AT THE PUBLIC EXPENSE

Evening Post, Volume XCVII, Issue 110, 12 May 1919, Page 6

AT THE PUBLIC EXPENSE

WASTE AND OVERLAPPING ■ OVERSTAFFED WHITEHALL. [ (FROtf OBlt OWN CORRESFONDBHT.) I • LONDON, 21st Marob. I Sir John Bradley'e Committee lias issued its fourth report on tho staffing of Government Departments, andf in It'a fearless criticism -is made of overstaffing—alike permanently' a.nd in the emergency of the war. ■ Attention is particularly drawn to—overlapping, clerks doing needless work, clerks doing work which was also being done in other Departments, lack of reasonable fore-, sight; needless overtime, neglect of organisation. ' . - ;,' NEW WAR-TIME DEPARTMENTS.' Eighteen new war-time official Departments accounted for the employment of 58,500 people. In August, 1914, 45,000 men and 8500 women were at work; on Ist February, 1918, there were.'62,ooo men and. 86.000 women. .In the' postal censorship—which still goes on-—4OOO people are employed.at the cost of more than £650,000 a year,. The committee are emphatic that "the number of the staffs . employed in the new Departments, and to. a less extent in some of the. permanent Departments, lias been excessive, com-' pared with'the numbers which' would have been required if the standard •of organisation prevailing " in- ■■' the bestmanaged permanent Departments could have been adopted." ■." This excess was "partly unavoidable and partly avoidable"—the former because Departments had to bo created hurriedly, staffs collected without any strict test of qualification, and unsuitable accommodation resulting in the subdivision of Departments used. :- CUMBERSOME METHODS. ""~ _ The Admiralty is particularly criticised. Instead of being one Department, it consists of a.large, number.of separate Departments and branches, each, more or less self-contained. . .There are 40 different, registries, apart from', subregistries, and each • one adopts its own system . The result is: A careful registration . and docketing of correspondence, which has no real importance; construction of complete duplicates of office files for reference purposes; i;eregistration by one. branch of papers-re-ferred to-' by another branch.' The general conclusion is that "the method of handling correspondence is cumbersome, slow, over-elaborate, and expensive, the registering,' indexing,' aiid ' copying of papers being greatly overdone." . THE WORST CASE. ■ As "the worst example" the committee cites the registry under - the. Board ,ol Intentions and Research, where "a staff of. 13 clerks was engaged in dealing with about 40 communications per day.' Etch of these . communications was docketed, numbered a.nd registered, and then entered, in two or more separate card indexes, although only 'about 10 per cent.. Wel'e foirtld to beworthy of seridils <softsicleratioti, and the great majority were disposed of by the issue of one of a.series ,of stock replies.". ■'•■■'. ' \ '■" AUDITING! THE THREE HA'PENCE. The Prize and Medals Branch is another case quoted ■of overlapping. There are 128 clerks there,, receiving a total of £13,500 a year, a large-part of which could have been avoided if the Admiralty had exercised; reasonable foresight and taken.steps early in the.war to settle the principles-on which the money should be distributed....,;,Tiie.Committee also foundl, a staff. of 71. under the part-time cohtrrtl' of a .superintendent -clerk (salary £600 to £800) engaged on the., audit of the National Health Insurance .deductions made.at.'the rate. of..l£d .per. •week-, from the pay of seamen, marines, and naval reservists, and on tho preparation.,of I classified statetneiits thereof for Ad-> miralty ledgers. The total Cost was over £8000 per annum, representing about.. 4 per cent, of the full value of tho insurance contributions in question. Yet at the time of tho' inspection the work was greatly in arrear The Committee comment :■ "In the Admiralty Department the force of tradition appears to be verjt ■strong. Systems which have- been ex* eellehtly devised wnen first started, are maihtaiiiedHThen changes in circumstances make their reconsideration desirable?' EXPENSIVE. OVERTIME .:- Overtime .comes in for comment, arid .the Committee say: "There is a tendency, —conscious or uncoriScibiis—to spread out the .work,- with tlio result that "no proportionate increase of output results from increased hours.''- ; ' '■'..- ---s The audit of accounts- of naval stores, on-' which a staff of 54.. clerks Was: engaged, was. entirely suspended at the outbreak of the war, and was not re-. sumed until, early in 1917. ■ "At the date of our Sub-Committee's inspection there were over 6000 accounts swatting audit, and at the existing rate of progress it would take about eleven years to bring the. work up to date.". •'■■'•■• The Committee, feel bound to make it clear that, so long as the present system of Government • - control, tteeesaitattiig large _ and .- complicated administrative machines is maintained, there is no possibility that the. staffs of public Departments can be reduced to the pre-war level. ;