The Council needs a Quality Assurance Department

If the Council was more efficient we would have enough money for all these ideas. The problem is it is inefficient. That's not the fault of the people in the Council, its basically a dumping ground for all things that need doing in society that can't be done effectively by business or charity. Because of the sheer variety its impossible to manage. But you have to start somewhere and I suggest a QA department that audits the quality of the papers written by Officers that come to the neighbourhood partnerships. I suggest this starting point as the neighbourhood partnerships consist of normal people (i.e. not Councillors or Officers) and we are bamboozled by the goobledy gook and dreadful jargon and even worse lack of accountability in most of the proposals that we see. Papers would be judged against sensible QA criterion like value for money, is the benefit measurable, is it wanted by the people, is it clear, well thought through etc...If they are not upto scratch they get bounced. If the Officer can't write a sensible proposal then he/she gets trained. This would be the start of a culture change that would spread through the Council. Can you imagine how many less people you would need if the services were well thought through and well implemented, my God it woulod be unbeliveable!

To free up £millions to spend on all these other good ideas (assuming they also meet the QA criterion).