This article appears as part of the Lessons to Learn newsletter.

How much do you trust your local politicians?

It’s not a trick question, although it is one that might benefit from a bit of context.

Right now, across the country, councils are wrestling with the demands of setting their budget, and the same is true of Scotland’s most populated, and arguably most complex, local authority – Glasgow.

Earlier this week we got a bit of an insight into what might be coming when some of the existing budget options were leaked to The Herald. As a result, we reported that nursery provision for three year olds and staff supporting pupils with additional support needs could be at risk – but we were unable to provide really detailed information about the potential cuts because that information was, and is, being kept secret.

Here's how it works, at least in Glasgow.

A cross-party working group has been established by the parties, and through this, they are supposed to engage with council officials to work up options for the annual budget decisions. The idea is that everyone gets the same information at the same time, but there’s another key feature of the deal: they all agreed to keep the information to themselves rather than share it with the public.

The rationale for that is that some of the things that are discussed don’t end up in the final proposals, so it’s better not to release the........

© Herald Scotland