Communities to be involved in future council office clearouts
Clear guidelines are to be issued to council workers on how to responsibly dispose of any excess property belonging to Argyll and Bute Council.
Looking at ways to involve communities in office clearances are also among recommendations from an investigation into why thousands of Gaelic books were dumped in a skip outside a former education office in Oban.
As well as books in the skip, there were also letters, business cards and forms carrying people’s names. Although the investigation found there was a data breach, it was not at such a level that it needed reporting to the National Information Commissioner.
Findings from the investigation also found resources from the education office had ‘in many cases’ been re-distributed across council services.
Excuses for the material that was not re-distributed were that the council had moved on to using online Gaelic dictionaries so needed fewer paper versions and that some of the other resources were no longer part of schools’ current teaching materials.
Executive director for education Douglas Hendry said the situation should never have happened.
And he thanked members of the public who were key in bringing the council to the findings of the investigation, making sure steps could be taken towards better practice in future.
‘We understand concerns about the disposal of Gaelic materials. We value our role in supporting the Gaelic language and so make efforts to keep our Gaelic-language curriculum up-to-date and amend teaching resources as needed. This situation, however, should not have happened. Wherever possible, if materials are no longer required, council-use should become community-use.
‘And any materials disposed of must be disposed of responsibly.
‘Our aim is to use the findings of this investigation to develop practices that work every time,’ he pledged.
As well as giving communities the opportunity to re-use or distribute excess resources, investigation findings recommended reinforcing guidance for employees on disposing of materials responsibly.
The next steps will be to pass on the investigation’s outcomes to interested parties, put clear guidelines in place for the disposal of surplus council property and assess options for involving communities constructively in office clearances.