Welsh Government lifts public sector pay cap for senior executives at Welsh health board

Following news yesterday that Cardiff and Vale health board had awarded potentially unlawful contracts, the First Minister has today been accused of showing a “worrying ignorance” of hiring and recruitment practices in the Welsh NHS.

A report published by Wales’ auditor general criticised “numerous and significant failings” by the board in its awarding of contracts for a HR consultancy.

It found that two consultancy contracts had been awarded without competitive tendering and that a £150,000 employment contract – sanctioned by the Welsh Government, despite being in excess of the NHS Executive Director Salary range – had been offered without the post having been advertised.

During First Minister’s Questions, the Welsh Conservative leader pressed Carwyn Jones on these practices and asked whether he was aware of any similar practices having been – or being – replicated across Wales’ six other health boards.

Mr Jones replied that he was not aware if this was the case and said the episode was now the subject of an investigation. When asked by Mr Davies if he had confidence in the work of Cardiff and Vale’s Chair, Mr Jones did not offer a reply until the question was repeated.

Speaking outside the Chamber, Andrew RT Davies said:

“There is clearly something rotten in the Cardiff and Vale Health Board’s senior management team.

“What we’ve learned today is that the First Minister apparently has little confidence in the health board’s chair, and that he possesses a worrying ignorance of the Welsh NHS’s hiring and recruitment practices.

“This has serious implications because it matters a great deal who is put in charge of recruiting our doctors and nurses, and how these people are appointed. It is of tantamount importance, not only to ensuring value of money for taxpayers, but also to the delivery of quality patient care.

“I will be writing to the cabinet secretary for full details of when the public and AMs can expect to see an outcome to the Welsh Government’s investigation. I am hopeful it will glean some answers as to, for example, why an individual was awarded a £150,000 employment contract without entering into a competitive interview.”

He added: “Under the First Minister’s leadership, senior NHS executives are paid through the nose while hardworking nurses are lumbered with astronomical fines for minor parking infringements.”