A LESSON ON EVADING THE QUESTION On the 19th of September we posted NOT SO MUCH FUZZY LOGIC AS FUXXY FELT Following on from that I wrote the letter reproduced below on the 25th of October. The letter appears to me to fairly straightforward and asks a simple question A##### I have been informed that at one of the meetings held this week there were 25 officers present and 3 members of the public .can you confirm this is an accurate report, also can you let me have the numbers attending your sessions so far,officers /members of the public Regards Councillor George Black Ward 3 - Dumbarton The reason for this letter was to elicit if the information i had been given was factual, it is apparent from the response copied that my source was one out in relation to members of the public , it is also looking increasingly likely that the figure of 25 is not too far off the mark either. Why is there such a reticence to respond openly is it because that such a ratio would represent an appalling waste of public money? Here is the response i received after 3 attempts to get a direct answer to the question how many officers Good Morning Councillor, Details of attendance at the three listening events held so far are noted below. These events were a new format for us and included information stalls on a variety of services so a number of officers came to set up stalls etc but did not stay for the event itself. We were also aware of making best use of Council and partner resources so stood down as many officers as we could when it became clear that there would not be a high turnout (by 4:15/4:30 in all three cases). Dalmuir: 4 residents and 9 officers (covering housing, community safety, public reassurance, police, fire, customer services and community planning) Dumbarton: 11 residents and 12 officers (covering police, fire, education, housing, community safety, customer services, waste, local planning, greenspace and community planning) Bowling: 8 residents and 7 officers (covering roads / environmental services, police, fire, local planning and community planning). Childrens activities were also utilised at this event which allowed two residents to participate who would otherwise not have come along. I hope this is helpful A##### As you will see the direct question how many officers were present? is evaded. What are they frightened of ? Do these events not represent best value ? Is the strategy so severely flawed that it will not bear scrutiny ? I have had additional correspondence on this subject and a meeting with the Executive Director of Corporate Services,but the total number of officers present is still being withheld . To date i have still not had an answer to this simple question What do you think , all opinions welcomed
Posted on: Sat, 30 Nov 2013 22:40:02 +0000
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