Wednesday 19 February 2014

Still on full pay?


As reported in my previous post the Chief Executive of Carmarthenshire Council, Mark James CBE, has 'stepped aside' from his various roles within the Welsh Government, including his position as Non-Executive Director, pending the police investigation. Those roles include;

• Member of the Public Service Leadership Group as regional lead for the Mid and West Wales collaborative service area. 

• Member of the 21st Century Schools Programme Board as representative of the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives

• Chair of the Monmouthshire Education Recovery Board and

• Chair of the Welsh Government’s Central Services Corporate Governance Committee

Mr James 'standing down' as Chief Executive was, we understand, entirely voluntary, whether the same applies to the Welsh government roles we do not know. Mr James remuneration for these positions has never been made entirely clear although for the last role as Non-Exec Director of the CGC he's entitled to £347 per day plus expenses. In the two years ending March 2012 he received £5601.50

Still Mr James remains, according to local news reports, on full pay from Carmarthenshire County Council despite choosing 'not to undertake his duties'. Had he been suspended of course, he would have been entitled to full pay pending the outcome of the police investigation.  Efforts are currently being made to determine the exact Terms and Conditions of Mr James 'leave'.

I'm sure that if other employees of the council, or anywhere else for that matter, decided not to undertake their duties, maybe for several months, they would not get paid.

The Terms and Condition are also significant as many wonder whether he will still be pulling the strings from his potting shed. Jonathan Edwards MP has asked Cllr Madge to confirm that Mr James will now have no contact with elected members or employees and no access to any of the council's computer and telephone systems whilst the police investigate.
It remains unknown whether he's had to hand over his corporate mobile phone.

There will be considerable chaos within County Hall in the lead up to next week's Extraordinary meeting and there may be determined efforts to reject the Auditor's findings, as well as resistance against the Plaid group's calls for no confidence in Executive Board Members. Let's hope there is no undue influence brought to bear from inside the castle walls, or from any potting sheds either.

7 comments:

Mr Mustard said...

He wouldn't be my first choice to chair a committee on Governance

Anonymous said...

We are innocent until proven guilty in the UK therefore he should be on full pay pending any guilt, to be fair the man does have a family to support at the end of the day...

Anonymous said...

Surely what he has decided to do is take unpaid leave when he could have chosen to take paid suspension?

Anonymous said...

The money that he is on he could support ten family's.
Guilty or not Guilty the reputation of these fat cats are in
Ruines.They were very lucky that there was so many
gullable people about,so that they could get away with things.Thank god for the bloggers determination to persue
Fair play.

Anonymous said...

Why has his being a family man been mentioned again.If he is found to be guilty should it then be kept quiet because he is a family man? At least nothing is legally proven yet so while an investigation is still to come his family have nothing to worry about.
Poor logic anonymous @ 15.00 and as previous comments have shown he has earned more than enough to keep his family very comfortabley for quite a long time while he attends his roses.

Anonymous said...

Jacqui said, "I'm sure that if other employees of the council, or anywhere else for that matter, decided not to undertake their duties, maybe for several months, they would not get paid."

I hear from my friends who work for the local authority, that there are many employees who decide not to undertake their duties - they attend their offices for 8 hours a day, but do little or nothing. Their bosses do little or nothing to supervise, or motivate them.

Retired Rozzer.

Angharad said...

Think this whole country needs to start capping executive pay and exec pension schemes. £15,000 a month is a years salary for some. Perhaps its time we had a job share scheme. I'll happily be the Chief Exec until June 2014 on that rate of pay....see you all in the Carribean in July!