Consumer Focus faces axe in quango cull
Discussion
loafer123 said:
Mojooo said:
Not really.
Each TS uses its own IT system and they are not all linked to eachother.
But the Consumer Direct data is accessible to all of them. So chances are the Consumer direct IT system will go and each TS dept continues to use its own system
Presumably the Consumer direct phone number will be turned off and everyone now phones their local council.
Perhaps neighbouring TS department should meet occasionally, have a coffee and a gossip, and see where they have cross-over cases? I mean, it's not exactly rocket science, now is it?Each TS uses its own IT system and they are not all linked to eachother.
But the Consumer Direct data is accessible to all of them. So chances are the Consumer direct IT system will go and each TS dept continues to use its own system
Presumably the Consumer direct phone number will be turned off and everyone now phones their local council.
and again, that wouldn't really help in a situiation where for example someone had set up a website and taken 5 people for £5000 if they were in 5 local authorities all 100 miles away from eachother. even if it was bought up in a regional meeting you may only get 1 or 2 customers per regional area (which wont show the issue as serious as it actually is).
Mojooo said:
and again, that wouldn't really help in a situiation where for example someone had set up a website and taken 5 people for £5000 if they were in 5 local authorities all 100 miles away from eachother. even if it was bought up in a regional meeting you may only get 1 or 2 customers per regional area (which wont show the issue as serious as it actually is).
It's called a database and doesn't require £70m per annum to run.Nearly everyone on PH could spec the department - it would require 1 very simple website, and 1 person max to look after it, and 1 server.
It would not require £70m pa.
Coincidentally I was at the O2 arena this week and they had CD number printed on the back of their tickets..
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I guess that 70m refers to the total cost of running CD? I imagine the majority of it will be the cost of call centre advisors. Yes it will be a huge saving. So we will either end up without those resources now or that money just being spent using different tax money and putting those staff elsewhere. I think we all know what the outcome will be.
A quick wiki search shows that here are almost 200 different councils in England/Wales/Scotland. Each with their own TS dept, own IT dept and own database software licences (not to mention the cost of change). And you think it will be possible to get them all to use the same thing? The only way that would happen is if they were forced to by central Govt and I doubt that will happen.
There is *already* a need for a database that offers more features than CD provides for TS and they havent been able to come up with a national one for everyone to use (or get them to use it - even on a regional level) so i dont see this being any different.
Anyhow, this discussion doesnt really seem to be moving in any direction...
I would love for a more coherent approach to the whole thing but it would only work if Govt forced through changes and infact the best way forward would be to have a national combination of CD and TS depts.
The people on here that think its a pointless service, be that as it may, its only when you end up with a family member that has been ripped off or scammed that you need assistance and that is when you will probably find/seek out CD (or the lack of it)
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I guess that 70m refers to the total cost of running CD? I imagine the majority of it will be the cost of call centre advisors. Yes it will be a huge saving. So we will either end up without those resources now or that money just being spent using different tax money and putting those staff elsewhere. I think we all know what the outcome will be.
A quick wiki search shows that here are almost 200 different councils in England/Wales/Scotland. Each with their own TS dept, own IT dept and own database software licences (not to mention the cost of change). And you think it will be possible to get them all to use the same thing? The only way that would happen is if they were forced to by central Govt and I doubt that will happen.
There is *already* a need for a database that offers more features than CD provides for TS and they havent been able to come up with a national one for everyone to use (or get them to use it - even on a regional level) so i dont see this being any different.
Anyhow, this discussion doesnt really seem to be moving in any direction...
I would love for a more coherent approach to the whole thing but it would only work if Govt forced through changes and infact the best way forward would be to have a national combination of CD and TS depts.
The people on here that think its a pointless service, be that as it may, its only when you end up with a family member that has been ripped off or scammed that you need assistance and that is when you will probably find/seek out CD (or the lack of it)
Mojooo said:
. Each with their own TS dept, own IT dept and own database software licences (not to mention the cost of change). And you think it will be possible to get them all to use the same thing? The only way that would happen is if they were forced to by central Govt and I doubt that will happen.
Many councils share common IT systems.This is the trouble. Everyone agrees with cuts until it's the turn of their pet quango. Sorry, cuts mean cuts. It means the government will be doing less and it means you will have to do more for yourself. Even, yes even if you need some consumer advice about the button falling off your new shirt.
Or maybe the govt is just getting rid of anything they can call a quango, regardless of what it does, how efficient it is, or whether it'd cost more to do the same job elsewhere. Some can go easily, or course, but some functions will go back to govt depts to do - badly, probably.
Baby, bathwater, but the govt will look like it's doing something, that's the main thing.
Btw, I'd not heard of CF until I heard on R4 how much money it'd got back for the consumer incorrectly charged by the power industry.
Baby, bathwater, but the govt will look like it's doing something, that's the main thing.
Btw, I'd not heard of CF until I heard on R4 how much money it'd got back for the consumer incorrectly charged by the power industry.
Sticks. said:
Or maybe the govt is just getting rid of anything they can call a quango, regardless of what it does, how efficient it is, or whether it'd cost more to do the same job elsewhere. Some can go easily, or course, but some functions will go back to govt depts to do - badly, probably.
Baby, bathwater, but the govt will look like it's doing something, that's the main thing.
Btw, I'd not heard of CF until I heard on R4 how much money it'd got back for the consumer incorrectly charged by the power industry.
If only a tiny fraction of the populace has ever heard or had dealings with any Quango, then my vote is to put the money into something the public does use, a lot. Something like the NHS or Edjoocashun. Baby, bathwater, but the govt will look like it's doing something, that's the main thing.
