Non-job of the week

This week’s non-job comes from Newham council in London:

"Parliamentary and Public Affairs Officer
Available at Grade PO4, salary £35,841 - £38,463

With experience of delivering parliamentary and public affairs projects/programmes, you’ll be used to lobbying senior politicians and officers to effect change. Naturally, you’ll be adept at negotiating for policy positions on high profile issues – displaying highly developed briefing and advocacy skills in the process.

Reporting to the Policy and Public Affairs Manager, you’ll work with officers across the organisation to provide strategic advice on Newham’s parliamentary and public affairs. Delivering a tailored programme, you’ll lobby to deliver national / regional policy outcomes and funding for Newham – all the while enhancing our reputation with everyone from Ministers to the Mayor of London.

We are bringing together all of our policy, performance and research staff across the council into a new service, reporting to the Executive Director for Resources. We are taking this radical step to improve the impact and quality of the work that we can deliver in the future. We want to be better at meeting the challenge of the council's ambitious service improvement agenda, as well as addressing national programmes such as the introduction of the Comprehensive Area Assessment.

We are looking for people who are determined to be part of a success story. You must want to work in a complex, fast-paced environment, be capable of quickly understanding our policy landscape and of taking a grasp of major issues.

You could come from a number of different backgrounds. What is more important to us is that you can demonstrate excellence in your working life and want to be part of our new team. We have this and many other roles to apply for (see www.newham.gov.uk/jobs/policy).

Closing Date: 9th January 2009.

For further information about this role and to apply online please go to www.newham.gov.uk/jobs/policy. If you require the job description in an alternative format please contact our Recruitment Team at Telephone: 020 8430 3050; Textphone: 020 8430 2412 or Email: recruitment@newham.gov.uk.”

Newham council don’t need a lobbying operation.  They have two MPs, a GLA member, councillors, an elected Mayor of both Newham and London and other elected representatives whose job it is to secure a better deal for Newham from central government.  That is their responsibility as representatives and is what they are judged on at election time.  Add in that this is all part of a ‘new service’ and you uncover the spiralling costs of an ever-expanding council soaking up more taxpayers’ money.

If you feel Newham's residents should hear about the growing bureaucracy and that they'll be the ones paying for it in their tax bills, then send your letters to the Newham Recorder's editor at colin.grainger@archant.co.uk.

Comments

[Hardeep Singh]

'Parliamentary and Public Affairs Officer', just remember to ask if they have a warrant and you'll be sure to get the job ...!
:)-

[Dar]

I wouldnt bother contacting colin grainer - hes a stoodge forNewham Council and reporting is always in their favour - have a look at Queens Market and Fight The Flights a well as many others - all cmplainging about grainger

[Tony Hacker]

Whenever these councils engage in their eternal bureaucratic empire building exercises I sometimes ponder as to what they are really trying to achieve.

Is it to boost their feeling of power and control? Because they certainly have very little of either.
Perhaps it feeds their collective ego by creating a critical mass of highly paid individual 'satellites' around the 'sun' of the chief executive.

I feel that the majority of council work is boring, even tedious. Councils are staffed in the main by mediocre and unimaginative people; clockwatchers waiting for the gold clock of retirement. So maybe a new face injects a little interest, excitement even into a dull organisation.

Do you have a theory to explain the phenomenon?