lobbies Labour for Iran?Thats Newshttp://thatsnews.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-51829200842493495802009-08-04T12:07:11.688+01:002009-08-04T12:07:11.688+01:00As much as I agree with you on all of this, two of...As much as I agree with you on all of this, two of the three biggest taxpayer funded lobbying groups (the LGA and the Association of Police Authorities) are controlled by the Conservatives. If they had any intention of actually doing stopping this practive then you would have thought this would be an easy way to save the taxpayer money. Why do they need to wait until an election?Andrewnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-9725506377333763532009-08-04T12:04:53.483+01:002009-08-04T12:04:53.483+01:00Alcohol Concern and ASH are both fake charities. I...Alcohol Concern and ASH are both fake charities. If they had to raise all their money from public donations they would in all probability just fold. People should be free to chose a chairty to support, not have a decision made for them by government.Dr Evilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00176521760477086914noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-74080401133068981322009-08-04T11:38:06.526+01:002009-08-04T11:38:06.526+01:00I must admit surprise, even bearing in mind that t...I must admit surprise, even bearing in mind that they don't include "councils & other public bodies" (quangos) & obviously aren't including fakecharitites, since money given to them isn't, nominally, for advertising the need for more government.<br /><br />My guess is that the true figure is many tens of times that.<br /><br />This is one of the greatest scandals of British politics & one which the press will not even mention. Whether this reticence is related to the fact that government can & do choose to place their advertising in newspapers irrespective of circulation. Anybody looking at the advertising in the Guardian can see that paper entirely depends on government adverts.neil craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09157898238945726349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-18289160017375364182009-08-04T11:29:22.308+01:002009-08-04T11:29:22.308+01:00As a small business I am required by law under thr...As a small business I am required by law under threat of fine and or jail to provide every year a set of verified accounts explaining where and why I spent MY money.<br /><br />If our government was also required by law to provide a set of audited accounts explaining where on what and why they spent OUR money,<br /><br />a) This corruption ( and it is corrupt) wouldn't happen<br />b) The country wouldn't be £1.5 trillion in debt<br />c) Our troops wouldn't be dying uneccesarily through lack of equipment whilst MOD beaurocats parked their fat arses on nearly £1 million worth of new office chairsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-13528726321626355862009-08-04T11:05:31.864+01:002009-08-04T11:05:31.864+01:00Guido (who has his uses) points out that much of t...Guido (who has his uses) points out that much of this money went to 4 lefty think-tanks.<br /><br />"£1.6 million found its way from the taxpayer to four left-of-centre think tanks; Demos, the New Economics Foundation; the Institute for Public Policy Research and the New Local Government Network."<br /><br />I wonder how much money is finding its way to right of centre think tanks. Guido thinks not much. Curiouser and curiouser ... well we are in an Alice in Wonderland World here.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com