Public and Commercial Services Union

Paul Sturdgess, Sheppey First! councillor for Sheppy Central Ward, Swale Borough Council

1. PCS is campaigning for fair pay for its members, meaning that their pay should increase in line with inflation and be negotiated nationally instead of 200 separate sets of negotiations. Do you support PCS’s campaign for fair pay for public servants?

Yes I do agree that Public Servants shoud have "fair and reasonable" pay increases. I stress the fair and reasonable aspect. If the pay increase is awarded on justified merit and meets with the specifications of the job role, then I do not forsee any issues, it is only when the increase falls outside of these conditions that I, and I am sure all members of the public would see this as unjustified.

2. The government has proposed to cut over 100,000 civil and public service jobs. They claim these cuts will not impact service delivery to the public, however every day our members are seeing how less staff means a poorer service to the public. Where do you stand on cutting civil and public service jobs?

My personal point of view is that there should be no cuts without justification. The reason for this is simple. If a process is working well and is sustainable, then you may take the viewpoint of looking at job spec, expectations and make some business led decisions, however, if like our current climate, this is not the case, and we need to have all the resources we can to make our systems work efficiently, smoothly and meet the need. Once this is acheived then we may want to look at the infrastructure and make fair and reasonable changes.

3. PCS is concerned that privatisation of the civil service has continued since 1997. We believe this is costly and unnecessary and jeopardises services being delivered to the public, often the most vulnerable in society. Where do you stand on privatising public services?

Privatisation is a very emotive subject, and in fairness, 200 words does limit the response. Once again decisions do have to be made, often which are not acceptable. My personal view is that we need to keep our services, as they were originaly introuduced, and to me that means ensuring they are accessible, affordable and achievable. Privatisation often does not neccessarily mean you meet all three of these criteria.

My role is completely needs led and people focussed. I will concentrate my efforts on issues that are brought to me, as I am sure there wil be many. Where these involve public services, I, as an individual will base any of my decisons or actions, on what fair and reasonable. I cannot stress enough that point, as with any political, personal, vocational, educational or general life decisions, all should be made following those simple guidelines, and then the evidence to support it.

I hope this helps. I am very much a people person, and my aim is to promote the ethos of what is right and fair. I treat people as individuals, and give "individual approach" and the honesty that this evokes.