Btw, I'd not heard of CF until I heard on R4 how much money it'd got back for the consumer incorrectly charged by the power industry.
Sticks. said:
Or maybe the govt is just getting rid of anything they can call a quango, regardless of what it does, how efficient it is, or whether it'd cost more to do the same job elsewhere. Some can go easily, or course, but some functions will go back to govt depts to do - badly, probably.
Baby, bathwater, but the govt will look like it's doing something, that's the main thing.
Btw, I'd not heard of CF until I heard on R4 how much money it'd got back for the consumer incorrectly charged by the power industry.
The same could probably be said of moneysavingexpert website. I imagine that doesn't cost Martin that much to run, he just gets people to do their own work.Baby, bathwater, but the govt will look like it's doing something, that's the main thing.
Btw, I'd not heard of CF until I heard on R4 how much money it'd got back for the consumer incorrectly charged by the power industry.
I also imagine he got a lot more back for a lot of issues.
pugwash4x4 said:
Neither I nor anyone in our 20 person office has heard of Consumer focus.
Like most people we look on the internet for consumer help and guidance.
The vast majority of Quangos seem to be doing jobs that we could ourselves if we just got off our backsides and helped ourselves.
Same here, never heard of themLike most people we look on the internet for consumer help and guidance.
The vast majority of Quangos seem to be doing jobs that we could ourselves if we just got off our backsides and helped ourselves.
MSE is a good site and it only highlights how weak consumers are in the grand scheme of things. I wouldn't confuse his website for the kind of work some of these other organsiations do.
One thing is clear, consumers need empowering and by removing these organisations that will only set things back.
I think the msitake some people make is that they assume consumers are well informed and capable - that is clearly not the case in a large proportion of cases.
One thing is clear, consumers need empowering and by removing these organisations that will only set things back.
I think the msitake some people make is that they assume consumers are well informed and capable - that is clearly not the case in a large proportion of cases.
Mojooo said:
Anyhow, this discussion doesnt really seem to be moving in any direction...
I
It had - that it was good to cut these quangos. Perhaps not in the direction you wished?I
Remember the country is broke. We cant afford all these nanny nets. We have the courts - if someone is agreevied they can start court action but then again that will cost them a bit of time and money which cuts out disingenious claims.
Mojooo said:
MSE is a good site and it only highlights how weak consumers are in the grand scheme of things. I wouldn't confuse his website for the kind of work some of these other organsiations do.
One thing is clear, consumers need empowering and by removing these organisations that will only set things back.
I think the msitake some people make is that they assume consumers are well informed and capable - that is clearly not the case in a large proportion of cases.
For goodness sake, what companies were investigated by this quango that wouldn't have come up on Trading Standards radar???!!!!One thing is clear, consumers need empowering and by removing these organisations that will only set things back.
I think the msitake some people make is that they assume consumers are well informed and capable - that is clearly not the case in a large proportion of cases.
The only good thing about this quango is that it was multi region, but what companies were ripping consumers off that were small enough to skirt under Trading Standards radar, and could only be detected by Consumer Focus?
None of them. Because most companies to rip people off on such a scale would already have been reported to their local Trading Standards office, and if the fraud was a suitable size, it would have been referred to the Department of Trade (whatever they call it these days).
We also have plenty of newspapers who collect this information about dodgy companies. Get ripped off and the BBC Watchdog and Daily Mail will climb over each other to get the story!
So why do we need to spend another £70m??????? FFS.
hornetrider said:
Mojooo said:
I think the msitake some people make is that they assume consumers are well informed and capable - that is clearly not the case in a large proportion of cases.
The ill-informed and incapable can go and swing as far as I'm concerned.There are plenty of victims of companies behaving poorly, an example is the ash cloud thing which was featured on Watchdog and has been running for month. Do tell why these companies cannot follow a rule 101 piece ofleiglsation in the airline industry?
Anyway, the closedown of Consumer DIRECT and some parts of the OFT was confirmed today. Main thing I have found so far is people moaning that the CAB is already struggling to cope with all demand it currently has so there is a question mark over how much extra resourcing they will get.
Doesnt look like the changover will happen ti early next year though
Incidentally I have noticed a load of consumer issues popping up on PH recently!
Just renewed the tax on my car online.
The penultimate page of the DVLA website then offered me, inter alia, the opportunity to manage my theory and practical driving tests on line. There is a also a box for comment on the website. I posted:
"It makes little sense to offer someone who has just used the online service to retax their car in their own name the opportunity to manage their theory and practical driving tests???? One would have thought most people retaxing a car would already have a driving licence.
Why not help reduce the deficit created by Labour by not wasting tax payers' money on this sort of unnecessary trivia?? Terminate the contract of those maintaining the website and the civil servants managing it. Thank you."
The last page of the website advised me there were teams of civil servants working to improve the website and developing new pages including "What to do if you are made redundant". Prescient self interest perhaps?
The penultimate page of the DVLA website then offered me, inter alia, the opportunity to manage my theory and practical driving tests on line. There is a also a box for comment on the website. I posted:
"It makes little sense to offer someone who has just used the online service to retax their car in their own name the opportunity to manage their theory and practical driving tests???? One would have thought most people retaxing a car would already have a driving licence.
Why not help reduce the deficit created by Labour by not wasting tax payers' money on this sort of unnecessary trivia?? Terminate the contract of those maintaining the website and the civil servants managing it. Thank you."
The last page of the website advised me there were teams of civil servants working to improve the website and developing new pages including "What to do if you are made redundant". Prescient self interest perhaps?
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