Sunday sailings and two Ministers

Sometimes pieces of information drop into place and produce unexpected results.

Many people have strong views on Sunday Ferries. Many people have strong views on Sunday opening of the Sports Centre.

The circles significantly overlap, but until today I didn't realise just who else had been involved in the debate and the way in which they had behaved.

Let me make it clear that irrespective of my personal views on the matter, it is important that there is clear and open decision making and that the public have faith in The System, even if it does not produce the result they want.

If my views were not being genuinely taken into account on any issue, then I would begin to believe that they are never genuinely taken into account. That is why sham consultations and behind the scenes manoeuvring can be so destructive to good governance.

On issues where different deep-held strong feelings exist in very substantial parts of the community, governance has to be especially careful to ensure that the full range of views are taken into account and that the proper processes are followed. Openness and honesty are the keys.

So what has actually happened?

In early January a local resident with strong views contacted the EHRC about the refusal of the Council to open the Sports Centre on a Sunday.

In a long and detailed email letter from the resident, one paragraph jumps out and grabs the attention.

After an official complaint to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO), the policy decision making process of WIIC (sic) was found to be "flawless".

In other words, there are no grounds for anyone trying to reopen the decision, which lies exclusively with the Comhairle. It continues....

Much less was made of the actual content of the Sunday Working Policy, but a suggestion of court action was made.

If the decision making was flawless then, by implication, the Sunday Working Policy is a matter for the Comhairle itself. A Judicial Review is an expensive option for a complainer to follow. Nevertheless.....

A similar suggestion was made by the offices of Nicola Strugeon (sic) and Stuart (sic) Maxwell. I was surprised to hear such a suggestion from the Scottish Government. I imagined naively that if a Scottish Government Minister thought that a local authority may be acting outwith the law, that Minister would endeavour to do something about it and not put it on the shoulders of a member of the public.

Let's get this right: the EHRC SPSO says that the decision making was 'flawless' and despite this two Government Ministers suggest a legal challenge by an individual as a proper course of action.

The Ministers must therefore be taking a stance against the policy of the Comhairle, and trying to subvert the democratic decision of the Council by encouraging individuals to challenge the decision in Court.

It is possible that there is some misinterpretation of the stance being taken by Ms Sturgeon and Mr Maxwell, which is why a concerned member of the SNP wrote to Angus MacNeil and Alasdair Allan seeking clarification (slightly edited for reasons of discretion):

the reference to advice alleged from the offices of Nicola Sturgeon and Stuart Maxwell [...] might merit investigation, if only to let your colleagues know [that their comments were now in the public domain]

The entire reply in late January:

thanks for this info [name], and hope you are well. all the best alasdair

When the SNP member attempted to raise this issue again, and again, with Mr Allan and Mr MacNeil there was a constant refusal to discuss the issue.

Suddenly CalMac (proprietor: the Scottish Government) announce that the absence of Sunday sailings is in breach of the EHRC and lo and behold, the sudden appearance of vague and evasive statements from our Parliamentarians about it being an operational matter and nothing to do with Politicians and Government.

The conclusion that is being drawn, and one I completely subscribe to from the documentation I have seen, is that the entire Sunday sailings decision was made by the SNP Government, communicated to the MP and MSP, and then instructions were issued to the Board of CalMac by the usual process of unrecorded and unattributable Ministerial advice.

It stinks worse than a barrel of rotten fish.

And it brings the entire process into disrepute, by the covert and undemocratic nature of the decision making.

A lot of people have a lot of explaining to do and the public deserve full and detailed answers to all their questions.

(minor corrections made later 3/6/09)