| Every year, the city council publishes details of the total amounts claimed by its 29 elected members and, almost every year, the same councillors top the expenses table.
As the two councillors with the most onerous roles, the Lord Provost and the administration leader often claim the highest expenses. However, amongst the other 27 councillors, expenses claims ranged from nothing in the case of seven councillors to approaching £4000 for some others.
Councillors receive a basic allowance of £6388 and special responsibility allowances relating to duties they have to perform as conveners, deputy conveners, group leaders, etc. They are also eligible for expenses to cover “subsistence” and travel costs.
It is in the latter category that some “high maintenance” councillors seem to consistently claim more than others. This year, finance convener George Regan topped the expenses league with a payment of £3749. Leisure and arts convener Charles Farquhar was next on £3542 and social work convener Helen Wright on £2600. Councillor Neil Powrie claimed the fourth highest expenses of £2163.
Last year, Mrs Wright claimed the second highest figure of £3181, Councillor Regan third highest with £2933 and Councillor Powrie the fourth highest with £2893.
In 2002, Councillor Regan’s claim of £3283 was second highest, Councillor Powrie’s expenses of £2096 third with Councillor Wright fifth on £2066.
In 2002 and 2003, the councillor with the highest expenses claims was George de Gernier, who was voted out at the last election. Councillor Farquhar’s expenses claims in those two years were in line with those of most other councillors.
In addition to the seven councillors who made no claims at all for expenses for the financial year up to March 31, most of the others tendered bills for less than £600 and some substantially less than that. In fact, between them, Councillors Regan, Wright, Farquhar and Powrie claimed just over £12,000 or almost as much as the other 25 councillors combined.
The Evening Telegraph has made numerous attempts over the last two weeks to elicit an explanation from the city council for the wide discrepancy in the expenses of its elected members. The question was repeatedly asked of the council’s public relations staff, headed by director Les Roy, without the query being directly addressed.
Asked again today, Mr Roy said the details the council published regarding basic allowances, special responsibility payments and expenses met its statutory obligation.
Asked why the council was reluctant to give further information, Mr Roy repeated the line about the council meeting its statutory obligations and did so again when asked whether there was anything preventing the council from providing a more detailed answer.
The Scottish Executive today said regulation 28 of the Scottish local authority regulations of 1995 set out the information that councils had to provide concerning councillors’ allowances and expenses. A spokesman said councils were required to keep a record of councillors’ expenses by name with amounts and nature of expenses.
Asked whether there was anything to stop Dundee City Council providing more information, he added, “It’s up to councils how they publish the information.
“The regulations allow them to publish virtually all of the details relating to expenses, but it doesn’t force them to do so.” |
