10 October 2014

Monitoring Officer - Where did it all go wrong?


Actually it all went wrong when the Job Description was changed. This was in the time of Nick Walkley as Chief Executive, now at Haringey Council and if memory serves Mr Mustard correctly we also had, at that time, the pleasure of top level HR advice from Jacquie McGeachie who also, completely coincidentally, left us and went to consult at Haringey Council. Which of the two of them wrote the job specification Mr Mustard couldn't say, maybe someone else entirely, but Nick would have had to approve it. In the light of recent events it was a poor decision.

The below figures from DueDil (a most useful free site for company information) are to 31 December 13. The McGeachie company is now worth a mere £241 despite being previously being paid a zillion* pounds a day by Barnet Council; maybe her skills are not so valuable or sought after in 2014?

Mr Mustard's Haringey based follows will doubtless now be combing through the over £500 lists (expect payment to be disguised by use of another agency) or asking an FOI question, and checking the job description of the monitoring officer.

Here is part of the job description of the job which included the post of monitoring officer in 2011 (Mr Mustard's questions may have become vexatious in late 2012 but having information like this shows the real value that was in them) 

Fast forward to the current requirement (probably being changed as this blog is typed)

Not much specified there in the way of legal ability.

If you want to see the full job descriptions, they are here, from 2011 and here from 2013.

The immediate problem is over but what did it cost us? The answer will be in the council's March 15 Accounts which will appear in draft form in June 15.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

* Mr Mustard is prone to the occasional exaggeration. It was something in the area of £750 to £1,000 a day, nothing over generous.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks, this is most interesting to a few Haringey residents. Even as I type, we are benefiting greatly from Ms McGeachie's expert consultancy.

    Before Mr Walkley's appointment - against which I voted and was ejected from the Labour Group of councillors for doing so - we were told informally by one or two Barnet folks that Nick Walkley might in due course be calling on the skills and experience of some of his former colleagues.

    From your website I learned that Mr Charles Dowden and Ms Zina Etheridge were also former luminaries in your fine Borough. Would you know if we are fortunate enough to have anyone else consulting us, who was in Mr Nick Walkley's successful Barnet team?

    ReplyDelete

I now moderate comments in the light of the Delfi case. Due to the current high incidence of spam I have had to turn word verification on.