WHEN NEWS of a proposal to get rid of Helen France emerged on this site, there was a huge sense of both relief and euphoria that the ballast holding the Blackpool balloon down was set to be cut loose.
After a two year spell of throwing good money after bad at an assortment of pointless projects that have provided no benefit to the town, history is about to repeat itself for the bespectacled mandarin who was pushed out of her previous role at Knowsley Council in 2008, and then publicly slagged off by her successor.
Since she has only been with the council for a couple of years, it made sense to get rid of her as her redundancy payout will be much smaller than required to get rid of some of the longer-standing officers. Indeed, her Statutory Redundancy Pay would be a meagre £1,200, but I suspect she will get rather more.
France isn’t the only pen pusher set to be fed to the sharks, though.
The other high profile names in the firing line are;
- Mark Lewis, Head of Legal and Democratic Services
- Phillip Baron, Head of ICT
- Fiona McGrath, Assistant Chief Executive responsible for Policy, Transformation and Communication
- Russ Weaver, Assistant Director of Neighbourhood Services
- Andrew Pollock, Statutory Finance Officer and Director of Resources
There is also one vacant position of Assistant Director of Resources and Planning, which is set to be made obsolete. The total annual saving, by my calculations, works out at just under £675,000.
As a result of these proposed changes, Alan Cavill and Carmel McKeogh will move up to Assistant Chief Executive roles, with Cavill taking over from Helen France. The current Chief Financial Officer, Steve Thompson, will step up and take over from Andrew Pollock. Shirley Young will be ratified as Director of Blackpool Services, although I thought she already was. None of these people will get pay rises in their new roles.
However.
There is still a possibility that these proposed changes could be ‘called in’ by the Conservatives, meaning, for all intents and purposes, that the process is delayed, but it will be impossible to stop given Labour’s domination of the Scrutiny Committee.
Calling it in would also give the impression that the Conservatives do not support cutting the cost of the boardroom at the council, which would at this time be a very unpopular stance to take and would be something that could be used against them time and time again. People have no sympathy for these largely overpaid pen pushers, though it is a little disappointing to see Alan Cavill getting what equates to a promotion.
It will be interesting to see whether these honchos comprise a sufficient sacrifice to appease bloodthirsty Labour supporters. In my view, Simon Blackburn should take his axe and wield it in each and every council department in the same way.
If cost savings, rather than ideology, are the reason he is cutting at the top, he needs to cut through the middle and the bottom as well.
What a waste of space Helen France has been, though you can add the lovely Maxine to that. However is the thought of Alan Cavill now in charge any better ? He is another of the seemingly uninspiring click collecting plenty of dosh , wasting plenty and achieving little anybody thinks was worthwhile. WHAT WE DO NEED is a thorough overhall of the Highways dept that have wasted huge sums of money, seem to be a law unto themselves, and seem unaccountable to anyone with anyone with authority or half a brain
It does seem to be a mistake to elevate Cavill to assistant chief executive, however I believe he’s been with the council for donkeys years and as such will cost a fortune to make redundant, since it seems people working for councils don’t get the minimum statutory redundancy pay.
The impression I got back in the, err, ‘old days’, was that he had a far more fluid relationship with members, going back to the pre-Callow era. Far more than Helen France was likely to have had with them, anyway.
My preference would be to make the most use of his time and send him to do a useful job, even if he’s on his current salary. Blackpool’s streets still need cleaning – I’m sure Street Scene would be grateful for an extra pair of hands with the overflowing litter bins. Far more productive than keeping him tucked away in an office, wreaking organisational havoc.
What is missing is simple English speaking bureaucrats. All appointees appear to be ‘social acceptable’, ‘academic attuned’ or ‘political correct’. May I borrow a term from the articulate HEG and say that they are all f**king useless jobsworths? Well they are.
