Anger over ‘urgent issues’ committee
New way of working during pandemic criticised
Perth and Kinross Council is set to bring in a new decision-making system during the COVID-19 pandemic, much to the anger of opposition councillors.
At a council meeting on Wednesday, council leader Murray Lyle proposed holding monthly council meetings and establishing an urgent business committee for any urgent issues.
This committee will have 13 elected members and be convened by Cllr Lyle with Conservative councillor John Duff as vice-convener.
The proposal was opposed by the SNP and the Independent/ Labour groups at the council.
A cross-party group had previously written to Cllr Lyle calling on him to reconsider.
But the motion was also backed by the Liberal Democrats and was passed by 21 votes to 17 after a two-hour online debate.
Council officers had pleaded with councillors to either reduce the number of meetings or the items on meeting agendas to give them more time to respond to the pandemic.
But opposition councillors said this would affect their ability to scrutinise the proposals and actions of the council.
Karen Donaldson - who has been appointed as PKC’s chief operating officer - told councillors these were “tangible ways” elected members could provide support to officers.
Depute chief executive
A new system to help take pressure off officers at Perth and Kinross Council is to be introduced, but council leader Murray Lyle (right) has come under fire for the move from some
Barbara Renton said: “The request for the pause on the committees is for the most important reason - about protecting and helping the residents of Perth and Kinross.”
She said there were unknown challenges ahead - including how to deal with the potential loss of income and security - and officers needed time to prepare for this.
Cllr Alasdair Bailey asked if conveners’ pay would be adjusted accordingly if conveners had no meetings to convene.
Karen Donaldson said there would still be “an ongoing responsibility” for that ongoing portfolio of work.
Cllr Bailey said those
conveners had “no executive responsibility” and their “primary role was to convene those meetings” and this could be discriminatory to other councillors as essentially doing the same job.
Lisa Simpson, head of legal, said it would allow officers to devote time to the most “urgent” matters like “ensuring vulnerable people are protected, children continue to be educated, bins continue to be emptied and roads continue to be gritted”.
Ms Simpson said the role of elected members was “absolutely vital” but they as officers were “simply making a plea for a different framework” to free up officers from producing papers for committees to respond to the pandemic.
Ms Renton said emergency powers were always an option but that was not what they were seeking to do and this was “absolutely not” about councillors being “irrelevant” to the process. She said: “You are at the heart of this.”
Cllr Lyle proposed the interim arrangements be reviewed at the end of March.
Moving the motion, the Conservative leader said the report highlighted the “unique challenge” the council was facing in these unprecedented times.
He said: “Officers are working tirelessly to maintain council services but are also being called upon to support our health partners to protect the wellbeing of our citizens through mass testing and vaccination.
“Many are re-tasked from their usual roles or have had additional demands placed upon them; as a result, many are working long hours and weekends, with little opportunity to take leave.
“It is important that we elected members do all that we can to support officers and to ensure that their time and energy is focussed on providing those vital services, as we continue to deal with the impact of the pandemic.”
Lib Dem councillor Willie Wilson backed the motion and said the time taken to debate the matter “demonstrated the officer time wasted”.
The SNP’s Cllr Andrew Parrott put forward an amendment to continue with the current agreed committee structure.
He said it was “vital all political groups have the opportunity to influence the decision-making process,” but the amendment was defeated.