A COUNCILLOR has refused to give up the fight to uncover how much the council has spent on attending glitzy award events. 

Earlier this month, independent Councillor Ronnie McNicol had sought clarification over discrepancies on the cost of preparing award submissions and attending award ceremonies. In September, North Ayrshire Council stated that around £51,000 had been spent since November 2014 - all of which related to the ceremonies, travel, accommodation and booking tables, but not the significant amount of time officers spent preparing submissions.

Of the original 99 awards listed, only 90 were subsequently costed, with half of these reported as costing nothing at all. 

Ahead of the special meeting of the full council, Councillor McNicol was due to ask: “At the meeting of North Ayrshire Council on 9 September 2015, in reply to my question requesting a detailed list of all Awards (National or European) that North Ayrshire Council have entered or been nominated for from January 2014 until the present, the Policy Holder responded by providing me with a list of 99 awards which North Ayrshire Council had entered from 1 November 2014. This list was recorded on the minute of the meeting on North Ayrshire Council’s website.

“In reply to my supplementary question regarding the costs of award submission the Policy Holder responded to all Members by email on 7 October 2015, supplying a detailed list of 90 awards entered by North Ayrshire Council since November 2014, at a total cost to the council of £51,073.78. Forty-five awards were shown to have a cost of zero pounds.

“Will the Portfolio Holder for Finance, Corporate Support and Housing explain to me the discrepancy in the number of award submissions and why the response to my supplementary question is not recorded in the Minute of the Council meeting of 9 September 2015.”

The Times told recently how the last full council descended into a farce following a refusal to record Councillor McNicol’s follow-up question to the issue.

Concerns were raised about advice from Chief Executive Elma Murray stating that they required a two-thirds majority to hear Cllr McNicol’s question earlier this month. 

A total of 17 of the 29 councillors present voted in favour of Cllr McNicol. However, the 12 SNP members abstained. 

North Ayrshire Council’s standing orders state that business is decided by those councillors who are ‘present and voting’.

Organisations from the United Nations down to English parish councils define those who abstain as ‘not voting’. The UN specifically states that ‘present and voting’ means members present and casting an affirmative or negative vote. Members who abstain from voting are considered as not voting’. The Collins dictionary, also states that to abstain is to ‘refrain from voting’.

However, Ms Murray advised that the abstentions did constitute a vote, resulting in the failure to secure enough of the votes required.