Shetland council slammed by auditors

16 Aug 10
Shetland Islands Council has been criticised by auditors for failures in leadership, strategy, governance, financial management and accountability.

By Jaimie Kaffash

16 August 2010

Shetland Islands Council has been criticised by auditors for failures in leadership, strategy, governance, financial management and accountability. 

The AccountsCommission issued its report on Shetland Islands Council today. It says there is an ‘absence of clear, decisive and consistent leadership at councillor level’, which has been exacerbated by tensions between elected officials and officers.

The council’s approach to governance is ‘haphazard’, it adds, while the recruitment policy for a chief executive and its accounting treatment of Shetland Charitable Trust – which resulted in ‘repeated qualifications’ of the council’s accounts – were also severely criticised.

Chair of the Accounts Commission John Baillie said: ‘Shetland Islands Council has serious problems. Councillors and officers need to accept the need for change, to pull together and act quickly and decisively to implement our recommendations and ensure Best Value for people in Shetland.

‘Every council needs to ensure it is run properly, through good governance. But that has not happened at Shetland. The council needs to develop a shared understanding of what good governance means and requires. This is about individuals’ behaviour and also about making sure the council has and uses rigorous systems to support leadership, transparency and clear decision-making.

Shetland Islands Council is the second smallest in Scotland and a major employer across the islands, employing more than 3,000 people.

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