The Friday Blog: Budgets Fit for the North Pole
I probably should not say this too loudly, but things might be on the up for the Red Rose. Perhaps inspired by the trophy winning Thunder, the Lightning are P3 W3 in the bish, bash, bosh. This included a last ball win on what could only be described as a sticky one in Durham. The game was significant also in that it represented a first T20 outing in 11 years for Jimmy Anderson. England’s GOAT failed to secure a spot in both the Indian Premier League and The Hundred, apparently sponsors decided that a 42-year old who had not played white ball cricket in a decade would probably not be worth the gamble. So, Jimmy Anderson did what Jimmy Anderson does and recorded a career best in the format. I am trying not to get too far ahead of myself, but I have to admit to having had a look at ticketing options for finals day in September.
It has been a bumper week of sport since we were last together, especially if you are of the muddied oaf / flannelled fool persuasion. England’s cricketers are making light work of the West Indies, the men having completed a 3-nil win, and the women on track to do the same. The last round of the English Premiership Rugby went to form, and the semi-finals are lined up intriguingly. It appears to be Bath’s competition to lose, but they have done that before. Tonight they should have too much, especially off the bench, for their cider drinking neighbours, but if Bristol turn up, anything might happen, and if they do, we will be in for an absolute ripper. In the other game, romance prevails. Quite remarkably, England’s two most capped footballers, Ben Youngs and Dan Cole, are both still playing, are both playing for the same team, and have both announced that they will be retiring at the end of the season, whenever that might be. On Saturday they were treated to an emotional send off, entering the field of play with kids in tow etc, and afforded a standing ovation on their joint departure after 43 minutes of a nailed-on victory over Newcastle Falcons. The ceremonies were quite justified in that this was the last scheduled home game for two of Leicester’s greatest servants, but it is not the actual last home game. The win means that the Tigers return to Welford Road this weekend to take on Sale. We will find out how much departing Leicester coach Michael Cheika has in the way of sentimentality (I suspect little) when it comes to team selection, but there does remain the real possibility that the two may yet make their final appearance at Twickenham in a fortnight and round things off fairytale style. In their favour is the home semi, which, historically, offers a huge advantage. Against, is the fact that the visitors are on a rich run of form, are probably regarded as the second best team in the competition, and have playing at Fly Half, George Ford, who having been omitted form the British and Irish Lions tour this summer, will be relishing the prospect of coming up against his opposite number, the double World Cup winning Springbok, Handrè Pollard. For neutrals it is a no-lose situation, Youngs and Cole progressing to bow out at HQ, or Oldham’s finest sticking it to everyone. Where is your money?
Speculation is, of course, foolish, but there are a few punts to be had away from the sporting arena too. Next week sees the Spending Review, all top secret, although the senior civil servants I have spoken to are all nervous about what to expect, given that there is not a lot of cash swilling about, and commitments have already been made to up the defence budget. Well, not quite top secret, because the Government has, to draw on a sporting analogy, been keen to get some retaliation in first by trailing wads of wonga, about £15Billion worth, heading to support transport infrastructure in the North and Midlands, along with something of a U-turn on the winter fuel allowance. It makes you wonder what else might be left in the kitty, especially for areas outside Health which will consume about 40% of everything. Stay tuned next week for our analysis and some more detailed, live assessment as things become clearer, although do be warned that can take some time. The autumn budget statement set out plans for spending in 25/26, and revealed hundreds of millions of pounds would go towards improving the safety of the NHS estate, but the Government has only this week released details of who will get what from the £750m fund. The three London trusts with the largest repair backlogs come out on top with over £20m each: Barts Health, Imperial and Guy’s and St Thomas’. Investment is certainly needed, with the repair backlog now a record £14bn across the entire NHS estate, but whilst £750m sounds a lot, when shared across 170 providers, it means there is clearly still some way to go. The Government says the fund is for “relatively small-scale” but important works such as repairing leaking roofs and addressing fire safety. Well, that is alright then. Keep your eye out for this being one of many reannouncements, as is the wont of governments throughout the ages.
