Councillors 'in dark' on issues

[trout]

What can you make of this?

 

Originally published in Shetland Times 09 February 2007. Written by John Robertson.

 

Councillors 'in dark' on issues

 

A LEADING SIC councillor says elected members are in the dark about a host of important council activities.

 

Former vice-convener John Nicolson has called for better communication and regular updates on "the highs and lows in each department", such as how projects are progressing and why problems have arisen, like the war over the Bressay bridge, so they can be avoided in future.

 

He said on Wednesday: "That simply is not happening. Things come to a very advanced stage before we hear about it."

 

Closer contact between councillors and officials would help build a better rapport, he said, and he wanted staff to "give members more of an awareness of progress in their name".

 

Mr Nicolson hit out while chairing the scrutiny committee, which is a small body of councillors who are meant to critically examine the SIC's performance.

 

He said there was a feeling among members when they return to their Lystina House base after meetings that they have not been told all that they should know.

 

He said that at two recent meetings of an SIC services committee no information whatsoever had been tabled about social work or housing matters, which are two major areas the committee controls.

 

Mr Nicolson partly blamed members themselves for giving officials delegated authority to get on with matters. But he said the extra responsibility carried with it an obligation on staff to ensure that the members who granted it were kept informed.

 

Another example he cited was the recent opening of the Newcraigielea respite centre in Lerwick in December. He had only realised how well-advanced the project was when he got an invitation to the opening.

 

Another recent omission that irked him was not seeing the contents of interviews done with ex-top SIC female staff, quizzing them after they quit about their treatment in the SIC.

 

The post-exit interviews had been done at Mr Nicolson's behest as part of an investigation into a gender imbalance in the council workforce which had led to the SIC being branded one of Scotland's most sexist councils.

 

He said councillors had been left to rely purely on what officials told them about the interviews which had given them "no feel" about what had actually been said by the women.

 

One of the common themes to emerge was the lack of political support given to officials by councillors when difficult policy decisions were being made. As it happens, the statistics on gender balance actually serve to highlight how unusual a council the SIC is rather than how sexist.

 

Its unusual circumstance is the employment of a "navy" of ferry chiefs and skippers, marine pilots and Shetland Towage tugmen. In fact 102 of the highest-paid 325 staff are all in the marine sector and all male, which completely skews the male-female ratio among the top earners.

 

Other members of the scrutiny committee shared Mr Nicolson's concerns on Wednesday.

 

Responding to the criticisms, SIC head of organisational development John Smith said it should be easy to communicate details such as what stage capital projects and building works have reached.

 

Councillor Iris Hawkins said such information was important for when people asked them questions. She said: "It sounds that silly when you dunna ken what's happening."

 

Councillor Geoff Feather agreed. He was annoyed when the first he learnt of council activities was from the radio or the paper.

[Frances144]

Oh, the poor darlings!

[JustMe]

I have to admit, somewhat reluctantly, that I have some degree of sympathy for the SIC's department heads. They are expected to implement the wishes of the council as long as those wishes can be implemented within the law which is perfectly reasonable until the council decides to change its collective mind which seems to happen on a regular basis.

 

On the particular points raised by Councillor Nicholson I would have thought that the good progress with the New Craigielea project was an example of a situation where there was no need to go back to the council except when there was a significant problem with the project. And of course any councillor could have asked for an update if they wanted to.

 

As for the post exit interviews, which I would have thought could apply to all senior staff leaving the SIC, I think that the detailed information from those interviews should remain confidential between the ex staff member and whoever was charged with doing the interview with a digest of responses going to the council when sufficient replies had been analysed to protect the identity of each individual. Perhaps for once there would be a genuine reason to use a mainland "expert" for this.

 

As for Councillor Hawkins not wanting to sound silly I believe that it is quite reasonable for councillors to set policy and not to know details in response to peoples questions.......just to know where to get the answer would be reasonable.

[Styles]

"He said councillors had been left to rely purely on what officials told them about the interviews which had given them "no feel" about what had actually been said by the women.

 

One of the common themes to emerge was the lack of political support given to officials by councillors when difficult policy decisions were being made. As it happens, the statistics on gender balance actually serve to highlight how unusual a council the SIC is rather than how sexist.

 

Its unusual circumstance is the employment of a "navy" of ferry chiefs and skippers, marine pilots and Shetland Towage tugmen. In fact 102 of the highest-paid 325 staff are all in the marine sector and all male, which completely skews the male-female ratio among the top earners."

 

I mind hearing about this and thinking what a bunch of divs as a lot of the top earners are the pilots at sullom and they have had to do tonnes of years of training and experience in the merchant navy etc. They happen to all be men. Its not sexisim, just a career that few women go into. You cant blame the council.

[north]

I think they are all as bad as each other.

 

There are a number of highly capable and motivated individuals that stand as councillors, but there are also a number that are neither capable, talented, nor able to comprehend the detail of the decisions they are being asked to determine. The exact same thing goes for all the SIC employees.

 

Their is no accountability for the collosal mistakes, errors, or poor decisions they make.

 

As in any democratic process, the option of those being represented by the actions of the council, is to vote them out of office. The difficulty for voters, may be in the quality of the candidate, or the potential unkown outcome of selecting the option.

 

The most recent fiascos concerning the Bressay Bridge and Chris Hodge (from a vast choice of options here) should be grounds for every single councillor being sacked, and then made to pay back the financial resources that they have wasted in this mother of all pi55ing matches! It is a complete embarrasment - and is a demonstration of how far out of control the entire system is.