Not a single executive has ever been able to walk the streets of Blackpool and address the problems that they have monies from Central Government to alleviate . I.E. The pensioner who goes into a social club at lunchtime, has a few gills, goes home and sits in front of a black and white TV all day because those same executives cannot and will not seek them out and pay them the millions of pounds held from their pensions – 4 million pensioners do not draw their legal entitlement. But they can purchase Pink Flags to be flown over the Union Flag, print multiple political pamphlets in a myriad or languages when we have but one tongue, English; impose on the disabled second rate workmanship into homes which has been paid for by charitable contribution and general taxation because they ‘control’ a small distribution of funds.
Some are advocating the promotion of those guilty of these bad practises when the whole tier of management ought to be dispatched to the Dole Queue, now. And if they want a redundancy payment let them prove to a Court of Law and public opinion that they have earned it. I cannot see any employer, and Blackpool Council was an employer IN OUR INTEREST and it would never countenance that incompetence was party of a contract. Or has it?
You have hit the nail right on the head. A review of the Highways Department is long overdue, including the ridiculous projects initiated over the last 3 years. This needs to be done now before Peter Cross and his wrecking crew do any more damage. The longer that man is in post, the more it is going to cost to put matters right. Someone please stop him.
Slash the top and middle by all means, leave the bottom,they are the most important, I suspect that is what will happen.
I don’t necessarily agree Harold. If you streamline the processes within the town hall such that more can be done by the same staff, then the same can be done by less staff. It should be an ongoing process until the council is operating efficiently.
None of us like public sector waste. Having two lollypop ladies stood supervising a bloody pelican crossing seems utterly pointless. Redeploy them or get rid of them. This is how the real world where money does run out should operate.
The council is there for a purpose, and that purpose is not to provide a bottomless pit of jobs-for-life, but to organise the services in our town.
Unfortunately we can expect Simon Blackburn to obsess about unions and job security for those he claims are “low paid”, whilst building a bonfire below the middle management. I believe that if he does this, then he is absolutely not in the game of saving public money, but in pursuing his political ideals.
He gave the game away somewhat by instantly creating a diversity and equality cabinet member, a “young people” cabinet member and an “old people” cabinet member. In a sleight of hand trick, he has sold us that the system of councillors will be cheaper because he’s axed assistant cabinet members. In actual fact, he’s merely promoted them to full cabinet members on full cabinet money and axed the supplements to the “lowest paid” councillors, most of whom happen to be Conservatives.
This seems to be the exact opposite to what he is doing to the unelected council executive…
In actual fact, he’s merely promoted them to full cabinet members on full cabinet money and axed the supplements to the “lowest paid” councillors, most of whom happen to be Conservatives.
Propping up his campaign war chest? :O
I’m shocked, Phil! Shocked!
“This is how the real world where money does run out should operate”
Phil remind me,the money has run out has it not??? deficit reduction/elimination? and as a consequence the councils budget has been slashed,so its now in effect in the real world,where the systems in question will be streamlined accordingly, to reflect the ‘real’ world
I suspect he will leave the bottom untouched (relatively) where his biggest support is, after all he will need to keep the voters happy;just being politically realistic, thats all, although givena choice I would prefer to see more higher end nonentites go instead of the lower end.
After all hes supposed to be dismantling Callows public sector empire,agreed about diversity, thats a non job if there were ever one, and I agree with you about the other stuff hes done;its not on, it doesnt amke sense in the long run.
Get rid of cavill and Peter Cross;especially that cretin cross.
Now, can someone tell me when and where all these private sector jobs are gonna come from,especially in Blackpool, to take up the slack as the council cuts workers?
From where I am, I see Blackpool falling further behind, because noone wants to invest here.
I don’t think there are many people in the area who understand the perceptions of Blackpool from businesses outside.
My own feeling has been that Blackpool is primarily perceived as a tourist resort and has been pushed as a tourist resort by the council for a few decades now. I think the perception of the tourism industry is of a low quality threshold. Who wants to invest in an area with low-quality workers and a seasonal ethos?
The alternative is not make-work jobs in the public sector. It’s not the best use of public money and it’s far more expensive than deferring permanent work for people or retraining them. It also makes us even more dependent on the public sector.
