Special council meeting called as Wirral Council braced for whistleblower reports

Jan 11 2012 by Liam Murphy, Birkenhead News

A SPECIAL council meeting will be held in the wake of two damaging reports following whistleblowing allegations against Wirral Council.

The authority’s leader, Steve Foulkes, called for the meetings as it was revealed the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) had passed on a complaint made by Birkenhead MP Frank Field to the District Auditor which oversees the council.

Mr Field called in the SFO over concerns about the handling of a major contract for highways maintenance, after he was approached by the group of whistleblowers.

And, although the SFO will not be investigating, the District Auditor has produced a report which is currently with the authority.

Now Cllr Foulkes has submitted a written request for a special meeting of Wirral Council to consider responses to that report, as well as the full report by Anna Klonowski, carried out into claims made by Martin Morton about Adult Social Services which is expected to be delivered to the council next week.

Birkenhead MP Frank Field had asked the Serious Fraud Office to examine details of the highways contract after concerns were raised by whistleblowers.

He said he had been “shocked” by issues within the authority and concerned that councillors had been “poorly served” by officers as well as worries there were poor procedures for dealing with whistleblowers.