Top Officers’ Pay Deal
The decision to award top officers at Caerphilly council mindboggling pay rises was unlawful according to a damning report published today. The devastating report was published by the independent Wales Audit Office following last year’s pay scandal.
This report is a damning indictment of the way these increases, which caused so much public anger, were awarded.
The chief executive of Caerphilly council Anthony O’Sullivan comes in for particular criticism in this public interest report.
The report reveals that the meeting of the Senior Remuneration Committee was not properly advertised and no agendas were available for public inspection. But most damning was the criticism that some officers, including Mr O’Sullivan, who were beneficiaries of the decision were present at the meeting which approved the original pay hikes and none of them declared an interest and left the room.
In addition, the chief executive wrote the report on pay increases and gave advice on a matter in which he had a financial interest.
This frankly beggars belief and it has made it difficult to see how the chief executive could justify his actions, having presided over such a mess. This has brought the local authority, of which he is the chief executive, embarrassment and ridicule.
There has been a lot of disquiet that those at the top, whether bankers or top executives in the public sector, are guilty of failings but appear to get away scot-free. At the chief executive’s position is clearly untenable and perhaps he should be put on gardening leave until this matter has been fully investigated.
The auditor Anthony Barrett, who compiled the report, has proposed a number of recommendations which I expect to be accepted by the council.
This whole episode has been at a huge cost. It has damaged morale of staff, it has damaged the reputation of a local authority and it has damaged the public purse.
I’ve said it previously but these huge price rises would NEVER have happened if Plaid had been in control of Caerphilly council.
Age Cymru
During last weekend’s Plaid Cymru Spring Conference in Anglesey, I had the opportunity to meet representatives from Age Cymru.
As Plaid’s Older Person’s Champion, I have the interests of older members of the community at heart and I look forward to working with Age Cymru. I’m determined to promote the case of older residents as well as young people and I think it is important that both young and old appreciate each other.
Lindsay Whittle
Plaid Cymru AM South Wales East
I know Lindsay Whittle well and accept completely that this scandal would not have occurred under his leadership. His anger over these obscene pay increases has been plain since the scale of these rises has become known. He is a person of great integrity and understands that the vast majority of Caerffili people will not stand silently when abuses of this nature occur.
I differ in his view that this could not have happened under a Plaid administration, the deputy leader of the Plaid group was one of the five councillors that sat down with the chief executive to ‘rubber stamp’ the report that advocated ridiculous pay rises. How did he vote? The Labour councillors present apparently said he voted in favour of this financial package. I would like to know more of what really went on and, following the involvement of the police, am confident that the truth will eventually come to light.