AN investigation is to be launched at Dumfries and Galloway Council after councillors expressed concerns about a mystery internal issue.
The ‘serious matter’ has come to light during another probe, that has been carried out by Annandale South Councillor Ian Carruthers.
He was appointed last December to check if the council’s recruitment processes were flawed.
And while he yesterday confirmed he had not found any major issues with the way senior staff are appointed, Mr Carruthers did flag up that something else had caught his attention – and was causing him huge concerns.
However, due to the nature of the discovery he declined to explain further in the public meeting at Dumfries headquarters, instead insisting there needed to be a private session for elected members to be briefed.
In addition, he called for an external body, like Audit Scotland, to be brought in to carry out an independent investigation, which fellow councillors agreed to. Cllr Carruthers said: “I found no flaws with the procedures in regards the appointment process, but there’s other things I have found, and so have other group leaders, that sit very uncomfortably.
“So, we need to have an independent review and get a private report back.”
He added: “Group leaders carried out an interesting piece of work where we discovered procedures that we were not aware of taking place. Because of the procedures we need an independent investigation by Audit Scotland or the likes into what happened here, and reported back to full council.”
He also described ‘sensitivities’ around the information and said there had been difficulties getting hold of some details.
Backing him up, Labour leader Carolyne Wilson said: “We do have concerns about some of the information that has come to light.”
The meeting agreed to set in motion an investigation process and report back in December.
But most councillors in the room said they were in the dark as to the findings.
North West Dumfries Cllr Andy Ferguson surmised: “The nub of what Ian Carruthers is getting at is about what happened in the past, let’s get someone external to look at that.”
Mid and Upper Nithsdale member Andrew Wood added: “I have concerns about what’s taken place, we really need to have transparency.
“The public deserve to know what exactly is going on, we don’t want this council to be tarnished with a cover up.”
