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Post by ratcliff on Nov 1, 2024 15:37:50 GMT
'Value for Money' tsar linked to string of overspendsThe government's new Value for Money chief has headed up several big projects that went massively over-budget. David Goldstone has previously worked as a top executive on the London Olympics, Parliament's restoration and HS2 high speed rail. He will now head up the government's new Office for Value for Money (OfVM), external, advising Chancellor Rachel Reeves on "how to root out waste and inefficiency", according to the Treasury. Announcing Mr Goldstone's appointment, Reeves said it was "vital that we are driving efficiency and reducing wasteful spending", and he's been paid £50,000 a year, for one day a week! www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1lgpejq85poThis government have not lost the plot. They never had one. i've no info on the worth of David Goldstone, but I see that as of January 1, 2024, the guideline hourly rates for lawyers in London are: Grade A — £546 per hour for solicitors and legal executives with more than eight years of experience. Grade B — £371 per hour for solicitors and legal executives with more than four years of experience. Grade C — £288 per hour for other solicitors, legal executives, and fee earners with similar experience.
So if he's any good (and his past record overseeing the Government’s £9.3bn investment for the 2012 Games including the delivery of the Olympic Park venues, infrastructure and regeneration of surrounding areas suggests he is), £950 a day could be good value...
The thread on this from yesterday contained these details of just how useless the man's past record has been Labour’s newly appointed value for money tsar will be paid the equivalent of a £247,000 annual salary, the Government has disclosed, significantly more than the Prime Minister’s pay.
David Goldstone, announced in the Budget as chairman of the Office for Value for Money, will be paid £950 a day for an average commitment of one day a week, the Treasury said on Thursday.The compensation amounts to £49,400 over the course of a year – equivalent to a full-time salary of £247,000 and significantly more than Sir Keir Starmer’s £166,786 salary.He has been appointed to the role on a 12-month basis.
Mr Goldstone previously oversaw delivery of the London Olympics, where costs spiralled to £9.35bn.That was almost four times the initial £2.45bn estimate, based on figures cited by the Labour government in the run-up to the 2012 Games.
Following the Olympics Mr Goldstone moved on to run the London Legacy Development Corporation, where projects including the London Stadium and East Bank cultural district have also reported cost overruns.He was also chief operating officer at the Ministry of Defence between 2017 and 2020. The Commons public accounts committee said the following year that the MoD had been guilty of “repeatedly wasting taxpayers’ money”, while a Labour report identified £4bn of waste.More recently, he was criticised by the public accounts committee after taking a £168,000 bonus on top of a £311,000 salary for overseeing non-existent renovation work on the Palace of Westminster.Mr Goldstone led the Houses of Parliament Restoration & Renewal Delivery Authority for four years before standing down in August, during which time no renovations took place and decisions on the scope of the project were delayed until 2025 at least.
Dame Meg Hillier, the committee’s Labour chair, wrote to Mr Goldstone last November saying the bonus had “surprised us given the slow pace of the programme”.Cost estimates for the project range from £7bn should MPs vacate Westminster for a decade or more, to as much as £22bn and 76 years were work to take place around them.
In his role as value for money tsar, Mr Goldstone will advise on “how to root out waste and inefficiency” and on “scrutinising investment proposals to ensure they offer value for money”, the Government said.
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Post by Red Rackham on Nov 1, 2024 15:38:20 GMT
Awww, baby Ernie I presume. Lovely. |
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Post by Fairsociety on Nov 1, 2024 15:51:19 GMT
We needed to have this 5 year Labour blip for two reasons, first being we now know why they were out of power for the past 13 years, and the second being that when the next GE comes along they will be out of power for a hell of a lot longer than 13 years, they'll be lucky after 2029 next GE if they ever see power again, it will be Tories/Reform/Lib-dems/Labour
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Post by patman post on Nov 1, 2024 15:54:05 GMT
i've no info on the worth of David Goldstone, but I see that as of January 1, 2024, the guideline hourly rates for lawyers in London are: Grade A — £546 per hour for solicitors and legal executives with more than eight years of experience. Grade B — £371 per hour for solicitors and legal executives with more than four years of experience. Grade C — £288 per hour for other solicitors, legal executives, and fee earners with similar experience.
