Top Scots public servants feel the heat

Published on Monday 7 December 2009 22:10

SCOTTISH civil servants could face more scrutiny of their pay under plans being considered by the Scottish Government.

&#149 Lena Wilson, Chief executive, Scottish Enterprise

Alex Salmond's administration is considering more transparency over public sector pay and will announce its plans in the spring.

The Scottish Government is also considering adopting Gordon Brown's proposal to identify the public servants who earn more than 150,000.

While Mr Brown's proposals have no jurisdiction over Scottish public sector staff in devolved departments such as health, education and local government, civil servants' pay would come under scrutiny were the Scottish Government to follow the Prime Minister's lead north of the Border.

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said it had already halved its marketing budget and was considering further efficiency savings.

"The percentage of total expenditure devoted to administration costs across core government and our agencies remains 25 per cent below the comparable percentage for the UK Government.

"We also support stricter controls over the highest salaries in the public sector – as previous announcements indicate – and will come forward with further initiatives in our pay policy on senior appointees in spring 2010 to achieve this objective."

The Scottish Government had slashed the number of quangos from 199 to 162, with a further 120 to be abolished by 2011.

The spokesman added: "We are on track to exceed our target to reduce the number of bodies by 25 per cent, making the improvements and saving the money that people rightly demand. Projects already delivered are estimated to save taxpayers 127 million between 2008 and 2013, with projected annual savings of 36m each year thereafter."

Proposals in the Public Services Reform Bill should increase annual savings to over 40m.

The Prime Minister yesterday said organisations that waste public funds on excessive salaries will be named and shamed. Likely targets are believed to include the BBC, councils and health trusts.

Mr Brown called for an end to the "culture of excess" as he ordered a review of senior public sector pay by the Senior Salaries Review Body to report by the spring.

He said: "Money which should be spent on health, on schools, on policing and on social services is, in some cases, going on excessive salaries and unjustified bonuses, far beyond the expectation of the majority of workers. This culture of excess must change and will change."

Public sector workers who get bonuses of more than 50,000 are also to be named.

Bill Cockburn, the chairman of the Senior Salaries Review Body, will undertake the review. He will decide whether to extend the new transparency clause to BBC "stars" including Jonathan Ross, who earns an estimated 18 million over three years from licence fee payers.

Mr Brown also repeated his pledge to move more civil service jobs out of Whitehall and around the country to cheaper premises.

Some services would also move online, with crime maps and school reports made available on the internet.

About 123 quangos are to be cut or merged as part of the "efficiency" drive. The use of consultants would also be halved.

The overall savings announced by the Prime Minister were ridiculed last night by the Conservatives, who also trumpeted the fact that they had lured Mr Brown's efficiency guru, Sir Peter Gershon, to be an adviser for a potential Tory administration.

Sir Peter is one of four former government advisers who has joined a taskforce to work on the Tories' plans.

Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Philip Hammond said: "Efficiency reviews are not the problem; Labour is. Waste and inefficiency remain endemic after 12 years of Labour government.

"Why should we take this latest offering any more seriously when all it contains are reheated announcements and attempts to copy Conservative policies?"

The Liberal Democrats said they would impose a 400 per person cap on public sector pay rises for the next two years, saving around 6.5 billion.

Civil service unions, meanwhile, criticised the main parties for a race to see who could impose the most savage spending cuts.

The Prospect trade union said it was wrong to make public servants the "scapegoats" for the private sector banking crisis.

Deputy general secretary Dai Hudd said: "These attacks on the civil service are about short-term cost savings and not how to refocus the operational needs and business of government."

150,000-plus earners in for scrutiny

LENA WILSON

JOB: Chief executive, Scottish Enterprise

EARNINGS: 200,000

RICHARD ACKROYD

JOB: Chief executive, Scottish Water

EARNINGS: 263,000

CHARLES SWAINSON

JOB: Medical director, NHS Lothian

EARNINGS: 230,000

JAMES BARBOUR

JOB: Chief executive, NHS Lothian

EARNINGS: 195,000

BN COWAN

JOB: Medical director, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

EARNINGS: 185,000

ROELF DIJKHUIZEN

JOB: Finance director, NHS Grampian

EARNINGS: 185,000

KEN MACQUARRIE

JOB: Director of BBC Scotland

EARNINGS: 185,000

SIR JOHN ELVIDGE

JOB: Permanent secretary to the Scottish Government

EARNINGS: 180,000

BARRY WHITE

JOB: Chief executive, Scottish Futures Trust

EARNINGS: 180,000

DOUGLAS MILLICAN

JOB: Director, Scottish Water

EARNINGS: 168,000

ROBERT MASTERTON

JOB: Executive medical director, NHS Ayrshire & Arran

EARNINGS: 235,000

WILLIAM MUTCH

JOB: Medical director, NHS Tayside

EARNINGS: 210,000

ALISON GRAHAM

JOB: Medical director, NHS Lanarkshire

EARNINGS: 200,000

GEOFF AITKENHEAD

JOB: Director, Scottish Water

EARNINGS: 167,000

RICHARD WAKEFORD

JOB: Head of environment and rural affairs, Scottish Government EARNINGS: 150,000

CHRIS BANKS

JOB: Director, Scottish Water

EARNINGS: 155,000

ROBERT CALDERWOOD

JOB: Chief executive, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

EARNINGS: 160,000

L DE CAESTECKER

JOB: Director of public health, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde EARNINGS: 160,000

CAROL DAVIDSON

JOB: Director of public health, NHS Ayrshire & Arran

EARNINGS: 165,000

JAMES MCCAFFERY

JOB: Chief operating officer, NHS Lothian

EARNINGS: 160,000

GEORGE CROOKS

JOB: Chief operating officer, NHS 24

EARNINGS: 170,000

LESLEY WILKIE

JOB: Director of public health, NHS Grampian

EARNINGS: 155,000

KEVIN WOODS

JOB: Chief executive, NHS Scotland

EARNINGS: 160,000

STEPHEN HOUSE

JOB: Strathclyde Police Chief Constable

EARNINGS: 180,000

ROBERT GORDON

JOB: Head of legal & parliamentary services, Scottish Government EARNINGS: 155,000

TIM DAVIDSON

JOB: Chief executive, NHS Lanarkshire

EARNINGS: 175,000

ANGUS CAMERON

JOB: Medical director, NHS Dumfries & Galloway

EARNINGS: 150,000

PHILIP RIDDLE

JOB: Chief exec, VisitScotland

EARNINGS: 150,000