To ask what ONE thing you’d want the government to spend more money on? Or top three perhaps…

[AngryBirdsNoMore]

Inspired by one of the threads on the £100k cut off for funded nursery hours. On these threads, there are always replies that there are better things the government could be spending money on than paying for childcare for higher earners.

I don’t disagree - but I think we’ve all got so used to the idea that there isn’t any money for ANYTHING.

So if you could fund or increase funding to any one thing (or top three if you can’t choose), what would it be? Blank chequebook time.

And is there anything you would stop funding to…

For me, it’s education. Fund more teachers (reducing workload) on better pay, improve facilities in all schools, and make sure there are no black spots with no primary school provision.

Meanwhile, I’d stop funding subsidised bars and restaurants in parliament. There are loads of food and drink options in Westminster - or they can eat in parliament but pay for it.

Spending more money does not necessarily improve things.

It's easy to wish more money went on the NHS. But I don't actually think it would solve the problems in the NHS.

Education, including early years
Healthcare
Housing

and just to say that if the NHS was working, then they wouldn't have to throw older patients out quite so soon (convalescent homes? ) which would help with some of adult social care.
My friends mum broke her hip. SS etc tying themselves in knots trying to get care in place for her to come home, but she was due to be released 4 days before christmas. By the time they finally sorted it she had had an extra 2 weeks in hospital, and she no longer needed most of the support.

Public Transport
NHS (early interventions esp in mental health)
Education
Childcare
Council housing that can't be sold off

Education
Health
Equality - reduce the wealth gap. Whether via taxation/distribution, minimum wage rises.

If you linked rises in minimum wage to the average rise in pay of CEOs at Britain's biggest corporates you'd see executive pay reined in pretty damn quick.

1, education. Increase number of teachers & increase wages. Fully funded after school clubs on school premises until 5pm every night, including sports, drama, art, music, etc.
2, bring back sure start with more outreach work to disadvantaged families.
3, massive building of high quality social housing so that all low-mid earners have access to social housing.

Fairly personal based on my current problems. I would fund a SEN unit in every school above a certain size.

I've been running the obstacle course of looking into special schools for ds but finding them not suitable (they are for kids with too high needs) but ds is cognitively disabled and doesn't fit into state school. Having a provision in between would be wonderful and means that ds wonderful teachers don't have to split their time to help him. There aren't enough places anyway!

Other then that...

NHS
Teachers pay/employment crisis

This nails it for me. Of course I would also like a competent government that used public money in the form of our taxes to competently administer public services.

My long list includes childcare, adult literacy, pot holes, public safety, libraries and transport info and a lot else, but I agree this is the top 3.

Education - I recently read a stat that said for every £1 extra spent on education, the child will bring in £20 more in tax receipts over their lifetime. (But my main motivation is better education for kids right now- this is just to help persuade anyone who isn't interested in improving education for kids' own sakes)
NHS
Social care

And id remove subsidised food and drink etc for MPs
Id charge anyone (adult) over a certain wealth / income level a small amount for their doctor's appointments / prescriptions.
And remove all free benefits that are awarded solely on old age (except for free bus passes because they help keep people who shouldn't really be driving any more out of their cars) obviously anyone below a certain income / wealth level would still be eligible or if they're below retirement age they'd become eligible.
Stuff would still be free for kids though because they don't have their own wealth or income.

Social care
Education
Health

The cost of living, housing and the NHS.

joined up thinking instead of everyone going not in my budget,

1. particularly with the older or chronically ill or diabled person between social care and NHS once NHS says fit for discharge care package at home ( including delivery of aids etc) or in convalescence or a home within 2 working days in most cases max of a week and similarily between education, mental health NHS and social support

2, decent jobs properly paid, especially care work the responsibilty doesn't equal minimum wage care work should be on similar terms as if they worked in NHS and banded roughly the same. People below retirement age who care for their relatives full time should get minimum wage regardless of their savings but they can't have a second job and 5.6 weeks of respite ( ie paid holiday) per year, state pays for the respite care also they would get a minimum of 2 x 3 hours per week respite ( more if they are up more than once between 11pm and 6am in which case they get one overnight per week respite). Retired carers can get pension credit rather than minimum wage but they still get all the paid respite if they are over 75 they get extra respite 3, employment and benefits a short term job like 3 weeks retail at christmas, 5 weeks strawberry picking, seasonal employment like grass cutting or a summer holiday job sellng ice cream should just be able to go straight back on UC

I could think of more

NHS - but with reforms.

Education - all levels.

Council budgets/funding - as most of them are now all essential services like social care and still facing cuts or such serve budget constraints that they are near bankruptcy.

Councils - making them self funding just means they are obsessed with getting money in via parking fines and speeding fines and don't have the money to actually make places look cared for

Housing- follows on from above- housing allowances too to reflect 'actual' costs in private renting- not some fictitious random low figure

NHS- get a grip on GP appointments and diagnostics

NHS (tied in with public health action to reverse widening health inequalities) - well enough ressourced so staff don't want to quit in despair
Schools and teachers - so schools can become a warmer, more rewarding less desperate place, to be so staff don't want to quit and students want to come in
Net zero - warmer, healthier homes, healthier cleaner transport, better energy security, more skilled jobs

SEN education and building more schools for pupils with SEN. Not just those for profoundly disabled pupils, but specialist schools for those with ADHD or autism with small classes and a different curriculum, which could focus on life/ job skills as well as academic gcse work.

Properly funded social care for the elderly which will end up helping the NHS, including much higher pay for carers.

The armed forces, including decent accommodation for their families.

I agree with nhs, schools and care.

But as a northerner, we really don’t have much transport infrastructure or even trains. I’d quite like this.

Pretty much all needs money, it’s how you raise it that’s the hard part

NHS.
Mental Health.
ASD/ SEN awareness.

Care for the elderly - to relieve the pressure on the NHS and because it's important in its own right

Better public transport infrastructure regionally and within cities/urban areas. We have such terrible infrastructure and I think it's a huge barrier to economic growth outside of London.

A massive home building programme, because we aren't building nearly enough homes and massively constricted supply is making housing a luxury. Ideally within or to create dense, efficient communities that don't require people to be dependent on cars - this is the most energy-efficient form of settlement.

Lots of early interventions in families and education. The state of some children starting school is awful; parents that don't value toys and books before you even get neglectful parents. If we could sort one generation, I think we would transform our country, and their higher earnings and lower welfare would allow the rest to follow on. I actually think the current lot has improved the curriculum and schools a lot, but we have a long way to go.

After that, I'd like cycle infrastructure like the Netherlands and improved health. Controversial, but I don't think the NHS is a national treasure; there are many alternative models that need to be looked at.

Special Needs Education

@Pottedpalm This may not be the sort of admin you mean - but one of the issues with the NHS is that there aren't ENOUGH managers. Managers ensure that resources are deployed efficiently, coordinate across divisions/elements/projects etc and generally are critical to an efficient organization. All the analysis I've seen points to the NHS having too little management and so running inefficiently (as anyone who's worked for a poorly managed company where everyone is working hard but not smart will recognize!)

Came on to say exactly this. Schools and the NHS.

Tax cuts.

As a country, we need to put more money in ordinary working people’s pockets so they can cope better with the cost of living crisis and support businesses as consumers.

Specifically, the value of income tax allowances for basic & higher rate taxpayers should be restored to what they would have been has they been up rated in line with inflation over the last few years.