2,700 residents on ‘watch lists’ held by council

THOUSANDS of residents across Tayside and Fife are on secretive council “watch lists” and some records go back more than 40 years.

The partially redacted files were obtained following a series of freedom of information requests.

They show more than 2,700 l ocal people have been judged a danger to staff or councillors.

Many of the individuals named were added due to a history of physical or verbal abuse or concerns over previous criminal convictions and drug use.

However, in hundreds of cases, no reason for inclusion, or indication of how long they will remain on the list, were given.

In one entry, council staff in Perth alleged a service user had “undiagnosed mental health issues” before adding him to the register indefinitely.

Concerns have been raised over the way the information is handled after it was revealed some individuals had been logged for more than four decades, while others still appear despite the system stating the reason for their addition “no longer applies”.

In Dundee, 531 residents were named on a list of potentially problematic service users, 166 of whom were designated as “high risk”.

A total of 1,129 records were held by Perth and Kinross Council.

The l ocal authority i n Fife, which said it only holds details for the previous 12 months, logged 36 names between January and December last year.

Angus Council initially claimed it held no lists but was later forced to reveal details logged in the files of 1,020 residents on t wo internal systems.

The conduct of the authority is currently under consideration by the Information Commissioner.