Cornwall Council chief makes £5,000 management trip to US
By Stephen_Blake | Thursday, January 27, 2011, 18:05
Cornwall Council has paid £5,000 to send its chief executive, Kevin Lavery, on a management master class at a luxury hotel in the US according to the Cornish Guardian.
The trip was uncovered as it emerged that Cornwall Council spent nearly £3 million last year on training and trips for staff and councillors between April 2009 and April 2010.
And already this financial year spending on conferences and courses has reached £1.2 million up until November – with 20 weeks of the financial year still to run.
A Freedom of Information request revealed Kevin Lavery spent three nights at the luxurious Omni Berkshire Place Hotel, in New York, while attending a management conference.
Cornwall Council is currently axing thousands of jobs and making deep cuts to services, including closing Bude's sea pool, due to the financial crisis and subsequent reduction in local authority funding by central government.
Comments
American Qualifications:- Someone I know was injured at work when a laser beam went in his eyes. In the end he had to visit the USA to get a correct diagnosis. When the medical report was disclosed to his GP the retort was "Oh that's an American qualification, it [MD] doesn't count over here!" The GMC also confirmed that MDs don't count however it is unlikely that a wounded soldier would quibble about such a qualification when he was being patched up.
Don't you just love these double standards? As to the council officials on "jollies" - do they hum the the tune of The Red Flag with the alternative wording? (The working class can kiss my **** I've joined the foreman class at last) Admittedly some courses are quite costly but £5K for the package is ridiculous. If councils stick to tarmacking the potholes and emptying the bins finance should not be a problem.
By Davey1000 at 23:57 on 27/01/11
ReportHaving spent some years with a responsibility for training and development when I was employed, I firmly believe that good training is vital to any/every business - but why spend the time and money outside the UK??? Who is going to assess the value derived from this expenditure? And what happens when the highly trained CEO moves on to another highly paid job, saying just how well he's done in Cornwall cutting the budget and the services? And did the elected councillors actually approve this expenditure?
By cuckoo7 at 19:07 on 27/01/11
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