Unelectable position

Aug 1 2012 Birkenhead News

BAZERSWORLD writes that it is wrong in a truly democratic state for the Wirral chief executive to have been appointed, that the chief executive should be divorced from all political persuasions and be completely independent. He goes on to say that, more importantly this position should be elected by the people of the Wirral.

I cannot possibly agree about the second part of this. The occupant of the chief executive’s role has the lead responsibility for managing the council’s operational structure, a responsibility of similar magnitude and requiring the same competence as the management of a large public company.

It is essential that the role, as with the chief executive of any public company, is occupied by somebody who has been selected using appropriate recruitment techniques, based exclusively on professional managerial competency of the individual appointed.

Of course, competency goes beyond mere skills, but includes experience and personal characteristics, especially integrity, personal effectiveness and commitment to excellence.

Were the position to be elected by the people of the Wirral, competence to manage the organisation would be the last factor that would enter into the process.

What Bazersworld appears to be misunderstanding is that democracy is achieved by the position being fully accountable to the democratically elected council. In fact I suspect there has been a good deal of recent misunderstanding of the difference between the elected council members and council officers.

As to being divorced from all political persuasions, this should be automatically achieved by appointing in this way, the council having no choice under English Employment law but to make the appointment on that basis.

Were they to take political persuasion into account in their selection process, they would be open to be taken to an industrial tribunal by those applicants who had been unsuccessful for this reason.

All appointments of this nature, especially in the public sector, have to have their selection criteria clearly recorded prior to commencement of recruitment, and the selection process has to be based exclusively on those criteria, with records to demonstrate this, these records being regularly audited to confirm compliance with English employment law. It is illegal for political persuasion to form part of these criteria, hence the desired independence is achieved.

By definition, were the position to be an elected one, this would shift the selection process from competence over to personal views, including political persuasion.

By appointing, based on competence, the appointee has no leeway to allow their personal viewpoints to influence their management of the organisation, if their accountability to the elected body operates as strongly as it should. This bilateral approach to government is central to its effective operation, whether that government is local or national.

ROY PEMBERTON

West Kirby

Disgusting

WHAT does Cameron know about real life?

He spends every day taking money from poor people. Now he is trying to take bus passes/TV licences/heating allowances and eye tests from old people who can't work.

I notice none of his MPs and followers have money taken off them.

He treats pensioners in a disgusting way just because they can't fight back. I hope one day when he is old he will receive the same miserly treatment he gives to others, making their lives a desolate, lonely existence.

HELEN DOUGLAS

Birkenhead

Like a sauna

I WONDER if you might consider putting something in the paper about the buses which, for some baffling reason, have the heating on during hot weather.

I travel to work by bus from Noctorum to the Royal Liverpool Hospital and constantly find that many of the buses are incredibly hot.

Even on these recent warm days heat can be felt from a sort of radiator inside the bus and some of them actually appear to have hot air been blown out of vents near the floor. I wasn't expecting a sauna on the way to work!

Even during the last few weeks when there has been a lot of rain, it wasn't cold and in my opinion, there has been no need for heating for several months.

DR BRIAN LOWRY

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