Who has local authority?
Who's Who and What's What within the reorganised North Ayrshire Council
Written by Nick Underdown
Friday, 22 June 2007
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With the portfolios announced and a first layer of dust settling, does our Council betray minor rifts already forming beneath the newly streamlined surface of the North Ayrshire executive?
It’s taken a while for things to bed in, but the Council has now determined the member portfolios contained within its brassy new cabinet structure. All but the statutory committees of Licensing and Planning have been scrapped and replaced by a single executive of six Labour councillors, each being assigned a hefty portfolio. Initially the Council had proposed that there should be seven separate portfolios, but the SNP re-proposed that this be reduced to six, in line with the newly revamped and ‘slimline’ Scottish Executive.
It has been suggested by some councillors within NAC that the Scottish Executive’s departmental consolidation does not provide a readily replicable model for the local councils. The Scottish Executive technically employs fewer staff than most of Scotland’s local councils — around 4,500 in 2005 (presently being significantly reduced) as opposed to approximately 7,000 staff directly employed by North Ayrshire Council, for example. Having said that, the existence of ‘quangos’ (Quasi-Automonous Non-Governmental Organisations) like Scottish Enterprise, Scottish Water and CalMac muddies the water and makes direct comparisons considerably more difficult.
One council officer spoke on condition of anonymity to the Arran Voice, and said that to some extent, North Ayrshire represents an interesting battle ground between the SNP and Labour. The officer believes that beneath the rhetoric of cooperation and consensus is an obvious power struggle, arguing that while Labour has won power formally, the way in which it is exercising that power has already been shaped by a strong SNP presence on the Council. Furthermore, the SNP will be the key player in the Scrutiny Committee, the newly formed ‘balance and check’ to the executive cabinet system.
The officer said that it is a win-win situation for the SNP. He suggested that the Nationalists will be able to take the credit for holding Labour to account, but also absolve themselves of any real blame for the inevitable cock-ups and policy failures which may afflict under-funded councils.
Irrespective of any politicking the briefs of the portfolios have now been decided and allocated to the members of the Executive Committee – who are council leader David O’Neill, deputy leader John Reid, Tom Barr, John Bell, Margaret MacDougall and Peter McNamara.
Strategic and Corporate
This portfolio will be undertaken by councillor and Executive chairman David O’Neill. His remit is to ensure the ‘overall direction of the Council’, delivery of the ‘Council Plan’, and represent the Council in making cases for resources. It is also intended to handle general governance issues.
Depute Leader
John Reid shares the ‘strategic and corporate’ portfolio and is also responsible for the ‘Economic Development agenda’ and policy involvement in Development Plans.
Children Services
This portfolio has been given to John Bell and covers all areas relating to children up to the age of school leaving, from education in schools, children in need, service for looked after children and ’corporate parenting’. Mr Bell will also be responsible for children’s health issues, young people’s sport and intervention policies, and ‘NEET’ strategies. NEET stands for ‘Not in Education, Employment or Training’ and is essentially about preparing young people for work.
Community Services
Ardrossan and Arran’s councillor Peter McNamara has been allocated this post, which covers areas from the age of leaving school, including adult services, elderly and community care, North Ayrshire Leisure Ltd, cultural issues, libraries, community safety, police, and learning and development in the community.
Environment
For the first time, North Ayrshire has a councillor whose sole focus is environmental. Tom Barr’s portfolio is effectively very similar to that of the previous Property Services (which included housing, roads, cleansing, ground maintenance and so on). But the ‘environment executive’ will also have on his ‘to do list’: waste strategy, environmental health, trading standards, building standards and climate change and sustainability policy, plus issues relating to access.
Community Planning
Margaret MacDougall’s brief is to ensure that the objectives of the community planning partnership and the community health partnership are achieved. She is also responsible for community engagement issues, such as the role of community councils. CCTV (community circuit television?) schemes also — rather oddly — fall under the community brief.
Friday, 22 June 2007
1 view 0 commentsWith the portfolios announced and a first layer of dust settling, does our Council betray minor rifts already forming beneath the newly streamlined surface of the North Ayrshire executive?
It’s taken a while for things to bed in, but the Council has now determined the member portfolios contained within its brassy new cabinet structure. All but the statutory committees of Licensing and Planning have been scrapped and replaced by a single executive of six Labour councillors, each being assigned a hefty portfolio. Initially the Council had proposed that there should be seven separate portfolios, but the SNP re-proposed that this be reduced to six, in line with the newly revamped and ‘slimline’ Scottish Executive.
It has been suggested by some councillors within NAC that the Scottish Executive’s departmental consolidation does not provide a readily replicable model for the local councils. The Scottish Executive technically employs fewer staff than most of Scotland’s local councils — around 4,500 in 2005 (presently being significantly reduced) as opposed to approximately 7,000 staff directly employed by North Ayrshire Council, for example. Having said that, the existence of ‘quangos’ (Quasi-Automonous Non-Governmental Organisations) like Scottish Enterprise, Scottish Water and CalMac muddies the water and makes direct comparisons considerably more difficult.
One council officer spoke on condition of anonymity to the Arran Voice, and said that to some extent, North Ayrshire represents an interesting battle ground between the SNP and Labour. The officer believes that beneath the rhetoric of cooperation and consensus is an obvious power struggle, arguing that while Labour has won power formally, the way in which it is exercising that power has already been shaped by a strong SNP presence on the Council. Furthermore, the SNP will be the key player in the Scrutiny Committee, the newly formed ‘balance and check’ to the executive cabinet system.
The officer said that it is a win-win situation for the SNP. He suggested that the Nationalists will be able to take the credit for holding Labour to account, but also absolve themselves of any real blame for the inevitable cock-ups and policy failures which may afflict under-funded councils.
Irrespective of any politicking the briefs of the portfolios have now been decided and allocated to the members of the Executive Committee – who are council leader David O’Neill, deputy leader John Reid, Tom Barr, John Bell, Margaret MacDougall and Peter McNamara.
Strategic and Corporate
This portfolio will be undertaken by councillor and Executive chairman David O’Neill. His remit is to ensure the ‘overall direction of the Council’, delivery of the ‘Council Plan’, and represent the Council in making cases for resources. It is also intended to handle general governance issues.
Depute Leader
John Reid shares the ‘strategic and corporate’ portfolio and is also responsible for the ‘Economic Development agenda’ and policy involvement in Development Plans.
Children Services
This portfolio has been given to John Bell and covers all areas relating to children up to the age of school leaving, from education in schools, children in need, service for looked after children and ’corporate parenting’. Mr Bell will also be responsible for children’s health issues, young people’s sport and intervention policies, and ‘NEET’ strategies. NEET stands for ‘Not in Education, Employment or Training’ and is essentially about preparing young people for work.
Community Services
Ardrossan and Arran’s councillor Peter McNamara has been allocated this post, which covers areas from the age of leaving school, including adult services, elderly and community care, North Ayrshire Leisure Ltd, cultural issues, libraries, community safety, police, and learning and development in the community.
Environment
For the first time, North Ayrshire has a councillor whose sole focus is environmental. Tom Barr’s portfolio is effectively very similar to that of the previous Property Services (which included housing, roads, cleansing, ground maintenance and so on). But the ‘environment executive’ will also have on his ‘to do list’: waste strategy, environmental health, trading standards, building standards and climate change and sustainability policy, plus issues relating to access.
Community Planning
Margaret MacDougall’s brief is to ensure that the objectives of the community planning partnership and the community health partnership are achieved. She is also responsible for community engagement issues, such as the role of community councils. CCTV (community circuit television?) schemes also — rather oddly — fall under the community brief.
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