The cuts start to bite

pete-s

They will have to get used to it. Put out a consistent message, the cuts and redundancies would not have to be made if Labour had not been on an uncontrolled spending spree. Say it again and again......

wrinkled weasel

I had to think about this. I cannot recall for the life of me, observing any poster or video or radio jingle that might have emanated from the COI, and since I worked for them once upon a time, you would think I could have spotted their fingerprint.

Was this profligacy a stealth operation? Does anyone have examples of how this money was squandered?

Tom

This is a good first start though I'm sure finance directors at commercial radio stations will be having a few sleepless nights. The next cut made in this vein should come be in the number of press officeers and "Campaign managers" lurking within every government department.

M Chops

Half a billion pounds spent on lying for the Labour party. Burn it down to the ground then do the same to the BBC.

Victor Southern

Spin is not needed. We had 13 users of that with endless reannouncements of the same initiatives but little real action. Brown fashioned the most complex tax system known to mankind and then spent millions telling us that "Tax needn't be taxing".

Give the public the facts and let the voters decided.

There have been a great many words written about the government extravagance on "information".

Those have the capacity to understand will understand. Those who refuse to see facts will be with those who do not have that capacity in that they will understand either nothing or that which concurs with their ideas.

While they are at it they can cut out Government sits vac ads in the Guardian as promised. There are no end of ways to save.

Ed P

I queried my local council's costs last Xmas, when a leaflet was delivered (to every household) outlining the changes to rubbish collection over the holiday - which were no changes at all!
After I threatened them with a FOI request, they admitted the cost was approx £6000. We have managed to pass 3 Bank Holidays without any more silly leaflets, so it's possible to stop this wilful waste. The COI are just a larger case.

Verity

As Homer Simpson might say, "Mmmmmmm ... Schadenfreude ...".

JohnPage

Very interesting post.

But it is an exceedingly brave government that actually delivers a big reduction in spin spending just as it is about to embark on the most controversial set of measures in a generation.

Another formulation: when a government is cutting spending on others, it's sensible for it to be able to point to big cuts in spending on itself, especially in areas which ballooned under its predecessor.

It can make hay here, legitimately asking how this is one of those famed "front line services".

And how was COI spending "investment in public services"?

Hysteria

"Central Office of Infomation "

sounds a bit Orwellian to me - why do we have such a thing? If government is delivering what it promised, shouldn't it be obvious ?

Is a COI needed because government is too big and actually can't do much in a modern state? Say it ain't so!

Walsingham's Ghost

The falling of the axe across the neck of the COI is long overdue...

WG

MaxSceptic

Hopefully the other 60% will be made redundant shortly.

brian k

So typical tories approach cut cut cut, more looking for private sector jobs which are not there. as long as the rich ar ok that is fine. We cant help it if the previous excuse for agovt wastedour hard earned money.

Chuck Unsworth

COI always expanded under Labour governments, largely because Labour have traditionally disguised party propaganda as 'information' for the public. Thus anything which reflected well on Labour policies or activities was always trumpeted. It's impossible to escape the conclusion that after thirteen years of Labour COI has gone entirely native. Time for drastic reductions.

They could make a painless start by axing the large numbers of totally artificial jobs such as “Head of Internal Engagement and Change”. WTF is that? Does that title bear any relationship to real life?

Captain Christy

God, I have waited years for this to happen. Can I really believe that I do not have to listen to Labour's mouthpiece Sue Johnson again. Having to listen to those adverts about strokes was enough to give one a stroke. I cannot stand to watch the woman anymore.

Ali C

ast year’s COI marketing spend of an eye-watering £531 million – half of it going on advertising – was about 20 percent more than the next biggest spender, Procter & Gamble.

Holy God, half a billion on patronising ****. That's half a billion of real tax payers money down the drain.... can we get rid of all those 'business change managers' too, please?

TrevorsDen

When I was 'little' I remember what I think were COI info cartoons on 'tele' (and cinema as well).

