Andrew Kerr is a local government officer who has served as Chief Executive of several principal councils. He has been with the City of Edinburgh Council since August 2015.
Early life
A native of Falkirk, in his youth Kerr was an international sprinter. He won a bronze medal at 400m in the 1977 European Athletics Junior Championships.
Local government career
He worked for Birmingham Council for three years before becoming Chief Executive successively of North Tyneside Council (2005) and Wiltshire Council (2010), then Chief Operating Officer of the City of Cardiff Council in March 2012, and Chief Executive of Cornwall Council in 2013 before his next move, to Edinburgh.
Wiltshire Council
Kerr was appointed to the Wiltshire job in January 2010, and in May 2011 he made headlines with an increase to his £189,000 salary while the Council was cutting hundreds of jobs. While initially defending his pay rise, after media and political pressure he decided to turn down the increase. However, in October 2011 he was made redundant, with council leader Jane Scott commenting "This is an organisation which is led by politicians, not by officers, and that is what we are talking about here.”
Cardiff Council
In April 2012 Kerr began a new job at Cardiff.
Cornwall Council
In October 2013, he was appointed as Chief Executive in Cornwall, but Mebyon Kernow was against the appointment, describing Kerr as "too transient... The man seems to flip from job to job every 18 months". In November 2014 he controversially called for the resignation of a Liberal Democrat councillor, with one political commentator observing "For an unelected Chief Executive to demand without explanation the resignation of a democratically elected councillor should be a scandal." In May 2015 Kerr himself resigned, to take up the equivalent job in Edinburgh, with a Cornwall cabinet member stating that the resignation came completely out of the blue. Shortly after arriving in Edinburgh, Kerr was reported in the Edinburgh News as saying that he was "here to stay".
Edinburgh Council
In September 2016, Kerr told The Times that he was spearheading a 2050 Edinburgh City Vision in an attempt to identify a "North Star", as without that guiding light "any plans get shaky". The vision was one for a city of enlightenment and empty bins.
In June 2017, Kerr told The Edinburgh Reporter that he welcomed the SNP-Labour coalition which had just retained control of the city council.
Controversies
Child Abuse in social care
Edinburgh Council's failure to fully investigate a care scandal in 2017 put more children at risk, according to the Children’s Commissioner for Scotland Bruce Adamson. Edinburgh Council’s chief executive Andrew Kerr ordered an independent investigation into secure care services in 2017 after a review into Gordon Collins, a care worker, was convicted of sexually abusing children at two homes, but the inquiry did not go ahead. A full investigation was eventually ordered in 2020 and an excoriating but still secret report details a toxic management culture and alarming allegations of physical abuse. The council had ordered an inquiry after the review into how Collins groomed and abused children at two homes, in 2017 but, Adamson said, the failure to commission an independent investigation meant more children were “subject to unacceptable and unlawful conduct”.
Expenses scandal
In April 2017, The Sunday Post reported that Kerr had taken a flight to a property investment conference in Cannes at a cost of £4,000 on the day that news broke of five hundred council staff agreeing to take voluntary redundancy to cut costs.
Personal life
On 9 December 2017 he joined Bob Geldof and others at Sleep in the Park, a publicity stunt in which they slept the night in Princes Street Gardens to the music of Liam Gallagher, Deacon Blue, and Frightened Rabbit, to help the homeless.
References
- "World Junior Athletics History". Lionel Peters & Tomas Magnusson. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 3 June 2011.
- "Former bronze medal winning sprinter lands top job". This is Wiltshire. Retrieved 3 June 2011.
- Chief Executive - Andrew Kerr at Edinburgh.gov.uk, accessed 1 February 2018
- "Wiltshire Council workers face more job cuts". Wiltshire Times. Retrieved 3 June 2011.
- ^ "Wiltshire council chief Andrew Kerr hands back pay rise". BBC Wiltshire. 17 May 2011. Archived from the original on 21 May 2011. Retrieved 3 June 2011.
- "Council chief defends 'unfair' pay rise". BBC Wiltshire. 16 May 2011. Archived from the original on 18 May 2011. Retrieved 3 June 2011.
- Hubbard, Jon. "Fury at Conservatives' Pay Rise for Council Boss". Wiltshire Liberal Democrats. Retrieved 3 June 2011.
- Mike Wilkinson, Wiltshire Council chief Andrew Kerr ousted from his job dated 6 October 2011 in Swindon Advertiser online
- Former Wiltshire Council boss lands top job in Cardiff dated 27 April 2012 at gazetteandherald.co.uk
- Mark Pack, What's happening in Cornwall looks like a political scandal that should be all over the national media at markpack.org.uk dated 22 November 2015
- Cornwall Council chief executive Andrew Kerr quits after 18 months dated 18 May 2015 at BBC.co.uk
- Andrew Kerr CEO of Cornwall Council set to leave dated 18 May 2015 at cllrandrewwallis.co.uk
- John-Paul Holden, Cost-cutting council chief Andrew Kerr ‘here to stay’ in Edinburgh News dated 12 August 2015
- Mike Wade, Edinburgh’s vision for 2050: city of enlightenment and empty bins in The Times dated September 28, 2016
- We have a council in Edinburgh – finally dated Jun 15th 2017 at theedinburghreporter.co.uk
- Watchdog: Inquiry delay at care crisis council left children at risk of abuse dated 1 May 2022 at sundaypost.com/
- Alistair Grant, Councils spend £700k on international travel with your cash... but they say it’s worth it dated 9 April 2017 at sundaypost.com
- Huge sleepout event planned for Edinburgh to help homelessness dated 30 August 2017 at BBC.co.uk