Bullying claims probe into police chief costs public almost £100k
TAXPAYERS footed a bill of nearly £100,000 in legal fees and the cost of investigating bullying claims against former police chief Phil Gormley.
The Scottish Police Authority (SPA) disclosed that nearly £36,000 was spent on lawyers during the row over Mr Gormley, who quit earlier this year.
Together with the bill run up by the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC), the combined cost of the ‘Gormleygate’ affair is almost £100,000.
The SPA took nearly six months to respond to the Mail’s freedom of information request (FOI) for legal fees, and has now revealed it spent £35,834 on legal advice. Last night Scottish Tory justice spokesman Liam Kerr said: ‘People were angry enough at how the Phil Gormley case was handled by the SPA and the SNP Government even before this news.
‘So to find out that tens of thousands were wasted on what was a fruitless task is even more frustrating.
‘This whole affair has been handled poorly from start to finish – and this is yet more evidence of that.’
Mr Gormley left his £214,000-ayear job as Chief Constable of the single police force in February after taking ‘special leave’ in September last year amid multiple bullying allegations, which he denied.
He stepped down after saying it would be ‘impossible’ for him to return to his job following a row which saw his wife Claire publicly claim that the PIRC probe was a ‘disproportionate fishing expedition’.
Mr Gormley’s lawyer had threat- SCOTLAND ened legal action after former Justice Secretary Michael Matheson blocked a decision by the SPA to end his gardening leave, sparking a political firestorm.
The SPA bankrolls insurance policy for top officers which paid for Mr Gormley’s legal costs.
The legal fees incurred by the SPA relate to the period from August 29 last year – just before Mr Gormley stepped aside – to March 29 this year, covering the aftermath of his decision to resign.
An SPA spokesman said: ‘The SPA has important statutory responsibilities in senior officer complaints and conduct issues, and as an employer, and took appropriate legal advice in considering a sensitive and complex case of this nature.’
The information was provided after the Mail alerted the Scottish Information Commissioner Daren Fitzhenry about the delayed response to our FOI request – made on January 31 this year – which the crisis-stricken quango said was caused by staff sickness.
After Mr Gormley stepped down, the PIRC dropped the probes and sent the work it had carried out to the SPA.
The PIRC has disclosed that it spent an estimated £57,105.28 on the shelved investigations between July 24 last year and February 15.
The figure includes ‘time spent by individual members of the investigations team on the probes’, and ‘time spent by individual members of the communications team’.
It also includes expense claims, pool car costs and management and overhead costs.
A PIRC spokesman said: ‘The investigations were carried out independently and thoroughly.
‘The work carried out by the PIRC’s investigators was resourceintensive and involved interviewing a substantial number of witnesses to establish or refute the allegations made.’
The Scottish Tories have called for changes to allow misconduct probes to continue after officers have left their jobs.
The Scottish Government has said it has ‘no plans to change the regulations’.
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