Leighton Andrews, Minister for Public Services
This was published under the 2011 to 2016 administration of the Welsh Government
Today I published a set of principles around the transparency of senior remuneration in the public sector.
The November 2014 Public Accounts Committee report into Senior Management Pay in the Welsh public sector highlighted 23 recommendations which concentrate on the openness and transparency of published disclosures of senior remuneration. As outlined in the Welsh Government’s response to the recommendations, we have developed a common set of high level principles and recommendations which outline our expectations for the reporting of senior remuneration within the Welsh public sector. These principles and recommended reporting arrangements are outlined within “Transparency of Senior Remuneration in the Devolved Welsh Public Sector”. I have written to Cabinet colleagues bringing these new standards to their attention and requesting they are cascaded to devolved public sector bodies within their portfolios.
The Welsh Government holds to the principle of social partnership and of national and local collective bargaining, and the principles and recommendations we have developed in response to the recommendations will not seek to undermine this. We believe that it is right for considerations around public sector remuneration to be transparent and underpinned by principles which adhere across the range of devolved public services in Wales. These principles are not intended to interfere with existing pay bargaining arrangements, nor are they a statement of the Government’s intention to set the rate of pay for Welsh devolved public bodies.
These principles and recommended reporting arrangements are a step towards increasing the scrutiny of senior remuneration within the devolved Welsh public sector, and will be kept under review as changes in legislation, policy and the devolution settlement evolve.