“Not Cost-effective”

The two stories appearing side by side on page 8 of the EVENING STANDARD’s edition on Wednesday 2 March 2016, appeared to be unrelated:

1. The most-signed Parliamentary petition in history for the meningitis vaccine to be extended from babies to all children under 11 yrs old was dismissed by the Government as “not cost-effective.”
2. The extension of the Sate Pension Age to 69 yrs by the 2040s, possibly abandoning the concept altogether and declaring the State Pension to be a minimum requirement to be topped up to a ‘living pension’ by private funds.  This I assume to be the result of a “cost-effectiveness” exercise.

I began to surmise how our current Government defines “cost effectiveness,” particularly as it continues to award itself inflation-busting pay rises while it seeks to reduce, in real terms, both the pay of ‘ordinary’ public employees and the justifiable benefits of disabled persons.

Being a public sector employee myself, involved with public procurement, I’m well versed in the principles of Value for Money and the concept of balancing price or cost (including cost in use or lifetime cost) against quality and non-cost criteria.  However, I’m also well aware of the requirement to make the criteria upon which evaluations will be evaluated open and transparent.  To that end, I’ve spent many hours setting out such criteria and weightings and making them known to companies who will be evaluated.  Indeed, it is a legal requirement to make those criteria and weightings available to all companies who may be interested in tendering for a public contract.

So why do the very people who legislate for others pay little regard to their own rules when carrying out cost effectiveness evaluations for such things as saving children’s lives and providing for the welfare of disabled persons and the elderly?

Back to my surmise that it’s down to “Do what I say and not what I do.”

On an unrelated matter, I also wonder how both sides of the “Brexit” discussion evaluate the cost-effectiveness of remaining within or withdrawing from the EU.  Answers please.