Pickles scathing over council ‘non-jobs’
By politics.co.uk staff
Communities secretary Eric Pickles is set to attack superfluous local authority jobs as part of his hunt for getting better value for taxpayers’ money.
Mr Pickles will single out a ‘cheerleading development officer’ post and ‘audience development officer’ role as he addresses the Local Government Association conference in Bournemouth later.
“How many transformation officers and business development directors does one council need?” he will ask.
“One council was even advertising for someone to spin for their bins last week.
“I wonder whether their residents actually want a ‘communications waste strategy officer.’ Or whether they’d prefer a few more bin men.”
Mr Pickles will demand that local authorities stop advertising for jobs in national newspapers, where it can cost up to £10,000 to place an advert, in a bid to save money.
Instead he will call for council job adverts to be syndicated across the internet, which Mr Pickles believes will save money and help cut the number of ‘pointless’ posts.
“It will mean [local people] can question whether those jobs are really needed at all,” he will add.
