SERVING TWO MASTERS
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Fancy a change? Browsers through the situations vacant pages of the broadsheets might have spotted this little gem: "Chief Executive—The New Highways Agency—Up to £120,000 including performance related pay."
Well the pay sounds about right anyway. The fulsome blurb goes on to explain that the winning candidate will head up the new executive roads agency within the Department of Transport, scheduled to kick off in April 1994. He or she will be in charge of 2,000 staff and administer an annual budget of £2.1bn.
They'll also "manage the organisation's change in status, develop technical safety and environmental standards and prepare the annual business plan". It sounds like the kind of position any high-flier would ring with a biro. It would be nice to think that whoever gets the job will actually deliver this Government's commitments on reducing congestion, improving our motorway network and bypassing environmentally sensitive areas.
But tucked away in a corner is some interesting examples of Civil Service "Mandarinspeak" such as: "You will also explore ways of improving value for money and increasing investment from the private sector..."
Presumably that means toeing the party line by spending as little as possible of the billions raised by vehicle excise duty and fuel tax on road building and maintenance, thereby allowing the Treasury to save the Government's embarrassment over the public spending deficit. It seems the lucky winner will also need strong communication skills, sound judgement and integrity "...to deal with politically-sensitive issues and provide professional advice to Ministers".
In other words they'll have to accept that whatever sensible plan they put forward could well get the kibosh if the Secretary of State gets the slightest whiff of a mauling by his backbenchers.
And there's the rub. Whoever gets the job will have to walk a fine line between running the Agency and keeping the customer—the Transport Secretary—satisfied. Perhaps the biggest indication of the task that lies ahead of the new Chief Executive is the short line that says he "will be personally responsible for achieving the Agency's objectives and meeting performance and quality targets". Is the DOT really saying that it won't interfere in the Agency's running? And will the new agency really be so different, or will it be like the Department of Transport itself: starved of funds, subject to horrendous red-tape, slowmoving, having to fight a constant battle with the Treasury and above all else hamstrung by ministerial interference and political dogma. If that's how the New Highways Agency turns out then in the words of the copywriters, the new Chief Executive really will have a "challenging" position.