Latest news with #GovernmentEfficiency
BBC News
13-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Failure 'not an option' says Derbyshire's new anti-waste chief
Reform UK's new efficiency chief in Derbyshire says the party's flagship anti-waste agenda will pull the council's finances "back from the brink", despite admitting there is "limited scope" for savings in the County Council has a net budget spend of roughly £770m and debt levels in the region of £400m. Its current budget plans - formed under the previous Conservative leaders - include a deficit of well over £30m, largely due to pressures on adult and children's social care and special educational is one of only a few of Reform's new councils that has made its efficiency drive into a formal cabinet position. John Lawson, the newly elected Breaston councillor who has a background in finance, will be leading the county's "Doge" drive, modelled after the Department of Government Efficiency previously overseen by Elon Musk in the says formalising the position in Derbyshire is part of a "concerted effort" to stop the council from going into special measures, which would be the "direction of travel" without their efforts."[The council] is in significant debt's not really the problem. The problem we see is the increase in runaway expenditure. The operating expenses of running the council," he said."The position we inherited was a council spending beyond its means." Rather than making cuts and slashing expenditure, the party's focus will be on making spending more efficient and effective with existing efficiency by 10% is seen as an achievable target over the course of the next few years, and while it is unclear how exactly this will be measured, attempting to maintain existing levels of spending against a backdrop of rising costs and demand will be the broad aim. Lawson says that in the past two years, the council has spent £238m more than it anticipated it would have to, roughly a 15 - 20% overspend, which he says cannot be wholly explained by rising costs and other external and assessing council contracts, as well as combing through the council's operating costs, are seen as a prime target for where efficiencies can be found. However, the former administration's budget plans passed by the council in February will be adhered to for the rest of the financial year."We're not looking to make any savings over and above that, other than the small savings that we've already made, because we're just still understanding where we are," Lawson said."Hopefully we can make more savings but I can't promise anything at the moment."If you come back in six months time hopefully we've managed to find £10m we can save, but I doubt that will be the case simply because we know that there have been cost pressures."Having said that, we know that over the last two years the Conservative administration massively overspent, so if we can rein some of that in then possibly we can make some savings."He rejected any suggestion the party had underestimated the scale of the difficulty in finding efficiencies. "70% of the council's spend is spent on very vulnerable there's very limited scope for reducing spend, but that doesn't mean it can't be done," he said. However, the finance director admitted the party had overestimated figures put out recently claiming to have made around £88,000 of savings in its first two weeks in power, or £6,000 a day."We'll hold our hands up - we made a mistake there, was just a miscalculation", says Lawson, claiming the figure is more like £4,000 a day and about £60,000 worth of savings on councillor allowances and other small scale parties have used the "minute" figures to claim that the party's Doge agenda has been "discredited", according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service."I'm grateful that our colleagues in the Tories and the Greens have actually pointed out we are saving money," Lawson said. Morale concern While job cuts are not being ruled out, Lawson says employee headcount will not be reduced in the short term with the potential exception of "small teams".However, it is possible staff pension schemes will be looked at, which the deputy leader of the party Richard Tice has criticised for being "unaffordable"."There's no doubt that defined benefit pension schemes have unfortunately become very expensive to operate," Lawson said."Ultimately, we haven't got a magic money tree, and we have to bear that in mind with future contracts." Leaders also think productivity can be tackled by "improving staff morale", which Lawson says is "on the floor". But the emphasis will be an ongoing mindset shift to the council's approach to its spending, rather than a "slash and cut" mentality in order to achieve the party's aims."We're very focused. We were elected on a ticket of change," Lawson says, rejecting the idea that recent turmoil at the top of the party will hinder their efforts for delivering Doge on the ground."We were elected by the people of Derbyshire to try to essentially instil some common sense into the management of council services. Failure is not an option." The leader of Derbyshire Conservatives Alex Dale predicts Reform UK will fail to "live up to their own hype" and says the Conservatives had left the council's budget "in a far stronger position than it was two years ago"."It's becoming increasingly clear that running a council of this scale and with these challenges is far more complex than Reform UK claimed during the election campaign and so it's little wonder they're getting their excuses in early now," he said."We'll be holding them to account for every promise they made and every decision they now take, on behalf of Derbyshire residents."
