HIE - how to obfuscate - lesson 1!
It is always an education to read reports from the "public service" quangos.
We've just been having a laugh at the HIE (Highlands and Islands Enterprise) annual report from 2background-color: #b7c3cf; -moz-border-radius: 10px; min-height: 20px; width: 575px; font-weight: normal; padding: 15px 15px 15px 15px;background-color: #b7c3cf; -moz-border-radius: 10px; min-height: 20px; width: 575px; font-weight: normal; padding: 15px 15px 15px 15px;6-2background-color: #b7c3cf; -moz-border-radius: 10px; min-height: 20px; width: 575px; font-weight: normal; padding: 15px 15px 15px 15px;background-color: #b7c3cf; -moz-border-radius: 10px; min-height: 20px; width: 575px; font-weight: normal; padding: 15px 15px 15px 15px;7. If you need a lesson in how not to be transparent, then look no further.
Here's the section on expenditure - how the HIE spends your money :
Business Growth and Research --- 29m
Global Connections ---------------- 34.2m
Developing skills and learning ------ 14.1m
Strengthening communities --------- 12.2m
Administration --------------------- 24.5m
Does any of that actually mean anything? Is any of it a cause for worry? Yes, indeed.
Why is the Highlands and Islands Enterprise board spending 34.2 million pounds on global connections? Why is it spending almost a quarter of its budget on administration? Why is it spending any money at all?
Here's another juicy item from the report:
There has been an increase in the liability arising in the Highlands and Islands Enterprise superannuation scheme of £11.8 million as a result of strengthened mortality assumptions and a reduction in the discount rate used in the relevant calculations for this scheme. The liability arising from the various local government pension funds to which the Network contributes increased by £background-color: #b7c3cf; -moz-border-radius: 10px; min-height: 20px; width: 575px; font-weight: normal; padding: 15px 15px 15px 15px;.5 million."!
To me that sounds like the HIE spent one sixth of its annual budget on funding the pensions of its employees. It increased its spending on pensions by a factor of 3 in one year alone. And that was all down to "strengthened mortality assumptions". Those guys are planning to live to 15background-color: #b7c3cf; -moz-border-radius: 10px; min-height: 20px; width: 575px; font-weight: normal; padding: 15px 15px 15px 15px;!
I suppose after all that is only fair, since the HIE did manage to answer 97% of all phone calls to it within 5 rings! Those guys definitely deserve a big bump in their pensions. In fact, let's give them another big pay rise. It's only taxpayers money, after all!
