Monday 21 May 2012

Are there to many Bosses in the Bay?


The Western Maul reports that . Almost four out of five of staff working for the Welsh Government are designated as managers, astonishing new figures have revealed. The  Mule claims that the statistics, released to the Welsh Conservatives following a written question from leader Andrew RT Davies, show that of the 5,424 employed by the Government as of March this year, 4,189 – or 77% – were classed as managers
A reply sent to Andrew Davies  by the Welsh Government’s permanent secretary, Dame Gill Morgan, showed that currently, of 5,424 employees, 4,189 are managers.
Of these, 1,090 are at management band 3, 1,269 at management band 2, 888 at management band 1, 647 at executive band 2, 175 at executive band 1 and 120 are senior civil service.
Just 1,156 are classified as "team support" – below management level – while 79 were classified "other".

But this is the Way the Civil Service Works . When I worked briefly for Custom and Excise on a temporary  basis in the 90's . I was on the lowest level and Administrative Assistant Every one was above me.

For lower grades many departments overlay their own grading structure however the across government is as below.
GradeMilitary Equivalent
Grade 6
Grade 7Colonel, Captain, Group Capt
Senior Executive Officer (SEO)Lieutenant Colonel, Commander, Wing Commander
Higher Executive Officer (HEO)Major, Lieutenant Commander, Squadron Leader
Executive Officer (EO)Captain, Lieutenant, Flight Lieutenant
Administrative Officer
Administrative Assistant



This is only a guide and  the comparison with Military rank somewhat misleading as EO was considered quite a low position.
But  I suppose since from Executive Officer up. The post holder was responsible to the person below them then  the But as  Welsh Government said that all staff above team may well have  classed as management, as they would have some level of supervisory responsibility, whether they were managing staff, projects or finances.
So on the project I was working on only a few of us (Most of whom were on temporary contracts)  would probably  not be classed as managers. However this was an Important project that involved expertise on Custom's procedure so it didn't reflect the Civil Service as a whole. and I suppose the close to Government probably needs people with more expertise than in other parts of the Civil Service.But as I said  the Executive Offices (of Which there were the most) were hardly exalted positions . Being were those who entered  with a degree started out.. So it would appear they would be immediately be classed as managers.
We should take note of this and study the figure  to see if we do have "To Many Chiefs and not enough Indians ". But it may be that calling some one a manager in the Assembly is just a term to say that they simply give an annual assessment of the Admin Officer below them.




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