The CoI were responsible for one of Tony Hankocks funniest moments -- 'Coughs and sneezes spread diseases'.
To my embarrassment I will never forget the cartoon (although as the mist clears maybe it was live action) wife saying to her speeding cartoon husband driver, 'Slow down George, it doesn't start 'til 7.30!'

Ah an age of innocence ...

There needs to be clearer regulation (and or a budget cap) of what the CoI do or Labour will be at it again if they are let back into office.

The CoI is a socialist invention, it replaced the wartime (justifiably Orwellian) Ministry of Information. It should be cut right back.

Baron

Gabriel, it would have been braver still if they cut it off altogether. As Hysteria observes why do we need the Orwellian outfit anyway? Any examples of anything positive from the spinners? I can think only of a TV commercial in which a farther scares his child with pictures of floods and fires.

John

And on Newsnight tonight, sneeringly, 'just a few million will be saved'.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?

Fire them all.

RKing

£531 million............ Jesus Christ is that how much the BBC hacks collect to peddle Liebores propaganda?

Do the COI have to publish accounts so that we can see much each individual collected?

HFC

Oh, oh, oh, whatever am I to do now that the website www.preparingforemergencies.gov.uk is closed?

I kept the compli(e)mentary booklet with the deathless advice GO IN, STAY IN, TUNE IN that was to followed if ever I felt the need to protect myself and my family from some future emergency.

In the booklet, 'Preparing for Emergencies What you need to Know' none other than Debbie Spargo, Chief Executive of the Emergency Planning Society told me that 'the government is working hard to make sure that the UK is as prepared as it can be in the event of an emergency' as if that were a new strategy for which we should all be grateful.

Bet you didn't keep your copy (which could be supplied in many languages simply by calling a freefone number - also now extinct).

All courtesy of the COI. Gosh, how we'll miss them and their fatuous, banal and wasteful output.

Marbury

It's not "spin"! You may think the COI overspends, but is utterly fatuous to equate what it does with the work of spin doctors.

Paul Hawkins

'turnover'? The COI is not a business. They did not make any sales. Thy did not make a profit.If you want to equate them to a private sector business I suggest replacing the word turnover with 'loss'

Roger Davies

Let us hope that all expenditure on advertising Public Sector jobs in the Grauniad stops immediately. All such jobs should be put on a Gov. web-site and only, initially, be open for current Public Sector employees.

Nick Peters

To be fair, the CoI as it was originally constructed had a reasonable purpose, namely the dissemination of government information to media across the spectrum. Much of it tedious c**p but necessary stuff that needed to be passed on. The problem came when it was hijacked to act as Labour's advertising agency, multiplying the effect of grandiose statements of intent that never actually resulted in anything but made the Labour government look good. Or else it was used to achieve behaviour change mandated by the all-seeing government machine. It will still need to exist, but as many posters have said here, dismantling the hugely expensive propaganda mechanisms will be an excellent way to demonstrate seriousness of purpose on the government's behalf.

Chris lancashire

As Guido points out, there are still 450 left in the CoI. What on earth do they all do? Why do we need 450? About 50 seems the right number.

Tim Carpenter LPUK

If you want a true "big society" solution for once, have a competition for ads and videos, so all those unemployed media studies grads we keep being told about can have a crack at showing off their talents. Cheap, incentivising, cartel busting and door opening.

2trueblue

Liebore have set it all up so that anyone who came after them has a herculean task to curb the massive waste they indulged in. No one would miss the COI, and certainly we should not be supporting the BBC which is/was Liebores mouthpiece. I see no reason why the public should pay for the BBC any longer. Those at the BBC are not interested in anything that does not 'fit' their agenda.

alexsandr

and now the members expenses lot (IPSA) seem to need 3 information officers. WTF.

Greenslime

I don't understand why individual departments can't deal with their own propaganda. There should be less error by keeping it closer to the source.

stepney

Contemplate this:

The Times Educational Supplement takes over a MILLION quid out of schools' budgets in advertising in just ONE issue in April.

The amount of staff turnover x £500(+) per advert x 28,000 schools....