The truth is that tourism is not Blackpool’s industrial mainstay – whatever bullshit Maxine Callow spews, past or present.
There are opportunities here, though. Wages and house prices are low. Transport links are generally good. We have a unique coastal locaation.
There are clusters of hi-tech and specialist industries here, but they’re spurned in favour of what goes on along the seafront. Few people realise that there are a number of med-tech businesses and organisations here. This is where the opportunity is.
How do businesses like that get matched up with local workforces, though? It’s only anecdotal, but just looking at the comments section of the Gazette website makes me want to cry like a girl. The level of intellect and communications skills on display is dire. I don’t want to be the Grammar Police, but it doesn’t fill me with hope for filling jobs where people are required to demonstrate good presentation and analytical skills.
Where the workforces do have the skills, enterprise should be promoted as a goal. Growth tends to come from new business, rather than existing, large business. Additionally, I’m wary of putting all eggs in one basket and trying to coax large employers – when they go titsup, the shit hits the fan.
So, in summary – forget tourism; provide a good, basic education tailored to the needs of each individual person; instill in them a sense of aspiration; encourage them to become entrepreneurs, either for themselves or their employers.
so what you are saying is that Blackpool needs to diversify? if so, I totally agree, I have never been sold on this tourism crap as its low paid and as you say seasonal and subject to the vagries of the weather etc.
My own gut feeling is that when the public sector jobs have been cut,there wont be any private sector to pick them up,they will either end up as more Jeremy Kyle fodder or just leave,if it happens to me, I WILL leave.
In short, yes. Diversification is always a good thing. In finance and investment, it’s a common tactic to spread your money across different types of investment so that your exposure to risk is minimised as necessary – why not do the same with economies?
Maxine Callow was completely off her rocker as economic regeneration portfolio holder for only pushing, pushing and pushing a bit more the tourism agenda.
I think a segment of public sector workers have a similar mindset to those low-skilled/ low-aspirational unemployed people in the area – “who will pick up the pieces for me?”. The mindset needs to change from one of ‘having a job for life’, to one where they can adapt to changing requirements. Simply employing people in the public sector for the sake of ‘protecting jobs’ does nothing to help engender that change and only reinforces the view that they’re entitled to a job for life. We can’t afford that any more than we can afford to keep people on benefits for life.
I agree John, in principle, but if a load of public sector workers are dumped on the dole,what opportunities are there for them in Blackpool?in Preston and beyond, yes,in Blackpool very few.
This isnt about protecting jobs but more about creating opportunities or the conditions for enterprise and Blackpool is not a fertile place for such things, if anything its a desert.
If I were made unemployed, I would have to move in my profession.Preston and beyond.
Blackpool is in a twilight zone.
One industry in Blackpool, is buy to let property to dss;hence the state of the town.
I’m glad Wyre got a porgressive forward thinker in charge as CEX.
“I’m glad Wyre got a porgressive forward thinker in charge as CEX.”
lol that must be tongue in cheek, an NPL backed cretin obsessed with building souless hosusing estates,no industry and gridlocking congested roads is progressive allright,progressing towards turning the area into gridlocked housing estate, which is his aim.
If it wasnt tongue in cheek, then you must be a director of NPL or worse a WBC councillor,lol.
I’m with HEG on this.
The public sector is the main source of decent local jobs around here. If that goes then it will fuck over the local economy more than you can imagine.
Diversification to get involved in things other than tourism is ultimately what is needed but until that is achieved then we will need the stability that public sector jobs provide for the local economy to survive. I honestly reckon manufacturing of renewable energy technology would do us some good in terms of the kind of employment that we need. The only question is whether we would match the needs of such a business and I don’t know enough about that industry to give a definitive answer to that.
I don’t disagree that the public sector is the main source of employment, but that does not mean to say we should create and maintain unnecessary jobs there just to keep people off the dole.
