Senior council officers in Norfolk cost taxpayers �726,000 a year above their basic salaries, when perks such as pension pots, entertainment allowances and mobile phones are added into the bill.

Senior council officers in Norfolk cost taxpayers �726,000 a year above their basic salaries, when perks such as pension pots, entertainment allowances and mobile phones are added into the bill.

The costs, 70pc of which are made of pension costs, emerged after Labour group leader George Nobbs submitt-ed a question to yesterday's cabinet meeting seeking to find out how much it costs to employ chief officers and service heads “above and beyond the cost of their basic salaries”.

And it comes as Prime Minister Gordon Brown proposed new powers to “name and shame” on new public- sector jobs where staff are earning more than �150,000.

Previously Mr Nobbs has tried unsuccessfully to find out how much the authority has spent on away-days, conferences and seminars, and he has also asked questions about the cost of consultants' fees.

The meeting was also told that council chief executive David White earns �205,300 in response to a separate question.

Council leader Daniel Cox said it should be borne in mind that the chief executive was responsible for an organisation employing 28,000 people delivering “life and limb” services for 860,000 people with a total budget of �1.5bn.