The Conservative group on Moray Council have expressed extremely deep concern following the publication of the latest Best Value report into Moray Council.
Commenting on the day the report is officially released is Cllr Tim Eagle - Leader of the Conservative Group - “Go back 5 years when the council last underwent a Best Value audit and you will see there were very similar concerns raised as to how the council was performing to the report released today. Nothing has really changed."
“It is very easy, as many already seem to have done, to point the finger straight at the political leadership in the council alone."
“However we must accept that to perform as we expect, we need both the political leadership provided by councillors, and the operational leadership, provided by senior council officers to work together effectively."
“While councillors set policy and strategy, the senior officers are tasked with implementing the policy, and guiding councillors as they seek to match spending with key priorities and monitor performance."
“The Best Value Report shines a spotlight on this, and it is unfortunately clear that the performance is still lacking. This was true in 2015 and it is still true in 2020. There has been little or no improvement."
“The failure to even recognise the shortcomings in performance, never mind implement change, has been a huge source of frustration to the Conservative Group and, I believe, many operational managers working for the Council."
"I continue to believe we have amazing staff working so hard in Moray across many different areas but I have had a hunch for a while that what we lack at the very top of the council is the kind of inspirational and innovative leadership necessary to drive change. The press release issued by the council today provides very little reassurance that this situation is likely to change even though it talks in coded language about the school estate and that significant changes are required."
“The Conservative group have submitted a notice of motion today requesting an urgent special meeting of the full council to discuss the Best Value report along with the two SPSO reports from April and August 2020 which concerned Moray Council. In that meeting I will be seeking clear answers as to why yet again we face such a damaging report.”
