The current members (2010) of Argyll and Bute Council’s Executive Committee are as follows:

Councillors (given in alphabetical order of group or party)

• Vivian Dance, Alliance of Independents, Helensburgh Central
• George Freeman, Alliance of Independents, Lonond North
• Duncan Macintyre, Alliance of Independents, Oban North and Lorn
• Donald MacMillan, Allliance of Independents, Mid Argyll
• Elaine Robertson, Alliance of Independents, Oban North and Lorn
• Len Scoullar, Alliance of Independents, Isle of Bute
• Dick Walsh, Alliance of Independents, Dunoon (Council Leader)
• Donald Macdonald, SNP, Oban North and Lorn
• Robert Macintyre, SNP, Isle of Bute (Depute Council Leader)
• Donald McIntosh, SNP, Oban South and the Isles
• John Semple, SNP, South Kintyre
• Isobel Strong, SNP, Isle of Bute
• Robin Currie LibDem, Kintyre and the Isles
• Alison Hay, LibDem, Mid Argyll
• Ellen Morton, LibDem, Helensburgh and Lomond South
• Gary Mulvaney Conservative, Helensburgh Central

Unelected external others (Representing education and religion and only voting on these matters)

• Maureen Arthur
• William Dalby
• David McEwan
• Alison Palmer

Secretary to the Executive

• Fiona McCallum (sec)

Questions on the role and voting rights of some of the ‘Others’.

There are two issues we would raise over the position of the outsiders in the Executive.

The first is on the grounds of the logic of the inclusion of those representing ‘education’.

The Council has its own Education Spokesperson, Councillor Isobel Strong, from Bute. It has a Spokesperson for Social Services – as it has spokespersons for each ares of council concern. Spokespersons are members of the Executive.

So why is it necessary for ‘education’ to have additional votes on the executive where, say, social services does not?

Our second concern is whether or not these unelected representatives on the Executive Committee – who have a vote on these issues at the level of authoritative recommendation and who are therefore more powerful than the excluded elected Councillors – have already exercised their Executive vote on any aspect of the development of the school closure proposals and procedures?