What The Papers Say (1)
Council loses £200k pay secrecy battle
A CASH-STRAPPED council has lost a legal bid to block information being released about its pay scales – at a cost to taxpayers of up to £200,000.
South Lanarkshire Council spent £100,000 trying to keep the pay scales secret South Lanarkshire Council rejected requests for the information from equal pay campaigner Mark Irvine.
When the Scottish Information Commissioner backed his case, the council appealed unsuccessfully to the Court of Session. And yesterday judges at the UK Supreme Court ruled against the Labour-controlled authority’s second appeal.
It is currently embroiled in a legal dispute over claims it awarded extra bonuses for male workers while women on the same pay grade received nothing. If it loses it could cost the authority millions of pounds.
South Lanarkshire, which recently warned 120 jobs were at risk in a £12million cuts package, spent £100,000 trying to keep the pay scales secret. Information Commissioner Rosemary Agnew spent £67,836 defending the ruling to date.
But the Information Commissioner’s costs have still to be finalised, which could push the taxpayers’ bill to £200,000.
The council said it was “disappointed” by the ruling but will release information “as soon as is practical”
Mr Irvine then complained to the Scottish Information Commissioner, who ruled the details should be disclosed. Supreme Court deputy president Lady Hale dismissed the council’s arguments. Mr Irvine said: “The council and its political leadership have lots of questions to answer over this debacle.”
The council said it was “disappointed” by the ruling but will release information “as soon as is practical”.
Ms Agnew said: “I am pleased that the ruling by the Supreme Court supports our own carefully considered conclusions.”
“Importantly, the ruling also means that the requester can, at long last, receive the information to which he is entitled.”
