Bob a job

Posted by: Jules Birch

07/09/2010

So what are the implications of Sir Bob Kerslake’s move to Communities and Local Government (CLG)?

From the outside looking in, a case can be made that things do not look good for the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA). 

Question one: why would he take a promotion when he could carry on in his old job and be paid £50,000 more? 

Sir Bob got a basic salary of £223,000 at the HCA last year but is understood to be getting just £170,000 at the CLG. Although I may not be comparing like with like in terms of salary and total package, that seems to be not just less than he’s getting now but less than former permanent secretary Peter Housden (£185,000-£189,999) and CLG housing supremo Richard McCarthy (£175,000-£175,999). 

Question two: why isn’t the HCA looking for a permanent replacement? Sir Bob starts at CLG on 1 November. The HCA says that its board ‘has begun the process for recruiting a new chief executive from its existing group of directors initially, on an interim basis.  The process will be completed as soon as is practicable.’ 

Doesn’t that have echoes of what happened at the Audit Commission when Eric Pickles refused to allow the appointment of a successor to Steve Bundred and then abolished it a few months later?

Question three: what’s the future for an organisation losing its biggest regional operation to London mayor Boris Johnson?

Put those three questions together and it’s very easy to come up with the answer that the HCA is up for abolition in the spending review.

From the inside looking out though, things look rather different. The move is not a big surprise given the rumours over the last few weeks. While nobody wants to lose their chief executive at such a crucial time the appointment can also be seen as a vote of confidence from coalition ministers in Sir Bob personally and the HCA in general. 

That’s remarkable when you consider that the HCA was set up as the delivery mechanism for the Labour housing targets that the Conservatives have scrapped and later became the instrument for Labour bail-out plans that they opposed.

And if Sir Bob has to go anywhere, where better than the HCA’s sponsoring department where he will have the ear of ministers and be in charge of civil servants?

It’s true that he seems to be taking a pay cut but becoming CLG permanent secretary represents the career pinnacle for anyone in housing and local government. 

As for the interim appointment, if the job were advertised now, before the spending review, how many takers would there be? And how many people would be around to do the interviews? Better surely to get through the spending review and its aftermath and then appoint a successor. 

A repeat of what happened at the Audit Commission? Ministers showed open hostility towards the beancounters but it’s hard to think of much public criticism of the HCA. The only example I can think of came last year when Grant Shapps said it would have to justify its existence and that he was ‘not impressed’ with its office and staff costs. 

The HCA and its budget will be cut like everything else in the spending review but an organisation dedicated to the delivery of affordable new homes should surely be needed more than ever before.