According to the annual PensionsWatch survey from the Trades Union Congress (TUC), the directors of Britain's leading companies amassed pension pots worth an average of £3.8 million last year.

This represents an increase of £400,000 on the previous year, with the largest pension coming in at just over £21 million.

Commenting on the figures, chief executive of the NAPF Joanne Segars said there is an urgent need for "more transparency" in the reporting of boardroom pensions.

"While it is logical that higher earners will accrue bigger retirement pots, we have some real concerns about this issue," she commented.

Ms Segars added that investors will be entitled to raise questions about "fairness" if executive pension pots are much more generous than those awarded to average employees.

The TUC survey indicates that the average director's pension is now 26 times the average occupational pension, which represents a fall on last year.

Research from the Local Government Association (LGA) indicates that councils are improving public service delivery by deploying mobile devices, internet mapping services, satellite technology and other gadgets.

Councillor David Parsons, chairman of the LGA's Improvement Board, said using technology to share information and make services more efficient could save councils up to £372 million by 2015.

"In this climate of strained budgets, councils must strive to keep reaching more residents and improving services ever more creatively," he commented.

Mr Parsons said money saved in this manner can then be "ploughed into vital frontline services on which millions of people rely each year".

He noted that "location-based technology", which allows councils to adapt services such as school buses and refuse collections based on residents' locations, has major implications for the future of the public sector.

In July, the Local Government Group announced that its ten-year outsourcing contract for finance, IT, HR and other functions should achieve a saving of £18.2 million by the end of its term.

The group represents more than 350 councils in England and Wales.

This is according to Kate Nealon from Women for Boards, an organisation that encourages female diversity within FTSE companies.

She responded to a reader query in the Financial Times, which posed the question of how someone with no prior boardroom experience but extensive media skills could find a non-executive position.

Ms Nealon said many companies are keen to add expertise in areas such as public relations to their senior management teams in light of recent high-profile "corporate crises".

She commented: "Media experience is more popular than it once was for boards and some are very keen to ensure they have that skill set."

The expert also advised people seeking their first non-executive directorship to attend the relevant workshops and seminars hosted by the major accountancy firms.

In a letter to the Independent last month, Seamus Gillen of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators stressed the need for "diversity of business experience" in the boardrooms of UK companies.

Co-authored by Professor Chris Ham, chief executive of The King's Fund, the document claimed that breaking down barriers between different workers and services will help to maintain the quality of care and keep costs under control.

It identified the government's plan to shake up the NHS with innovations such as GP-led healthcare commissioning as an opportunity to improve standards of "integrated care" across the health service.

Dr Judith Smith, head of policy at the Nuffield Trust, also said an "appropriate degree of competition between providers" could boost efficiency and lead to better outcomes for patients.

She commented: "Encouraging integration between providers of care is the most rational way forward to reduce fragmented care, the avoidable ill health it produces, and to improve efficiency."

The report recommended the creation of specific competition rules to reflect the need for patient choice in the healthcare system.

Councils recently received a letter from the Local Government Association requesting their views on integrated social and healthcare commissioning in response to the government's health white paper.

Odgers Berndtson is the leading provider of executive search across the whole of the public sector. Our experience of helping public sector organisations to make joint appointments, our access to talented leaders of transformational workforce change and our reach across the whole of the public and not-for-profit economies make us an ideal choice of partner for organisations looking to develop integrated services or closer collaboration through shared management or workforce structures. For more, click here

This is according to Nils Pratley, the Guardian's financial editor, who said in an opinion piece that the chancellor needs to show he is serious about forcing banks to publish the pay brackets of their highest earners.

Mr Osborne has claimed he is committed to following the scheme devised by Sir David Walker, who recommended in last year's corporate governance review that banks disclose the number of executives earning more than £1 million, broken down by pay bands.

However, the government is yet to enact the legislation that would make this a mandatory requirement for firms, Mr Pratley noted.

"The current chancellor is anxious to show he's made of sterner stuff than the last lot. It would be shocking if he were to miss the deadline for next year's annual reports," the journalist commented.

Other executive pay guidelines contained in the Walker review include an extension of the role played by remuneration committees and a requirement for two-thirds of cash bonuses to be deferred.
 

Earlier this year, regulations in the City were changed so directors are voted in on an annual basis instead of the three-year term that was previously in place.

Mr Bain, who was chairman of the Royal Mail between 1998 and 2001, told the Independent he fears the new rules place too much power into the hands of investors.

"Annual board evaluations are a bit of a nonsense," said the IoD head. "I can't see what there is to gain other than to play into the hands of any rebel shareholders."

Last month, Mr Bain stated that executives voted into board appointments can help provide a clear direction for their companies and therefore drive economic recovery in the UK.

He stated that executives who have a clear understanding of their role within an organisation can help with this.
 

