The pledge by Fife Council’s Labour leader Alex Rowley to publish every budget option as the local authority struggles to bridge a £100 million funding gap has been described by SNP councillors as a “victory in their campaign against secrecy and misrepresentation in the Labour budget”.
SNP group leader councillor Peter Grant claims Mr Rowley has only agreed to release the contents of the “blue book” which details advice from council officers on the likely impact of potential budget savings after Mr Grant reported the council to the Scottish Information Commissioner, accusing them of blocking transparency.
Mr Grant said: “This represents a massive victory for the public’s right to know and a humiliating U-turn by the council.
“We’re talking about nearly 500 pages of information about potential budget cuts, some of which have been approved, others which have been rejected and many which will probably come back for further consideration in the future.
“Apart from a handful of pages containing confidential details about council employees, the public have a legal right to see this information. But for six months the council has resisted this right.
“They refused three times to release any information at all and it was only when the Scottish Information Commissioner had been looking into the case for months that the leader of the council suddenly announced this U-turn.
“While I welcome this belated change of heart, it’s disappointing that there hasn’t been a single word of apology to the people of Fife The timing suggests that this has been done to stop the Scottish Information Commissioner from publishing a formal decision on the way the council has handled this affair.”
Mr Grant added that he was still examining the council’s response in full before deciding whether to drop his complaint.
Mr Rowley described Mr Grant’s comments as “the absolute height of hypocrisy and total opportunism”.
Mr Rowley said: “First, the SNP were in control of Fife Council from May 2007 until May 2012 and, during that five-year period, could have published this information but did not.
“When Labour formed a minority administration last May, we said we wanted to bring about a greater level of transparency around the budget and we did, for the first time ever, publish a draft budget in November that set out clear proposals. This went further than anything published previously.
“It is also a fact that the first the public of Fife knew about the SNP budgets was when they were voted through on the day. So, when the SNP voted to cut English and maths teachers, playground supervisors, classroom assistants, massive hikes in bereavement charges, home alarms, homecare charges, there was no information published, no consultation.
“It is also fact that last year, for the first time ever, we published every bit of information we had on the school estate… It is also a fact that we started to raise some of the other budget options… Given that experience and the level of discussion generated, it now seems logical and practical to publish all options that are being brought forward and build this information into the wider consultation.
“It is also a fact that Fife Council is facing a shortfall of around £100 million over the next four years and I would suggest rather than constantly trying to create smoke and mirrors, the SNP join with us in calling for a better financial settlement from the Scottish Government and work with us to drive out inefficiencies and produce a budget that aims to protect frontline and community services and reinvests the budget to have the greatest impact on local priorities.”