Council spend £30,000 on "Spygate" investigation

[Kintyre Forum News]

Thought this was an interesting article on the front page of the Oban Times today that was worth sharing. Beggars belief the Council would spend this kind of money given the cuts they have been making.

From the Oban Times, Thursday 26th July 2012

John Clayton, the man hired by Argyll & Bute Council to investigate claims of press office “spying” was paid nearly £30,000 for 14 days work. The Oban Times obtained figures under the Freedom of Information Act that the former Audit Scotland Chief earned £29.121.88 over the course of his investigation which was completed by mid-May.

It is understood he billed for 14 days of work, taking his daily fee to more that £2,080. With Communications Manager, Jo Smith, suspended on full pay for six months, the minimum cost of the investigation is £50,000. The total cost of the investigation, however, will have to take in to account the fallout that saw press officers Janet West and Dinah MacKay resigning and short-term replacements brought in.

Meanwhile, The Oban Times has obtained information indicating Mr Clayton’s report clears the press office of spying. It is understood Ms Smith will attend a disciplinary hearing at Kilmory next month, facing a lesser charge of bringing the Council into disrepute for using the word “spy” in a presentation.

Councillors are now calling for an internal investigation into how Mr Clayton came to sign a contract with the authority, with question marks raised over Chief Executive, Sally Loudon’s role in his appointment.

John McAlpine of the Argyll First group of Councillors, said “My major concern with this is that in most circumstances we have to go through the process to appoint someone. What gave Sally Louden – if it was her – the right to just appoint someone of her own choice? Someone she had previously known beforehand in a previous employment? If it was not her, then who was it and who authorised it? Even then, was this the best person to go to? We have our own HR department – could they have done it at a fraction of the cost?”

Independent Oban South and Isles councillor Alistair MacDougall said “I don’t know who authorised this in the first place. That’s something I will be digging into. It’s a lot of money for nothing at the end of the day. I would have said this should have been an internal investigation with councillor involvement – that would have also got to the bottom of it”

Mr MacDougall questioned the wisdom of spending so much money on the investigation when there was reduced spend in the community on care packages and similar services.

The leader and the deputy leader of both the administration and opposition where unavailable for comment. Argyll & Bute Council was contacted for comment but did not respond at the time of going to press.

[smiles]

Surely this can't be correct? £30,000 for 14 days work ffs!! I hope our local elected officials also have the balls to question this. Absolute disgrace, wasting £50,000 to end up giving an employee a slap on the wrist. Oh and on that note does anyone know if our councilors are alive? Heard from them all the time when there's an election and not a peep since!