A MANAGEMENT consultant was paid £11,000 of taxpayers’ money for four days’ work taking “personal development” meetings with councillors, The Argus can reveal.

The £340-per-hour contract was paid for by Brighton and Hove City Council to “support ongoing professional development” for elected members.

GMB union branch secretary Mark Turner said: “What a waste. We’ve already got excellent staff who do this.

“Eleven thousand pounds is a teaching assistant for West Hove.”

West Hove Infant School is considering cutting as many as ten teaching assistants to save money.

The consultancy contract was carried out by South East Employers based in Winchester, which promotes itself as “one of the nine regional employers’ organisations which represent the interests of local authorities and public sector bodies in England”.

The company has six staff.

A spokeswoman for it said no one connected with the Brighton contract was available to speak but that it would have been overseen by development director Mark Palmer.

Mr Palmer graduated from the University of Coventry with a politics degree and got an MBA at the University of Portsmouth eight years ago.

The work with Brighton and Hove City Council was carried out by a single consultant over three days in November and one day in December.

All councillors were offered one of the 90-minute one-to-one sessions to discuss their personal development.

A report on each member who took part was then written up and shared with council officers.

A council spokeswoman said the reports will be used to “develop a training programme based on shared and individual development needs”.

The aim is to “support the ongoing professional development for councillors which will then benefit the people they represent in their wards,” she added.

The contract was approved by the Member Development Working Group, a cross-party committee chaired by Councillor Clare Moonan, the Labour party’s spokeswoman for rough sleeping.

The other members of the group are Councillors Jackie O’Quinn (Lab), Ken Norman (Con), Joe Miller (Con) and Amanda Knight (Green).

Union boss Mark Turner said: “Given the resources the council is losing, that money could be used elsewhere.

“And for what benefit? The development of what?

“Does this mean the quality of their decision-making is going to be better?”

“The council has a personal development plan process in place within the council for the workforce, which management do in house.

“We’re already paying for council officers who do this job.

“Eleven thousand pounds is just outrageous. That’s a teaching assistant for West Hove.”

West Hove Infant School in Portland Road is in such financial dire straights it is considering cutting ten of its teaching assistants.

Parent Lynsey Bartlett, of Hove, who has a child at the school, said: “How can they justify spending that much money when they’re making cuts?

“There are many children at that school that need extra support.

“To strip them of any resources is unacceptable and will have a dramatic impact on these children.

“So to be wasting 11 grand on sitting around with people polishing up their personal development plans and having a cup of tea is just outrageous.”

A decision on West Hove Infant School staffing is due today and several redundancies are expected.