PUBLIC SECTOR PAY AND THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE AUDIT COMMISSION

On the Parliament UK website last week it was recorded Dai Davis put down the following Early Day Motion regarding Steve Bundred's call for a public-sector pay freeze!

"That this House notes with concern the ill-informed call by Mr Steve Bundred, the unelected chief executive of the Audit Commission, for a public-sector pay freeze; agrees with the sentiments expressed by Mike Jackson, lead negotiator on NHS pay, terms and conditions for Unison, in his Guardian letter of 7 July 2009, that this call is an unacceptable interference, is ill-informed and crass; further notes that under Mr Bundred's watch the Audit Commission admitted in a statement on 16 October 2008 that it had deposited £5,000,000 of its cash balances in Landsbanki Islands in April 2008 and £5,000,000 in Heritable Bank, Landsbanki's UK subsidiary, in July 2008, banks which subsequently failed; finds it incredible that the Audit Commission could assert that investigations indicate that deposits were made in full compliance with the Commission's guidelines on prudent investment; recalls that Mr Bundred's current salary is £246,000, up by 26 per cent., considerably more than inflation, from the £195,000 he was paid when appointed in 2003, and contrasts this with the median salary of registered nurses at £23,345, less than one-tenth of the Audit Commission chair; and believes that if Mr Bundred wants to demonstrate leadership, he should announce the size of the cut he is planning to take in his own salary, based on his deplorable failure to manage his own Office's finances prudently on behalf of the taxpayer, as shown by reckless investment in Icelandic banks without due diligence as to their future security."

It should also be noted that John Cruddas put down the following unrelated but interesting motion...

"That this House notes that the US has not yet ratified International Labour Organisation Conventions 87 or 98 on freedom of association and free collective bargaining, and that harassment of workers trying to form trade unions is widespread and leads to 30,000 sackings every year; believes that the Employee Free Choice Act currently before Congress would give US workers the choice about whether to belong to a trade union which can collectively bargain with their employers; and calls on UK companies operating in the US publicly to support the Employee Free Choice Act and on hon. Members' colleagues in Congress to enact the Employee Free Choice Act without delay."