How often should those running Aberdeen – and changing the face of the city centre – actually be here?
“Never seen” chief executive Angela Scott went nearly 500 days without stepping foot in Marischal College during the Covid pandemic.
And the Dundee-based “absentee” has made only a partial comeback to Aberdeen City Council HQ since.
Her Marischal College attendance record is down by around a fifth, according to figures uncovered by The Press and Journal.
Before the pandemic, Mrs Scott racked up taxpayer-funded hotel bills as she led the local authority through cuts of hundreds of millions of pounds.
While Covid changed working arrangements for many of us, questions persist about whether those overseeing the city’s thousands of employees can do so “anonymously” from afar.
Economically, business bosses have slammed “half-empty” Marischal College as a sign of city leaders failing to support city centre businesses.
Our Freedom of Information probe reveals:
- How often “anonymous” council chief executive Angela Scott is at Marischal College
- Her near 500-day Covid absence from HQ as others attended almost every day of 2021
- Planning chief responsible for sweeping change in Aberdeen city centre makes even fewer commutes to Marischal College
- Aberdeen City Council to review work from home guidelines
Many of the local authority’s staff – teachers, social workers, crossing patrollers and refuse collectors – can’t work from home.
So how often are Aberdeen City Council bosses heading into work at headquarters?
The Press and Journal has obtained attendance records at council HQ to see who is showing up, and how often.
What we know…
The P&J’s freedom of information probe looks at the period March 2020 to October 2023.
It is based off the number of days staff swipe cards were used, per calendar month, to access Marischal College.
We had asked for the whole of the April 2019 to March 2020 period to get an idea of how things worked before Covid.
But the council’s “very limited” data records only go back as far as March 6 2020.
Of the 17 working days from then until March 31, Mrs Scott was at Marischal College 13 times.
Factoring in pro-rata assumed leave for the month, that’s an attendance record of 76%.
While the sample size is small, that is the only pre-Covid yardstick we have.
Council chief executive Angela Scott missing from Marischal for 16 months
Aberdeen City Council records show Angela Scott’s home working has increased ever since the start of the pandemic.
The top city council official lives around 65 miles away from Marischal College in the City of Discovery.
Choosing – at random – Dundee’s Balgay Park tennis courts as a starting point, that’s a near three-hour round-trip commute.
Against the 76% of March 2020, the Covid years showed little appetite from Mrs Scott for the drive.
The P&J can reveal the chief executive chose not to travel north for nearly 500 days.
In fact, her stint outside the Granite City may well have stretched beyond that milestone.
If she returned to Marischal College after August 13 2021, her absence would have topped the 500-day mark – but we only have whole month data.
What is Angela Scott’s Aberdeen City Council attendance record since 2020?
If March 2020’s 76% is representative of how often Mrs Scott was at Marischal College before Covid, her attendance is steadily on the downward.
The Covid years were exceptional for most as the country yo-yoed in and out of lockdown and various regimes of rules around who could go to work.
Leaving aside the zero days at Marischal College in 2020-21 and the 27% attendance rate the following year, Mrs Scott’s Aberdeen office days are still in decline.
She managed to make it to work on only 59% of work days in 2022-23.
The chief executive’s attendance record dipped even further between April and October 2023.
Mrs Scott swiped in at Marischal College on only 53% of her working week.
Her virtual oversight grates on council insiders, who have previously branded the chief executive “absent, anonymous and never seen”.
“How the hell did we get here?” one candid source lamented.
But fears voiced to The P&J about the repercussions of airing frustrations mean councillors feel unable to comment publicly.
Their code of conduct, and employment law, could leave them vulnerable should they speak out against an official on the payroll.
Chief executive Angela Scott’s practice ‘in line with other councils’
But the chief executive’s long-distance management is “in line with current practice at the council and other local authorities,” according to one of her spokeswomen.
She added: “During the Covid-19 pandemic, this practice was in line with the Scottish Government guidelines and restrictions, including those in Aberdeen and her home city of Dundee; with working patterns being adjusted accordingly.”
Should senior council staff lead by example and head back to Marischal College five days a week? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
How does Angela Scott’s attendance compare with other senior Aberdeen council figures?
Mrs Scott’s apparent “absenteeism” is exacerbated by the diligent attendance of her lieutenants.
Council directors Andy MacDonald and Steve Whyte have consistently high record – some years even topping 100% in our data model, which has made assumptions about leave entitlement.
Between April and October 2023, customers services boss Mr MacDonald was at Marischal College on 99% of his work days.
Resources director Mr Whyte was there 90% of the time, along with chief officers Martin Murchie (97%), John Wilson (95%) and education boss Shona Milne (100%).
During the chief executive’s – at least – 487-day Marischal College Covid no-show, Mr Whyte (285 days) and Mr MacDonald (231 days) attended through the worst of the pandemic.
During August 2020, when Aberdeen was thrown into its own local lockdown, they were still at work 20 and 17 days respectively.
Mr Whyte would have been involved in the huge business relief operation, dishing out emergency grants to tide over the worst-hit.
Meanwhile, Mr MacDonald was shifting the public-facing council services from in-person to online.
There was a ban on travelling into Aberdeen during that three-week local lockdown.
But should Mrs Scott have made the trip, her involvement in that work might well have been classed as key or essential.
Planning chief’s limited city centre facetime
Meanwhile, compared to planning chief David Dunne, the chief executive appears a real Broad Street regular.
Responsible for overseeing the vast overhaul of Aberdeen, Mr Dunne has consistently below average Marischal College attendance.
Having spent the pandemic drawing up the much-maligned Spaces For People changes on Union Street and at the beach, he was at council HQ only one in every four work days from when he took the chief planning officer job in July 2021 until March 2022.
The following year he returned to the office 33% of the week, compared to Mrs Scott’s 59%.
And between April and October 2023 Mr Dunne, at the forefront of the recent installation of the Guild Street bus gates, attended 42% of his working week, compared to the chief exec’s 53%.
Others, including digital and technology chief Steve Roud, also have less than average Marischal College attendance:
Aberdeen City Council work from home rules under review
The council spokeswoman said there was no set number of days for senior staff to be at Marischal College.
She said: “Arrangements are managed with a focus on the needs of the role, the specific services and our communities.
“Flexible working has always been available to all council staff, where appropriate, with many working from home or other locations – including alongside our partners – for a proportion of their time prior to the pandemic.
“This also forms part of our legal obligations to consider flexible working requests.”
The council is currently reviewing its workplace guidance, which is branded “Smarter Working”.
It is being updated to reflect staff’s experiences during and after the Covid pandemic.
The spokeswoman added: “In line with this, we are further developing working practices which allow staff to work in the most suitable location and at the appropriate times to meet the needs of citizens at all times.”
Our heatmap shows Marischal College attendance for Aberdeen City Council’s chief executive Angela Scott and her directors and chief officers:
Visualisations by DC Thomson data journalist Emma Morrice, with additional input from Ema Sabljak.
Assumptions made: All Aberdeen City Council’s chief officers, directors and chief executive Angela Scott are entitled to 28 days leave, on top of public holidays.
The same leave entitlement has been applied proportionally for those taking up roles partway through the year.
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