Tuesday, May 28, 2013

A Straw In The Wind

The MoJ has denied having plans for 'wholesale' privatisation of the courts. (Cue Mandy Rice-Davies:- "they would, wouldn't they?")

Until last Autumn my court had a nice little snack bar, looked after by a lady who supplied reasonably priced refreshments to court users, staff and magistrates. It was a meeting point for lawyers and others, and was run at no cost to HMCTS. Last Autumn the lady decided to move on, and the bar closed. We were assured that a replacement was being sought, but had to go through the full ponderous civil service procurement process. Then silence.

Recently a colleague was party to a conversation with someone from the court management side, in which he was told that the facility would not be replaced as a result of a "strategic" decision at MoJ level.

Could this be that it might be a tad harder to flog off the courthouse with a small business installed, or even that the deal might be tastier if the buyer could pop in a Costa franchise or suchlike?

Go on then, call me a cynic. In the wonderful world of the Civil Service, one man's cynic is another man's realist. 



2 comments:

  1. A cynic is described as being someone who can see prices but not values.

    If that is so, the MOJ is full of cynics.

    ReplyDelete
  2. grannybiker jp29 May 2013 at 21:09

    I hope we don't lose our snack bar. It is run by volunteers from a local hospice and provides an excellent (mornings only) service for allcomers. Any profits go to the hospice

    ReplyDelete

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