By Alan Richardson

THE LEADER of Perth and Kinross Council came out fighting yesterday after it was claimed his authority’s education department is suffering after the loss of a fourth director in six years.

Councillor Jimmy Doig, who steps down from a local politics in May after a lifetime serving the community, said fellow retiree Councillor Margo Lennie was “demob-happy” after she claimed staff of the education and children’s services department were demoralised by recent events and that other councils have branded Perth and Kinross “Perth and Chaos.”

Education director Stuart Powell resigned in March, a few months into the job, leaving the council searching for a fifth replacement since 2001.

But Mr Doig said claims by Mrs Lennie, a former education convener, were “nonsensical” and he has been as frustrated as anyone by Mr Powell’s resignation, as he was only hired after top-level guidance was sought.

Saying he was “upset” and “bemused” by Mrs Lennie’s attack, he said, “All I think is that she’s demob-happy. Education employs almost 2500 people in Perth and Kinross—to say she is speaking for a majority of them is nonsensical. As for the nickname given by other councils, I would ask, what other councils?

“As members of CoSLA, we have regular business with other authorities and I’ve never heard this and neither have they as far as I can make out—a lot of this is just nonsensical.”

One source of controversy has been whether Mr Powell received a “golden goodbye” payment when he left, on top of his initial relocation package and the fees to re-advertise the job.

Although these are normally only given to retiring staff when it can be shown the five-year saving from their retiral will benefit the authority, the council has consistently refused to clear the matter up.

Mr Doig said he did not know what the severance details were but added, “I want to make it quite clear that any package any senior officer gets when they retire is only in relation to money they have paid in throughout their careers. So the director of education (Mr Powell) would only be paid in accordance with what he was entitled to.”

He staunchly defended the selection process leading to his appointment. “The appointments panel, in place for some time for senior officers, was made up of representatives of all political parties. We also had support externally from one of the best educationalists in Scotland that gave us the best advice possible.”

He said there was no indication at interviews or in the intervening period of the “personal circumstances” that led to the sudden departure.

He said, “If somebody comes to do a highly paid and difficult job and then personal circumstances emerge which means they do not want to stay, the last thing we want to do is force them to continue.

“We are considered one of the best councils in Scotland and have been congratulated for the way we have gone forward in recent years. We are reducing senior staff at the top level and it’s created a management team working together in the best interests of the authority.

“No one likes what has happened but we have some excellent officers and one of the lowest personnel per head of population for any authority in the country. That’s great for public relations but I’ve wondered if it puts too much strain on staff as a consequence.

“Wherever this business of “Perth and Chaos” is coming from, it’s clearly not from the Standards Commission or the Inspectorate because they have said the situation has improved immensely and more so in the past couple of years than any other time.”

* Almost £150,000 has been spent on advertising just 12 vacant senior posts in Perth and Kinross Council in the last three years.

Despite the outlay, it can be revealed that only four of the posts have been filled externally—meaning a cost to the taxpayer of up to £37,000 per injection of new blood to the senior management of the authority.

Stuart Powell’s recent resignation from the director of education and children’s services role less than a year after taking over the department will be the 13th chief officer job—depute head of department and above —to be advertised by the council since April 2004.

Figures obtained by The Courier show £149,492 was spent on external advertising in the past three years to fill the 12 chief officer roles.

Three of the posts were in the process of being filled at the time the data was being compiled after a Freedom of Information request. Even if external appointments are made in each case, it will still mean over £21,000 per post.

The figures illustrate the spiralling costs of the perceived turmoil at the upper echelons of the council structure, questions about which remain resolutely unanswered.

The authority has consistently refused to reveal whether Mr Powell took with him a controversial “golden goodbye” payment following his recent resignation for “personal and family reasons”.

The body has also blanked requests to reveal how much senior staff are being paid when they leave their posts early, insisting long-term savings are being made but refusing to say how much these are worth.

Mr Powell is the fourth highly paid education director to leave the prestigious post in the last six years.

Former education convener Margo Lennie demanded to know how much his short tenure and the ongoing search for a replacement will cost taxpayers—the price of his relocation package and travel costs, the cost of advertising the post yet again and whether he received a “golden goodbye” were all queried.

The council’s chief executive, Bernadette Malone, yesterday said jobs are advertised internally, locally and where appropriate, nationally, to ensure the recruitment process is fair and to attract a wide and diverse pool of candidates.

She said, “The claim of turmoil at the upper echelons of the council is simply untrue. It is a fact of life that vacancies constantly arise in large organisations, whether through internal restructuring, retirement or the usual process of people leaving their jobs to take up alternative employment.

“I would like to reassure Perth and Kinross residents that the council is committed to making the best use of public money. Through retirement and restructuring the council has reduced the number of senior posts from 55 to 31. Had we not done so, the cost of managing the council today would be more than an extra £2 million a year.”

A spokesman added, “The council can only reiterate that Stuart Powell resigned his post for personal family reasons.

“No further comment will be made because the council does not comment on the individual circumstances of any member of staff. As would be expected, the council adheres to its legal obligations and, in compliance with the Data Protection Act, does not publish individuals’ details.”