This accusation and figure is completely misleading and is actually spread over three financial years (2005/06, 2006/07, 2007/08) not one. In addition, this figure does not just relate to the costs of agency staff as there are other charges included such as professional and consultancy fees, all of which are very often funded through external sources such as government departments and European funding to undertake specific one-off projects.

The split of these costs over the three years is as follows:
2005/06 - Professional/consultancy fees, £162,795.19; Agency staff, £218,976.58. Total, £381,771.77.
2006/07 - Professional/consultancy fees, £239,078.57; Agency staff, £217,441.14. Total £456,519.71.
2007/08 - Professional/consultancy fees, £111,565.91; Agency staff, £92,977.72. Total £204,543.63.

The figures from the GMB union give people the impression that we are spending nearly £1million of their Council Tax on agency staff – this could not be further from the truth.

More often than not, we apply for and receive external funding to help pay for one-off specific projects, which includes employing temporary or agency staff.

In fact over the past year, we have reduced the amount of funding we do actually spend on employing agency staff by over 50 per cent and I can reassure our residents that we will continue to try and reduce this and wherever possible employ permanent employees.

COUN EION WATTS,
Council Leader.