Non-job of the week

Consultants have been in the news this week. Take this one from Cornwall, where the county council employed businessman, Sir John Banham to work for the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) putting together draft documents on housing, renewable energy and dredging Falmouth harbour. For his 22 days worth of work, he was paid £45,000. According to the county council, Cornish council taxpayers should not complain. It states it got him on the cheap, as his usual rate is £4000 a day! I wouldn't see it like that if I lived in Cornwall, and I'm sure residents there will have something to say.

Now to this week's non-job. The accolade goes to Conwy County Borough Council in Wales, who are looking for a European Project Support Officer. Read the job description and see if you are any the wiser:
"Age Friendly Communities" is a 3 years INTERREG project to develop intergenerational strategies on both local and transnational levels and to test pilot activities which encourage cohesion & social inclusion, positive image & cultural heritage, healthy lifestyles & life-long learning.

You will be responsible for supporting project management tasks and implementing, promoting and evaluating the project’s pilot schemes in Conwy

Applicants should be educated to National Diploma Level with strong administrative, financial, communication, IT and organisational skills. You should be motivated, flexible, and be able to motivate others, work under pressure to tight deadlines. Ability to travel nationally and internationally is required. The ability to communicate through the medium of Welsh is desirable.

One thing I have gleaned is there is going to be national and international travel involved with this non-job. Why, I do not know. Is the post-holder going to make regular visits to Brussels to talk about cohesion and healthy lifestyle with other European Project Support Officers from around the EU? Are they going to make visits to Cardiff to lobby the Welsh Assembly Government? Are they planning any excursions to London to lobby ministers? Your guess is as good as mine, but one thing we do know is when jobs in the public sector are advertised in anything but plain English, there is usually a good reason, and that reason is not good news for taxpayers.Consultants have been in the news this week. Take this one from Cornwall, where the county council employed businessman, Sir John Banham to work for the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) putting together draft documents on housing, renewable energy and dredging Falmouth harbour. For his 22 days worth of work, he was paid £45,000. According to the county council, Cornish council taxpayers should not complain. It states it got him on the cheap, as his usual rate is £4000 a day! I wouldn't see it like that if I lived in Cornwall, and I'm sure residents there will have something to say.

Now to this week's non-job. The accolade goes to Conwy County Borough Council in Wales, who are looking for a European Project Support Officer. Read the job description and see if you are any the wiser:
"Age Friendly Communities" is a 3 years INTERREG project to develop intergenerational strategies on both local and transnational levels and to test pilot activities which encourage cohesion & social inclusion, positive image & cultural heritage, healthy lifestyles & life-long learning.

You will be responsible for supporting project management tasks and implementing, promoting and evaluating the project’s pilot schemes in Conwy

Applicants should be educated to National Diploma Level with strong administrative, financial, communication, IT and organisational skills. You should be motivated, flexible, and be able to motivate others, work under pressure to tight deadlines. Ability to travel nationally and internationally is required. The ability to communicate through the medium of Welsh is desirable.

One thing I have gleaned is there is going to be national and international travel involved with this non-job. Why, I do not know. Is the post-holder going to make regular visits to Brussels to talk about cohesion and healthy lifestyle with other European Project Support Officers from around the EU? Are they going to make visits to Cardiff to lobby the Welsh Assembly Government? Are they planning any excursions to London to lobby ministers? Your guess is as good as mine, but one thing we do know is when jobs in the public sector are advertised in anything but plain English, there is usually a good reason, and that reason is not good news for taxpayers.
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