February 24: On expenses and should we know about council officers earnings?
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There appears to be some nervousness among certain Kent
councils over government plans to force them to disclose more
details about the pay and perks of their most senior
officers.
It seems three –
Gravesham, Dover and Tonbridge and Malling – all
lobbied the government over the move, which follows widespread
adverse publicity over what some have dubbed "fat cat" public
sector pay.
The councils between them
flagged up concerns that in publishing the names and earnings of
their highest paid officials, they might come in for a bit of stick
from the public and worse, the media, who – as usual – were accused
without any evidence of "misrepresenting" such
information.
(The Association of
Council Secretaries and Solicitors went even further,
suggesting such information might see officers "personally targeted
by less stable persons in the community" which seemed rather over
the top.)
I can’t say I’ve that much
sympathy with these arguments.
In fact, not every council had
such a problem with the government’s proposals.
Commendably, some welcomed the
initiative. For example, Surrey County Council
said it would "improve the transparency of pay and remuneration for
senior public servants" while the Fire Officers’
Association said: "It can only be in the public interest
to ensure that earnings of public servants are transparent" adding
it was information that might "invite challenge of decisions about
the worth of senior staff."
Meanwhile, it seems
KCC did not respond to the government’s
consultation over its proposals. Why, we’ve no idea.
How
councils resisted moves to disclose officers pay and
perks>>>
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Just how hard politicians have
found it to adjust to the new culture of openness ushered in by the
Freedom of Information Act was amply demonstrated in a highly
entertaining account of the MPs’ expenses scandal on BBC 4
"On Expenses" last night.
At one hour, it rather
telescoped the main events but gave overdue recognition to the
campaigning journalist Heather Brooke, who was the
main agitator in forcing details of claims made by MPs out into the
open.
The ostrich mentality of the
Commons’ authorities was quite staggering. Worth watching in the
I-player or look out for a repeat.
Heather’s website, which
contains a lot of good stuff on Freedom of Information, is
here
Wednesday, February 24 2010
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