Promise not worth paper it's written on

Mar 27 2010 by Bill Midgley, The Journal

WE should not be surprised at the flow of “bright” initiatives from our political parties at present, initiatives which could well have been put forward much earlier if politicians could think beyond the short cycle of an election campaign.

If we see a repeat of previous attempts to sway our vote, many such ideas will fade quietly away after the election, with the usual excuses of cost, not in this Parliament, or the proposal becoming the subject of a select committee, with the inevitable delaying process of some years.

One such proposal is the Government’s initiative to create the “paperless society”. Hardly a new idea – such approaches have regularly emerged over the past two decades or so, during which period the volumes of paper that come out of Government and its subsidiary organisations has grown apace, creating a boom time for paper manufacturers.

The latest proposal is to put all Government departments online so the customer can make all of their enquiries and complete their requests without moving from their own homes. A supposedly simple process that will save the Exchequer many millions as Government offices are closed down and jobs disappear.

Well, I will believe the latter when it happens, or is that if? In an economy that is now ever more reliant on the public sector for job creation, such a proposal will be rapidly stifled. There is also an arrogant assumption this is what the public wants and, indeed, that we all have access to the internet.

The paperless society is a long way off. The real beneficiaries are those organisations who promote such an idea and send out long reports and papers to recipients often, in my case, as a board member. The organisation saves, the individual then prints off and reads! If this is not the case, why do all those supermarkets sell large amounts of copy paper?

We can move towards a “less paper society” with a little thought. In particular on the part of those who see the real challenge in preparing board papers and agenda as the basis for writing long and turgid reports – an opportunity to demonstrate literary skills which numb the mind.

Certainly, offer to a wider public the use of online contact to Government departments. In the meantime, the private sector can show the way by thinking of the recipient in preparing short and clear reports which serve their purpose in far fewer words and really do save a forest or two. Government may then follow suit, perhaps!

Bill Midgley is a North East business executive and former president of the British Chambers of Commerce