Former Forward staff stay loyal to the county

WHEN the coalition Government announced that Yorkshire Forward was being axed last year, there were fears its demise would lead to an exodus of senior staff to other regions.

The Yorkshire Post has discovered that most of the senior management team at the regional development agency have stayed in Yorkshire, with two going on to well paid roles at other public sector organisations.

Critics say regional development agencies failed to bridge the North-South economic divide, but Yorkshire Forward’s supporters say that, by backing organisations such as Business Link, Finance Yorkshire and the Manufacturing Advisory Service, it has created or safeguarded more than 254,000 jobs and led to the creation of around 13,000 businesses over the last 11 years.

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It was scrapped, along with all the regional development agencies set up by Labour in 1998, as part of the Coalition’s austerity measures. It is being wound down and will close in March 2012.

It’s place is being taken by a number of Local Enterprise Partnerships, which are business-led partnerships involving local firms and the public sector.

Tom Riordan resigned as Yorkshire Forward’s chief executive and accounting officer on August 15 last year, after five years in the post, to become chief executive of Leeds City Council. According to Yorkshire Forward’s latest accounts, Mr Riordan’s total salary at Yorkshire Forward from the start of the financial year until his departure was £73,721. His total salary in the financial year 2009 to 2010 was £184,275.

Earlier this year, Mr Riordan, announced he was taking a five per cent pay cut in his new role at Leeds City Council, which left him with a salary of £170,000. Simon Hill, the executive director of business, left Yorkshire Forward over the summer to become the managing director of Wakefield-based Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation (YPO).

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In the financial year 2009 to 2010 his salary was £136,958. His total salary rose last year to £138,985. His salary at YPO is £120,000. Yesterday, Mr Hill stressed that his salary was “significantly below” that of the previous full-time MD in recognition of the constraints on public sector spending.

YPO procures goods and services for local government, education and other public sector organisations. Businessman Terry Hodgkinson, who had been Yorkshire Forward’s chairman for seven years, stepped down on December 13 2010. Mr Hodgkinson’s salary from 2009 to 2010 was £80,509. Last year it was £57,334. Mr Hodgkinson is now a visiting professor affiliated to the Business School at Leeds Metropolitan University and founder and director at The Alchemists Foundation, a community interest company.

Jan Anderson, Yorkshire Forward’s executive director of environment, retired in October last year. Her total salary, which included a £53,313 compensation scheme exit package, rose last year from £135,658 to £162,328.

Don Stewart, the project director of Destination Yorkshire, earned a total salary of £138,477 last year, compared with £134,958 the year before. A Yorkshire Forward spokesman said Mr Stewart had now left Yorkshire Forward.

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Mr Stewart’s wife, Ruth Redfern, is assistant chief executive at Yorkshire Forward. Her salary is not listed on the remuneration report.

The most intriguing career move has been made by Simon Foy, the executive director of strategy, who left on January 31 2011. The Yorkshire Post understands that he spent several months working as a mountaineering guide in Chamonix, France, and is now “taking some time out” of his career. His total salary, including a £92,548 compensation scheme exit package, was £210,090 in the financial year 2010 to 2011. His total salary the year before had been £132,351.

Two Yorkshire Forward senior executives are expected to stay on to the end. Thea Stein, chief executive, and Trevor Shaw finance director, will submit the annual accounts for the next financial year for approval by Parliament. Ms Stein’s salary last year was £151,061, a rise on the £137,458 she received in the financial year 2009/2010. She became chief executive on July 1 2010. Mr Shaw’s total salary was £138,985 last year, compared with £136,958 the year before.

Career opportunities

A NUMBER of other Yorkshire Forward managers have moved on to senior roles at Yorkshire-based organisations. Alex McWhirter, who was assistant director of business at Yorkshire Forward, has become chief executive at Finance Yorkshire, the taxpayer-backed £90m Yorkshire investment fund.

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Finance Yorkshire provides seedcorn finance, business loans and equity linked finance to small and medium-sized enterprises. Theresa Lindsay, who was assistant director of business at Yorkshire Forward for 11 years, with responsibility for brand development, left in March 2011 to become a senior account director at Logistik, the Leeds-based communications agency.