News from Plymouth Labour

Bullying in Plymouth Council: watchdog invites formal complaint

Councillors investigating how much taxpayers money was spent to keep a Conservative Council Leader out of an Employment Tribunal have been invited to make a formal complaint to the Information Commissioner. The watchdog body promotes access to official information and protects personal information.

A request from Labour Councillors to the Commissioner for advice on how to raise their concerns about bullying and harassment of Council staff has now significantly raised the stakes for those involved in keeping the matter covered up.

Labour Leader, Cllr Tudor Evans, said:
“We have been very concerned over a period of time that victims of bullying and harassment are being silenced through the use of legal gagging clauses but on top of this we believe that public funds have been used to pay for private legal advice for a Conservative member. While it is right that the confidentiality of individual staff members is protected, we challenge the view that this right also extends to elected councillors.”

Cllr Evans added:
“When we asked for disclosure of any public funds used to pay for private legal advice we were told that this was not possible because of the Data Protection Act. We have asked the Commissioner to investigate if claiming this immunity when it does not exist is in itself a breach of the Act. What the public have is a right to know however is where their taxes are being spent.

“The public already pay for an excellent team of in-house legal advisors who could have provided all the advice needed at no extra cost to the Council. We believe the Conservative member involved in this matter has accepted public money to pay for private legal advice. This is not private but public and should be declared. We say if they want to go private, they pay, not the taxpayer. Our formal complaint is now with the Information Commissioner’s Office and we await a decision from them in due course.”

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• "Keep Moor View in Plymouth" boundary campaign launched - 7 November 2011