If the public sector wants stability it would be wise to start taking 10% pay cuts across the board followed by indefinite pay freezes. This would ensure job security and prevent further cuts.
The very fact that pay cuts of this nature have never been on the cards suggests that continuing an inflation-busting, ever-increasing free ride to retirement is more important. Even Simon Blackburn is about to cut his salary by 5%. Well, his council leader top-up. The days of the automatic pay increment need bringing to a halt, and a more meritocratic remuneration scheme bringing in – like the private sector (apart from banks but technically most of them are public sector now!).
I agree that manufacturing of renewable “stuff” could be an option, but focusing on this industry would be little different from what we’re doing now with the blind faith in tourism. What we need, really, is any level of skilled and professional business or industry to bring in higher quality people and not cost the taxpayer anything.
Phil,
Statistically, private sector workers got greater pay rises than public sector workers this year.
Your suggestion also ignores entirely that this would massively impact on millions of ordinary working people’s living standards, and having a further negative effect on consumer confidence, sucking more demand out of the economy.
I can’t help but think that a combination of closing down tax loopholes, some taxes on the super rich (rather than the tax cuts that bankers have been given under this government) would be a far less damaging way to get us closer to balancing the books in the short term.
Ultimately, that is only going to come from growth however, and unfortunately, this government is doing everything it can to deny us that at the moment.
Maybe the private sector is recovering, as Dave seems to suggest then!
What about 2008, 2009 and 2010, though, when the private sector were cutting salaries left right and centre whilst the public sector continued to get 4% rises and remained oblivious to any possible comprehension of being affected by the world collapsing around them?
The public sector taking pay cuts would impact on living standards for those that are living on the edge of their means, but there is a solution to that: reign in your Sky TV, your beer fund, your expensive gifts for your kids. I have just cut my Sky subscription for this very reason. I don’t like the prospect of financial oblivion, so I don’t live on the edge of it. Unlike so many people, I don’t need Martin Lewis to be my financial saviour.
Public sector staff do not have a divine right to maintain their living standards. They should be paid a fair wage for the job they do, and that is all.
I’m not sure there are enough super rich to tax in order to balance the books of the UK. It would be an ideology tax more than anything else.
According to the Sunday Times, the latest rich list of the top 1,000 people in Britain totals wealth of £395bn. But these are totals accumulated over time, with many people on this list depreciating in wealth over recent years.
I am going to assume that about half of them paid UK tax on some or all of their wealth over the years. Is it fair to take their cash off them just because they’ve got more money than you or I?
One could say Gordon Brown and Tony Blair should have followed their examples of generating billions of wealth rather than squandering it and, as Anne Robinson would say, leaving us with nothing.
I should probably add that I do agree that all financial loopholes should be closed to prevent evasion of tax.
I disagree.
Function is the focus of what is important – not position. Whether they’re at the top, middle or bottom doesn’t matter. The job that they do does.
I get what you’re saying to an extent – don’t sacrifice people at the point of delivery and production for the sake of saving those who are furthest away from ‘where it all happens’.
My point would be that there is just as much waste and superfluous activity on areas that aren’t useful or essential – get rid of them, reduce them or refocus them on things that matter.
Do we need a ‘Cycling Promotions Officer’? No. Do we need a team to promote cycling in Blackpool? No.
Do we need a ‘Sustainability Education Officer’? No.
Do we need a ‘Travel Plan Officer’? No.
Do we need an ‘Equality and Diversity Department’? No.
All of these are superfluous. The interests that they pretend to serve are better served by better core services. Officers and departments like these make work for themselves by talking to each other – they don’t make a useful contribution to the town or the council as an organisation.
By all means, if the law requires that the council jumps through hoops and has to appoint people to be responsible for these areas, then do so. But only do what the law strictly requires – nothing more. Don’t take it as a cue to set up an entire department.
I agree John, concentrate on the basics like clean streets etc,thats what really matters.
