TAYSIDE POLICE Chief Constable John Vine looks set to leave the force with a bumper pay bonus—but the public will not be told how much he receives.

The Tayside Joint Police Board personnel sub- committee meets on Monday to discuss bonus payments for chief officers—such as the chief constable and his deputy—for the year 2007/08.

However, it is being recommended to the sub-committee that the bonus payments be discussed in private so how much of taxpayers’ money Mr Vine will take home remains a secret from the public.

The bonus payments are one of just three items on Monday’s agenda.

The first will see board members declare any interests, normal practice at any meeting of the board, while the second is to determine whether or not the public and the press should be excluded from the meeting before discussing the third and final item on the agenda—the chief officers’ bonuses.

Mr Vine leaves Tayside Police at the end of next month to become chief inspector of the new UK Border Agency.

Yesterday the board’s convener, Angus councillor Ian Mackintosh, said the recommendation going to the board is that discussions about the bonus scheme be kept private.

According to Mr Mackintosh, discussions should remain behind closed doors because it is a financial matter.

He added that any decision made by the sub-committee would still need to be ratified by the full board.

However, Dundee SNP councillor Jim Barrie said there was no reason for details of the bonus payments to be kept from the very people paying for them.

“I think that the chief constable and his deputy have to meet certain targets for their bonuses and that is what is being discussed,” he said.

Details of bonuses paid to rank-and-file officers are made public, although not which officers receive them.