 

Discipline, Accountability and Consequence is what lacks in this organisation.

[Styles]

I think it shows democracy has a lot of failings in reality.

[ZetlandBear]

If any private company was run the way the SIC is run they would havegone bankrupt a long time ago.

 

I think North is quite right. There is no acountability through the whole system, primarily, i believe, becasue the people in the top jobs do not have the ability to do the job. We went through a period of employing senior directors into posts purely becasue they were "Shetlanders" never mind if they were capable of doing the job.

 

This then has a cascade effect in that these incompetent directors then do not want to employ line managers who are more capable than them as they see it as a threat.

 

There is also the fear that if a mistake is made then they will be moved aside (manager (MC) from the Bridge Project) or passed for promotion which means that every decision talkes forever and is invaribly what they percieve as being the "safe" choice.

 

The whole thing makes me so angry - i find it embarrasing that the clowns at Lystina House are those who make decisions which affect every aspect of our lifes.

 

I would also note that even when they are held to account (by audit Scotland) they stick their heads in the sand and claim that Audit Scotland "doesn't understand Shetland's special circumstances.

 

God - time for me to get off my soap box and go and cool down. 8O

[Carlos]

Isn't there a system of departmental progress reports to the forums?

I know that is it done in some places anyhow, and if that is what the councilors want I think it should be easy enough to ask.

 

On the other hand, they must be having regular council meets and forums with the directors / officials, would that be a good chance to ask for a 2 minute update on how things are going?

 

And on the third hand.... micro management of projects by councilors responding to specific issues is not going to help things run smoother or to budget.

[ZetlandBear]

On the other hand, they must be having regular council meets and forums with the directors / officials, would that be a good chance to ask for a 2 minute update on how things are going?

 

The problems with that theory is that you presume that the Councillors actually read the reports and if they ead them, understand them.

 

If you have ever been to a council meeting it is like putting a bunch of kids in a room and asking them to complete the Rubix Cube.

 

i honestly think that most Councillors don't ask questions out of fear of looking silly. They don't want to appear to be less informed than some one else on the committee.

[trout]

Some great comments to the Shetland News article.

 

Could I be as bold to ask what your opinions are when you consider these very same people are playing to and on a Scottish/UK/World stage?

[Carlos]

On the other hand, they must be having regular council meets and forums with the directors / officials, would that be a good chance to ask for a 2 minute update on how things are going?

 

The problems with that theory is that you presume that the Councillors actually read the reports and if they ead them, understand them.

 

If you have ever been to a council meeting it is like putting a bunch of kids in a room and asking them to complete the Rubix Cube.

 

i honestly think that most Councillors don't ask questions out of fear of looking silly. They don't want to appear to be less informed than some one else on the committee.

 

 

Whereas they'll not look silly if they complain about not knowing what is going on.... and somebody can pull up a minute of a meeting they were at which had a report presented on this same thing.....

 

But still, I'm well aware of writting reports which take a lot of time to research and produce because it's a complex subject, all the time knowing nobody will read anything but the summary and recomendations.

[ZetlandBear]

Could I be as bold to ask what your opinions are when you consider these very same people are playing to and on a Scottish/UK/World stage?

 

I find it embarrasing that we are represented at meetings about Nuclear Proliferation by people who can't spell it.

 

What do you think these people do when they turn up in Paris to discuss radioactive particles and climate change - something like 8O

 

What can we expect from a list of octoganarians that cannot contemplate the changes that are required to bring Shetland into the 21st century. I sometimes think that have too much trust in what they are told by officers and do not put in the effort to research the material they are discussing.

 

I find it so agrivating that if i think about it too much i get a sore head.

[ZetlandBear]

i think a good example of the stupidity of the whole mess can be sumarised in The Shetland News's headlines from yesterday (9th February)

 

Trust asked to bail out (SIC) social work

 

SIC "on target" for spending cuts

 

Can someone answer me how both of these can be true? The left hand doesn't know what the right is doing.

[moorit]

If any private company was run the way the SIC is run they would havegone bankrupt a long time ago.

 

 

I thought the SIC had earned millions from the deal struck with BP at Sullom Voe

 

Is that not why we have such good facilities and things like Christmas bonuses for the OAPs ?

 

Are they also the only Local Authority who are not in the red ?

 

Is it not also SIC who dish out grants to local businesses to try to keep them afloat ?

[ZetlandBear]

I think the point is, moorit, that it is supposed to be Councilllors who are in control and make these types of decisions but the reality of it is that they either are unaware of their responsibilities or are unable to control their department heads.

 

Just because you have money (which is income from a finite source) doesn't mean that you should spend it faster than it is coming in - £7million this year. It is also worth noting that the Council is still hugely dependant on the stock market and a downturn, similar to that of 2001, would leave the council in dire straits.

 

I agree that our facilities are second to none and with decisions like the waste inceneration plant and the district heating some good choices have been made but they are mirrored by some just as bad, Smyril, Bridge, Salmon Companies that go bust, etc. etc.

 

The SIC do doll out grants to businesses and homeowners but what controls are in place to reclaim that money when breaches of the rules occur. I refer again to the example of the Salmon company that went bust after millions had been handed out - what did the SIC get from that?

 

I would also point out that the council does have a £54Million debt which they are attempting to get written off by the Scottish Executive and this will increase by approx. £13million within 5-6 years. If you don't believe me ask to see a copy of the Audit Scotland report on the council control of money.

 

Don't get me wrong i think some of the councillors are doing a fine job but the parish pump politics and narrow minded obsessions of a few of them threaten to overshadow all the good they do.