British man fighting for Britain? you could be redundant

[Harleyman]

If a senior NCO stays longer than their 22 years it blocks the promotion ladder for others and may cause some to leave because of this frustration.

 

That's true of course but not all senior NCOS are drill and firearms instructors or combat veterans engaged in vital aspects of training

 

Just retire the rest of the seniors not engaged in the above after 15 years of service and let the above serve out a full 30 years if they wish to.

 

I believe one of the problems facing the US army at the moment is the shortage of senior and junior sergeants who have the experience and skills to train recruits from the ground up but that may not apply to the British army

[Vague_Boy]

I wonder if the MoD would have a bit more cash if it hadn't so wholeheartedly embraced PFI (Private Finance Initiative) deals.

 

You know, the deals where private contractors benefit and the taxpayer gets screwed.

 

The scandal of PFI: invest just £100 ... and make £89m profit from the taxpayer

 

Here's a cracking example of the MoD squandering money on PFI:

 

MoD aircraft deal worth £10.5bn failed to deliver

 

The Ministry of Defence's biggest ever private finance initiative (PFI) is "inappropriate" and not proving value for taxpayers' money, according MPs on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

 

The £10.5bn, 27-year Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft (FSTA) programme – which is to supply air-to-air refuelling and passenger transport planes – is just the latest of a string of PFI deals to attract criticism.

 

Under the deal for 14 modified Airbus A330s, AirTanker Ltd, a consortium of Babcock, Cobham, Rolls-Royce, Thales and EADS, continues to own the aircraft but is contracted to provide to the military when required. The group is also contracted to service and maintain them.

 

There were signs of trouble with the PFI structure from the beginning. Although the MoD started the procurement in 1999, the deal negotiations took twice as long as anticipated and the contract was not signed until March 2008. Delivery is also running behind schedule – when the first of the planes is delivered next year it will be five and a half years late. Even then they may not be equipped to fly into danger zones such as Afghanistan.

 

LINK

 

But why was the last government so obsessed with these costly deals? Well it had *something* to do with a certain slack-jawed, one-eyed windbag of a chancellor who wanted us to believe that he was sticking to his golden rule, yet at the same time he desperately wanted to pişş the countries money up against the wall. The answer? PFI. Why? Because PFI is off balance sheet.

 

And people wonder why we're drowning in debt.

[mj.scuba]

Is it any wonder the MOD are having to make redundancies when they're spending £22 on lightbulbs that should only cost 65p?

[taxman]

Is it any wonder the MOD are having to make redundancies when they're spending £22 on lightbulbs that should only cost 65p?

 

I suspect thats the same across all Govt departments - it certainly is at HMRC. Everything has been outsourced to "facilities management" companies and any task, no matter how big or small will be covered by the contract.

 

We had a case involving a fuse in a lamp that needed replacing but it was deemed to be more cost effective to actually buy a new lamp.

 

We used to have people on site who would change printer cartridges, fix your computer, move workstations etc. They were just on the end of the telephone. Now we have to ring a central call centre who charge something like £40 a call and the call centre then ring Fujitsu who then ring exactly the same bloke in the building as before, except it's now costed hundreds of pounds.

 

We used to have a old bloke who would come in and vallet the pool cars once a week. Cost next to nothing, now we have a central contract and it costs a packet for a substandard job.

[Rupert_Baehr]

Typical 'Sun' article.:hihi:

 

At the beginning of the article: "DEFENCE chiefs pay £22 EACH for 65p lightbulbs, Army documents seen by The Sun have revealed."

 

(How often do you think the Chief of the Defence Staff goes shopping for light bulbs?):hihi:

 

Further down in the article: "The lightbulb supplier is named as FEL Avionics on an invoice from ten days ago.

 

Their astonishing contract was set up by the previous Labour government."

 

Ah-ha! so it wasn't the MOD after all. It was the previous Labour government.

[mj.scuba]

Typical 'Sun' article.:hihi:

 

At the beginning of the article: "DEFENCE chiefs pay £22 EACH for 65p lightbulbs, Army documents seen by The Sun have revealed."

 

(How often do you think the Chief of the Defence Staff goes shopping for light bulbs?):hihi:

 

Further down in the article: "The lightbulb supplier is named as FEL Avionics on an invoice from ten days ago.

 

Their astonishing contract was set up by the previous Labour government."

 

Ah-ha! so it wasn't the MOD after all. It was the previous Labour government.

 

Lol you're right the Chiefs are probably far removed from this sort of thing. I think the soldier who leaked the invoice to The Sun should be made Chief of the Defence Staff for Cost Cutting. A guy out of the stores will know more about waste than the top brass.

[Rupert_Baehr]

I wonder if the MoD would have a bit more cash if it hadn't so wholeheartedly embraced PFI (Private Finance Initiative) deals...

 

Do you think it was the MOD who chose PFI? - Do you think it was the NHS who chose PFI?

 

Or was it interfering, micro-managing politicians?

[mj.scuba]

I suspect thats the same across all Govt departments - it certainly is at HMRC. Everything has been outsourced to "facilities management" companies and any task, no matter how big or small will be covered by the contract.

 

We had a case involving a fuse in a lamp that needed replacing but it was deemed to be more cost effective to actually buy a new lamp.

 

We used to have people on site who would change printer cartridges, fix your computer, move workstations etc. They were just on the end of the telephone. Now we have to ring a central call centre who charge something like £40 a call and the call centre then ring Fujitsu who then ring exactly the same bloke in the building as before, except it's now costed hundreds of pounds.

 

We used to have a old bloke who would come in and vallet the pool cars once a week. Cost next to nothing, now we have a central contract and it costs a packet for a substandard job.

 

I'm not against privatisation where they can provide the same service for a lower cost to the tax payer, that would be a good thing, but too many of these big firms have come to be like blood sucking leaches.

[Rupert_Baehr]

... A guy out of the stores will know more about waste than the top brass.

 

Of course he would - But neither can do anything about it. The politicians make the rules and in most cases, they don't understand the game.

 

Up until the early 1970s, military units could purchase food locally. - If the Senior catering Officer was any good, he could probably 'cut a deal' with local farmers, which not only supported the local community, but probably meant he got more for the money he had to spend.

 

Then a Naval caterer was caught 'fiddling'. He was court martialled, went to prison and was booted out (fair enough!)

 

Then the government stepped in and banned local purchases. So instead of supporting the local economy, instead of being able to negotiate a 'good deal' the caterers were obliged to buy from a centralised source. One more layer of bureaucracy, one more layer of expense. Pay more, get less.

 

Unfortunately, that wasn't government money which was being wasted. - The food is paid for by the people who eat it.