Just over four years ago, when Salford City Council appointed Monitoring Officer, Miranda Carruthers-Watt, the Salford Star expressed 'grave doubts over the effectiveness' of the new post holder, fearing that it wouldn't lead to any new transparency or propriety.
After all, the Council's previous Monitoring Officer was Martin Vickers who, after negotiating a deal giving Salford Red Devils up to £164,000 in match day income from the Council's stadium and favourable terms for the payback of a £1.5million debt by Reds' owner Marwan Koukash, had got a job with the rugby club. Basically, Vickers was responsible for 'monitoring' his own actions.
Carruthers-Watt was brought in to ensure such stuff never happened again but the Salford Star can't think of many, if any, occasions when she brought Salford Council or its political leadership to book.
The Star's first dealings with the new Monitoring Officer came in November 2015, when we asked her to investigate the politicisation of Salford Council's press office. The office is supposed to be 'politically neutral' but refused to answer questions or provide comments for the Star (and still doesn't respond)...'Both in terms of accountability and transparency it is essential...that the Council has to answer to the press', we wrote (see here).
Carruthers-Watt wrote back to say "The Council is not obliged to respond to requests from individuals or the press, nor to engage with them..." It kind of set the tone for the next four years of her tenure...
One of her other roles was to "maintain the Council's Register of Interests of Members...as required by Section 29(1) of the Localism Act 2011 and ensure that it is available for inspection and published on the Council's website as required by the Act" – but in 2015 the register was totally out of date, and this has only recently been addressed – four years later!
The Star has also run into a myriad of issues with Carruthers-Watt over Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, with her blocking requests and being overturned by the Information Commissioner...
When the Star asked via FOI for the names of the private companies that had paid for the Mayor's trip to the South of France, the Monitoring Officer blocked it as she said there was "Clear harm...to the city's economic interests". Indeed, she added, it was in the "public interest" to keep it secret.
The Information Commissioner didn't agree and the information was eventually released, showing that over a dozen developers and construction companies with vested interests had indeed paid for the trip (see here).
Last year, the Star discovered that the Monitoring Officer had binned advice from her own FOI team at the Council about another FOI request concerning land prices. The FOI team stated that, by not providing the information, the Council would not be abiding by its own transparency pledges – but again the details were withheld until the Information Officer became involved (see here).
"Questions now have to be asked about the role of highly paid Salford Council officers acting 'politically', playing with the Freedom of Information Act just to 'get one over' on the Salford Star" a Star editorial stated "All this on public money time, plus the time of the hard pressed Information Commissioner's office.
"Who is going to hold this Council to account?" the editorial asked "The so-called Monitoring Officer, who is there to ensure propriety? No chance. It was the Monitoring Officer who responded, effectively blocking the original FOI request..."
And this summed up the current Monitoring Officer's tenure – a one and a half out of ten mark, maybe? Or is that being kind?
The job of Salford Council City Solicitor/Monitoring Officer will be advertised with a salary in the range of £70,883 - £77,972 per year...
For more background see previous Salford Star articles...
Salford Councillor Alleges 'Local Government Scandal of the Decade' - click here
Did Planning Councillor Break Rules On Declaration of Interest? - click here
Salford Residents Fury As Peel Holdings Lobbies Planning Councillors - click here
Salford City Council Wins Joe Stalin Award For Open and Democratic Government - click here
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