Mounting speaker costs

SPEAKER . . . Joe Simpson

A senior councillor is demanding to know how much motivational speaker and mountaineer Joe Simpson was paid to speak to council staff — and if he was value for money.

Opposition Cabinet member, Labour Councillor Dave Hibbert, has called on chief executive Charlie Parker for the details of the management event.

Mr Simpson addressed 200 senior council managers at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in March, part of a two-year, £1 million, council package to invest in training for council managers.

Councillor Hibbert said Mr Simpson, the author of the book “Touching the Void”, is a client of event management company, City Speakers International, which also manages Sir Steve Redgrave and Dame Kelly Holmes.

At the time, the Chronicle revealed that City Speakers International said the mountaineer charges between £8,000 and £10,000 for corporate speaking events.

Now Councillor Hibbert has asked Mr Parker for exact figures. He also wants to know if similar events are planned in future.

Councillor Hibbert said: “I could have got his message across in seven words — ‘failure to prepare is preparing to fail.’

“If 200 senior officers were there, on salaries of I don’t know how much, how many thousands has that wasted?”