One thing I am hoping to see a bit more detail on is one of those things that may have passed you by, and one I have been struggling to work in to the blog for a few weeks now. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) has worked with the Treasury and other stakeholders to develop the principles of ten-year research funding awards and the process by which public bodies will select specific activities or institutions for long-term funding to provide transparency for the R&D sector. The guidance recommends a set, maximum limit for the proportion of R&D budget that, at any one time, should be allocated to ten-year funding. This will retain the agility to respond to new and emerging priorities in the short and medium term, and Departments will operate their own selection process. The guidance will also allow Departments to implement a targeted approach and allocate ten-year budgets to the specific programmes, activities and smaller research organisations that would best be able to unlock the economic and scientific benefits associated with long-term funding. With the official blurb saying that it is all about signalling the Government’s long-term commitment to key sectors in the upcoming Industrial Strategy, it is one to watch. I have learnt much in this regard from my time on the Board of the West Midlands HealthTech Innovation Accelerator. The programme, funded by Innovate UK, is admirable in its intentions, but is hamstrung in the funding cycle. The Accelerator, once designated, is awarded two years’ worth of funding, but IUK never pays on time, the host organisation is understandably reluctant to go flat out to set the thing up fully at risk, so six months pass by before anything happens in earnest. That gives the programme a year of meaningful life before the energy is refocussed on winding it down and redeploying whatever staff have not already moved on to their next projects. Santa Claus might be able to achieve miracles on an annual budget cycle, but he is aided by magical and unlimited resources.
That, believe it or not, is me trying to be positive about what might be forthcoming next week, although if I was in any doubt about how serious the financial pressures are on the NHS, and how desperate HMG is for solutions, then another news item rather rapidly disabused me. I must admit to checking that the month that had just started was June and not April, but I had one of those, you know, moments. “The government will consider passing new legislation which would outlaw the employment of agency staff by NHS trusts if sufficient progress is not made to reduce their use.” Yes, that is what I thought. Young Wes and Big Jim wrote to beleaguered Trust C Suite types over the weekend to announce that they were establishing a “joint delivery group” to monitor progress against the target to reduce agency spend by 30 per cent in 2025-26.
The letter stressed the need to use bank, rather than agency, staff to fill gaps. It said: “We all know that bank work offers the best benefits to our staff through flexibility and the ability to work in familiar settings. We want to ensure that working through a staff bank is staff’s first choice when they want to take on an extra shift.” That is all well and good, but there are significant differences between Bank (employed by a Trust but not in substantive posts) and Agency (third-party, for-profit suppliers) but it is more complex than just the headline hourly rate which makes the price of Agency staff look horrible. There are on costs and other benefits that have to be supplied to Bank staff, whilst Agency offers true flexibility. Indeed, and especially post-COVID, many NHS staff made perfectly logical decisions to suit their own circumstances, which often involved forsaking the benefits of being tied to the NHS, for higher hourly rates and being able to decide exactly when to work that come with an Agency. It is ok to huff and puff about spending on temporary staff, but if you do not have a full complement of permanent staff, what are you supposed to do. During our recent horror show experience as NHS users, we were assured by the top of the shop that the ward we described as being short staffed was allocated the maximum amount, but the problem was absence levels were through the roof. Managers either turned a blind eye to unsafe staffing levels or overspent the pay budget.
The magic of bloggery means that I am not actually here today, my weekend started some time ago and when this pings into your inbox I will be coming to the end of a BBQ cooking course at the wonderful Northcote Manor, for which I have packed wet weather gear, a gift from the Doctor to mark this year’s special birthday. After that I will be trying to follow as much of the sporting agenda as I can, especially now that I have discovered that I can stream all of Lancashire’s games on YouTube without having to pay for the extra Sports Channel, something from which I have been expressly forbidden. If I could only synch the pictures up with Scott Reid’s brilliant local radio commentary, the job, as they say in these parts, would be a good ‘un.
