Spending Public Money?

I've lived in Glasgow on and off all my life, although I only worked there for a short time. I don't know what happens inside the council but I noticed on Sunday that the Sunday Herald apparently does. And it's not happy.

Their journalists did a Freedom of Information request about foreign visits by councillors and council officers from Glasgow City. The trouble with FOI requests is that the body providing the information has no control over how the newspaper that requests it deals with it in print. The usual way for Scottish newspapers to deal with FOI requests to councils is to shout from the roof-tops that public money is being wasted on trips abroad. And that was the Sunday Herald's message this time.

There was a time when Glasgow was widely seen as a slum city. If it was famous for anything, it was  the deep-fried Mars bar. And boy, are we not all fed up hearing about that? Not many people would have considered coming here on holiday. Now Glasgow has well over 2 million holiday visitors every year. It's recognised as a hub of great museums, good food, great music and fine shops.

How did the city get from there to here? Investment. The city invested in its museums and its public buildings. It encouraged the redevelopment of the Merchant City. It encouraged builders to invest in new hotels and entertainment venues on the Clyde. And it took part enthusiastically in the successful bid to host the Commonwealth Games. Part of the investment involved sending councillors and council officers abroad to make contacts in other cities. That doesn't mean using council-tax-payers' money. Here in Scotland, we've got very good at tapping into cash from agencies like the Scottish Government, the British Council, the Lottery and the EU.

When I worked in a local council promoting international links for schools, I was forever being asked in FOI requests how much council money I'd spent sending teachers and students abroad. My answer was always: none. I never had to use council cash. There was plenty of cash available from elsewhere.

The advantages of international links are huge. Sending people abroad meant that they went as our ambassadors. We picked our ambassadors carefully, of course, and most of all we tried to make sure young people got opportunities to take part in foreign visits: that involved exchanges to France, Germany, China, Sweden (on a sailing ship) and the USA. Teachers also made great ambassadors: they are keen travellers and appreciative of the opportunity. Ours went to China, Canada, the USA, France, Spain, Germany, Poland, New Zealand, Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, Norway, Denmark. After these visits, we were more likely to have visitors come to our area, either to work or on holiday. We hosted groups from Spain, Germany, Poland, Singapore and France.

They paid to come.

It's time journalists moved on from FOI requests to local councils or, at the very least, tried to analyse what the answers mean when they make an FOI request. Maybe talk to people in the councils. Get beyond the idea that council employees are sitting around drinking coffee but are in fact trying to keep several balls in the air at once. And, above all, that they have the interests of the area they serve in mind when they're working.