Cabinet Office Allocated $6.29M For 2015/16
The total current expenditure for the Cabinet Office and all the Departments that come under it is estimated to be $6.296 million for 2015/16, which represents a decrease of $696,000 or 10% under the original budget for 2014/15.
The Cabinet Office is responsible for the Departments that provide support services to other Ministries, including the Department of Statistics, the Department of Human Resources, Information Technology Office, the Department of Communication & Information, Project Management & Procurement, E-Government, Sustainable Development as well as overseas offices.
The London Office has a budget allocation of $1.032 million representing a decrease of $5,000 from the 2014/15 original budget allocation, while the Washington DC Office has a budget allocation of $648,000, representing an increase of $6,000 or 1% more than the 2014/15 original budget allocation.
These numbers were revealed earlier this week when Premier Michael Dunkley delivered the Cabinet Office brief in the House of Assembly, which also saw a spirited debate around issues of transparency and accountability.
Excerpt of the Premier speaking during the debate:
Speaking on the cost of consultants during the debate, Premier Dunkley said, “Let’s talk about consultants for a second. Former Premier had seven consultants. That’s no problem, because policy allows a Premier to hire any consultants they want, he had seven consultants. The next PLP Premier had five consultants.
“Under the OBA, Premier Cannonier cut it to four. I’ve cut it to two. They don’t want to talk about that. They want to talk tripe about transparency and accountability,” added the Premier.
The Premier’s brief also referenced using technology to increase efficiency, saying: “Digitization of services represents yet another tool that will serve to increase efficiency, streamline service delivery and ultimately reduce costs. You will recall that the Government accepted the recommendation to expand digital record keeping and other digital services.
“I can report today that the new Government Portal will signal the first major change in the way that the Government provides services. The development of the information architecture for www.gov.bm has been completed and the new customer-centric portal is expected to launch in the fall of 2016.
“Following the launch of the new portal, the public can expect to see the introduction of a range of Government services provided on-line. Ultimately this will result in a reduction in the number of front-line customer service officers required by the Government.”
The full 38-page Cabinet Office brief follows below [PDF here]:
The Premier’s apparent lack of ability to communicate a vision for this country going forward and his lack of statesmanship/decorum in the HoA – has revealed that he may need more consultants as opposed to less. Quo Fata Ferunt
You also forgot ,lack of Transparency, Accountability, Honesty etc.
So with tht PLP failing and 7 consultants in their hands , how many more should the PLP have had?
What Marc bean said immediately before this would help put the remarks in some context. Just on its own it sounds aggressive. In context it is balanced. I heard it all.
$7,815,000.00 Cabinet Budget under Dr. E. Brown in 2008 – 2009.
Need to either reduces todays figure for inflation or increase Browns by inflation since then. What is inflation 1.5% per year (could be more)..don’t have it at hand for 6 years (v 2015 budget)
would be $8,545,259. Therefore a net saving of BMD 2,250,000.00
I think inflation may have been higher in some of those years, making the saving much more than the per annum dollars saved here.