North Lanarkshire Update



North Lanarkshire Council is awash with rumours again because settlement talks are underway again ahead of the ongoing Employment Tribunal in Glasgow which is due to reconvene on Monday 19 January 2015.

Now I'm keeping my counsel about these negotiations because we've been here before, of course, and  despite all the talk the Council simply failed to put realistic proposals on the table which A4ES could recommend to its 3,000 plus North Lanarkshire clients to accept.

One of the reasons North Lanarkshire is really feeling the heat is that the Council lost a big freedom of information case last  year with the Scottish Information Commissioner (SIC) which ordered the release a previously confidential report to the Council's Corporate Management Team from August 2005.

Strangely, the Council is claiming that just one of the appendices (Appendix 5) to this report has gone missing and so I submitted another FoI request to NLC querying whether the Appendix could have been removed deliberately.

If so, this would be a very serious matter indeed and, in my opinion, the Council should not be investigating on its own the mysterious disappearance of potentially vital information, hence my reference to calling in Police Scotland.

I will obviously wait and see what NLC has to say for itself, but given the significance for thousands of Council staff, if it turns out that there is any hint of misfeasance or malfeasance, then I'll be prepared to contact Police Scotland myself.     


15 December 2014
Gavin Whitefield
Chief Executive
North Lanarkshire Council

Dear Mr Whitefield

FOISA Request 

I would like to make the following request under the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002. 

Please confirm the identity of the Council official responsible for conducting the investigation into the mysterious disappearance of Appendix 5 from the report to the Council's Corporate Management Team dated August 2005?

Please confirm which Council officer was responsible for writing the original CMT report and with whom?

3 Please confirm the details of the 'distribution list' for this CMT document and the identities of the various individuals to whom the report was sent?

4 Please confirm whether the information contained in Appendix 5 can be reconstructed, in full or in part, from other documents (in draft or other form) which are still in the Council's possession? If none of the information can be reconstructed or recovered from other sources, please explain why? 

Please confirm the details of what steps the Investigating Officer took to obtain a copy of the missing document? 

6 Please confirm whether the deliberate removal or theft of Appendix 5 has been considered as a possible explanation for the document's sudden disappearance?

Please confirm whether Police Scotland have been invited to investigate the deliberate removal or theft of the CMT document as a possible case of misfeasance or malfeasance in public office? Which is, of course, a criminal offence.

8 Please provide me with a copy of the Investigation Report referred to at Point 1 above along with copies of all internal correspondence (including emails) relating to the Council's investigation into this incident?        

I look forward to your reply and would be grateful if you could respond to me by e-mail to: markirvine@compuserve.com
    
Kind regards


Mark Irvine

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