Star date: 29th March 2017

GM DEVOLUTION SEES MARCH OF THE FAT CATS

Greater Manchester devolution is seeing more publicly funded Fat Cat jobs introduced into the region, with a Chief Investment Officer on £150,000 already approved, and positions for a Chief Information Officer on a salary of £90,000 - £100,000, a Chief Resilience Officer at £74,000 - £86,000, and a Health Economist at £60,000-£65,000 looking set to be approved this week.

The Resilience Officer will be dealing with things like 'high unemployment' and 'community tensions'...

Full details here...

Fears that Greater Manchester devolution will see a London elite replaced with a local elite appear to be coming to fruition, with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) set to create just four jobs at a cost of over £370,000.

In January, the GMCA – the so-called new 'super council' for Greater Manchester – approved a permanent salary of £150,000 for a Chief Investment Officer, after the previous post-holder was on a temporary part-time contract, "Given the significance of the GM Investment Strategy and the continuing need for this role"...

This week, the GMCA is set to approve salaries for another three roles related to devolution...

A Chief Information Officer, on a salary band of £90,000-£100,000, will be "providing oversight of ICT provision" and 'taking forward the GM-Connect strategy'...and a Health Economist, on a salary band of £60,000-£65,000, will "support the development of robust estimates on the financial, social and economic impacts of new ways of working in the health and social care system".

There will also be a Chief Resilience Officer, on a salary band of £74,000-£86,000, initially financed by the 100 Resilient Cities network for two years but then via GMCA, who will "work closely with the lead Chief Executive for Resilience".

The job, states the GMCA report, is to address "shocks and stresses" within Greater Manchester... "not just shocks – floods, disease outbreaks, cyber attacks etc - but also the stresses that weaken the fabric of a city on a day-today or cyclical basis such as high unemployment, an inefficient public transportation system, aging infrastructure or community tensions..."

'Shocks and stresses' might just be the Greater Manchester population's reaction to a new march of devolution Fat Cats within the region...

Meanwhile, the Salford Star is still trying to find out the salaries of the new elected Mayor of Greater Manchester and his/her support team...

See also previous Salford Star article – The Staggering Cost of GM Devolution – click here