Concerns have been raised about the “politicisation” of Aberdeen City Council officials under plans to ban them from speaking to the press.
Councillors will be asked to approve a new “communications protocol” for the local authority next week.
The draft plan states that staff “are not authorised to issue statements or comments directly” to the media.
Only the council leader Jenny Laing or other senior figures from the ruling Labour-Independent-Conservative administration will generally be quoted in the authority’s communications.
A council “spokesman” or “spokeswoman” will only provide comment to the press in “civic emergencies” or other situations which require a rapid response, while chief executive Angela Scott and her senior officers will only speak if an issue is “reputational, disciplinary or operational”.
The report has been written by Takki Sulaiman, a former Labour councillor for Haringey who was controversially appointed as the local authority’s £80,000-a-year head of communications earlier this year.
Kirsty Blackman, SNP MP for Aberdeen North, questioned the proposals last night.
“The way it reads it sounds like staff will be spinning things for councillors. That’s not the way it has been done in Aberdeen before,” she said.
“It’s the continuation of a journey down a very slippery slope.
“I think it’s dangerous to politicise the work of officers and I’m concerned about how reports are going to be brought forward. Reports should be written by officers in their professional capacity.”
Councillor Ian Yuill, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrat group, said: “My general view is that we should leave politics to the politicians and leave operational matters to officers.
“I think there is obviously a risk of politicising comments on what are obviously operational matters.”
In his report, Mr Sulaiman said: “There are expectations about how councils conduct their business and how they develop and promote services.
“This requires the use of clear and strong communication channels some of which are traditionally directly provided by specific services and some of which are provided corporately.”