11.
Under reference to paragraph 5 of the minute of the meeting of Moray Council on 5 September 2018, Councillor Eagle sought an update on the Transforming Boards and what will be presented to the Boards. He further sought assurance that the updates will continue to allow the Boards to develop.
In response, the Chief Executive advised that the Improvement and Modernisation programme will go through the Admin Group and Group Leaders prior to a report to Moray Council on 12 December 2018.
Under reference to paragraph 13 of the minute of the meeting of Moray Council on 5 September 2018, Councillor Creswell sought an update on the Council’s Grampian NHS Board representative.
In response, the Convener confirmed that she had received the nomination, which she had accepted and was appointed to the Board by the Cabinet Secretary several weeks ago and had already attended her first meeting.
Under reference to paragraph 2 of the minute of the meeting of Moray Council on 26 September 2018, Councillor Gatt questioned whether the minute could details of the specific paragraph Number of Schedule 7A of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and not just the paragraph number.
Under reference to paragraph 7 of the minute of the meeting of Moray Council on 26 September 2018, Councillor Gatt raised a concern regarding the refence to the confidential appendix which the public do not have access too and stated that in his view it restricted the Council’s transparency with the public.
In response to Councillor Gatt’s first question the Head of Legal and Democratic Services confirmed that providing the paragraph wording would not be an issue and that he would discuss the matter with the Democratic Services Manager for future meetings.
With regards to the reference of the appendix in the minute, the Local Government Act requires the minute to reflect a flavour of what happened at the meeting as a record and not the detail as the item was confidential. He further added that there were valid reasons why the item was confidential as it related to members of staff and their future employment with the Council. He continued that what often happens is the Convener or Chair will give a public press statement following the meeting to give the press information but it is a sensitive situation to manage.
Councillor Leadbitter, following on from Councillor Gatt’s question regarding the confidential paragraph wording asked whether it would be easier to include all confidentiality reasons on the agenda for ease of reference.
In response the Head of Legal and Democratic Services agreed that this would be his intention.
Councillor Ross requested, following his attendance at the Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) meeting the previous day, whether the Trade Union Representatives could be given the opportunity to address all Councillors with their members concerns regarding the budget proposals.
In response, Councillor Leadbitter, who had also attended the JCC meeting agreed that he had noted the request and had agreed to discuss further with the admin group and CMT to see if a briefing would be feasible but saw no reason why not.
The Chair wholeheartedly joined Councillor Alexander in congratulating the Corporate Director (Economic Development and Infrastructure) and her team on receiving the announcement from the Westminster Government that the negotiations are starting on the Moray Growth Deal.
Councillor Alexander raised a staffing issue which the Chief Executive undertook to respond to him in confidence.