Highland Council budget: local authority facing “incredible pressures”
The leader of the Highland Council has said the local authority is facing incredible financial pressures which could led to job losses amid an unprecedented budget gap of up to £70 million next year.
The full council met today to discuss the budget shortfall which could be as much as £100 million between 2024 and 2027.
Members have a legal obligation to set a balanced budget and proposals will be developed and presented to Council for agreement at the end of February 2024.
Leader of the Council Raymond Bremner said: “While we understand the cost of living crisis for our communities, local authorities are also facing incredible cost pressures in the shape of inflation, high rates of interest and the need to fund pay settlements.
“We anticipate we will have an unprecedented budget gap next year of around £60-70m and a shortfall of around £100m over the next three years has been forecast.
He went on to add that without adequate funding, the council will have a choice of making service reductions or increasing income or a mixture of both.
Councillors Bremner said that service reductions would also mean job losses and that is something we are doing everything possible to avoid, as this would be disastrous for communities and our economy in the Highlands.”
The council is facing considerable uncertainty until the end of December around what the grant will be from the Scottish Government for 2024-25, and the funding to implement a Council Tax freeze.
Skye and Raasay member First Minister over council tax freeze
Skye and Raasay Councillor has slammed First Minister Humza Yousaf for running a “horse and coaches” through a key agreement with Scotland’s councils by placing a freeze on council tax
Speaking during today’s (Thursday’s) meeting of the full Highland Council, Skye and Raasay member Ruraidh Stewart contended that First Minister has undermined the verity house agreement between Scottish Local Authorities and the Government by announcing a freeze on rate in the next financial year.
Councillor Stewart said the First Minister has in essence closed the door on one of the few tools that local government has to release the budget pressures on us.
Humza Yousaf announced the decision to freeze council tax rates for the next financial year at the SNP autumn conference earlier this month.
Councillor Derek Louden, who chairs the Highland Council’s resources committee said: “Last year we set one of the lowest The council tax rates set last year by the Highland Council were one of lowest in Scotland in recognition of the cost of living crisis in our communities.
“Council tax freezes have a long term negative impact on local authority budgets and effectively widen the budget gap in the coming years.
“We will continue to work with our COSLA colleagues, to get clarification of the Scottish Government’s plans and how the cost of any freeze would be funded, both for next year and mitigation of the impact on future years’ budgets.”
Scottish Government £1 billion overspent on pay deals finds new report
The Scottish Government is facing a £1 billion hole due to significant challenges in managing the public sector workforce.
According to a new report by Audit Scotland, the Scottish budget and workforce numbers have grown significantly since devolution. But Scottish Government projections suggest it cannot afford to pay for public services in their current form.
The report found that pay deals agreed for 2022/23 and 2023/24 were £1.7 billion more than initially planned and these pay rises are locked into future budgets.
The Scottish Government has begun working with its public bodies to better understand how workforce reforms will impact services. But it needs better data on the size, cost and skillset of the workforce in over 100 of its public bodies to help support this process.
Stephen Boyle, Auditor General for Scotland, said: “Significant reform of the public sector – including its workforce – is needed to protect services over the long term.
“That means better workforce planning and wider changes to how staff work within and across organisations.”
He concluded: “An approach to reform purely focused on controlling workforce numbers will not address workforce pressures and is unlikely to balance the public finances.”
Peat and Diesel to play ‘Black Isle Belter’ shows
Western Isles stars Peat and Diesel are set to play at the Black Isle Showground over two days next May along with other star acts.
The ‘Black Isle Belter’ shows which will be their only outdoor gigs in the Highlands next year will be held over the bank holiday weekend of Saturday 25th May & Sunday 26th May 2024.
On the Saturday, Peat and Diesel will be join by the View for their First Highland show in years, while on the Sunday, which will be a family day they will be accompanied by chart toppers The Feeling.
Sunday’s show will a family day and in conjunction with Peat and Diesel’s main sponsor Highland Industrial Supplies, and charity partners MFR’s Cash for Kids and Mikeysline.
Tickets were set to be on sale from 10am this Friday via the Peat and Diesel website.
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MSP Grant to quiz First Minister on unprecedented ferry disruption
Highlands and Islands MSP Rhoda Grant is set to quiz First Minister Humza Yousaf today over disruption to the ferry network across the two regions.
Ms Grant has lodged a question for Mr Yousaf at this afternoon session of First Minister’s Questions – asking what immediate action the Scottish Goverment will take to improve ferry services across the Highlands and Islands amid recent unprecedented disruption.
On Monday, Robbie Drummond, chief executive of CalMac announced that the ferry operator had decided to defer the launch of its new booking and ticketing platform – from 25th April to 16th May – to focus on handling urgent issues relating to the disruption and delays to many of its services.
In January, the CalMac CEO revealed that nearly two fifths of its fleet were more than 30 years old, with the general life expectancy of vessels 25-30 years.
In March, the MV Hebrides vessel serving Uig, Lochmaddy and Tarbert was forced to return to Uig after a fire broke out in the engine room of the vessel.
Audit Scotland’s most recent report states that the two new vessels under construction, which will join CalMac’s fleet, are currently estimated to cost £293 million, with delivery already five years late – despite additional Scottish Government funding in 2022/23 and 2023/24.
Skye school bus goes off road on A87
A school bus carrying school pupils from Portree to Kyle went off road after being involved in a road traffic incident.
No one was injured in the incident in which resulted in the vehicle going off the road on A87 south of Sconser around Drum nan Cleoc.
A Police Scotland spokesperson told Radio Skye: “Around 4.30pm on Wednesday, 19 April, 2023, police received a report of a bus coming off the road on the A87 on the Isle of Skye. Recovery was arranged.”
No injuries were reported.
Portree High School later confirmed that all the pupils were safe following the incident and were transferred onto alternative buses to continue their journey.
Scottish Goverment must improve to deliver climate goals
The Scottish Goverment needs to improve to deliver the country’s climate change goals.
That’s according to a new report published today by Audit Scotland.
The report states that although the government’s climate governance has improved since the former First Minister declared a climate emergency in 2019 its adaption to the impact of climate change has received less focus than reducing emissions and hitting net zero targets.
It goes on to add that there are gaps in reporting, making it difficult to assess progress against climate policy. And there has been no workforce plan for climate change since the Net Zero department was established in late 2021.
However, one is expected in spring 2023.
Stephen Boyle, Auditor General for Scotland, said: “The Scottish Government’s set up for responding to the climate crisis has constantly evolved since 2019. But the different parts of government could be better co-ordinated.
“The government’s risk management arrangements also need to improve, particularly the work needed to ensure Scotland adapts to the impact of climate change.”
He added: “Work is ongoing across the Scottish Government to tackle these organisational weaknesses, and it’s vital that happens quickly given the urgency of the climate situation.”
News by Adam Gordon
Bus photo credit: Moray Walker.
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