Council / SIC seminars – training opportunity for councillors or undemocratic forum?
- Senior councillors acknowledge public perception that business is done behind closed doors
- Briefing papers from seminars to be published from next year onwards
- Call for more meetings to be held in public
SENIOR councillors have defended the principle behind holding private seminars, saying they are useful training and briefing opportunities for elected members.
They insisted that absolutely no council decisions are taken at these private sessions but conceded that this could be perceived differently by the Shetland public.
It comes as Shetland News can reveal that, on average, senior officials are organising at least two behind-closed-doors seminars a month.
Attendance of these unminuted meetings is voluntary, with between 10 and 18 councillors participating in most seminars.
Data released following a freedom of information (FOI) request show that in 2023/24 the frequency of seminars was as high as almost one a week, when 43 were held.
Numbers dropped to 27 in 2024/25. Thirteen seminars have so far been held during the first six months of the current financial year.
Council leader Emma Macdonald described seminars as a chance to give training, adding that not all councillors are members of all committees.
“Seminars are more of a learning and training opportunity; it is about sharing information,” she told Shetland News.
She acknowledged that there could be the “perception that we are doing things behind closed doors, and I absolutely want to make sure our business is conducted as openly as possible”.
Former Shetland North member Tom Morton quoted the tedium of endless seminars, confidential briefings and pre-meetings as one of the reasons why he resigned as a councillor a year ago.
Meanwhile, Lerwick North and Bressay councillor Stephen Leask said he felt the SIC had a “communication issue”, and called for more meetings to be open to the public to build trust and give ambitions of openness and more transparency some meaning.
There is widespread concern that senior officials could potentially have undue influence on councillors.
In addition, outside organisations such as SSEN, Statkraft, the salmon farming and cruise ship industries have all had access to councillors in briefing sessions, some of these quite regularly.
Seminars are unminuted meetings for councillors to receive information and to ask questions from senior officials on topical issues. They are described by the SIC as an “important part of members’ training and development”.
They are also a forum for councillors who do not sit on a particular committee to become fully briefed ahead of decision making by the full council.
As such, most seminars are held on topics such as the council’s budget setting, financial planning and the corporate plan.
But there are also briefings from agencies that are contracted to provide council funded services such as Promote Shetland and Shetland Arts.
In 2024/25 there were briefing sessions attended by representatives from outside the council about the Fair Isle ferry replacement project, the work SSEN Transmission and Distribution is doing in Shetland (twice), the cruise industry and about external political engagement.
Council leader Macdonald acknowledged this week that some of the information provided to councillors in seminars would be useful to share with the wider community.
She confirmed that some briefing papers from council seminars are set to be published online from next year onwards.
“There are plans that we are going to produce a briefing, so providing it is not an exempt item, and it often isn’t, there are plans, starting in the new year, to publish briefings from seminars,” she said.
Referring to private meetings with outside bodies, Macdonald said these were “not opportunities for anything other than sharing information”.
“It gives elected members an opportunity to know what is coming – it’s just part of the process as they (SSEN Statkraft, Crown Estate and others) come up to Shetland to engage with stakeholders.”
Chair of the environment and transport committee Moraig Lyall meanwhile was adamant that no lobbying from private industry was taking place behind closed doors – although she could understand that this may be viewed differently by the public.
“There is always the opportunity for it to be seen as lobbying when an organisation has access to councillors in a way that other people perhaps don’t,” she said, “but that is a danger that we are working very hard to avoid.
“It is made very clear that the people present at those meetings are there to present information rather than seeking support for anything.”
Well-informed decision making
The Shetland Central member described seminars as “helpful” and said they had contributed towards her becoming a better-informed councillor.
“I think if we hadn’t the seminars, we would have a lot more less well informed councillors making decisions,” she said, “and I think it is essential for us to be more knowledgeable and well informed before we take a decision.
“I can assure you that we don’t do [council] business in these seminars; it’s mostly about background information and giving us the opportunity to learn about subjects.”
But she agreed with the suggestion that discussions held in private seminars had an impact on the quality of public debate in the council chamber.
“I do think there is a need for more debate in the council chamber,” Lyall said. “I think that we need to tussle with things a bit more, but I think that is beginning to happen.
“Back at the last couple of council meetings there has been more engagement with topics than it has, perhaps, previously been the case.”
Former councillor Morton however was not so generous in his analysis of seminars.
He said they fulfil several functions for the council: “They enable vacillating or ill-informed councillors to kick difficult decisions into the long grass; because they’re not public they mean that information, opinions and sometimes informal decisions can be shared or made in secret, they’re a way officials can bend members to their will, and conversely they’re a means by which councillors can punish officials they dislike or feel haven’t delivered properly.”
Meanwhile, councillor Leask described some of the seminars held by officials “almost like an induction” to “understand how it all works”.
This in particular applied to the complex topic of local government finances, he added.
“Seminars are never a decision-making forum, but they can have a degree of influence over councillors,” he said.
He advocated more meetings and briefings to be held in public, not just for the council to become more accountable as a democratic organisation but also as an attempt to increase the knowledge among islanders of how local democracy works.
“I am all for transparency unless it impinges on personal privacy or commercially sensitive information and legal issues.”
Leask said there was a case for some of the industry forums, such as agriculture and fisheries, to be held in public similar to those on external transport and resilience which are already attended by local media and are open to the public.
“I feel we have to be more involved with the Shetland public. Let them be part of the decision making,” he said.
Citing previous open forums on communication and connectivity, organised by the isles’ Lib Dem parliamentarians, Leask said more such forums, but organised by the SIC, would be beneficial to enhance local democracy.
“I think we could do more of them,” he said.
Become a member of Shetland News
Shetland News is asking its readers to consider paying for membership to get additional perks:
- Removal of third-party ads;
- Bookmark posts to read later;
- Exclusive curated weekly newsletter;
- Hide membership messages;
- Comments open for discussion.
If you appreciate what we do and feel strongly about impartial local journalism, then please become a member of Shetland News by either making a single payment, or setting up a monthly, quarterly or yearly subscription.
Already a member? Sign in to hide this message.
