Council needs to be more transparent on staff levels

Dumfries and Galloway Council – the region’s largest employer – needs to be more transparent on its hiring of temporary workers. Auditors have been scrutinising the running of the council over the past couple of years, periodically reporting on certain aspects of operations. And while Audit Scotland inspectors have praised the local authority over the handling of its finances, one issue that cropped up was around agency staff. The Audit Scotland report, which was presented to councillors last week, states: “Monitoring the temporary workforce. The council does not collect data on the number of agency staff employed within the council. “The council should monitor and report on the cost versus benefit of utilising the agency staffing workforce." A detailed annual workforce report was presented at the enabling and customer services committee last week. It confirmed the council now has a headcount of 6706 employees, as well as 320 vacancies – an increase of 28 percent on the previous year. However, there was no mention of temporary staff because this information hasn’t been collated – as highlighted by inspectors. Council officers confirmed that a report will be produced in December that will provide figures on temporary staff.