A watchdog has rapped Perth and Kinross Council’s claim that no communication records are held over the axing of a £128k-a-year director role.
The Scottish Information Commissioner questioned the local authority’s response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request from The Courier regarding the scrapping of the high-level position.
Alison Williams arrived at the council as director of economy, place and learning in February last year.
In August, she left the role to “explore new opportunities” before the position was scrapped altogether the following month.
When asked, via an FOI request, for all communications and minutes between the executive team regarding Ms Williams departure, the local authority claimed no such records were held.
It later said all decisions were taken in undocumented verbal discussions with chief executive Thomas Glen.
Scotland’s top information watchdog has now said it has concerns over how the local authority handled the request.
No evidence searches were completed
In his report, the commissioner’s head of enforcement, Euan McCulloch, raised multiple concerns about the way Perth and Kinross Council had interpreted the request.
He also stated that the local authority had failed to carry out adequate searches of messaging apps and other forms of communication devices.
The council have been instructed to conduct “adequate, proportionate searches” and hand that information to The Courier.
In the original FOI request, we asked for all communication records between the council’s executive team, and between David Littlejohn, the strategic lead for economy, development and planning.
In the Commissioner’s investigation it was found that Mr Littlejohn returned no communications without explaining how.
The report states: “The Commissioner notes that David Littlejohn provided a nil return for his searches, but no evidence of how those searches were carried out has been provided to the Commissioner to persuade him that those searches were thorough.”
The local authority also refused to inform the commissioner of the content of talks between Mr Littlejohn and the chief executive.
“As part of the investigation, the authority was asked to describe the discussions that took place between David Littlejohn and the Chief Executive about the removal of Ms Williams and her post,” states the report.
“The authority declined to do so, because it did not consider this fell within the
scope of the applicant’s requests.”
Three meetings with no notes taken
The investigation into Perth and Kinross Council also uncovered that the executive team leadership team (ELT) held three meetings regarding Ms Williams departure without recording a single note.
The report says: “The authority submitted that the discussion about Ms Williams’ departure and the removal of the role took place in private, without a minute being taken.
“The authority submitted that a meeting took place between ELT and its senior leadership team (SLT), on 5 August 2024, where it was advised that Ms Williams had left the employ of the authority and, again, this meeting was not minuted.
“The authority submitted there was a further meeting of the SLT on 8 August 2024, where the restructuring of the authority’s leadership team was discussed, but no minutes were taken.”
Second FOI blow for council
The rebuke from the Scottish Information Commissioner is the second FOI blow for the local authority regarding Alison Williams.
In January, the council was forced to apologise for wrongly withholding information on how much Ms Williams was paid as a relocation fee to take her role.
Originally, the local authority claimed the figure was not in the public interest after The Courier requested it via an FOI.
Ms Williams was paid £4.5k to relocate.
Audit Scotland also confirmed to The Courier in January that the circumstances around Ms Williams departure will be investigated as part of their 2024/25 review of the local authority.
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