Luton’s Labour Executive are to consider creating on Monday 2nd June a new £100,000 a year post to act as a Performance “Supremo”.

When a cross-party Scrutiny committee looked at the idea of creating the new “Head of Strategic Planning, Policy and Performance Management”, Liberal Democrat and Labour councillors alike agreed they were “not persuaded of the need for the extra post”.

Despite this, Labour Leaders are taking a report strongly pushing for the new post, currently unbudgeted for, which will cost residents another £100,000 a year.

If agreed, the post would be in addition to:

• the seven-strong “Luton Excellence” team (tagged the Secret Seven by Liberal Democrats) whose salaries cost residents around £400,000 a year

• “Performance and Resources” Units in each Council Department, which oversee and provide information on service performance

• three new admin posts agreed by Labour budget to support work with partners such as the Police and Health Service

• a senior management team comprising the Chief Executive and 4 Corporate Directors – responsible for the overall operation and performance of their departments

Liberal Democrat councillor Martin Pantling says :

“When the Scrutiny committee looked at this, Liberal Democrat and Labour councillors alike were unpersuaded of the need for another £100,000 a year post.”

“The Council has a well-paid Chief Executive, four Corporate Directors, numerous Heads of Service, and units in every department to oversee budgets and performance. Labour have added to these several posts to support work with the Police and NHS; and the costly ‘Secret Seven’ – their consultant-style Excellence team.”

“If services are still not good enough, surely the real question is whether there is enough direct accountability by managers for the quality of services generally – not whether Labour should add yet further to their growing tally of highly-paid advisers.”