Statement on approved audited accounts 2024/25

Councillor  Drysdale said: "As a former Convener of Audit Committee and now as Leader of the Council, I wanted to accord the fullest respect to the current Convener and members of our Audit Committee by listening carefully to proceedings at this afternoon's meeting before responding to the Courier's request from a few days ago for comment on its recent articles regarding the departure of a member of the Council's Senior Leadership Team last year.

"First of all, I was pleased to hear our independent auditors confirm that they have given an unmodified and unqualified opinion on Perth and Kinross Council's accounts for the 2024/25 financial year and have also provided positive commentary on its careful overall stewardship of public funds. Whilst this is not at all a surprise to me it is nevertheless a welcome endorsement against the backcloth of some ill-informed assertions and inaccurate high profile social media comments I have seen recently.

"As regards the circumstances surrounding the employment matter raised initially by the Courier - while much of the terms of that are private to the individual concerned, I hope that the additional disclosures contained within the annual accounts, in line with the new national guidance issued just recently, will reassure the Courier team and residents that we are being transparent about financial costs associated with pay in lieu of notice. The Committee also received assurances that the Chief Executive had in fact acted within his delegated powers when he made decisions around the original departure and the decision not to fill the vacancy.

"Following my discussions with the Chief Executive and appropriate members of the Executive and Senior Leadership teams I am wholly satisfied, and the independent auditors have also accepted, that the new guidance provided recently by the auditors will be carefully adhered to moving forward, and decisions will continue to be made within existing governance arrangements should the need arise again.

"On this basis I have this afternoon signed the approved audited accounts for 2024/25."