A local government leader who once tried to pay his staff in supermarket vouchers has been appointed chief executive of the Pounds 6 billion education and training superquango, the Learning and Skills Council.
John Harwood, chief executive of Oxfordshire County Council, will take the job, reputedly worth Pounds 170,000 a year, when the LSC is up and running from next April, it was announced in Parliament yesterday.
In 1998 he drew up plans to pay staff in supermarket vouchers to avoid national insurance contributions.