
Well..
.. undoing the massive expansion of the civil service ranks under New Labour is going to be tough. Apart from anything else, it will reveal the true unemployment rate..
As disquiet over pay and pensions among civil servants throughout the land looks set to lead to strikes aplenty later this month, the Cabinet Office has been busy compiling lists about its public sector workers to underline its "transparency" pledge. Organisational charts on the UK Civil Service were published on the data.gov. …
... and you can use your trusty copy of Netscape 2 or Mosaic, you'll be delighted to find that Katie Davis has become Executive Director of Operational Excellence at the Cabinet Office. She has no-one reporting to her but then there can't be all that much operational excellence to direct.
Who, you ask, is Katie Davis?
Oh come on, you remember. She was previously Executive Director of Strategy at the Identity & Passport Service (IPS). There can't have been much for her to do in that job, either.
While poking around the organogram for the old IPS gulag, I thought I'd check up on Kevin Sheehan, previously the Executive Director of Integrity and Security. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that this rôle has now been "eliminated". Spooky. No more integrity or security at IPS.
So, hours of fun awaiting you, when you get home ...
"...it [PCS] confirmed that more than half of its quarter-million-strong members had voted for industrial action."
750k public sector workers
290k members of PCS
32.4% turnout in ballout
61% of ballots vote to strike
How many voted to strike? 57.3k. 19.8% of PCS members or 7.6% of public sector workers. Not half. I'd expect el reg to check the numbers and not vomit up press releases.