Changes In Committee Structures At Highland Council

10th May 2014

At its meeting on Thursday 8th May 2014 Highland council made several changes to the committee structure and a number of councillor positions. The changes are part of the moves to cut costs and make more efficiencies.

The latest changes were made at the Council meeting on Thursday 8th May 2014 with the appointment of two new Strategic Committee Chairs and one Vice-Chair.

The 5 new Services are:
· Care and Learning, whose Director is Bill Alexander, formerly Director of Health and Social Care (education, culture and sport merged with health and social care). Hugh Fraser, Director of Education Culture and Sport retires towards the end of September. He will work with Mr Alexander over the coming months to intergrate the two services.

Community Services, whose new Director is William Gilfillan, formerly Corporate Manager; (Services include housing, road and winter maintenance, waste management, community works, cleaning, transport, environmental health emergency planning, harbours and street lighting)

Corporate Development, whose Director is Depute Chief Executive Michelle Morris; (human resources, performance, legal and democratic services, ICT, customer services; health, safety and wellbeing, and corporate improvement projects)
Development and Infrastructure, whose Director is Stuart Black (planning, capital projects, housing development, design, energy management, economic development, Europe, asset management, trading standards).

· Finance Service will remain under the leadership of Director, Derek Yule.

The Chief Executive’s Service will be known as the Chief Executive’s Office, providing support to the leadership of the Council through the policy, public relations and the business manager’s teams.

To reflect the new service structure, the names and roles and responsibilities of the Council’s 4 strategic committees have changed to:
· Community Services Committee (Chair, Councillor Graham Mackenzie, Dingwall and Seaforth; Vice-Chair Councillor Bet McAllister, Inverness Central)
· Education, Children and Adult Services (Chair, Councillor Alasdair Christie, Inverness Ness-side; Vice-Chair Councillor Gail Ross, Wick)
· Planning, Development and Infrastructure Committee (Chair, Councillor Thomas Prag, Inverness South; Vice-Chair Councillor George Farlow, North West and Central Sutherland)
· Resources Committee (Chair, Councillor Maxine Smith, Cromarty Firth. Councillor Smith is also Budget Leader; Vice-Chair Councillor David Alston, Black Isle)
They have replaced:
· Adult and Children’s Services
· Finance, Housing and Resources
· Planning, Environment and Development
· Transport, Environmental and Community Services