THE SEARCH is still on for a £83,000 spin doctor at Hampshire County Council – despite Government plans to slash local authority spending.

The county first advertised for a head of communications last September but has been unable to find a suitable candidate.

Now council chiefs have employed London-based executive recruitment agency Veredus to help fill the post.

The PR boss will replace Keith Kerslake, who resigned in June 2009 to take up a new post in London.

Perks include a generous final salary pension, while the job involves spearheading communication about the council and its services to 1.2 million residents and 40,000 staff.

Leader of the council Ken Thornber said: “Head of communications is an important job and we are replacing an existing post. We use agencies reasonably sparingly to get as wide a national response as possible.”

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But Christine Melsom, chairman of anti-council tax group IsItFair, said: “I think if the council can manage without a person in the post for nearly a year, they can manage without altogether.

Do we need to spend all that public money on spin?

After all the council already has a well-staffed press office.

“Like the Government, this council is going to have to get to grips with cutting down. There are far too many managers.”

According to the council, the authority currently has a head of media communications, a corporate communications partnership manager, a market research manager, corporate affairs manager, three media communications managers, three media communications officers, four marketing communications managers, five marketing communications officers, a corporate communications partnership manager and internal communications manager.

A couple of the positions are parttime, so the corporate communications team is the equivalent of 18 fulltime posts.

Hampshire County Council spends £858,000 on its corporate communications team, mostly on staff.

Meanwhile the police authority for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, which scrutinises services and budgets, has advertised for a communications and public relations manager on a salary of between £36,921 and £41,550.

Last autumn Southampton City Council appointed Hampshire police communications boss Ben White as its new £85,000 a year spin doctor.