Named the Blueprint BoardPad, the platform allows users to store and view confidential documents on the Apple device in a simple format.

It automatically updates details and has a strong focus on usability, according to chief executive of the organisation's software division Mike Evans.

He believes the device is the "missing link" between secretaries and directors and will help the iPad become an invaluable piece of equipment for company executives.

"Directors no longer need be burdened with carrying heavy board packs and waiting for their delivery, or to worry about the security of confidential documents," Mr Evans remarked.

Launched in April, the iPad is a touchscreen tablet which can be used to run apps, surf the web and send and receive emails.

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs has hailed the product as a "magical and revolutionary device".
 

This is one of the findings of new research by the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM), which examined how the recession has affected relationships between chief executives and their staff.

In particular, the differences between genders were scrutinised in the report, which discovered that trust in female chief executives has gone up by four points on the ILM's index since 2009.

Reviewing the data, ILM chief executive Penny de Valk said organisations that managed the effects of the economic downturn well were better trusted by staff as a result.

"To boost trust it is important for senior managers to increase their visibility and communicate effectively with staff," she remarked.

Although female bosses may be more trusted by staff, this may not be reflected in their pay, a survey by the Chartered Management Institute suggested last month.

The report found that the average salary for a male boss is £10,071 more than an equivalent female.
 

Writing for the Public Service website, IT development manager at Caerphilly County Borough Council Paul Lewis said making sensitive data available to employees is "one of the biggest risks that a modern day council must manage".

He explained that the local authority recently implemented new IT assurance software in an attempt to engage with workers beyond the established methods of communication.

Mr Lewis, who cited figures revealing that user negligence is the ultimate cause of 88 per cent of all data breaches, suggested such specialist tools could be necessary for departments when traditional processes "simply won't deliver the necessary levels of awareness that are required".

The manager added that public sector leaders have a duty to create a "vigilant workforce that properly uses, values and protects the data held within its perimeters".

A survey published by computer security firm Sophos in July revealed that nearly 50 per cent of organisations believe the UK's current data protection laws are too relaxed.

Speaking to Supply Chain Digital, UK director of Capgemini Procurement Services Mark Masterson said government departments could learn from the outsourcing processes popular in the private sector.

He said many public sector bodies are used to acting autonomously when it comes to procurement, even though collaboration could be a more efficient option.

"We know there are huge opportunities for the public sector to get benefits out of this [outsourcing]," Mr Masterson told the website.

"They should perhaps look at some of the great cases in the private sector and focus on what they can do that's the same, rather than what's different."

Sir Philip Green, owner of the clothing retail empire Arcadia, was recently appointed to lead a review of government spending.

His findings, which are expected to examine the prospect of more centralised procurement functions in the public sector, will inform October's Comprehensive Spending Review.

Odgers Berndtson has a strong track record of bringing commercial skills, including procurement professionals on permanent and interim placements, into public sector organisations, to help them leverage better value for money from providers and/or suppliers; if you would like to read more about our thinking and our offer to PSOs, please click here
 

Speaking to the Financial Times, the industry body said establishing a fairly high number of small LEPs would not make the best use of the funds available.

Director of policy at the EFF Steve Radley claimed he fears many LEPs, which are due to replace the eight regional development agencies outside London, will be too small to escape the influence of local vested interests.

"Our worry is that you end up with lots of little bodies with tiny amounts of funding that aren't able to make that much of a difference," he told the newspaper.

The deadline for proposals for the £1 billion, two-year regional growth fund is September 6th.

Mr Radley said the creation of about 15 LEPs around the country would be ideal, but his organisation believes up to 60 partnerships are currently being discussed by local authorities and businesses.

Unveiling the government's plans for LEPs in June, communities secretary Eric Pickles said the new system will "put democratic accountability back into the local economy".
 

Lord Henley, the parliamentary under secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, met with public sector leaders at the district councils of Richmondshire and Hambleton, the Yorkshire Post reports.

He discussed issues relating to the merger of public services with Peter Simpson, the councils' shared chief executive.

Richmondshire and Hambleton recently adopted a system of shared services across several departments, including recycling, refuse collections and computer systems.

Councillor Fleur Butler, leader of Richmondshire District Council, said Lord Henley's visit was "a huge compliment" to the work undertaken by the two authorities.

She told the newspaper: "We believe it's vital that we look to local solutions, not nationally imposed ones - we need to deliver solutions that suit our environment."

Communities secretary Eric Pickles urged councils to adopt the German model of sharing chief executives during the Local Government Association conference in July.

If you would like to know more about Odgers Berndtson's thinking about joint appointments in the public sector and how we can help public sector organisations recruit to new, shared posts, click here
 

View interview with Virginia Bottomley published in The Guardian on 11^th June 2010

The article concludes that individuals should consider whether a good career step is to cultivate relationships with an existing senior headhunter.

View full article