The suitability of an SNP councillor to sit on Tayside Health Board has been called into question due to his “poor” attendance record during a previous spell on the board.
Councillor Ken Lynn missed three out of seven meetings during that spell in 2011 but he has defended his attendance record over the two years he was on the board.
Mr Lynn was put forward for the position by the administration at a recent full council meeting after councillors were told that fellow SNP councillor Alan Ross had resigned from the position.
Labour group leader Councillor Kevin Keenan said: “On behalf of the Labour group, we were quite happy to accept the resignation of Councillor Alan Ross as his attendance at meetings of Tayside Health Board had been poor.
“The Labour group were only prepared to endorse a candidate who would give a commitment that they would fully attend and fully participate in all aspects expected of them as a board member of NHS Tayside.
“This reassurance was given by the lord provost and indeed Mr Lynn nodded in agreement.
“Mr Lynn was the council’s nomination and was on Tayside Health Board in 2011/12 prior to Mr Ross taking over the position and, although Mr Lynn has now given a commitment to play an active role within the work of the NHS board, his attendance at meetings during 2011/12 was equally as poor as those of Mr Ross.
“It has also been suggested that Mr Lynn’s attendance at the Community Health Partnership (CHP) has also been very poor.”
Mr Lynn pointed out that while he had missed three out of seven meetings in his final year of his previous spell on the board in 2011, he had attended seven out of seven meetings the previous year.
He said: “In terms of one of the meetings it was a finance meeting, going over the accounts, and it was held on a Tuesday instead of the usual Thursday, so it was my mistake. But if you take it over two years I only missed three meetings out of 14.
“Councillor Keenan is quite right to flag these things up, but I am taking steps to ensure that I will be able to commit fully to the health board.”