Rasczak
Outstanding Member
A valid point Sir Philip Dilley...but one can at least be in the same country as the disaster relief effort you are nominally head of.
As someone who has had their "wellies on" the last few days - I absolutely applaud the efforts of the Environment Agency staff who have done a sterling job of co-ordinating the disparate organisations drawn in from far and wide to assist with the chaos. Perhaps Sir Philip deserves some credit for this...but I can't help but wonder if his participation has been little more than a £100,000 drain on the public purse that would have been better spent on coal face staff. Especially as many of those assisting with the efforts are volunteers - large numbers drawn from outside the affected regions - of which most gave up good portions of their Xmas holidays to assist.
Do we really need such figureheads for our public bodies if they aren't going to front up when it actually matters? Hopefully his appearance at the Select Committee in the days ahead will see him get a right roasting!
As someone who has had their "wellies on" the last few days - I absolutely applaud the efforts of the Environment Agency staff who have done a sterling job of co-ordinating the disparate organisations drawn in from far and wide to assist with the chaos. Perhaps Sir Philip deserves some credit for this...but I can't help but wonder if his participation has been little more than a £100,000 drain on the public purse that would have been better spent on coal face staff. Especially as many of those assisting with the efforts are volunteers - large numbers drawn from outside the affected regions - of which most gave up good portions of their Xmas holidays to assist.
Do we really need such figureheads for our public bodies if they aren't going to front up when it actually matters? Hopefully his appearance at the Select Committee in the days ahead will see him get a right roasting!