Opposition leaders in Dundee have criticised the city council over the revelation that it had spent more than £51,000 to spy on its own workers.
“I know of one case when they got private investigators and when that came to a hearing to pay people off, the evidence was found to be wanting and the individual wasn’t paid off.
“I will be raising this with the chief executive. It’s all a question of choices and I will be asking him how this managed to get hidden.
“Ardler is looking for a crossing to get kids safely to school and instead we’ve got some private detective spying on the workforce.”
Mr Wallace said: “It does seem excessive and it makes you wonder what managers are doing themselves. I’m disappointed and hope they tighten things up.”
Mr Macpherson added: “These are cash-strapped times, we’ve had a reduction of £15 million and it strikes me as highly questionable that this can be justified.
“I’ll be questioning the chief executive on this council tax payers want money spent wisely.”
Rory Malone of trade union Unison said: “The council have got appropriate people to investigate if there are any complaints against staff. To bring in a private company reaping thousands of pounds from the council tax payer is incredible.”
A city council spokesman said, “The council use these methods in exceptional circumstances. We have carried out these procedures within legal guidelines and the appropriate framework.”
The city council, which has announced cuts of £15 million to services this year, admitted spending the money to hire private detectives to investigate staff suspected of taking unauthorised sick leave or finishing work early.
Council officials said they had used private investigators from two firms on four occasions to probe gross misconduct, which was said to have resulted in a handful of sackings.
Labour’s Kevin Keenan, the Conservative group’s Rod Wallace and Lib Dem councillor Fraser Macpherson were outraged at the news, with Mr Keenan accusing the council of using “Big Brother” tactics.
The group leaders say the money could have been better spent on frontline services and will be contacting chief executive David Dorward to ask him to justify the spending.
Reports stated the surveillance operations involved watching homes and taking videos and photos of employees and, while only a few people were sacked as a result of their investigations, it has been suggested at least one worker won their job back.
A freedom of information investigation revealed that only two other authorities Glasgow and Fife had hired private investigators. Glasgow spent just over £4000, while Fife laid out £600.
Dundee City Council, which has more than 600 staff, confirmed it had paid £51,819 to two firms of undercover agents.
Mr Keenan said: “I think it’s absolutely shocking that this is the tactics used by the administration. This is just like Big Brother is watching every individual. The managers should be doing their jobs instead of spending £50,000 employing people to squint round corners making sure people are doing their job.
“The managers should be looking at themselves are they managing their processes efficiently? What has gone so far wrong that they have to employ private investigators instead of managing their staff properly?
“This is £51,000 that could have been spent driving up qualifications in our schools and every other councillor in Dundee will tell you they could spend that money improving services in their own wards.”
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