First Minister and Equal Pay

A good number of readers took up my suggestion of writing to Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, to highlight the scandalous track record or Labour-run North Lanarkshire Council in relation to equal pay. 

Now I have a lot of time for Nicola Sturgeon, but I think it's fair to say that people feel rather underwhelmed at the First Minister's official response from a civil servant on behalf of the Scottish Government.

Here is the 'guts' of what the civil servant had to say:

"Councils are independent corporate entities and entirely separate from the Scottish Government. Their powers are set out in statute and, as long as they act lawfully, it is up to each local authority to manage its day to say business. This includes decisions on pay and conditions of employment of council staff. They are accountable to their own electorates, not the Scottish Government, and Scottish Ministers have no general powers that would enable them to call on a council to account for its actions. I would also add that the GMB is an entirely independent organisation and the Scottish Government has no power to intervene in union matters.

"The Scottish Government is keen to see the resolution of all equal pay claims. That is why in August 2014 the then Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Economic Growth, John Swinney, agreed to a request from COSLA for more flexibility to deal with equal pay claims, by allowing councils additional time to plan for the funding of equal pay payments, and to use capital receipts to fund the cost of claims. However, it is up to any individual council to decide whether to take up this offer.

"You may like to know that in December 2014in the Scottish Parliament, Marco Biagi MSP, the Minister for Local Government and Community Empowerment, said that he thought the delays in settling equal pay disputes was unacceptable, and that he would continue to challenge this. However, as Mr Biagi also said the Scottish Government has no formal power to intervene in this matter."

Now this is typical "Yes Minister' stuff which faces both ways at the same time if you ask me, with a general message of concern and support while emphasising that the Scottish Government has no formal power to intervene over the mess that Scotland's fourth largest council has made of equal pay.

Now as everyone knows, that is a statement of the bleedin' obvious, as they say, because  no one is expecting Nicola Sturgeon or other Scottish Ministers to step in and take over day-to-day responsibility for the running of North Lanarkshire Council. 

But as I pointed out to the First Minister in my own letter dated 28 November 2014 I believe that is is possible for the Scottish Government to investigate North Lanarkshire Council's behaviour under The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Regulations 2012.

My full letter to the First Minister is reproduced below in the blog post titled 'Food For Thought' dated 17 February 2016 although this extract focuses on the key provision of Clause 11.

"My purpose in raising these matters with you, as First Minister, is to invite the Scottish Government to use its powers under the Equality Act to launch an investigation into North Lanarkshire Council's behaviour. My reading of The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 suggests that the Scottish Government can intervene and is able to do so under Clause 11 of the Statutory Instrument which says:

"Duty to consider other matters

"11. In carrying out its duties under these regulations, a listed authority may be required to consider such matters as may be specified from time to time by the Scottish Ministers." 

So if you ask me, Scottish Ministers (whether Nicola Sturgeon or local government minister, Marco Biagi) do have the power to call North Lanarkshire to account, for example, by requiring the to explain how the Council made such a mess of its pay arrangements for the past 10 years and more.   

In other words it's very much a case of 'game on' and the key thing now is to persuade NLC politicians, local and nationally, that the behaviour of North Lanarkshire Council deserves to be placed under and independent scrutiny.