Time to rein in our council chiefs.

The public should be told how many public sector staff are paid more than £100,000 a year, assembly members have said.

The Public Accounts Committee found that different bodies followed different rules in deciding which salaries to make public.

It wants organisations to reveal the number of staff earning over £100,000 grouped in salary bands of £5,000.

The AMs said it would result in better scrutiny and more consistency.

High pay in the Welsh public sector has long prompted political controversy

Last week the Wales Audit Office (WAO) insisted a proposed £330,000 pay-off for Pembrokeshire council's chief executive Bryn Parry-Jones was cut by £52,760.

The Public Accounts Committee said Mr Parry-Jones's salary was £194,661 in 2012-13, significantly higher than the prime minister's pay.

But the chief executive of Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board was paid even more, at £200,000AMs said the disclosure rules should also apply to social housing providers that receive Welsh government cash and staff working in higher and further education, alongside those employed in local government and the NHS.

Darren Millar, the Conservative AM who chairs the committee, said: 

"It was sometimes difficult to make comparisons between pay arrangements between similar organisations and there were inconsistencies across the public sector as a whole.
"We were concerned about these findings, as we believe that it is vital that the information on levels of senior manager pay levels in the public sector should be clear and accessible to the public.
"This will allow for effective scrutiny together with an educated and informed debate about senior management pay to take place.
"To address our concerns we are proposing a suite of recommendations aimed at eradicating the inconsistencies in reporting and ensuring accountability to taxpayers."

Private Eye's Rotten Boroughs regularly has reports of council senior staff who are guilty of incompetence, being to close to the council leaders. or darn right dishonest who leave their post only to pop up again in a similar role in another council.

You if you wewr a conspiracy theorist would be forgiven to think that there was an equivalence of a Freemasons Lodge amongst the hierarchy of our council including staff and elected representatives.

Y Cneifrw analysis in depth  in depth the WLGA review panel's report and recommendations on governance in Carmarthenshire County Council.and points out that two months later than advertised, and written in the knowledge that the chief executive, Mark James, would like to head off to pastures new with a hefty redundancy package .

His counter part in Pembrokeshire has already managed this council chief Bryn Parry Jones at the centre of 'unlawful payments' row  has  received a very lucrative deal even if was reduced.

What's the betting  that both Mr James and Parry Jones  will pop up again a similar role in another council next years.

Taken into account how these two councils have handled things,maybe they simply employ the others disgraced  chief executive orr is that carrying my cynicism to far?