Communities and local government secretary Eric Pickles has branded roles such as audience development officers “non-jobs” and a waste of taxpayers’ money.
Addressing delegates at the Local Government Association’s annual conference, Pickles listed audience development officers as one of several council appointments he considered superfluous in the climate of spending cuts.
“What does an ‘audience development officer’ do? Is a ‘cheerleading development officer’ what taxpayers want? How many transformation officers and business development directors does one council need?” he asked.
Pickles called on councils to advertise vacancies on their websites not only to save money, but also to enable taxpayers to “question whether those jobs are really needed at all”. To help cut spending further, Pickles called on councils to look at sharing services and having joint chief executives.
Caitlin Griffiths, head of workforce development and events at the Museums Association, said: “In the past 10 years, museums have made real progress in making collections and services accessible to a growing range of visitors, particularly working to reach people who may not have traditionally visited museums – and museum development officers have been key to this.”
She added that scrapping audience development officers would hamper the progress museums were making to broaden audiences.
David Brownlee, chief executive of Audiences UK, said: “‘Audience development is not just about ‘telling people what’s on’. It’s about actively engaging with communities to ensure cultural organisations and funders are providing what people want and find relevant.”
Addressing delegates at the Local Government Association’s annual conference, Pickles listed audience development officers as one of several council appointments he considered superfluous in the climate of spending cuts.
“What does an ‘audience development officer’ do? Is a ‘cheerleading development officer’ what taxpayers want? How many transformation officers and business development directors does one council need?” he asked.
Pickles called on councils to advertise vacancies on their websites not only to save money, but also to enable taxpayers to “question whether those jobs are really needed at all”. To help cut spending further, Pickles called on councils to look at sharing services and having joint chief executives.
Caitlin Griffiths, head of workforce development and events at the Museums Association, said: “In the past 10 years, museums have made real progress in making collections and services accessible to a growing range of visitors, particularly working to reach people who may not have traditionally visited museums – and museum development officers have been key to this.”
She added that scrapping audience development officers would hamper the progress museums were making to broaden audiences.
David Brownlee, chief executive of Audiences UK, said: “‘Audience development is not just about ‘telling people what’s on’. It’s about actively engaging with communities to ensure cultural organisations and funders are providing what people want and find relevant.”