RMweb Gold Joseph_Pestell Posted February 7, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 7, 2018 Governments are for ever telling us that they will relieve us of "red tape". And yet, we seem to get more and more! Just received an e-mail from the company that installed our CCTV. Apparently, that now needs to be registered (and then registration renewed annually) with the Information Commissioner's Office. Our supplier helpfully provided a link to the ICO website, surely the most UNINFORMATIVE website that I have ever come across. So that will be another few unproductive hours each year...... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted February 7, 2018 Share Posted February 7, 2018 Aren't all quangos useless? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Dava Posted February 7, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 7, 2018 Aren't all quangos useless? Some of them perform tasks the govt considers useful, such as Passport office, DVLA and regulating things. The question is whether they are efficient, does it need to be done, and do they get culled when no longer required? An alternative model is to contract out to the usual suspects [who mentioned crony capitalism?] Serco, Capita, you can see where this is going....Crapbillion? Dava Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted February 7, 2018 Share Posted February 7, 2018 Some of them perform tasks the govt considers useful, such as Passport office, DVLA and regulating things. The question is whether they are efficient, does it need to be done, and do they get culled when no longer required? An alternative model is to contract out to the usual suspects [who mentioned crony capitalism?] Serco, Capita, you can see where this is going....Crapbillion? Why not get a bunch of railway modellers' forums to run things? 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium kevinlms Posted February 7, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 7, 2018 Why not get a bunch of railway modellers' forums to run things? Well, at least the discussion would be mostly pleasant, unlike many other forums. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted February 7, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 7, 2018 Well, at least the discussion would be mostly pleasant, unlike many other forums. Sorry, but you clearly aren't reading the right threads.... 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium kevinlms Posted February 7, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 7, 2018 Sorry, but you clearly aren't reading the right threads.... Well, I could point you to worse forums than RMweb! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BoD Posted February 7, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 7, 2018 Why not get a bunch of railway modellers' forums to run things? What would be the point? Problems would be just shunted around. It might provide a platform for some but the rest of us know our station. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titan Posted February 7, 2018 Share Posted February 7, 2018 Thread derailed... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeoffAlan Posted February 7, 2018 Share Posted February 7, 2018 Some Quangos were useful. The Metrication Board, which was killed off in late 1979 was changing us over to a fully metric system. It was closed before we completed the process and you still find weights ad measures in a mixture of Metric and Imperial units. Whether you wanted to metricate Britain or not the present mess is nor what anyone would plan. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted February 7, 2018 Share Posted February 7, 2018 Thread derailed... My work here....is done. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium kevinlms Posted February 7, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 7, 2018 Some Quangos were useful. The Metrication Board, which was killed off in late 1979 was changing us over to a fully metric system. It was closed before we completed the process and you still find weights ad measures in a mixture of Metric and Imperial units. Whether you wanted to metricate Britain or not the present mess is nor what anyone would plan. Australia basically completed its Metrication plan and we're officially metric. But go into any hardware store and you'll find as many Imperial bolts, drill bits, spanners etc as there are metric. What is the point of the duplication? A few months ago, I was looking for some 6mm bolts 30mm long. I had to settle for some, where the packet proudly claimed that, they were 6mm x 1 1/4 inch long! WTF? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted February 7, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 7, 2018 Aren't all quangos useless? , and governments? Mike. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Dunsignalling Posted February 7, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 7, 2018 , and governments? Mike. That's the kind of thinking that resulted in President Trump. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
eastwestdivide Posted February 7, 2018 Share Posted February 7, 2018 Uninformative? I googled ICO went to ico.co.uk scrolled down and clicked "for the public" under Advice, clicked "CCTV on your property" takes you to https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/cctv-on-your-property/ first line of info "CCTV used on your property will be exempt from the Data Protection Act unless you are capturing footage of individuals outside your property" and a load of other advice, plus a link to "Register your household CCTV" - cost you £35 a year though. Not sure I agree with the cost or the principle, but I wouldn't call it uninformative. Also, what's the difference between: - recording people in the street on, say, a hand-held movie camera, or even a stills camera (presumably not covered by the DPA) - recording people in the street from CCTV on your property (apparently requiring a DPA registration)? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium njee20 Posted February 7, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 7, 2018 The ICO are basically the watchdog for data use and privacy. If you care about people's ability to sell your details or leak them online then they have a function. If you're not bothered about that sort of thing, just post your full name, address, DOB and mother's maiden name here, if you wouldn't mind! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
