There’s a BBC report that Birmingham (my local council) and its partner Capita – through their joint venture Service Birmingham – are going to “offshore” some of the jobs it’s cutting. And there’s another report here which seems to pin this at 145 jobs this year. The words they use to spin this disgraceful tactic are utterly deplorable.
It’s interesting, of course, that this wasn’t something the parties involved seemed to be actively campaigning on in the recent elections.
Service Birmingham say they are talking about a ” limited number of back office technical roles”. As opposed to an infinite number, presumably. They also say they “remain absolutely committed to our Birmingham workforce”. At least, that which is left. And for the time being.
It’s bad enough when the banks use our bail-out money to fund their offshoring ambitions. But it’s utterly disgraceful when local government does the same with our taxes. I caught a clip on BBC Parliament last night, where David Cameron claimed the fact that UK growth (in the last few year) was mostly sustained by public sector growth. Well, it looks like in future the economic growth of the Indian economy will be mostly sustained by UK public sector contraction.
I guess that those 145 jobs are going to mean about £4m-£8m that is being taken from Birmingham council taxpayers that won’t go back into the local economy. The guys in Pune aren’t going to buy their sandwiches in Birmingham. They don’t pay Birmingham Council Tax. They don’t pay UK VAT when they buy things, or contribute Income Tax to the UK economy. They don’t volunteer to support our local community, of course. And they don’t have an interest in the quality of life in the region.
“The council has said it needs to save £212m in the next financial year” the report says. Sorry, but that’s no excuse. Providing services is only the explicit half of what a council is there to do. The unstated part is supporting the local economy – in which case the money doesn’t evaporate, it supports the people and businesses of the region.
This isn’t why we pay our taxes. Birmingham Council must recognise that the their constituents expect that the public money with which they are entrusted should be used – wherever possible – to benefit the economy they are supposed to be promoting.
And that moving these skills abroad is equally shameful. That’s the reason we don’t have a manufacturing industry any more. Why should any company locate its IT department in Birmingham, when the Council is sending the message that you take it to India? They should be ashamed.
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