Phew! Tory Council is a 'National free zone'

by OUR POLITICAL STAFF

It has been revealed that Conservative-run Scottish Borders Council does not subscribe to The National, the Glasgow-based daily newspaper which promotes Scottish independence and sometimes criticises the UK Government.

How do we know?

Well this week the Borders local authority published a host of Freedom of Information [FOI] requests and responses dating from October 2021 right up to July 2022 - the first time the so-called FOI archive has been updated for some considerable time.

The newly released information shows that last month an apparently concerned requester wanted to know how much money SBC had spent on copies of The National during the last three financial years. After all, widespread expenditure on the SNP-supporting publication could have had a devastating impact on the council's usable reserves, currently standing at a rather impressive £51.992 million*.

Here is the request in full: "This is an information request relating to purchasing of newspaper The National. Please include the information broken down by the following financial years: 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22:

"Expenditure on subscriptions to The National, for example a yearly or a monthly subscription. Please make clear the dates that the subscription was held between and the total cost of the subscription. Please make clear if a subscription is ongoing. Please include digital and print subscriptions

"Expenditure on individual copies of The National. Please make clear the number of copies purchased and the total expenditure. Please do not include any free subscriptions provided to the organisation by The National. By The National I mean the Scottish daily newspaper owned by Newsquest and based at 125 Fullarton Drive, Glasgow."

The council's answer must have been widely welcomed by the ruling group at SBC, and in all probability by the requester him (or her) self:

Response

"Scottish Borders Council can confirm that they have spent zero pounds on any copies of "The National" as requested in the information request."

It is not known how many copies of the Tory-loving Daily Mail, Daily Express or Daily Telegraph find their way into council offices across the Scottish Borders. Perhaps a topic for a future FOI?

A number of the other newly-published FOIs make interesting reading though some of the information may be out of date. Here are a few:

Request or Question

Does the council have any estimate regarding the number of digital devices distributed to children and young people that have been damaged or broken? If so, could the council provide these estimates? This would include laptops and tablets.

Response

Approximately 1,000 digital devices distributed to children and young people have been damaged or broken.

Request or Question

Q1. During the month of April 2022, how many council employees were working from home, and what percentage of the office based workforce does this represent?

Q2. Between 1st and 30th April 2022, how many desk bookings were made across the council's office buildings and, on average, how many desk bookings were there a day during this month?

Q3. How many desks were available for use in the month April 2022 across the council's office buildings?

Q4. What was the maximum number of office staff who could theoretically work in the office on any given day in April 2022?

Q5. What was the total number of office staff who worked in your council's offices each day prior to the pandemic?

Response

Q1. Unfortunately Scottish Borders Council do not hold the information you have requested. Therefore we give notice under s17 of FOI(S)A 2002 and declare that the information is not held.

Q2. Bookable desks are only available at Newtown St Boswells Offices – 247 bookings total,
Mean average number of desks booked daily was 11.6.

Q3. Bookable desks are only available at Newtown St Boswells Offices - 27 Desks total available

Q4. At Newtown St Boswells Offices, there was 27 bookable desks and up to maybe about 25 additional staff in using desks more permanently. 52 in total approximately.

Q5. Unfortunately Scottish Borders Council do not hold the information you have requested. Therefore we give notice under s17 of FOI(S)A 2002 and declare that the information is not held.

Request or Question

I am getting in touch with you to request information on the number of staff members, if any, that have been dismissed in light of ill health caused by Long Covid from 2020 to present

Response

There were 3 dismissals due to long covid.

*Source: SBC's unaudited accounts for 2021/22.