28th March 2008
Responding to the report on local authority pay by The Taxpayers' Alliance, John Ransford, the Deputy Chief Executive of the Local Government Association, which represents more than 400 councils in England and Wales, said:
“The naming of individuals by the Taxpayers Alliance needs to be taken with an immense dollop of salt as its report is not only out of date but some parts have also been compiled inaccurately. It is unfortunate the Taxpayers Alliance has taken the form of personal attacks on individual people who have no part in the setting of salaries and no chance to defend themselves.
"These figures represent 0.0005 per cent of the total workforce in local government. Councils are responsible for ensuring that more than £100billion of taxpayers’ money is spent wisely and provides more than 700 services local people want and need. Many councils have bigger budgets than FTSE100 companies and to get the brightest people to deliver the best services for local people they need to pay a competitive wage.
"When senior salaries in the private sector are compared to senior salaries in the public sector, the taxpayer gets very good value for money.
"Councils' commitment to driving up standards is going from strength to strength and performance continues to improve albeit with strained resources. The Audit Commission has reported that councils are delivering an ever better deal for taxpayers and local authorities already have the best track record on efficiency savings in the public sector.”
