“Jobs for the boys” at Essex?

It has been announced that three Essex County Council Cabinet members have either resigned or been replaced.  Those going are Cllr Anne Naylor, Cllr Roger Walters and Cllr John Jowers.

There are now ten cabinet members and eleven deputy cabinet members but the changes really throw up some important issues.

Council Leader David Finch has a deputy cabinet member to his position which is very strange as surely that role belongs to the Deputy Leader Kevin Bentley, who himself has two deputies of his own.

With 21 members of the Conservative party now either a Cabinet Member or a Deputy exactly half of their elected members are involved in Cabinet and receiving enhanced allowances paid on top of the standard allowance for Councillors (Full Member £34,378; Deputy Member £13,374).

One further point, of the 21 Full Members or Deputy Members only 5 are women.

All positions are listed below.

Portfolio title	Cabinet Member	Deputy Cabinet Member
Leader	Cllr David Finch	Cllr Anthony Jackson
Deputy Leader and portfolio holder for Economic Growth, Infrastructure, Waste and Recycling	Cllr Kevin Bentley	Cllr Penny Channer Cllr Malcolm Buckley
Finance	Cllr John Spence	Cllr Valerie Metcalfe
Highways and Transportation	Cllr Rodney Bass	Cllr Ray Howard
Highways Maintenance and Small Scheme Delivery	Cllr Eddie Johnson
Transformation and Corporate & Traded Services	Cllr Derrick Louis
Adult Social Care, Public Health and Wellbeing	Cllr Anne Brown	Cllr Terry Cutmore Cllr Malcolm Maddocks
Education and lifelong learning	Cllr Ray Gooding	Cllr Sue Lissimore
Children and Families	Cllr Dick Madden	Cllr Ricki Gadsby
Libraries, Communities and Planning	Cllr Roger Hirst	Cllr Kay Twitchen Cllr Mick Page