At a meeting of the full council on Wednesday 12th February 2020 one of the agenda items (no13) was a review of the constitutional documents of the council.
One such document up for debate was the Scheme of Delegation - Detailing the powers delegated to Council officers.
Section 5 of the paper covered the delegation to the Chief Executive and whilst several items concerned others, I was very concerned with the text of item 5, listed as below -
- To submit the views of the Council, where requested as a matter of urgency, to a Government department, the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Government, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities or an outside body, where there is insufficient time to refer the matter to the Council.
Fochabers Lhanbryde Councillor Marc Macrae said,
“During debate on this paper I asked the Legal Officer to give me the definition of ‘Council’ as denoted here in the delegated authority.
“I was advised that the Council is the Corporate Body which is the 26 elected members.
“My concern here is that the text states – To submit the views of the Council…
“These views would be given without any consultation with elected members and whilst I fully understand that issues cannot always wait for meeting of the full council to be scheduled, there should at very least be a consensus of the groups making up the council.
“Without such a discussion then the view of the council being portrayed is surely the view of a single person, the Chief Executive, an employee of Moray Council, speaking for himself and not the corporate body.
“I proposed a motion that did not mean significant change to the text, merely added a level of transparency by adding wording that any such views would be submitted following discussion with group leaders at a minimum.
“The Chief Executive retorted that he would be unable to do his job if such wording were added.
“Sadly, my motion failed, 13 votes to 10, but the 9 other councillors voting with me clearly understood the need for greater openness and transparency in local government. Whilst we are fully accountable to the electorate and it is they who will decide if we retain our elected status or not, it is important that not just elected members but the public themselves have the confidence in the local authority to act on their best behalf.
“My motion was seeking the opportunity to ensure the delivery of accurate information to outside bodies or agencies. Sadly, without verbatim minutes and no records coming back to councillors regarding such exchanges I felt it necessary to try and bring a proper level of scrutiny and accountability to this part of the scheme of delegation.
“I am grateful to those who supported me and disappointed at the members of the SNP and COG groups within the council who clearly felt there is no need for accountability at the highest levels of this organisation.”
