# Cardy to step down from MCA



## non descript (Nov 18, 2005)

From and copyright of Lloyd’s List – Tuesday 3rd November 2009

_*Cardy to step down from MCA*

Chief executive to quit at end of contract and despite controversy dogging his tenure he says this did not influence his decision

David Osler - Tuesday 3 November 2009

PETER Cardy, the former cancer charity boss brought in to head the UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency two years ago, is to step down in April 2010, Lloyd’s List has learned.
The MCA chief executive indicated yesterday that he was in discussions involving another high-level post that would build on the skills he had learned since 2007, but would not be drawn as to whether it would be in the broad maritime sector.
Mr Cardy’s term of office has been dogged by controversy from the start, with some in the organisation objecting to the appointment of a man with no shipping or coastguard background beyond his hobby of yachting.
Industrial relations have also been rocky throughout his tenure. Both surveyors and coastguards going on strike last year as part of a claim for pay parity with others doing similar jobs.
In addition, there has been constant political criticism. A report from the National Audit Office last week blasted the MCA for its alleged “make-do-and-mend” approach, resistance to change and lack of commitment to its own target for growth of the UK flag.
But Mr Cardy insisted that none of these factors figured in his decision to quit on completion of his contract.
“I had lengthy discussions with my boss in the Department [for Transport] over the course of the summer and for a combination of my personal reasons and his organisational reasons, this seems like the right time,” he said. “I am 63 next April, so it is good timing as far as I am concerned and it is good timing as far as the department is concerned. There is nothing magical about it, it is just the balance of timing really.”
The date had been planned for months, and was not influenced by the flak from the NAO, he said.
“Nobody could deny that it has been a very turbulent period and there have been some difficult moments, but the MCA is a cause worth fighting for,” said Mr Cardy. “I have given it 150% and we have made quite a lot of progress.”
Staff were informed of the move in a two-paragraph email yesterday morning, which did not go into details of the reason for Mr Cardy’s resignation.
The email read: “My contract ends next February. The DfT will advertise for my successor shortly. At the department’s request I have agreed to stay on until the end of April 2010 to smooth the transition.
“I continue to be very proud to work for this remarkable organisation, which does such a vital job in saving lives and protecting the environment at sea and on the coast, and supports the whole of the UK economy by ensuring the safety of shipping.”
The matter-of-fact tone of the statement contrasts with the one made by Mr Cardy’s predecessor but one, Stephen Bligh, in 2006. Capt Bligh openly attacked an unnamed “element of discontent” in the MCA, widely taken to refer to its coastguard employees.
Capt Bligh added: “I have tried to promote open, honest and transparent discussions with those involved but I regret that in some quarters there has remained a healthy appetite for alarmist conjecture, with little appetite for the truth.”
Sources with knowledge of MCA affairs speculate that Mr Cardy had not won his way into the good books of the senior civil servants at the DfT, who had looked to him to sort out the inherited mess at an agency already perceived to be in trouble when he took over the reins.
In this version of events, the NAO report is held up as proof that he was not able to affect a short-order turnaround.
But a spokesman for the DfT denied that any political pressure had being applied, saying that Mr Cardy’s departure was entirely a matter for him._


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