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The Welsh Government has just announced Christina Harrhy will be the new head of the Disused Tips Authority for Wales. Haven’t heard of her? She used to be the chief executive of Caerphilly Council. When she left the council she was given a £209,000 settlement after previously being absent for almost a year… The absence was initially through sickness for 2 months but she was off for 9 months more despite being deemed fit to work after raising concerns relating to former council leader Sean Morgan and a senior officer. A majority of councillors present at a meeting at the time voted in favour of the £209,000 settlement rather than pursue a lengthy and potentially costlier formal investigation or arbitration process. It does seem bizarre that the taxpayer has paid a woman £200k to leave her job for which she was absent for 9 months (while able to work) only for her to be given another very well-paid role at the taxpayers’ expense. I don’t know Ms Harrhy or have knowledge of her competency levels. Perhaps she is fantastic. The Welsh Gov say her appointment was following a rigorous and highly competitive appointment process But the ability of some figures to bounce around well-paid public sector jobs doesn’t always strike me as a robust system open to new ideas and change.