£8,500 for consultants
Scarborough Council has paid more than £8,500 to private consultancies tasked with investigating complaints made against councillors.
Since December last year, the council has spent more than £8,000 on fees paid to consultancy firms hired to support and lead investigations into complaints lodged against councillors.
The information was revealed through a Freedom of Information request submitted by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
Hoey Ainscough Associates, a Stockport-based private consultancy “on local government conduct issues”, was paid £720 to advise the council in 14 cases, dated December 2021.
Meanwhile, £7,800 was paid to BHC Consultancy to lead investigations for 15 cases, dated July 2022.
Between 2019 and May 2022, at least 133 complaints were lodged against Scarborough borough and town councillors. Whitby, Eastfield and Filey have town councils.
Speaking at a standards committee meeting in June, Scarborough Council officer Carol Rehill noted that “as a rule, Scarborough Council does receive a lot of standards complaints”.
She added that “in 2021-22 Harrogate Council received 13 complaints” while in the previous year they received “nine standards complaints” and that same year “Scarborough received 20”, and North Yorkshire County Council “reported receiving only one”.
Speaking to the Local Democracy
Reporting Service, a spokesperson for Scarborough Council said: “When compared to other local authorities, we have recently dealt with a higher than average number of standards issues.
“Seeking independent and specialist legal advice during the investigation stage is sometimes necessary.
“This is because of the complexity of complaints and also due to increased pressure on our own internal resources.”
Asked whether they considered the services to have provided value for money, the spokesperson said: “We always spend council taxpayers’ money wisely, and with every purchase, we have checks in place to secure best value.