Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Moray Council continuing to ‘take stock’ of consultant blow to aid education recovery

Moray Council's Conservative group leader Tim Eagle.
Moray Council's Conservative group leader Tim Eagle.

Summit talks between opposition councillors are due to take place next week to try and plot the recovery of Moray’s school system.

Education Scotland has been operating “enhanced monitoring” of the authority since April last year due to concerns about leadership and the amount of staff in the council to make changes.

The issue came to a head this week when opposition members rejected proposals to hire a consultant to spearhead policies without backing an alternative – despite assurances from chief executive Roddy Burns that the situation was “urgent”.

The move raised the prospect of Education Scotland instigating a full authority inspection, which would investigate every department, to address the concerns.

Yesterday, senior figures at the council were “taking stock” of the situation before deciding what to do next.

Meanwhile, Conservative group leader Tim Eagle revealed talks would take place between opposition members next week to agree what should be the next step.

The Buckie councillor believes sufficient reports have already been commissioned by council staff to make improvements without the need for an external consultant.

He said: “My impression that somewhere in the operation of the council there is a block between reports and us actually moving forward.

“For example, there was a review of Buckie schools in December 2017 where a further report about improvements was requested. It’s never arrived. If it had done we would probably have an action plan by now or maybe started implementing it.

“I don’t think bringing in a consultant at whatever cost would have told us anything different from what we already know.”

Moray Council currently has no permanent education director while the person appointed to act in the post is currently off sick.

Recruitment issues surrounding primary school head teachers is understood to be one of Education Scotland’s principal concerns.

Senior figures within the SNP administration said recovery plans were now in “disarray” following Wednesday’s decision to not bring in a consultant.

Yesterday Sonya Warren, chairwoman of the council’s children and young people’s committee, said: “At the moment we are just taking stock of the situation to see what we can do to get the necessary work done.

“It’s not just Education Scotland we have to satisfy, we have to think about the good of the children in our school system.”