Non-job of the week

 

We have another array of unnecessary jobs this week. Surrey County Council is looking to expand its Change Department – something I have commented on in the past. This time it’s looking for a Change Communications Manager on £54,085 per annum.

Surrey is also looking for in Internal Communications Co-ordinator. Internal communications is a subject that gets many people commenting on this website. There are some who passionately defend this role. There are others who work or have worked in the corporate world and agree with me that when a company is looking to reduce costs, this is one of the first jobs to go. Surrey County Council seems intent on increasing the amount of backroom managers, when other councils are looking at reducing the numbers. Almost every week there seems to be a new job advert looking for change managers. How much change are they contemplating?

If you live in Reading, expect a knock on your door or your telephone to ring, as you may be contacted by one of the councils ten Seasonal Personal Travel Plan Advisors. Here’s what the job advert says:

The role of the Seasonal Personal Travel Plan Advisor involves discussing with people how they travel to work, school, go shopping, etc and identifying if there are different travel options available to them. Once the options are identified, the Advisor then provides information and incentives to encourage people to try out different ways of travel.

With the cost of fuel at a record high, many people – including myself – are thinking about the journeys we make. Do we really need the council spending our taxes to advise us on how we travel to work or go shopping? Another bit of state interference we can do without, with ten of thousands of pounds wasted over the summer months that could be spent on front-line services or reducing council tax bills.

The title this week though goes to the European Union. It is looking to employ an Executive Director of the South West European Partnership. Whilst government departments and councils have seen their budgets reduced, the EU continues to spend money regardless of the economic climate. It likes to think itself immune from what is going on around it; as if it’s living inside a bubble.

UK taxpayers are being dragged into more bailouts for the failing Euro, and we have launched a petition requesting the government to say no to more Eurozone bailouts. This is on top of the £20.8 million net contribution we pay every day to Brussels. Now it wants us to pay the salary for a director whose job is ‘to lead the development of this new social enterprise and ensure clients receive the highest quality of European Services.’ This job will also involve extensive travel between the UK and Brussels, so on top of the £50-£60K salary, you can add a substantial amount of extra costs as this person shuttles their way between the two places.

This non-job has more to do with public relations, and is a typical example of EU largesse. This is on top of the costs of maintaining and staffing existing EU offices in what it regards as the different European Regions. It is the duty of our government to say no to increases in the EU budget, and no to more bailouts. We are already generous net contributors, and should be looking at reducing our payments, not spending more, and paying for non-jobs like this one.

http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/waste/2011/05/nonjob-week-21.html