Associated Press
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Live updates: More protests planned against Trump's policies as military parade approaches
Opponents of President Donald Trump's administration are set to rally in hundreds of cities on Saturday during the military parade in Washington for the Army's 250th anniversary — which coincides with Trump's birthday — after a week of protests across the country against his immigration policies. The 'No Kings' protests are set to take place to counter what organizers say are Trump's plans to feed his ego on what is also his 79th birthday and Flag Day. Update: Date: 2025-06-12 12:00:28 Title: Ask AP reporters a question Content: We'll answer a few each day during our live coverage. Update: Date: 2025-06-12 11:59:40 Title: What to know about the 'No Kings' protests planned for Saturday Content: The 'No Kings' protests are set to take place to counter what organizers say are Trump's plans to feed his ego this Saturday during a military parade on what is also Trump's 79th birthday. The 'No Kings' theme was orchestrated by the 50501 Movement, a national movement made up of everyday Americans who stand for democracy and against what they call the authoritarian actions of the Trump administration. The name 50501 stands for 50 states, 50 protests, one movement. Protests earlier this year have denounced Trump and billionaire adviser Elon Musk, the now former leader of Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, a government organization designed to slash federal spending. Protesters have called for Trump to be 'dethroned' as they compare his actions to that of a king and not a democratically elected president. ▶ Read more about the 'No Kings' protests scheduled this weekend
Fox News
11-06-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Trump's DOGE efficiency agency says it slashes $25B in federal spending as rehiring begins
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced on Wednesday it has decreased its annual non-defense federal obligations by an additional ~1.9% since last month. As of June 8th, annual non-defense federal obligations are down 22.4%, or ~$25B, as compared to 2024, DOGE announced on X. The cut marks an additional ~1.9% reduction from last month's figures, which were announced on May 8. "Cash outlays will follow as obligations come due," DOGE wrote in the post. "Our initiative to reduce wasteful spend, consistent with the DOGE Cost Efficiency Executive Order, continues to bear fruit." On May 14, DOGE announced the current year's non-defense federal obligations were down 20.5% as compared to 2024. The announcement came minutes before Fox News Digital was first to report the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is rehiring more than 450 previously fired employees belonging to multiple divisions within the agency's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The rehired CDC employees came from the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and Tuberculosis Prevention; the National Center for Environmental Health; the Immediate Office of the Director, and the Global Health Center, according to an HHS official familiar with the matter. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told CBS News in April some personnel who were cut shouldn't have been. "We're reinstating them, and that was always the plan," Kennedy said. "Part of the—at DOGE, we talked about this from the beginning, is we're going to do 80% cuts, but 20% of those are going to have to be reinstated, because we'll make mistakes." In addition to the HHS rehires, the Internal Revenue Service, Food and Drug Administration, State Department, and Department of Housing and Urban Development started rehiring employees let go during DOGE cuts, the Washington Post reported. Another roadblock this week was a ruling from U.S. District Judge Denise Cote of the Southern District of New York, who ruled to restrict the agency's access to federal databases. The Trump administration previously said DOGE could not work effectively with the limitations, noting DOGE needed to access Social Security information to root out fraud.
New York Times
10-06-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Can Anyone Replace Elon Musk?
Who wants to lead the Department of Government Efficiency? With the departure of Elon Musk and his right-hand man Steve Davis from government, administration officials and members of the controversial cost-cutting effort have been in detailed discussions this week about who will functionally be in charge of it, according to four people familiar with the talks. Debate about who should take charge has spread through the White House, DOGE and Silicon Valley. In the first days after Mr. Musk's departure, it centered on the billionaire Joe Gebbia, one of Mr. Musk's close friends and a board member at his automaker, Tesla. Mr. Gebbia joined DOGE in February and had been under consideration to effectively take over Mr. Musk's signature government project, according to a half-dozen people briefed on the conversations. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to disclose private talks. But Mr. Gebbia, who rose to prominence in Silicon Valley when he co-founded Airbnb, began telling others that he was not interested in a role in which he alone would lead DOGE, according to some of the people. That is in part because of the intense scrutiny that would come with a formal role in charge of it. The current plan is for a small council of advisers, including Mr. Gebbia, to oversee DOGE, according to some of the people. The Airbnb co-founder has expressed interest in this broader leadership team. Another member of DOGE, the investment banker Anthony Armstrong, could join this leadership platoon, the people said. In 2022, Mr. Armstrong, then at Morgan Stanley, worked on Mr. Musk's deal to buy Twitter. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Donald Trump Reveals What's Next For That Tesla He Bought From Elon Musk
Donald Trump on Monday addressed a question that's been on many people's minds ever since the president's spectacular blow-out with former so-called 'First Buddy' Elon Musk last week. Namely, what will happen to the red Tesla model S that Trump bought during a White House event in March to promote Musk's electric vehicle brand amid backlash to the billionaire's now-ended role leading the public spending-slashing, unofficial Department of Government Efficiency. 'Are you going to get rid of the Tesla and the Starlink system that you have here at the White House?' Trump was asked by a reporter. 'No, I haven't heard that,' the president replied. 'I mean, I may move the Tesla around a little bit but I don't think we'll be doing that with Starlink, it's a good service,' he added, the latter being Musk's satellite internet service. The journalist pressed Trump on the Tesla: 'Where are you going to move it to? Move it around? What do you mean?' Trump replied: 'I have a lot of locations. I've got so many locations I don't know what to do with them all.' Watch the exchange here: Earlier this month, a White House official had claimed that Trump would sell or give away the car. Karoline Leavitt Squirms Over Maria Bartiromo's Blunt Question About Elon Musk Trump Accused Of Inciting Violence With Chilling New Rhyme Mike Johnson Offers Bizarre Justification For ICE Masks. Backlash Follows. George Clooney Reveals The 1 Line He Used To Silence Protesters During Broadway Play
