Staffs fire chief earns more than PM say figures

The chief executive of Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service is paid more in a year than the Prime Minister, figures published by the authority have revealed.

In its latest bid to boost financial transparency, which follows the monthly publication of all invoices with a value of more than £500, the service has voluntarily released details of all staff members earning more than £50,000 a year.

The move to publish its invoices made the service one of the first in the country to adopt the transparency measure, and bosses have now revealed that they will soon be publishing the salaries of all staff members.

Figures for the 2009/10 financial year show that chief executive and Chief Fire Officer Peter Dartford took home £148,653 in salary, allowances and benefits in kind, against David Cameron's salary of £142,500.

Mr Dartford's deputy Chris Enness took home £119,150.Three assistant chief fire officers were paid around £106,000 each.

Three directorate heads were paid between £58,000 and £66,284.

Four of the service's highest-earning fire-fighting crew managers were paid between £50,421 and £66,934.

Nine area commanders were paid up to £57,739, and a total of 35 staff officers were paid an average of £62,000.

All are subject to an employer's pension contribution of around 18 per cent.

Councillor Len Bloomer, chairman of the Fire and Rescue Authority, said: "The decision to publish this information is part of our wider programme to make sure the service is more transparent. The number of top earners equates to approximately three per cent of our total number of staff, so they form just a small proportion."

Government Fire Minister Bob Neill MP said: "The release of these details will help local people understand how their money is being spent so that they're better equipped to hold public bodies to account.

"This kind of action gets local authority business out in the open, revolutionising local government. I commend Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service for their continuing effort to support our transparency drive."

The service's finances will be under close scrutiny. Firefighters have been warned that even their jobs are not 100 per cent safe.

And a £50m private finance plan to build more new fire stations across Mid-Staffordshire could be scrapped after October's comprehensive spending review.