‘We’d better get value for money’ (From Swindon Advertiser)

‘We’d better get value for money’

9:00am Thursday 29th June 2006 in News

SWINDON Council's national search for a new chief executive to replace Sir Mike Pitt has ended in the office next door.

The council has announced deputy chief executive Gavin Jones will take over from Sir Mike in July.

He is expected to pick up more than £195,000 in salary and perks which is a bigger pay packet than Prime Minister Tony Blair receives.

The salary is almost twice the national average for council bosses.

The package, which includes a car loan, on-site nursery and a free Swindon Card represents 0.5 per cent of Swindon's annual council tax haul.

Working a 60-hour week, Mr Jones will be paid £70 an hour and ten times the average wage of those below him.

Mr Jones said he would give value for money.

It comes after a national recruitment campaign launched in May in which then-leader Mike Bawden expected candidates from unitary authorities, London boroughs and the civil service.

Now Mr Jones who acted as chief executive before the appointment of Sir Mike Pitt has been given the nod.

South Swindon MP Anne Snelgrove said the internal appointment was a huge waste of money.

"He had better be good," Mrs Snelgrove, who is paid £59,095 as an MP, said.

"The fact that the new chief executive has been recruited internally means this extortionate pay package has been a waste of taxpayers' money.

"The whole point of the extra pay was to attract talent from outside.

"He has been a good deputy and I wish him luck, but if they knew they had talent inside Swindon why did they put the pay up by so much?"

Council leader Roderick Bluh said 18 candidates from across the country had applied for the position, before Mr Jones beat a final group of five others to win the top job.

"Gavin came through an exceptionally rigorous selection process in which he was up against some very strong candidates," Coun Bluh said.

"We advertised nationally for this role because for a job of this importance we had to make sure we have the best person to take the council, and the borough, forward.

"I am certain that he is the right man for the job."

North Swindon MP Michael Wills wanted to know how much the recruitment campaign had cost, which he predicted would start at £20,000.

He said most recruitment consultants received the equivalent of at least 10 per cent of the candidate's salary.

It's not the first time the council has appointed from within its own ranks to fill top management positions.

Last summer, the borough promised to scour the country for appointments to its new director jobs.

After a £30,000 search three of five directors were appointed from within the council's own ranks and another was seconded from Swindon Primary Care Trust.

Among them was Mr Jones, who became the director for partnerships and performance, as well as deputy chief executive.

Mr Jones rejected any criticism of the council's appointment from within, saying he fought off national competition.

"People are worth what they deliver," Mr Jones said.

He said better customer service through the £1m Aspire outsourcing scheme, sustainable growth and the regeneration of the town were his main aims.

But he would not give any points by which residents could measure his performance.

"Judge the council," Mr Jones said. "It's a team effort.

"I'm an important player but not the only player."

The decision is subject to ratification from the full council meeting on July 20.

Whoishe?

GAVIN Jones is expected to take up the council's top job after July 20.

Mr Jones, 45, has been with the council for two and a half years after a career in the travel, transport and telecommunications sector.

He grew up in Purton and now lives in Marlborough Road in Chiseldon with his wife, Caroline.

He has two daughters Emily, 20, a drama student at Edinburgh University, and Lucy, four.

Mr Jones joined the council on his 43rd birthday on December 8, 2003, as director of cultural change.

He started his working life with BT, straight out of school. The company later paid for him to complete a computing degree.

He said he joined the Swindon Council to make a difference to his home town.