The economy quickly and rightly emerged as the central issue of the general election 2010 campaign, yet detailed policy promises from Labour and the Conservatives on the toughest economic decisions - including how to tackle the national debt through public spending cuts - have been conspicuous by their absence. Yet despite their best efforts, some limited detail on the potential scale of their plans for post-election public spending cuts has crept out over the course of the campaign.
The Daily Telegraph summarises much of what is known (external website), as follows:
Some further insight was offered by Sir Philip Gershon, who has helped draw up Conservative plans for efficiency savings. He stated in an interview with the Financial Times that planned Conservative controls on public sector recruitment (including reduced use of agency workers and not filling vacancies) would save "perhaps £1 billion to £2 billion" (external website) in 2010/2011. The Financial Times calculates that this could translate into the loss of between 20,000 and 40,000 public sector jobs during the next 12 months.
However, it appears likely that a Conservative Government would find itself forced to lay its cards on the table with regard to planned public spending cuts by the end of the year (external websites), the Guardian reports. We can expect "an emergency budget by George Osborne within 50 days of the general election to give details of the £6bn of spending cuts to be introduced this year and the overall reduced 'spending envelope' for next year", and a public spending review in autumn 2010. It says:
But whichever party (or potential coalition of parties in the case of a hung parliament) wins the 2010 general election - and whatever the schedule of public spending cuts they follow - they will almost inevitably have a significant impact on the public sector workforce. This means that they will also represent a significant challenge for public sector HR departments - ironically representing a considerable opportunity for them to assume a more influential role.
Labour intends to cut waste by £15bn, starting from next year, and pour the proceeds back into public services. The Tories have proposed to cut a further £12bn of waste in the coming years, using £6bn of this to trim the forthcoming increase in national insurance, and the rest on public investment.
Some further insight was offered by Sir Philip Gershon, who has helped draw up Conservative plans for efficiency savings. He stated in an interview with the Financial Times that planned Conservative controls on public sector recruitment (including reduced use of agency workers and not filling vacancies) would save "perhaps £1 billion to £2 billion" (external website) in 2010/2011. The Financial Times calculates that this could translate into the loss of between 20,000 and 40,000 public sector jobs during the next 12 months.
However, it appears likely that a Conservative Government would find itself forced to lay its cards on the table with regard to planned public spending cuts by the end of the year (external websites), the Guardian reports. We can expect "an emergency budget by George Osborne within 50 days of the general election to give details of the £6bn of spending cuts to be introduced this year and the overall reduced 'spending envelope' for next year", and a public spending review in autumn 2010. It says:
Cameron believes a Conservative government would have no more than six months to lay down the drastic measures needed to tackle Britain's £163bn fiscal deficit amid fears that any goodwill from the electorate would start to fade by the end of the year.In contrast to the traditional main political parties, the Liberal Democrat manifesto (PDF format, 865.9K) went a little further with regard to public spending plans, by including tables setting out a broad overview of its proposals on tax and spending. but with little in the way of specific detail.
But whichever party (or potential coalition of parties in the case of a hung parliament) wins the 2010 general election - and whatever the schedule of public spending cuts they follow - they will almost inevitably have a significant impact on the public sector workforce. This means that they will also represent a significant challenge for public sector HR departments - ironically representing a considerable opportunity for them to assume a more influential role.
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