It's all in the figures!

Last night's budget debate once again saw the Independents spraying around statistics which simply don't add up. We had an apparent dispute that over recent years the council had shed jobs!! This was supported by a figure for the current year based on people rather than full time equivalent posts and compared with historic figures which rather than recording the council's full time equivalent permanent roles referred to everybody including short term government funded contract staff and casual staff. If you really think this authority is not sheding it's permanent staff then perhaps you would like me to introduce you to some of the people involved. They also suggested that the "top" 275 staff cost over £19M in salaries each year. Where does this come from - it is simply wrong.It is time they actually justified these figures or acknowledged that they are misleading the public. For further examples look no further than Cllr Woodley's last Oracle article and the similar article shortly afterwards by Cllr Terry in the Leigh Times. The question is are they misquoting the figures deliberately to mislead or do they simply not understand the information available to them?