Government spend must be curtailed
INTERNAL government spending needs to be curtailed completely in line with what ordinary citizens are expected to face in the reduction of finance for public services across the UK.
Over the past three years, government departments in Northern Ireland spent more than 5.5m on maintaining websites which does seem an exorbitant amount of money to be eaten up in this aspect of administration.
Of course, websites do provide a very valuable vehicle for the relaying of information on government services to the public, but according to costs revealed in the Assembly they come at a high price.
The government is reviewing all 820 of its UK websites and, in Northern Ireland, the cue from the office of first minister and deputy first minister is that on-line facilities here will drop from 90 to 25.
This will be a welcome move.
There are firmly established lines of communication between government and the public and there is really no need for civil servants to start reinventing the wheel in its processes.
The Northern Ireland public must be kept fully informed about the developments in the devolved administration, but this should not require a level of staffing confirmed in some departments as being larger than that in 10 Downing Street.
Finance minister Sammy Wilson is on record as stating that he requires civil servants to be circumspect when it comes to spending public money. The other 107 MLAs must also ensure a watching brief on all aspects of finance at Stormont.
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Weather for Belfast
Tuesday 14 February 2012
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Temperature: 6 C to 9 C
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