After Cllr McNeilly refused to respond fully to legitimate questions asked of her in her role of Policy Lead for education, I asked her some questions. They can be read here.
She has, in effect, refused to answer my questions. Since when was it acceptable for any councillor to do this? Here are her replies:
Michael,
I am sorry I have not been able to respond sooner, however I have recently been unwell, which resulted in a stay in hospital.
In response to the questions raised in your email of 18th June I can advise that the leadership model was developed by the Education Service in consultation with Headteachers and other Education Professionals. Much of the assumptions made throughout this process have not been included in the proposals which were consulted on from November 2021 to March 2022, and which represent the Service’s current position/thinking. Also, to be clear, Councillors have never been asked to sign up to a savings target from the exercise. In the event of matters moving on to a specific proposal being agreed for implementation, the financial implications of such a decision would be made clear.
Moving on to your email of 26th June I am quite clear that the operational management arrangements for Oban/Tiree are quite separate from the school leadership proposals.
I replied as follows:
I’m sorry to hear you’ve not been well.
However, your non reply to my questions is wholly unacceptable. I wrote to you because I’d seen similar non replies to others.
Dodging questions is precisely what no councillor, never mind policy leads, should ever do.
I await a proper reply please Yvonne, within the week. Meanwhile your limited reply and this email back will be published.
Thank you
I then got this:
Dear Michael,
Thank you for your e mail .I note your comments .
Kindest regards Yvonne
Then I sent this to her:
Yvonne, I am taking this as a refusal to reply to legitimate questions.
If you don’t know the answers, you could have said so. It’s no shame not to know. You could also have asked an officer to reply.
As I am not the first to have received this treatment, we will now consider our next steps, one of which may be a standards complaint against you.
I doubt I will get a reply at all now.
