By Keith Aitken in Edinburgh | 17 February 2012
The Accounts
Commission has ordered an inquiry into a controversial deal whereby the chief
of Scotland’s biggest fire brigade was able to return to his post just weeks after
retiring and being given access to the lump sum element of his pension package.
Brian Sweeney retired last summer after a term as chief fire officer for Strathclyde Fire & Rescue service. A month later, the service’s board reappointed him on a three-year contract to continue to serve until after the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014.
The ensuing row, similar to the anger surrounding the retirement and re-hiring of London fire commissioner Ron Dobson, has been aggravated by suggestions that Sweeney might now be in line to head the all-Scotland fire and rescue service that will replace the current eight regional services.
Concerns over Sweeney’s deal surfaced in the board’s annual audit by PricewaterhouseCoopers which, according to board minutes, concluded that the explanation received from the board ‘does not readily support a best value decision concerning retirement, re-employment and the potential use of board funds’.
This was picked up by the Audit Scotland’s controller of audit, Fraser McKinlay, who highlighted the issues in a statutory report late last year for the Accounts Commission. The board also wrote to McKinlay, setting out its version of events.
Having discussed the statutory report at a meeting this week, the Accounts Commission announced today that it has asked McKinlay to report more fully into the circumstances surrounding Sweeney’s contract.
John Baillie,
chair of the Accounts Commission, said: ‘We have decided to seek further evidence and clarification from the Controller
of Audit on the arrangements made by Strathclyde Fire & Rescue for its
chief fire officer’s retirement. We are interested in the process by which the
fire board reached its decision.’
Councillor Brian Wallace, convener of the Board of Strathclyde Fire & Rescue, said today: 'The Board of Strathclyde Fire & Rescue has acted with probity and transparency in this matter and I am confident that the controller of audit’s report will reflect this.'
