|
|
|||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
News Search
|
|
14-06-2005 The Scotsman Party ties of husband and wife on GBP 86k By Chief News Correspondent Gethin Chamberlain A COUPLE with strong Labour Party links are Professor Alan Alexander and his wife Morag, who have a combined annual salary of GBP 85,939 from part-time posts. As The Scotsman reported yesterday, the couple each chair one quango and sit on another, while Prof Alexander is also on the board of an English-based quango. Professor Alexander, 61, collects GBP 63,270 a year for his roles as chairman of Scottish Water, member of the Accounts Commission and seat on the English-based Economic and Social Research Council. Mrs Alexander receives no payment for sitting on the board of the Care Commission, but gets GBP 22,669 a year for chairing the Scottish Social Services Council. Although the couple prefer not to declare their political affiliations - as they are permitted to do - they have both been active in the Labour Party. Prof Alexander is a former Labour Party parliamentary candidate and councillor, and he and his wife, a former director of the Equal Opportunities Commission in Scotland, were both listed as party members in 2001 in Glasgow Shettleston. Prof Alexander bagged his first quango in 1998 with the GBP 25,466-a-year chairmanship of West of Scotland Water. "I was teaching public management and thought it would be something interesting to do," he said. When the job was abolished in 2002, the chairmen of the three regional boards applied for the new post of chairman of Scottish Water, and Prof Alexander was again successful. The appointment stipulated he should work 3.5 days a week, for GBP 77,000 a year. Earlier this year the job was advertised again and Prof Alexander was subsequently reappointed on GBP 52,650 a year for 2.5 days a week. He explained that he also applied to sit on the Accounts Commission in 2002 after spotting an advert for the job. He was interviewed and references were taken up, he said, before he was accepted as a board member on GBP 4,500 a year. As a member of the English-based Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and chair of the ESRC's audit committee, he receives an additional GBP 6,120 a year for one day a month. A guide to quangos published earlier this year listed the ESRC, which has a budget of GBP 91 million and 111 employees, as one of the ten most useless. The report was produced by the Efficiency in Government Unit, a think-tank sponsored by the Centre for Policy Studies. Despite being paid nearly four times the average Scottish salary for his collection of part-time posts, Prof Alexander said he believed he had earned his money and that he had been selected on merit for his jobs. He was adamant that his political background had not benefited his applications. "The Labour thing comes with the territory," he said. "I haven't been a member of the Labour Party since 1999/2000. I haven't done any active work. I went through the process and I talked to civil servants. I haven't seen any of the ministers who appointed me." Prof Alexander said he would be nearly 65 when the chairmanship of Scottish Water was next up for renewal. But although he did not think he would go on indefinitely, he doubted whether he would be ready to put his feet up and "tend my garden".
|
|
||||
|
................................................................................................................. Copyright ©2004 Gethin Chamberlain. All rights reserved. |
|||||||
