On Wednesday, the Deputy First Minister announced the Scottish Budget. This is always an event that local government watches avidly to see what the impact is on our budget.
The headline for local government was that there is £1bn more money for councils. As always the devil is in the detail and from what we know now only £289m is uncommitted funding with the rest to support things like free school meals and teacher numbers.
It will be the end of next week before we see what those figures mean for Argyll and Bute but at this stage, the position looks better than expected.
As always, we’ll be working hard between now and the end of February to produce a balanced budget for the Council to consider. This takes a team effort and I appreciate the contributions that so many of you make to that process.
Well done to..
Congratulations to our Building Standards team on winning a national award for excellent performance, particularly its focus on customer service. Very well done! You can read more about that on the website.
In different ways, officers and teams across the council raise Argyll and Bute Council positively at a national level – through for example partnership meetings and projects, awards, or leading roles in professional bodies. This all helps in developing influence nationally to benefit the council and what we can do for our communities locally.
For my part this week, I have taken time off to assist another council with the recruitment of a new chief executive. Sharing experiences and building a network of support is important in helping councils deal with the challenges that come our way
I’m looking forward to heading back to Argyll tonight. If you are travelling take care given the storm forecasts.
Pippa
Pippa Milne
Chief Executive
