WestInverness.org.uk

Question Time - Highland Council 8th May

The question submitted by Inverness West Cllr Alex Graham asking when the City of Inverness Committee would be able to exercise its powers of scrutiny was provided with a response which totally failed to answer the question. Question and answer are below.

In a follow up question, The Provost stated that the information for the City Committee would be available by 30th June.

[Note that although the Council papers referred to the Convenor, it was actually the Provost of Inverness who replied.]

Questions to the Convener

The following Questions have been received by the Chief Executive in terms of Standing Order 42:–

(i) Mr Alex Graham

“With reference to the motion passed at Inverness City Committee on Monday, 4 February 2008 which stated that:

“The Administration was establishing the type of information and the method by which it could be reported to Wards which could be aggregated on a City wide basis for reporting to the City Committee in accordance with the Committee’s powers. The detail of the process for reporting the information both to Wards and the City Committee would be the subject of a further report to the next appropriate meeting of the City Committee” and noting that two subsequent meetings of the City Committee have been held without further report on this matter, please advise of the current position and when it is expected to provide the information concerned so that Inverness City Committee can discharge its responsibility to scrutinise service delivery in the City of Inverness in terms of Paragraph 2.2 of the Schedule of Powers delegated from the Highland Council.”

The Convener’s response to Alex Graham is circulated.

Mr Graham will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Convener.

Item 8 - Questions to Convener
Response - to Mr Alex Graham
In response to your question –

The Corporate Manager (Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey) is working with a group of Officers from each Council Service to prepare the information that can be reported at Ward level across all 22 Council Wards. Initially, this information was prepared for Ward 7 (Cromarty Firth) as reported by the Corporate Manager to the Inverness City Committee on 4 February 2008. The proposals for Ward reporting were also circulated to all 80 Elected Members via their own Ward Business Meetings.

As information across all 22 Wards was being collected and collated over the past few weeks, some changes have had to be made to the original material. This has resulted in improvements to the original both in the method of capturing the information and in its presentation. For example, taking the first suite of information on ‘Council Facilities’, this has been improved by adding information on staff numbers, unit costs and regulation and inspections to the original Property database held by the Housing and Property Service. This will stop any duplication in reporting of the information and make the system more efficient.

Meanwhile, the business of scrutinising service delivery continues to happen at Ward level, particularly through Ward Business Meetings. Service representatives are regularly invited along to discuss requirements and priorities for the Ward thus enabling Members to scrutinise what is going on in the Ward and to report back to their communities either through the Ward Forum or at Community Council meetings. The work to capture the information for Ward Reporting will be finalised shortly and will be presented to Members following completion.

Congratulations to Liz Macdonald on being chosen as Provost of Nairn, and we wish her every success in that post.

Councillor MacDonald is the first female provost of Nairn and one of very few in the Highlands and Islands. Central Sutherland councillor Alison McGee was Convenor of Highland Council from 2003 to 2007 but that office was less historic. Mrs Anne Urquhart who was Provost of Stornoway from 1968-1971 [approximate date; we are checking it] is probably the only previous female holder of the title in the Highlands and Islands in recent times. Sheila Mackay was a fine Deputy Provost of Inverness from 1992 to 1996.

Provost Macdonald was chosen by the four Highland Council members who represent Nairn and no-one else. That’s how it should be done.

The administration proposed a motion at Highland Council on 31 May 2007 to appoint 22 Convenors and Vice-convenors, amongst these being the appointment of Cllr Robert Wynd as Provost of Inverness. This was first occasion ever on record where councillors outwith Inverness chose the Provost.

Cllr Alex Graham, seconded by Cllr Jimmy Gray (Labour) moved an amendment in the following terms:

“That the election of Provost of Inverness be delegated to the City of Inverness Committee”

(more…)

The question of how the Provost of Inverness is chosen has become a major issue, with the Inverness Courier running this subject as its main front page story and also giving over its editorial column to it on Tuesday 22nd May.

This stems from the Courier’s discovery of plans by the Independent/SNP administration on Highland Council to have the Provost chosen in a vote involving all 80 Highland Council members rather than just the Inverness councillors.

The office of Provost dates back hundreds of years and has a significance in Inverness that the position has largely lost elsewhere. All those Alex Graham has spoken to were strongly opposed to the decision being taken by councillors from outwith the city.

Alex Graham commented in the Inverness Courier.

Councillor Alex Graham, newly-elected Lib-Dem councillor for Inverness West, thought the plan would go against the wishes of the people of Inverness.

“The provost of Inverness is a historic office,” he said. “The provost has been chosen by Inverness councillors for hundreds of years and I think it should continue to be chosen by representatives of Inverness.

“I would be very much opposed to it and I’m absolutely certain that other Lib-Dems and councillors of other persuasions would feel the same. The vast majority of people in Inverness would want the provost to be chosen locally.”

Councillor Jimmy Gray (Labour, Inverness Millburn) — himself one of those widely mentioned as a potential candidate — said, “The Labour group’s position is very clear — the Inverness Provost should be elected by Inverness councillors.”

This will be one of the main subjects of interest at the next meeting of the Highland Council, to be held on 31st May.