Council / Calls made for more financial training for councillors
SUGGESTIONS were made in Shetland Islands Council (SIC) chamber on Tuesday morning that elected members should get more training on the local authority’s financial matters.
It came as members discussed the SIC’s unaudited accounts for 2024/25.
Shetland South member Robbie McGregor said he even studied accountancy at university yet still has to spend a “fair bit of time” on the SIC’s financial figures.
“It’s becoming more and more obvious that considerable training is required for us all,” he said.
Meanwhile Shetland Central councillor Ian Scott questioned how much his colleagues had actually understood from what was said at the meeting.
Finance manager Paul Fraser said the idea of training was an “interesting question”.
“The general financial awareness…we can’t expect members just to walk in the door with that,” he said.
“So I think that is something that from time to time I have questioned – what can we do for members to skill up where you’re presented with a hefty document with a lot of detail in it.”
McGregor had quoted from an item in Private Eye magazine which said the UK Government’s ministry of housing, communities and local government had recommended councillors get training to understand their authority’s accounts better.
Fraser did say the SIC was starting to “ramp things up” when it came to training on the pension board and committee.
He also said he is happy to discuss financial matters with elected members outside of meetings.
The accounts said the SIC ended the 2024/25 financial year in a “relatively positive position”, with an underspend of £5.6 million on revenue.
However, to meet existing obligations nearly £5.5 million is required to be carried forward into 2025/26, effectively meaning the council had an underspend of £101,000 in 2024/25.
During the year there was a £39 million draw on reserves, which includes some “unsustainable” spending.
At the end of March 2025, the council’s useable reserves amounted to £373.8 million, but this was down from £403.6 million a year prior – with US president Donald Trump’s trade tariffs destabilising the market.
Speaking during debate Scott said there was a “complexity” behind how the SIC’s finances work, especially the reserves.
He said it always comes down the “aspect of sustainability”.
Scott said he continually questions how the SIC can be spending unsustainably when the reserves are “staying at the same level, and increasing”.
He also backed the idea of getting more information on how the reserves work.
“An experienced councillor in the last council didn’t understand that when we drew down money from the reserves, it wasn’t all from the managed reserves,” Scott said. “It was from our yearly incomes; it was from the harbour trust.
“If we are going to change anything, it has to be an essential change, and we can only do that by understanding how our finances actually work.
“Did anybody understand what was being said here a wee minute ago, in all honesty? Well okay, the experts do. Of course, I understood most of it.”
He also claimed the near-£40 million draw from reserves was an “excuse” to make cuts.
But Shetland Central Moraig Lyall responded by saying “wherever it comes from, it’s 39 million pounds that is spent and that we don’t have to spend in a future year”.
She said one key thing was “purchasing power”.
“We all know that what a pound buys these days is not anything like what a pound would have bought five years ago, 10 years ago,” Lyall said.
“So although the fund is increasing in value, what it can actually do for us as an island group is not necessarily retaining its pace.
“The bottom line still remains that about a quarter of all our revenue spending is not generated from our income sources, but it is generated from our reserves, and if we didn’t have those reserves to generate that income for us, we would be in a terrible position.”
SIC leader Emma Macdondlad added that although the SIC has underspent against budget, “it’s clear that we are spending unsustainably, and that’s why all income is really important to this council”.
Meanwhile Lerwick North and Bressay member Stephen Leask suggested the talk of councillors needing more training was “patronising”.
“I don’t think anybody around this table wants to cut services,” he added.
“We certainly don’t want to cut the quality of services for the people of Shetland”.
North Isles member Robert Thomson also highlighted that investments can “fluctuate significantly” and need to be looked at over the long term.
He also encouraged the council to keep looking at how it can be run more efficiently.
“We haven’t really taken the thing by the scruff of the neck and given it a good shake,” Thomson said.
He also highlighted the use of artificial intelligence (AI) as one area where the SIC could potentially make savings.
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