Quango Watch Returns - Scottish Enterprise
It's been a while but this morning we have a cracker. Scottish Enterprise has paid all of its staff a £500 bonuse. This despite the fact that the organization is being trimmed, the budget cut (from £329 to £283 million) and the government imposing a 2% pay rise limit. Naturally Scottish Enterprise adheared to this 2% but then busted it wide open by giving a £500 bonus. There justificaion was simple, "Last year was a challenging one for staff due to recent organisational changes. As a result, we took the decision to seek Scottish Government approval for an across-the- board bonus payment of £500 to reward their continued professionalism and commitment in helping SE to meet or exceed all of its performance targets for the year."
Oh were it that simple for the organizations that SE advise to do likewise and just give away money to their employees. Added to which this is taxayers money. It's all very well SE saying it comes from within their budget but that money could be more usefuly employed elsewhere I feel. The commitment that their staff should feel is the fact that they still have jobs. And what performance targets; they're just doing their jobs. Yet again the inmates are running the asylum.
4 comments:
I worked for SE Borders for about 4 years (thankfully not in one of their main offices but on a regeneration project where we could mostly get on with what actually needed doing rather than ticking boxes all the time). Even then, SE was continually trying to introduce organisational changes or, as they called it 'business transformation'. Having worked in the private sector up until then, I was shocked at how slowly things actually changed, and I'm not convinced that they have even now. A missed opportunity by the SNP, if ever there was one.
Great to have some first hand confirmation of a long held suspicion. There's a view that says would the economy be any worse off if there was no SE. There would be a whole chunk of change put back into the govt. coffers for all sorts of potential schemes. Of course there would be a whole bunch of people out of a job!
Does anyone know the Stoneymollan Roundabout on the A82 at Balloch, Loch Lomond? It cost about £800,000 of your and my money and is a 'landmark feature timber crown and geese sculpture that marks a gateway not only to the National Park and Balloch but also to the Argyll and the Highlands beyond.'
It in fact is some unsightly lumps of wood and what looks like the lib dems logo fashioned in wrought iron. The locals hate it.
Have a look here http://www.lochlomond-trossachs.org/media/detail.asp?arc=-1&newsid=949
to see how much Scottish Enterprise chipped in.
If any structure symbolises the wastefulness and absolute total uselessness of Scottish Enterprise to life in Scotland it is this roundabout.
We went to a wedding at Loch Lomond last year and drove by said roundabout. What a sight! As you say Rab, quite how this fits in with Scottish Enterprise's brief would be a mystery to most people. I sat next to a guy at a dinner party a couple of years ago and we talked about Scottish Enterprise - me as usual giving them stick. His defense of them was daft. As we finished up he announced he was a Chairman of SE – blank. I felt like saying, "I rest my case."
Post a Comment