So if he's any good (and his past record overseeing the Government’s £9.3bn investment for the 2012 Games including the delivery of the Olympic Park venues, infrastructure and regeneration of surrounding areas suggests he is), £950 a day could be good value...
Ok so you've dug up daily rates for various lawyers - none of whom actually have to deliver value for money - and suggest this justified the wad paid to this new tsar .. Well i might be persuaded of your argument, had it not been the case that his track record on bloated, overrunning money pits is not enviable in any respect save his ability to overcharge some places or other You have a point. But I'm persuaded by his being a qualified Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy member, and time spent at the Audit Commission and Price Waterhouse, and actually delivering — what has been feared by many to become a financial sinkhole and failure — the ongoing success of the London Olympics legacy and continuing deveiopment.
He's certainly proved himself preferable to such prior financial leading lights as Royal Bank of Scotland's Fred the Shred or the Co-op's Crystal Methodist chair...
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Post by Pacifico on Nov 1, 2024 18:08:15 GMT
So if he's any good (and his past record overseeing the Government’s £9.3bn investment for the 2012 Games including the delivery of the Olympic Park venues, infrastructure and regeneration of surrounding areas suggests he is), £950 a day could be good value...
The Olympics went over budget by 400% |
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Post by patman post on Nov 2, 2024 14:43:30 GMT
The lifetime financial position of the London Olympics was to break even, meaning the event paid for itself. All of the named advantages of hosting the games, including the long-term plans for the Olympic Stadium, resulted in a positive outcome for the United Kingdom and its citizens. 2012 London (S) $14.9 billion Break-even By Lewis R. Humphries Updated September 05, 2024 Reviewed by Charles Potters Fact checked by Suzanne Kvilhaug www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0912/the-best-and-worst-olympic-financial-planning.aspx |
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Post by jonksy on Nov 2, 2024 15:47:56 GMT
The lifetime financial position of the London Olympics was to break even, meaning the event paid for itself. All of the named advantages of hosting the games, including the long-term plans for the Olympic Stadium, resulted in a positive outcome for the United Kingdom and its citizens. 2012 London (S) $14.9 billion Break-even By Lewis R. Humphries Updated September 05, 2024 Reviewed by Charles Potters Fact checked by Suzanne Kvilhaug www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0912/the-best-and-worst-olympic-financial-planning.aspxOriginal budget for London Olympics... £2.4 billion
Total cost £8.77 billion.....Not the bargain you are trying to portray is it Pat?
The London 2012 Olympic Games took place across six boroughs: Barking and Dagenham, Greenwich, Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest, and cost a total of £8.77 billion - three times the original budget of £2.4 billion.
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Post by sheepy on Nov 2, 2024 17:45:11 GMT
The lifetime financial position of the London Olympics was to break even, meaning the event paid for itself. All of the named advantages of hosting the games, including the long-term plans for the Olympic Stadium, resulted in a positive outcome for the United Kingdom and its citizens. 2012 London (S) $14.9 billion Break-even By Lewis R. Humphries Updated September 05, 2024 Reviewed by Charles Potters Fact checked by Suzanne Kvilhaug www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0912/the-best-and-worst-olympic-financial-planning.aspxOriginal budget for London Olympics... £2.4 billion
Total cost £8.77 billion.....Not the bargain you are trying to portray is it Pat?
The London 2012 Olympic Games took place across six boroughs: Barking and Dagenham, Greenwich, Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest, and cost a total of £8.77 billion - three times the original budget of £2.4 billion.
Just a small oversight no doubt. |
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