Lord (Chris) Smith must go

Aka - off topic, but no, you aren't invisible. Well, only in the cyber space way we all are on gransnet.

Mary Archer, well bless me. Gets points for being a woman, at a time when tories are being criticised for filling all posts with men. Gets points for being a scientist - Tory ranks not heavily stacked with these. The old Etonians tend to do PPE and the like. Get points for personal presence. But in terms of her experience she has been an academic and chairman of the National Energy Foundation, an extremely small, low-profile charity in Milton Keynes. I am probably the only member who has ever heard of them. And she gave that up about 10 years ago.

Googled. I guess you mean the NHS "Chief".

djen, David Nicholson?

Thanks for the explanation, aka. But your comments read sharply quite often so it's difficult to know when they are throw away ones. If they are that rubbish throw away, why make them?

I know it's not exactly on this subject, but has anyone heard anything of David Nicholson lately?

I don't wish some people would read other's posts before diving in....eg 'perhaps it was more a comment than..'

And lighten up, can't you see the funny side of a throw away remark?

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/10631475/Mary-Archer-is-tipped-to-take-over-Environment-Agency.html
Sorry if this has already been posted.

White wave

I am not coming at this subject from, as you like to inform me I was, listening to untruths and excepting a good yarn.

That condescending comment sums up exactly what I have been trying to say. The people who know how to work and maintain the Levels/Moors and rhynes have battled with that attitude for almost 2 decades . If only the Environment Agency had not been so b----y minded and listened to what they were being warned would happen because of years of neglect because dredging had stopped.

Mamie

I have not seen, heard nor noticed any comments that have been unfair to EA staff who have boots on the ground or lower ranks. Quite the opposite, I have only heard praise for them from the media, Gransnet poster's and politicians.

I have to say as the weeks and days have progressed it is true to say that the country is now in the grips of such horrendous weather conditions I feel it is somewhat futile to carry on talking about it. Then there is the other side to the story that tells me to keep it going as the Somerset Levels will and must be dredged after this is over if it is to survive as a good economic value to this country. As I am Somerset born and my 'large' family remain there I am naturally defensive of any comments that want to see it flooded because it is a useless area with hardly any inhabitants.

Visibility not required for the facts to be related truthfully without negative twisting.

Am i invisible?

As you were...

Aka wasn't told off. She was told by me that I didn't know something and that I didn't think I'd be the only one who didn't know. That is all.

Yes of course, it was a generalisation which was wrong. Having worked for a government agency I am aware that a lot of good work is done, but that a lot of work which could be done is hindered by bureaucracy and constant change arising from new directives.

No it wasn't you Elegran perhaps it was more of a comment than a telling off. I just thought that everybody knew about giraffes.

Anyway we digress....

Lots of people don't know that about giraffes. I didn't notice you being told off, aka - it wasnae me!

That's fine Aka, I understood.
(I didn't know that about giraffes).

Didn't mean to teach you to suck eggs Mamie but am aware that others on the thread might not know how it works. I was told off yesterday for assuming that everyone knew that it's potentially dangerous to aneastethise a giraffes .

Can't win!!

Well I wouldn't quite agree with a sweeping statement like that, Margaret. I think you would need a bit of evidence to back it up. I do think that there are too many tiers though and that the agency / quango idea is not always helpful.
Did you read the Guardian article that I linked to, up thread? I think Simon Jenkins has some interesting things to say about the results of centralisation of power. Would be interested to know what you thought.

In a nutshell there is too much bureaucracy for any work to ever be carried out effectively.

Yes I have dealt with matched funding too, both claiming and allocating. I still think it is an executive role and responsibility would ultimately be with Chief Exec not Chairman.
The quote above suggests that it was Pickles who admitted to not doing what he should have done.
"Pickles admitted in the Commons he had done nothing at the time to encourage local councils to take up the agency's offer to dredge rivers or to change the Treasury rules" - seems to suggest a different interpretation?

Partly Mamie

I have experience of obtaining match funding as I put in, and had accepted, two lottery bids totalling over £5.5 million pounds. I had to show that I could access another £5.5 million in match funding.

To get match funding you do have to do a lot of legwork, chivvying, nagging, etc.. You cannot just get, for example, a local council to agree in principle to match fund, there has to be paperwork put in place, funding streams identified, finances agree etc. usually with the Chief Accountant. My point is, if those in charge of strategy do not push the 'go' button and then appoint a senior person to implement it, then have that senior person report back then nothing gets done. It's all about lines of communication. These people at the top are paid enough FGS.

It's the same principle as the Director of Children's Services getting the sack over the baby P affair. No one expected her to have first hand knowledge of that case, but there ought to have been put in place a chain of accountability that went UP as well as down.

Was it about this Aka?

Smith also blamed Treasury funding rules for the failure to dredge rivers, saying his agency had offered money for dredging, but matching funding had not come from local government, or other local bodies.
Pickles admitted in the Commons he had done nothing at the time to encourage local councils to take up the agency's offer to dredge rivers or to change the Treasury rules. He also tempered his enthusiasm for dredging as a blanket solution and said bespoke solutions were required.

The Chairman's job is to provide leadership and oversight of a company/organisation. He/She sets the tone and influences policy but is not responsible for the day to day management, responsible for strategy but not necessarily tactics. This is why when companies hit the headlines it is the Chairman who is in the fore, and when a big problem happens it is the chairman who makes the site visit, talks to the survivors, accompanies the government minister

The reason the EA has a chairman and does not report to a minister directly is because it has been government (both parties) policy for at least 10 years to float off these quangos into agencies operating at arms length from government. Think the DVLC, passports, Pensions Agency. All these have chairman and chief executives. To change this requires a major change of joint political policy which I do not think is likely.

If Chris Smith is visiting flood areas assiduously and talking to those affected then it certainly isn't making the media, which under the circumstances it almost definitely would and he is never seen with David Cameron, Eric Pickles, or Owen Patterson, they understandably have read the writing on the wall and do not want to be associated with failure, of the chairman, not the EA. Any chairman of any other company or organisation who has behaved as he has over the last month would be sacked.

Mamie of course it wouldn't be Chris Smith who would do the leg or paperwork, but it was quite clear from the interview I saw that he was responsible for setting the wheels in motion for claiming match funding. This he neglected to do. It was put to him quite firmly by the interviewer when he attempted to bluff his way out by claiming he was only allocated £400,000 for this area, He tried to bluster his way through but the very astute woman interviews had him cornered.

As the Chair he (with his Board) is expected to have a strategic overview.