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Bubb will only publish expenses to Acevo's members, not publicly

Finance | Tania Mason | 10 Jun 2009

Acevo chief executive Stephen Bubb appears to have decided not to publicly disclose his expenses claims but will publish them to Acevo members.

In his blog yesterday, Bubb (pictured), who returns from sick leave today, said that the argument that strategic partners of the Office of the Third Sector (OTS) should publish their expenses because they receive some public money, is “false and indeed dangerous”.

He wrote: “Acevo is not accountable to the OTS or government. Indeed we are proud to be independent of them. We are accountable to our Acevo members.”

Bubb’s decision is at odds with those of his contemporaries at NCVO, NAVCA, Institute of Fundraising and CFDG, all of whom have already published their expense summaries.

SCVO, WCVA and Nicva will all publish expenses

It is also at odds with the decisions of the chief executives of WCVA, SCVO, and Nicva, all of whom have either provided their claim amounts or pledged to do so today.

Martin Sime, CEO of SCVO, claimed £3,765 for April to October 2008, broken down as £2,484 for travel (£1,452 for public transport and £1,032 mileage at 40p per mile) £1,053 for networking and subsistence, and £228 for phone allowance. For the other half of the 2008-9 financial year he was on study leave.

For the 2007-8 financial year, he claimed £6,296 - £3,313 for travel; £2,712 for networking and subsistence, and £271 for phone costs.

WCVA went one step further and published the last year’s expenses for its five-member senior management team. Their expenses for 2008-9 were as follows: chief executive, Graham Benfield - £2,211.48; deputy chief executive, Phil Jarrold - £2,369.44; director of enterprise and regeneration, Phil Fiander - £3,042.12; director of communications, Lindsey Williams - £547.79; director of internal services, John Hewitt - £833.33.

Seamus McAleavey, chief executive of NICVA, claimed a total of £4074.53 for 2008-9: travel - £2334.19; subsistence - £403.03; networking - £716.05 and blackberry and telephone - £621.26.

Bubb will publish Futurebuilders claims

However, Bubb also said in his blog that as Futurebuilders, which he chairs, receives all its money for investment from the government, he accepted that the argument for publishing expenses “may have more force”.

He wrote: “So there is a wider accountability and I have asked Futurebuilders England to check what my chair’s expenses have been over the last year and to publish them.”

A spokeswoman for Futurebuilders said it “doesn’t normally publish individuals’ expenses” but in light of Bubb’s comment it would review this very shortly.

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Directory: Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO) | Futurebuilders England
Who's Who: Martin Sime | Tania Mason | Sir Stephen Bubb