It would not be surprising if Scotland's council chief executives feel embattled and an endangered species.

Last year, finance minister ~Tom McCabe~ suggested Scotland had too many chief executives and raised the question of whether it was necessary to have 32 of them in a country of Scotland's size. Then, in the Holyrood parliament finance committee last month, he suggested that legislation might be needed to make chief executives directly accountable for their decisions and held responsible for poor or weak advice.