Who’s Who on the Gravy Train? Top Joyce White and Peter Hessett, Victoria Rogers, Peter Barry and Laurence Slaven and Amanda Graham.
NOTEBOOK by BILL HEANEY
Going by the results, they are second rate in what they do. It is widely accepted that public services in West Dunbartonshire are awful. It doesn’t matter which service you look into, they are all duff. Their top people, some of whom were excoriated in a recent employment appeal by a disabled man who was victimised and bullied to the extent that he will never be able to work again. This Awful April, we are all having to fork out hiked up charges for council services, services which don’t deliver and which the politicians promised they would. When they stood for election they promised they were the best people for the job. That they would ring changes and make West Dunbartonshire one of the best places in Scotland to live. But they receive an avalanche of complaints every week. The only person happy with the complaints system is the Chief Official Amanda Graham and that’s because she receives a salary of more than £100,000 a year. She must be the only Communications Officer in the country who refuses to speak to the Press. Take a look at the list below. We don’t have photographs of all of them, but some of the richest folk in Dumbarton are in this gallery of shame. Take the past chief executive Joyce White who defended inefficiency and questionable behaviour by officials at every turn. She left holding what’s called “a golden parachute” – a commutation and retirement package of around £150,000. The person who was her deputy is Peter Hessett. As Monitoring Officer, Peter Hessett was in charge of watching that the council was behaving within the law when it obviousdly wasn’t and the disabled employee was tormented out the Garshake door. That’s going to cost around £1 million in legal fees and deserved compensation for the victim. Take a look at the salaries these folk are getting. I almost said earning there, but we’ll leave it at that. Read it and weep. Welcome to the Banana Republic of West Dunbartonshire. And mind you don’t collide with a wreck as you are sailing up the river.
Meanwhile, Local Democracy reporter Andy Galloway has revealed that Argyll and Bute Council officers received a salary of more than £89,000 in the 2023/24 financial year.
The authority’s chief executive Pippa Milne, left, headed the list of its earners published in an annual report by the TaxPayers’ Alliance, with a reported salary of £143,625.With pension payments included, she took home more than £171,000 last year.
Executive directors Douglas Hendry and Kirsty Flanagan each had a salary slightly over £118,000, while three undisclosed posts were paid £117,500, £107,500 and £102,500.
The figures were revealed in the annual Town Hall Rich List, which was published by the TaxPayers’ Alliance for the 19th time.
The highest paid UK council employee in 2023-24 was Annemarie O’Donnell, chief executive of Glasgow City Council, who received £567,317 in total remuneration.
Fifteen councils across the UK did not provide accounts for 2023/24 by Tuesday, March 25. East Dunbartonshire was the only one in Scotland in that category.
A spokesperson for the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) said: “Despite consistent calls about stretched budgets and struggling services, there has been a surge in the number of senior officials receiving six-figure remuneration packages at the same time that councils have seen boosts in revenues through council tax rises and increased funding from central government.
At Argyll and Bute’s two neighbouring councils, Highland Council’s interim chief executive received a salary of £154,628, while West Dunbartonshire Council’s chief executive’s salary was £144,584.