When will the SNP Administration share their budget figures with the public, the workforce and the opposition Councillors in our City?
I note in the press that Angus Council is to be commended for its honesty as they have now advised their citizens that the cuts they have to impose will see 500 valued employees lose their jobs.
Whilst I often hear from Senior Officers of this Council that we must engage better with our Communities, there seems to be very little of this put into practice by the SNP Administration.
The kind of openness that we have seen from Angus Council has yet to be seen from Dundee City Council's SNP Administration as they have continued to hold secret meetings behind closed doors.
Even Freedom of Information Requests have not, as yet, been able to uncover their policies for Dundee's future that will see us through these difficult times.
Our SNP Administration, along with the Scottish Government, will not be able to hide cuts and job losses forever - people have the right to know.
If we just compare the amounts to be saved in Angus and in Dundee over the next four years, Dundee has almost twice the amount of cuts to make.
It is very regrettable that this Administration still look to keep things hidden from the very public they have been elected to represent.
It is equally regrettable that they continue to leave our valued workforce and their families with an enormous amount of uncertainty as to their futures.
Not just Angus, but other Councils up and down the country have laid down their intentions as to what their budget implications are to be, way in advance any budget setting date and I believe that this lack of information being provided in Dundee is a deliberate ploy of this SNP Administration not to allow the opposition Councillors the time to properly assess the impact on services and the needs of the people who require these very vital services.
We should also have time to consider the City's wider economy in anything brought before Council.
The Administration has set a date of 10 February 2011 when they intend to announce their budget.
They should share their intentions with the public way before this date to allow public scrutiny and not just rail-road their budget through as they have done previously.
