Government department spends £1,200 on two folders
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3vrw9pd16do
by Cold_Dawn95
Government department spends £1,200 on two folders
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3vrw9pd16do
by Cold_Dawn95
39 comments
To enhance the image of Government, just like the revamped Press Meeting Room…
We have one story about how houses are now ‘unaffordable’ and a second story about two folders costing as much as some monthly mortgage payments.
I hope this gets reported to that value for money tzar they appointed. It probably won’t.
And I was hounded for going 13p over my £10 expenses allowance haha what a system
>But sources suggest the extra expense is justified to enhance the image of the government.
Mission achieved.
Rolls-Royce Civil Service win again.
The individuals responsible for this should be sacked.
>sources suggest the extra expense is justified to enhance the image of the government
To be fair, the government has made itself look a bit shabby in a very short space of time
>The Department for Culture Media and Sport bought the folders from luxury leather goods manufacturer Barrow Hepburn & Gale, at a cost of £594 each.
Is that how much they cost, or how much the company charged the government under an insane public sector contract?
While this is a silly decision by the department, public sector contracts are an excuse for companies to print money. I remember when I worked at HMRC, bog standard stationary supplies were absurdly overpriced – £12 for a pack of ten pens that were several rungs below a BIC, £5 for a cardboard box to store account papers etc.
Seems like we need our own department of government efficiency…
I was honestly expecting this to be some sort of clickbait. Like the two folders would have been purchased from some private entity and be full of useful information or something. Was fully ready to put the BBC on blast for falling to headline tactics that some of the worst media outlets engage in.
But no. Just… two empty folders that cost £600 each. It’s not going to affect how the annual budget is spent, but come on guys, you can get leather bound folders right there in the commons shop
Weird headline. These are the folders departments have used for years and need replacing every now and then.
There’s going to be hard choices ahead, because we need £600 folders.
Honestly seems pretty immaterial in the grand scheme of things
But sources suggest the extra expense is justified to enhance the image of the government.
Not wasting tax payer money on such extravagance would be a better way to improve the government’s image, but this lot think taking freebies is an acceptable part of the job.
Their justification points are hilarious.
This whole system is just riddled with corruption and waste. It’s a disgrace.
They might as well answer any questions on this as “oink oink oink.. sorry what, I was too busy feeding at the trough that is public funds”.
At least Boris was brazenly corrupt and sleazy, not like this lot trying to be squeaky clean and holier than us all.
The last government stole billions. Literally took public money and gave it to their friends and themselves.
As much as I think the whole DOGE nonsense in America will be a car crash, you can see the logic. There is SO much waste in government contracts at every level. Restricting things like the NHS to single suppliers means they pay a phenomenal amount for everyday things like a ream of paper.
Nobody. At all. In any country. Thinks we’re better than we are because of a fancy folder.
£1,200? Those are rookie numbers by Coca Cola or Pentagon standards.
They bought two folders which will be stuffed in an office somewhere forgotten about in a couple weeks.
> The Department for Culture Media and Sport bought the folders from luxury leather goods manufacturer Barrow Hepburn & Gale, at a cost of £594 each.
> Other government departments routinely buy the same folders, and ministerial red boxes, from the company, which also supplies the Royal Family
Why is this news? Isn’t it a cultural thing that official items have official seal with good quality skin that lasts a lifetime. When you all have budget, you have the little red bag. It’s old but still good and that’s because of the quality. So why the fuss when buying quality? Those folders are official use and seem to be important, not?
This is a non-story, these are the folders departments have always used for Ministers. These stories are particularly annoying because they ignore where all the wastage really happens in government: employing tens of thousands of numpties to send a couple of emails a day, or all the hundreds of ‘training’ programmes that teach people to use bold face for topic sentences. That’s wastage to the tune of billions every year.
Source: civil servant of seven years’ service.
At least it is a British company that has been providing these products to the government and Royal household since the 18th century. It is a bit of a crazy amount but based on the frequency of the procurement of these items they will last a long time.
There are much bigger fish to fry than saving a grand every now and then when we are spending over £8m a day on asylum seekers.
I mean, this is irresponsible spending, but I love how the media thinks this is newsworthy but the Tories giving billions in taxpayer money to their mates in dodgy contracts was not in nearly every instance.
Remember… Won’t shy away from the tough decisions.
But also… Im sure the tories would NEVER dream of throwing money away like this!
The sad thing is this needs to be pointed out to the government that this is fucking. ridiculous. They can’t notice it for themselves. Like if the house of commons needed new curtains it would cost about £50 million, need to consult on the right colour, then the right fabric, then hire some bespoke tailor to craft them from fabric made from an animal that went extinct in the 16th century.
Some other ridiculous wastes of money recently I can think of off the top of my head is £32 million refurbishing an office, £4200 on the COVID announcement lectern, and the government wine cellar that has about 30,000 bottles and is worth over £2 million.
[https://barrowhepburnandgale.com/archives/royal-visit-kenya](https://barrowhepburnandgale.com/archives/royal-visit-kenya)
The folders are by a luxury company and seems to be the same ones that the king uses.
4 poor pensioners could have kept warm this winter instead of this obscene spending.
Government departments shouldn’t be checking their own spending.
Citizens assemblies should be set up to vet wasteful public sector departments, not themselves.
So every government department has been using them for years but its only a newsworthy problem when its a Labour minister…
The fact that a “Department for culture and sport” wastes money shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. Axe the whole thing.
These are used for carrying governmental papers and have to be extremely secure. From their website:
“For confidential and secure documents, only Despatch Boxes supplied by Barrow Hepburn & Gale meet the requirements of the British security services for the transportation of classified material. ”
That is never going to come cheap.
It’s very clear from this thread that the general public has absolutely no fucking idea how many rules are in place for public procurement.
Suppliers who can make it past all those rules (generally in place for good reason individually) can, over time, print money.
No you can’t go to fucking Amazon to buy pens. You’re very very fucking lucky to get a credit card. There’s 5 credit cards in my public org of 10000 people.
Hilariously… media haven’t worked out this has been going on for 14-years under the Tories …
Yeah lets keep telling the plebs they have to save money, while we spend nearly £600 per folder. Nice to see Labour are the party of the people
I support the government using the best of british good ls when representing the country. However, if these are just for everyday use then not so good.
Inagine turning up at the G7 with a dog eared folder from rymans.
You can buy leather bound folders off the internet for less than £30. Come on Labour make a difference. Enhance their image my arse
So I did a lot of research into kaizen, and the process that led to the millions yen strawberry. The idea that constant refinement can make the value of something increase due to the time, knowledge and effort gone into something, and how that item will be a significant upgrade on the previous iterations.
I then thought, how can a folder be worth £500+. My guess is that it is a folder made by warlocks, entrapping great knowledge into the bindings. Carving ancient runes on the surface to provide greater clarity to the owner. That these 2 binders are a part of a greater purpose to bring financial stability to our government. In simple terms they give a +12 to the “governance stat” all civil servants hold.
That, or they were just some designer folders that cost a lot because the buyer liked the colour
Can’t wait for the government to run all our services.
This is what happens when you spend other people’s money.
…ok at first i thought this was actually gonna be something like 2 folders of research, data, or evidence, something where the high pricetag makes some sense… but no they were literally paying that much for the literal folders themselves? Like I get the Vimes’ boots paradox can apply to cheap vs expensive items, but this just seems absurd and fails to justify the cost saved vs the amount spent
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