Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Dundee council chiefs silent over scandal-hit department under criminal investigation

Post Thumbnail

More than 20 complaints made against Dundee City Council by its own staff are evidence of a “positive culture”, it has been claimed.

A report into whistleblowing within the local authority, including 15 allegations made against one department in a single year, was presented to councillors yesterday.

But council bosses refused to answer the only question put to them about the scandal-hit construction services department, which is facing 15 internal complaints and a police investigation.

One council officer suggested the number of complaints, up 71% compared to last year, was a sign that employees felt comfortable about raising concerns.

Members of the scrutiny committee were given the chance to seek answers about the probe into construction services, amid an ongoing fraud investigation.

However, only one question was asked during the scrutiny committee meeting – and that went unanswered.

It comes after a report revealed more than half of all whistleblowing allegations made within the council in the last year were against construction services.

Three senior employees have either been sacked or voluntarily left their roles since an investigation began last year.

Allegations have also been made against a number of other staff members.

The committee heard  “several” of the complaints were being investigated by police but Gregory Colgan, the council’s director of corporate services, did not confirm how many when asked.

He said: “The report says several and at this point I don’t believe it would be in the interest, indeed given the ongoing investigation, to give more detail at this time.

“When we are in a position to report back to you, a full report will be considered on individual matters.”

The meeting was the first time the investigation has been discussed publicly but despite previous complaints about secrecy, including by committee convener Kevin Keenan, no other questions were asked.

Mr Colgan’s report said the council’s corporate fraud team’s main activity in the last year has been investigating “allegations of fraud, bribery and corruption”.

Fifteen of the 24 whistleblowing complaints made to the council in the last financial year were in relation to construction services. In the previous year, only 14 allegations were made overall.

At the committee meeting, Pamela Redpath of the council’s internal audit service and a member of the corporate fraud team, said: “I think this demonstrates the positive culture we are working in.

“People are happy to raise concerns that they have.

“There is commitment from officers to continually promote the whistleblowing policy.”

Councillors agreed to note the report.

Individuals investigated in the probe linked to construction services include former employee Kenny Muir, who was sacked in January following an investigation into a lucrative public contract to provide heat and smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in local authority-owned homes.

A series of investigations by The Courier established the deal was subcontracted to Edmundson Electrical by the construction services department, without ever being put out to tender.

The former head of the department, Mark Ross, stepped down from his role in the midst of a probe into his attendance on a golf trip to Spain arranged by Edmundson bosses.

Mr Ross told staff his departure was due to ill health.