Ensuring the new director of education has the ability to improve schools must be key a councillor has said as the recruitment process is started.

Pembrokeshire County Council is looking for a new director of education with their pay set to be more than £110,000 following the departure of Kate Evan-Hughes at the start of the year.

The role no longer includes children’s services which is now part of the social care and housing directorate.

On Monday (June 15) members of the council’s urgency committee was recommended to approve terms and conditions for the new role, including a salary range of £110,119 to £121,131 and a lease car allowance of nearly £8,000.

Cabinet member for economy, tourism, leisure and culture Clr. Paul Miller said that whoever got the job needed to have the skills to improve schools, asking how performance management will be monitored.

“Where does it say these are the standards we expect to be maintained. We need to make sure they are properly accountable and uphold standards,” he added.

Clr. Miller referred to Estyn involvement with the authority, with it being ten years since a significant issues were raised about education standards and a recent report still finding concerns.

“Three cabinet post holders have lost their jobs, no officers have,” said Clr. Miller, calling for performance management framework to be reviewed.

Cabinet member for education Clr. Guy Woodham said he would welcome a review of performance frameworks but added is is “not as simple as being able to say did you or did you not deliver this.

“It would be fantastic to see the action plan totally delivered but we have to manage that in a changing world and complex arrangements.”

There was a suggestion from Clr. Michael Williams that speaking Welsh be made essential to the role rather than desirable but this was not approved by the committee.

He also added: “It’s the students that are suffering because of our continuous failure. This post must be more accountable to members. It’s a failure of scrutiny, scrutiny has been too cosy and too comfortable.

“We can’t have another generation of failing students.”

The members of the committee agreed a recommendation that the terms and conditions associated with the post be approved so that the recruitment process can begin, with an amendment that senior staff committee be asked to consider performance review arrangements.