Responding to Glasgow City Council’s chief executive George Black's comments to staff on the budget allocation to Glasgow, SNP Leader of the Opposition, Councillor James Dornan said: “Like all local authorities Glasgow faces a difficult period, however Glasgow's Chief Executive should know better than to play political games with an issue as serious as council budgets.  As he well knows, Local Government’s share of the Scottish budget has been maintained by the Scottish Government, despite savage Westminster cuts, and Glasgow’s revenue budget was determined by the nationally agreed formula for allocating resources.

“At no time did the Scottish Government say Glasgow would be receiving a 2.6% reduction in its budget allocation, this was the figure for councils as a whole and agreed by COSLA of which Glasgow City Council is a member.

“This Council set out a budget options paper and published to all staff and media, which contained options over and above reductions of 2.6%.  Are we to seriously believe that this Council, with the highest paid council chief executive in Scotland, has no contingency plans in place?  Why do we have to wait until ‘late January’ for updated proposals?

“Glasgow’s chief executive, himself a former head of finance, knows that the funding allocation is based on a formula agreed by councils and COSLA.  If Glasgow were unhappy with the formula then why did they not work with their colleagues on COSLA to reform it? Could it be that even some of their colleagues are sick of hearing Glasgow cry foul?

Statements such as this from the senior officer in the council demean both his office and his reputation. The Chief Executive is there to ensure that Glasgow is run efficiently not to try to win votes for the Labour Party. It is my opinion that in this statement Mr Black has crossed the line once again.

Councillor Dornan concluded by saying: “Given that Mr Black and the Leader of the Council both appear to be saying they were surprised not to receive the average reduction figure of 2.6%  I am calling on Glasgow City Council to publish all correspondence between COSLA and the Council on the methodology used to calculate budget allocations to councils to see if Glasgow were taken by surprise by this announcement and did they try to persuade their colleagues that the methodology was unfair to the city.

“Or is it the case that, once again, they are crying crocodile tears in an attempt to attack the Scottish Government when they should be bringing forward serious budget proposals to deal with the problems Glasgow faces thanks to Westminster’s incompetence and heartlessness."

Notes

1. The full text of George Black’s statement is as follows:

MESSAGE FROM THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE GEORGE BLACK

Glasgow City Council budget allocation for 2011 to 2012

You will be aware from reading the newspapers or listening to the radio that the Scottish Government has now announced our funding allocation for next year. I want to tell you what this means for us.

What has been announced? The Scottish Government had previously announced that Local Government would receive a cut in budget of 2.6%. This would have meant a reduction in Glasgow’s budget of some £37 million and you will remember that last month we published a draft budget based on these figures, which you can read here: http://connect.glasgow.gov.uk/WorkingTogether/TomorrowsCouncil/Budgets

In actual fact we have had our budget cut by 3.6% which means additional cuts to our budget of some £13.5 million. The circular which was published by the Scottish Government, along with an initial analysis – Finance Settlement Key Points - by the Executive Director of Finance, is available here: http://connect.glasgow.gov.uk/WorkingTogether/TomorrowsCouncil/Budgets

It is also worth reflecting on the fact that if we had received the same cut as West Lothian Council, who received the smallest cut at 0.32%, our budget would require to be cut by a total of £5 million next year, not the £51 million by which we will actually have to cut it.

What happens next? The Executive Director of Finance will be working to amend our draft budget to take into account these new, much deeper cuts. I am afraid I cannot say at this time when the new draft will be available for you to read. As you might imagine, a great deal of work will be required, probably through the Christmas break, so it may be late January before we have anything to share with you. Rest assured I will communicate with you again as soon as the draft budget is available.

I would like to stress that you must not underestimate the seriousness of the situation we now face. It is very likely that there will be difficult and painful cuts to services which we are proud to deliver and on which we all rely as citizens. I am confident that if any group of staff can get us through this it is you, however it will not be easy.

If you have any questions or any comments you wish to make then please email me at Ask George

This message has authorised for all council distribution by George Black, Chief Executive.

2.    Councillor Matheson’s comments can be found in this story in the Evening Times of Friday 10th December 2010.

3.    John Swinney MSP, cabinet Secretary for Finance and Public Services, said in his budget statement of 9th December 2010:

“Our agreement with COSLA is conditional. It has been agreed between the Government and COSLA's leadership. It is for individual authorities to decide whether they wish to accept it or not, and the condition is as follows. The average resource budget reduction in non-protected areas of the Scottish budget next year is 6.4 per cent. If authorities accept the agreement, their resource funding will reduce next year by only 2.6 per cent. That is a much greater degree of protection than in other parts of the budget, and it is a much superior provision to that for local government in England. If councils choose not to accept the agreement, their funding from the Scottish Government will therefore fall not by 2.6 per cent but by 6.4 per cent."

4.    The circular outlining proposed budget settlements for local authorities can be found here.

5.    The full text of Councillor Dornan’s letter to George Black is below:

Dear Mr Black

I am once again disappointed at the nature of an all colleague announcement issued in your name.  The statement below seems to me to be very similar in language to that issued by the Leader of the Council last week.  I have no issue with the Leader of the Council issuing political statements but do have concerns when officer’s statements look to be stepping into the political field.

In particular I take issue with your comparison to West Lothian council in this communication.  As an ex Director of Finance who understands the processes for distributing Local government funds you will be well aware that this is not an appropriate comparison.

I am also surprised that you claim all your budget calculations were predicated solely on the 2.6% announcement by the Cabinet Secretary as I am sure you were aware that this was the figure agreed between the Scottish Government and COSLA representing local authorities. Even I know that all the councils were not expecting the same percentage reduction therefore I am sure that you as an ex Director of Finance and someone fully versed in the mechanism for funding local authorities must have been aware that there would be fluctuations.

Given your comments I request that all correspondence between Glasgow City Council and COSLA or the Scottish Government voicing your concern at the mechanism and your attempts to persuade others that it should be changed be made available to me.

Clearly if no such correspondence exists it lends credence to my fears that the cries of foul play are more for public consumption than a serious attempt to get the best deal for the city.

On the general principle of Chief Executives straying into the political field I would therefore ask you again to be more careful when issuing such statements.

Given your statement is already in the public domain I have made my letter available to the press.

Yours sincerely

Councillor James Dornan