WessexEclectic Posted February 7, 2018 Share Posted February 7, 2018 Well, at least the discussion would be mostly pleasant, unlike many other forums. Reminds me of a Sir Humphrey quote about '...terrible policy but frightfully well carried out.'! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted February 7, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 7, 2018 Uninformative? I googled ICO went to ico.co.uk scrolled down and clicked "for the public" under Advice, clicked "CCTV on your property" takes you to https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/cctv-on-your-property/ first line of info "CCTV used on your property will be exempt from the Data Protection Act unless you are capturing footage of individuals outside your property" and a load of other advice, plus a link to "Register your household CCTV" - cost you £35 a year though. Not sure I agree with the cost or the principle, but I wouldn't call it uninformative. Also, what's the difference between: - recording people in the street on, say, a hand-held movie camera, or even a stills camera (presumably not covered by the DPA) - recording people in the street from CCTV on your property (apparently requiring a DPA registration)? - recording people on your car camera? Mike. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BoD Posted February 7, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 7, 2018 (edited) Where do dash cams fit in? Edit: Mike beat me to it. Edited February 7, 2018 by BoD Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonny777 Posted February 7, 2018 Share Posted February 7, 2018 It appears that, as yet, there is no clear policy. https://www.roadhawk.co.uk/articles/dash-cams-and-data-protection 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddieB Posted February 7, 2018 Share Posted February 7, 2018 Quangos - a refuge for "executives" who have failed in the private sector. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BoD Posted February 7, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 7, 2018 Some of them perform tasks the govt considers useful, such as Passport office, DVLA and regulating things. The question is whether they are efficient, does it need to be done, and do they get culled when no longer required? A good question. Apparently quite a number have been culled over the last decade or so. If you have a few minutes of your life that you don't want to get back there is a list of all Non departmental government bodies (quangos) and their expenditure here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-bodies-2016 I can see the point of quite a lot of them actually. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenman Posted February 7, 2018 Share Posted February 7, 2018 A good question. Apparently quite a number have been culled over the last decade or so. If you have a few minutes of your life that you don't want to get back there is a list of all Non departmental government bodies (quangos) and their expenditure here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-bodies-2016 I can see the point of quite a lot of them actually. Quite: I'd rather not have the dead hand of government in direct control of the National Crime Agency, the Statistics Authority, or Public Health England, to take three of many. Technical or professional jobs are much better undertaken by specialist agencies than generalist civil servants under the direction of ministers. Where our system has fewer inbuilt checks and balances than some western democracies, it is better that at least some power is not directly in government's control. Which is not to say that some of them are not ripe for culling: personally I'd start with a nomination for the Design Council, a rather nifty and useful body in the 1950s and 60s; pretty pointless in the 2010s. Paul Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeoffAlan Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 Australia basically completed its Metrication plan and we're officially metric. But go into any hardware store and you'll find as many Imperial bolts, drill bits, spanners etc as there are metric. What is the point of the duplication? A few months ago, I was looking for some 6mm bolts 30mm long. I had to settle for some, where the packet proudly claimed that, they were 6mm x 1 1/4 inch long! WTF? The classic was when I was building a walk in wardrobe, just after the building trade had gone fully metric. Having measured up in mm I walked into the wood shop and asked for the appropriate lengths be cut out of a mixture of 20x30mm and 10x20mm wood. I was told they couldn't do that as the wood was either 1x1.5" or 0.5x1". So back I go and measure up in feet and inches. On my return I ask for my first pieces each 1x1.5" and 6'8" long. 'Oh, we can't do that! We have to cut lengths in metric measurement only.' Total chaos ensued! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium kevinlms Posted February 8, 2018 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 8, 2018 Quite: I'd rather not have the dead hand of government in direct control of the National Crime Agency, the Statistics Authority, or Public Health England, to take three of many. Technical or professional jobs are much better undertaken by specialist agencies than generalist civil servants under the direction of ministers. Where our system has fewer inbuilt checks and balances than some western democracies, it is better that at least some power is not directly in government's control. Which is not to say that some of them are not ripe for culling: personally I'd start with a nomination for the Design Council, a rather nifty and useful body in the 1950s and 60s; pretty pointless in the 2010s. Paul So what do you make of this shambles? http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/the-16-high-powered-guns-victoria-s-firearm-registry-can-t-account-for-20180208-p4yzqc.html Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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