Hmmmmmmmmm, the structure of the council is still the same, (remember who told you first about all this)
And that is the problem, over the past few years little (and large) empires have been built and protected, now some of those that did the empire building have been promoted, the council needs to be restructured back to how it was before it was given to the senior officers to mould it to how they saw fit (to their own advancement) Like Humpty Dumpty it wants putting back together again!
Insider is right, it all started going wrong when Graham Essex-Crosby took over. He was the first to realise that most Councillors are pretty stupid and would believe anything that he and his senior officers said. Glad to see Mark Lewis going, a first year legal clerk knows more about the law than that clown.
I see that irritating insect Claire Smith is spouting her shite again, can’t someone sew up that whores mouth with piano wire?
She really gets on my fucking tits.
U has TITS????
P
The link below shows what utter ballbags run Blackpool Council. Almost everything owned by the Council will not be insured on the Council’s reasoning. Also Nottingham, Manchester, Sheffield, Newcastle etc who also run tram networks manage to secure appropriate insurance and their cabling is also in the open and hence “vulnerable”. an inside job if ever I saw one. I’m afraid that this is the type of contempt for the intelligence of its electorate that Blackpool and Wyre show all of the time.
http://www.ico.gov.uk/~/media/documents/decisionnotices/2011/fs_50310644.ashx
lets not forget that pustulating festering anus sucking tapeworm, Gary Payne,another product of Peter Sutcliffe and Myra Hindley.
Harold v Jeremy Kyle – I’d pay to watch that it would be priceless!!
so would I,lol.
Bizarre comment about cutting the middle and bottom too!
The reason people hate these officers is because they are overpaid and they do very little good for their money either. That isn’t the same as having an inherent desire to cut council services. Contrary to it be ideological to retain spending on services, it is ideological get rid of spending on services when a town like this that is ranked 9th worst for child poverty and 6th worst for overall deprivation. You are really wide of the mark on this one Phil.
Nothing bizarre about it.
If you don’t believe there is any waste in the council middle and lower tiers, then one has to say that the executive and management staff must have been doing an excellent job and running a tight ship.
As it happens, you say you think they did very little good for their money and were overpaid.
Which is it?
Let’s say hypothetically that you did have an incredibly efficient organisation that had a negligible amount of waste involved. Now, if you increased the number of senior officers and then turned around and said ‘oh, well your departments are all very well run, you must be doing an excellent job’ then you’d be off your rocker!
In both the hypothetical and real cases we had a top heavy model where the amount of spending on management wasn’t giving us a fruitful improvement to the overall efficiency of the council.
Now I’m sure there are improvements that can be made in lower and middle parts of the council but it is not the same problem that we have had with the senior council officers. If anything the statistics about Blackpool’s social problems suggest we need more not less spending here. Can what we spend be spent more efficiently? I’m sure it can but again the logic doesn’t follow down your free-market ideological path as much as you think.
Fair point on the first bit.
But if you start at the bottom, you have your front line footsoldiers. They have managers, who have managers with support staff, who have managers with support staff, who have managers with support staff, etc.
Each layer should be examined for efficiencies in order for the process to be thorough and complete.
I don’t agree with the whole “more money solves everything” mantra. Sure, you can gain improvements by volume of staff, but it would end up haemorrhaging money because those staff would not be being used in a way that provided value for money.
Money can be spent better to achieve greater productivity with the same or less personnel.
Combustion engines today provide more power and torque for less petrol compared with ones from a decade ago. These efficiencies were not achieved by using super-expensive components or rare materials, but by boffins who changed the process of combustion.
There are management boffins who can reshape a department and working processes to achieve more for less (or the same) in the same way.
The problem with the public sector and processes is that in some public bodies they’ve only recently started using systems like Six Sigma that were discarded or discredited by the private sector years ago.
At senior management level in the public sector body I belong to it’s the gormless leading the happy-clappy gormless instructed and informed by the spin-doctors who are brainwashed and even more happy-clappy without realising the crap they’re spouting to the rest of us who are not sheep
“Four legs good, two legs baaaaad!”