A leading city Conservative hasbranded the council’s chief ex-ecutive a “wimp” in a Flag-gateprotest following the death ofMargaret Thatcher.Andy Dransfield was happywhen the civic office flag waslowered to half mast on Mon-day, the day Mrs Thatcher died.But he was furious when it wasraised to full mast the follow-ing day.“Such a magnificent lady de-serves more respect than that.We should have kept the flag athalf mast for at least two days,”he said. Mr Dransfield, who hasvowed to wear a black tie forthe next month, complained to
chief executive David Hill andwas told a two-day flag lower-ing was against official proto-col. “I knew he was wrong, so Isaid I wouldn’t attend any moremeetings with him,” he told theCitizen. Hours later Mr Drans-field received a written apologyfrom Mr Hill, who had checkedwith the College of Arms anddiscovered the councillor wascorrect.Mr Dransfield said: “The chiefexecutive was being a wimp –unlike Mrs Thatcher who wastransformational when Britainwas down and out.”>MargaretThatchersavedOU, see page 7.
health chief negotiates leaving package
The £600,000NHS goodbye
by sally [email protected] 651309|@citizen_Sally
The man responsible for thehealth of every person in thecity has pocketed a £600,000pay-off after leaving his job, ithas been claimed.Director of Public Health Ni-cholas Hicks allegedly “ne-gotiated his own departure”from his £240,000 a year po-sition at the NHS a few weeksago.
The goodbye package, ac-cording to Citizen sources,was two and a half times hisannual salary.
Ironically, Mr Hick’s exitcaused a sigh of relief at Mil-ton Keynes Council offices afew miles away.
For new legislation means
Find yourideal jobSee pageS 29-36SEE SPORT ON page 63&64
miltonkeynes.co.ukTHURsday, apRil 11, 2013 £1.80 (where sold) @mk_citizenfacebook.com/mkcitizen
301 South Row l Milton Keynes l MK9 2FY l 9am - 7pm Monday - Saturday l www.bodilight.co.uk l 01908 395031
50% OFFLaser Hair RemovalFor all new areas
Applies to the 1st treatment,plus 20% off a
treatment course.
30% OFFAnti Wrinkle Injections
And fillersCarried out by anexperienced andqualified Doctor
BUY 1 GET 1HALF PRICE
Applies to: Shellac nails,Spraytan and Environ
FacialsPlus 10% off all skincare
Terms and conditions: Can not be usedin conjunction with any other offer.
Offer ends: 30.4.13
WIN A MINI!WE HAVE A BRAND NEW
MINI UP FOR GRABS!
WIN A MINI!WIN A MINI!
PREMIUM RATE ENTRY
Careers FairtheDonsbackintheplay-offsrunning
Tory sees red over flag
thepublichealthpostbecamethesoleresponsibiltyofthelo-cal authority from April 1.
It isunderstoodcouncil of-
ficers had baulked at paying asalaryalmost£100,000higherthanthatoftheirownchiefex-ecutive David Hill.
Theyfeareditwouldleadtoa series of equal pay demandsfrom other council directors.
“It’s not an affordableamount for a council. NHSpay scales for directors andexecutivesarejustcrazymon-ey compared to the hands-onnursingstaff,”saidonesource.
Mr Hicks was also chief ex-ecutive of the city’s PrimaryCare Trust, which, under thesamenewApril1legislation,isnow an NHS clinical commis-sioning Group.
It is not known whether hehasfoundanewjobelsewhere.
Meanwhile Milton KeynesCouncil has found a tempo-rary but thrifty solution to itsproblem of employing a newDirector of Public Health.
It is “sharing” one director,Muriel Scott, with two otherlocalauthorities,CentralBed-fordshireCouncilandBedfordBorough Council.
A spokesman for the De-partment of Health, speakingon behalf of the now defunctMiltonKeynesPCT,said:“NHSredundancy arrangementshave been agreed with NHStrade unions.
“Staffwhoaremaderedun-dant are entitled to a paymentofonemonth’ssalaryforeveryyear of reckonable service upto a maximum of 24 months’pay.
“NHS redundancy pay-ments are, therefore, calcu-lated on length of service andsalary at the time of redun-dancy.”
The spokesman was una-bletoconfirmordenythesumgiven to Mr Hicks.
PAY OFF: Director of Public HealthNicholas Hicks allegedly “negoti-ated his own departure” from his£240,000 a year position at theNHS
SEE INSIDE FOR DETAILS
Letters P12&13 Bingo P37 Schools P40 Jobs P43 Obituraries P55 Sport P58-64