Conferences: valuable events or expensive junkets?

GUEST WRITER NORM D'PLOOM discusses council attendance at conferences

According to newly published information on corporate credit transactions staff from Scottish Borders Council attended around 45 different conferences, seminars and 'out of town' meetings in 2018 at considerable cost to the public purse.

No doubt some readers of this article will appreciate the benefits of a trip to London or Edinburgh or even the Highlands of Scotland for a get-together to consider the latest developments in one's specialist field.

But at a time when every local authority in the land is struggling to make ends meet while carrying record levels of debt there will be others among you who feel more might be gained by keeping the workforce at home to concentrate on the day job.

Down the years the local press in Scottish Borders and elsewhere have been quick to deploy the words jaunt or junket when writing about a particular conference which they considered to be a complete waste of money. But no doubt those who made the trip on behalf of the local taxpayers who funded their travel costs, accommodation and meals would point to the necessity to 'keep abreast of the latest trends'.

There was a brief period in Borders local government history when cash was so tight that a particularly prudent administration suggested axing conference visits altogether.

However this was watered down somewhat when spending committees - education, transport, planning, roads, policy & resources or water and drainage - asked chief officers to justify the expenditure on each event in advance before granting or withholding permission to attend.

But nowadays the committee structure with its ability to scrutinise spending in each area of activity has been largely dismantled with most of the power vested in a single executive body. One of the poorer transformations in Borders local government, in my view.

There is one 'jaunt' undertaken by a large delegation of councillors and officials from this locality which sticks in the mind and has been criticised often as a complete waste of money.

In October 2014 SBC staged a "fact-finding" trip to Avonmouth, Bristol where they were shown a waste treatment facility being operated by now defunct New Earth Solutions Ltd (NES), the firm which had been handed a £80 million contract to deal with Borders rubbish over 24 years.

Here are the names of those who made the journey (by various means) to south-west England:

Tracey Logan	Chief Executive
Rob Dickson	Project Sponsor
Cllr Davidson	Nominated by Political Group
Cllr Renton	Nominated by Political Group
Cllr Brown	Nominated by Political Group
Cllr Campbell	Nominated by Political Group
Cllr Ballantyne	Nominated by Political Group
Cllr Mountford	Nominated by Political Group
Cllr Scott	Nominated by Political Group
Cllr Gillespie	Nominated by Political Group
Cllr White	Nominated by Political Group
Cllr Edgar	Nominated by Political Group
Cllr Paterson	Nominated by Political Group
Cllr Parker	Council Leader
Kirsty Robb	Project Accountant
Jenni Craig	Project Board Member
Ewan Doyle	Project Manager
Ross Sharp-Dent	Project Board Member

Information gained via Freedom of Information showed the total cost of the trip was £3,939.35 made up of: Travel: £1656.20: and Accommodation (DB&B): £2283.15.

According to the FOI response: "NES provided a presentation on: Introduction to New Earth,

*         New Earth Advanced Thermal

·         SBC Project Background

·         Easter Langlee Integrated Facility

·         Delivery Strategy for Scottish Borders

·         Interim Treatment Option

·         Avonmouth Introduction

·         Summing Up"

The large squad of Borders representatives returned mightily impressed by what they'd seen. Unfortunately, just a few months later, the 'cutting edge' SBC project was abandoned in disarray with a net loss of £2.4 million for council taxpayers. The Avonmouth technology could not be made to work while the project funders based in Douglas, Isle of Man, did not have the money to pay for the scheme.

Back to 2018's conferences which attracted delegates from SBC. The details are included among corporate credit transactions approved by senior officials during the course of last year. I'm not qualified to judge whether there was merit in attending the various conferences, exhibitions, visits or seminars but here is a selection sanctioned by members of the executive team.

Tracey Logan, chief executive - East Lothian Health & Social Care Delivery Plan event: accommodation and parking £108.99. Borderlands meeting: fares, parking and accommodation £811.37; CIPFA event, Edinburgh - accommodation £166.50.

David Robertson, chief financial officer - Accommodation for 4, Highland Council Literary Strategy visit £483.92; Pension Fund meeting, fares and accommodation for 3 £1,478.90; Apple Technology event, accommodation and taxi fares for 3 £1,593.

Rob Dickson, executive director - South of Scotland Enterprise event, accommodation and meals for 3 £200.19; Timber Transport conference £137.99; Business Gateway meeting, accommodation £91.

Clair Hepburn, service director HR - Transforming the Way We Work event, accommodation and transfers for 2 £411.20; Business World conference fees and accommodation £454.80; fares and accommodation for three officers at local government pensions conference, London, £2,234.41.

Philip Barr, executive director - annual winter maintenance conference and exhibition £536.40; Ecology & Environment autumn conference £150; Borderlands meeting, fares, accommodation and meals for 2 £996.65.

For the record the total spend by each card holder in 2018 was as follows: Tracey Logan £5,956.76; David Robertson £11,096.92; Rob Dickson £3,869.18; Clair Hepburn £6,193.92; Philip Barr £14,556.25; and Martin Joyce, service director, assets and infrastructure £72,707.02.