Calls for a purge on Highlands' top earning quango bosses
Quangos like Highland and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) should axe their high-earning chief executives or chairmen in a bid to cut costs.
SNP member George Farlow has called for the organisations to take a leaf out of Highland Council’s book and ditch some bosses.
The senior councillor has claimed communities were mystified about what quangos actually did and there was "no reason" for the unelected public sector bodies to have a chief executive and a chairman.
His criticism comes in the wake of a hard-hitting report by the think tank Reform Scotland which found that 19 quango bosses were paid more than the First Minister Alex Salmond and claimed there was a huge lack of public accountability.
Councillor Farlow said quangos should take the lead from the council which axed two service directors’ posts in a major shake-up.
But HIE and SNH said any changes would be a matter for Holyrood and vital scrutiny was provided by its chairmen.
Councillor Farlow claimed the public was in the dark about what quango chiefs did.
"Very few folk in the Highlands would know who managed these apparently rather expensive bureaucracies or in fact what they did," he said.
"Highland Council has shown the way by restructuring services and reducing director posts to save £350,000 just recently. It would be good if the quangos followed suit. Budgets will for them be very tight in the next few years, so they will be forced to trim their costs, but hopefully not at the front line. I see no reason to have both a chairman and a chief executive in an unelected department for example."
A spokeswoman for the region’s enterprise agency said: "HIE’s chairman and the board members are appointed by Scottish Ministers. The board provides scrutiny of the agency and has responsibility for ensuring that HIE fulfils the aims and objectives set out by the Scottish government."
The salary paid to HIE chief executive Alex Paterson is between £105,000 and £109,999 while its chairman Professor Lorne Crerar receives £38,721 per annum for one-and-a-half days a week.
Ian Jardine, SNH’s chief executive, said he and its chairmen Andrew Thin had key and busy roles for the environment body.
"A balance between the day-to-day work of the chief executive and the more independent overview of the chairman and the board is seen as important in ensuring the proper and accountable governance of public bodies, and in many non-public bodies too," said Mr Jardine.
"It is of course fair to ask how this is best achieved and to ensure the price is reasonable, and that is primarily a matter for the Scottish government and Parliament. At the moment, we find there is plenty for both the chairman and chief executive to do."
As SNH chief executive, Mr Jardine is paid a £100,939 salary while Mr Thin gets £46,832 per annum, working 12 days a month.
Reform Scotland claimed it was a "bizarre" situation that Mr Salmond, who has a £140,000 salary, took home less than more than half of quango chiefs when he was in charge of the entire country.
Its research director Alison Payne claimed quangos could not be held to account by the public and called for the Scottish government to bring them under full control or allow them to become fully independent.
The government said pay grades were set out in relation to the roles and responsibilities of the position.