RISE OF NANNY STATE FATCATS
HUNDREDS of quango chiefs are being paid more than £100,000 a year to lecture people on diet and exercise, a scathing report into Britain’s “nanny state” revealed last night. Funded by taxpayers, the
number of officials at Public Health England being paid more than the Prime Minister has almost doubled in the last three years, according to research by campaigners against government waste.
The strength of the army of public health officials in local councils receiving six-figure salaries has soared too, from 223 to 266 over the same period.
The huge expenditure on pay for public sector staff involved in propaganda blitzes against unhealthy living was laid bare last night in the annual Nanny State Rich List, published by campaign group the TaxPayers’ Alliance.
It follows growing concern that the Government is wasting too much time and money in bossing citizens around about their diets and lifestyles.
After slapping a tax on sugary drinks two years ago, ministers are looking at further levies and other measures designed to promote public health.
John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “We hear public health lobbyists on an almost daily tirade for more taxes and regulations, without a thought spared for the hardpressed families who will struggle to pay for their hectoring ideas.
“Not only do taxpayers have to put up with this patronising nonsense, they are also forced to pay for the enormous remuneration packages of the top killjoy quangocrats.
“Instead of allowing these nanny staters to call the shots, the Government should stand up for families in this country who should be free to enjoy their lives in peace.”
The Nanny State Rich List details senior salaries in relevant quangos and the total remuneration of relevant posts in local government.
This year’s list showed that Britain’s 10 best-paid public health employees all receive salaries above £200,000. In contrast, just three public health employees received salaries above that figure in the financial year 2014-15.
The top earner on the TaxPayers’ Alliance’s list was Lesley Mountford, director of public health at Stoke-on-Trent City Council. She received total remuneration of £369,579 in the financial year 2017-18, although that package included “compensation for loss of office”.
She was closely followed by Paul Cosford, the director for health protection and medical director for Public Health England.
He received a remuneration package worth £309,500 in the
‘Families should be free to enjoy their lives in peace’
financial year 2017-18, including a “Clinical Excellence Award”.
Public Health England had 241 employees receiving in excess of £100,000 last year, an increase of 17 per cent since 2014-15.
And the number of Public Health England employees earning more than Theresa May’s annual salary of £151,000 had increased from seven in 2014-15 to 13 last year.
A Local Government Association spokesman said: “Councils are large, complex organisations with sizeable budgets and responsibility. This includes public health which covers obesity and is considered to be one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21st century.
“Early intervention and prevention work by councils to tackle child obesity, teenage pregnancy, physical inactivity, sexually transmitted infections and substance misuse, is vital to improve the public’s health, reduce health inequalities and help people live longer and happier lives.
“It is important that the right people with the right skills and experience are retained to deliver this work.”
Duncan Selbie, chief executive of Public Health England, said: “We have cut our costs to the taxpayer by one-third since 2013.
“Public health professionals are on the frontline of improving the nation’s health, from fighting diseases such as Ebola and Monkeypox to tackling preventable disease which costs the NHS billions of pounds every year.
“The majority of our staff, including our most senior team, are doctors, nurses, scientists and researchers. Their salaries incorporate merit based NHS National Clinical Excellence Awards.”
THE nanny state is lecturing us about “healthy living” yet again, but given what we have now learned about the salaries collected by the people paid to bully us, the likely outcome is a rise in the nation’s blood pressure. Quangocrats are being paid a small fortune to impose their notion of how we should live on the rest of us, with hundreds on over £100,000 a year and a number being paid more than the Prime Minister.
This is profligate, wasteful madness. For a start, there is an argument as to whether it is any business of the state to lecture about our living habits. It should make it clear what is and is not healthy, and then let it be.
But to pay such huge figures is to add insult to injury. It used to be a given that the public sector paid less than the private one, the trade-off coming in greater job security and pensions, but now it seems that quangos have turned into gravy trains, funded by the rest of us.
And the greatest irony of all is that unhealthy diets are linked to poverty. Given that the taxpayer is the one who is actually paying for these grossly inflated salaries, it is the poorest in our society who will consequently suffer most. And where will they cut back in their budget to make up for this? It hardly needs spelling out. So: wasteful and counterproductive. This must stop.