Alex Thomson comments on council chief executives’ pay

Author: Alex Thomson, interviewed on BBC Radio Stoke   |  

Alex Thomson appeared on BBC Radio Stoke, speaking about council chief executives’ pay:

“I think the danger is that [without a high enough chief executive salary] you wouldn’t get the right kind of person and that the organisation wouldn’t be run as well. A large part of what local government is doing is changing the way it works; for a long time it was a funnel through which money from the top came down to the ground level. But because there is a lot less money than there used to be – and that’s not going to change anytime soon – councils now need to be more outward facing, more entrepreneurial organisations, thinking of different ways to save money and to make money. It is therefore in some ways even more important to have someone there who can make that difference.”

Alex also discussed chief executives’ pay in the context of recent local government cuts.

Click here to listen to the online recording, Alex’s commentary starts at 07:13.