There is a classic example of government waste and arrogance in today’s Observer. The Department of Health has taken to paying celebrities to appear in public health announcements. The thinking (and it is rather dubious if you ask me) being that a celebrity is more likely than anyone else to persuade us to eat five pieces of fruit a day and the like.
The Observer put in a Freedom of Information request to find out how much these celebrities are paid for this work. But the Department of Health is refusing to disclose the sums involved, with a spokesman saying: “The Department appreciates that high-profile individuals are very successful at communicating public health messages.”
There is no way that The Department of Health should be spending tax-payers money on this while refusing to reveal how much it is spending. This makes it impossible for the tax-payers to judge whether this is an effective use of their money.
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