Data or information?

An issue which quangos are going to be faced quite soon is the mismatch between their appetites and their tummies' ability to absorb food.

On the one hand they are suffering a massive reduction in staffing while on the other, they are asking for ever more detailed information on the use that has been made of their money, no doubt to ensure probity, effectiveness and such stuff.

Administration in the public sector generally is driven by three motors:

• The need to ensure that all stable doors that have been found wanting in the past can never be re-opened
• The need to ensure value for money - the old economy, efficiency and effectiveness, and
• The belief that 'good management' is an absolute: mostly consisting of the two above underpinned by lots of data

The fewer staff they have the less time those staff will have to look at the increasing volumes of reporting data for which they are asking. This desire for data will long overshoot the ability of quangos' systems to cope.

I have an irresistible image of an Edward Lear-like quango looking something like the Quangle-Wangle and behaving like the cartoon character Wil E Coyote, lumbering off the edge of the cliff, with its legs thrashing around in mid air before descending to the canyon beneath, weighed down by the load of indigestible data that it has requested. If only they realised what they are doing to themselves.

How many times have we said to a quango or funding body something like: 'We can provide data on what each volunteer did in each hour on each day of the project if you really want it, but what are you going to do with it?' 'Never mind,' they reply, 'just provide it. It is best practice.'

So they also judge us on our ability to produce detailed figures which is an easy proxy for good management and for real information. Oh for some intelligent risk-taking and management and rather less administrative correctness; for someone who knows the difference between more data and useful information.