Labour Party officials are closely monitoring the impending appointment of a permanent chief executive at Slough BC amid a raft of concerns and criticisms.
Labour-controlled Slough’s under-pressure leader, Cllr Sohail Munawar, is expected to face a series of objections at a crunch meeting next week as he tries to push through his favoured candidate for chief executive.
Cllr Munawar has backed interim chief executive Roger Parkin to take on the job permanently despite concerns from councillors, recruiters and other key figures.
The MJ understands that a list of objections, which have not been made public, will be heard at a behind-closed-doors meeting of the council’s appointments sub-committee, which previously recommended Mr Parkin for the permanent chief executive role.
It is believed these objections, which centre around Mr Parkin’s conduct and fears that his appointment could damage the reputation of the council, have temporarily halted the appointments process but Cllr Munawar will still have the deciding vote on whether to recommend him to full council.
One well-placed councillor said: ‘We have too many things that need sorting out and we need the right people at the helm. I don’t believe Mr Parkin’s appointment is in the best interests of the population. A lot more of the process should be open and transparent.’
A ‘private and confidential’ report by independent external investigator Richard Penn, seen by The MJ, also raises a number of questions about Mr Parkin’s alleged role in the departure of former chief executive Ruth Bagley when he was strategic director of customer and community services.
Mr Penn’s damning report into allegations contained in anonymous emails was handed to the council in November 2016 but was never published.
It read: ‘The chief executive [Ruth Bagley] has alleged that on 4 July 2016, shortly before her suspension, the leader gave the chief executive a very detailed account of a conversation he had had with the director of customer and community services [Roger Parkin] on the previous Wednesday, 29 June 2016, in which the director had offered to advise the leader on how to get her out and that he could then take her place.
'The director has said that he cannot recall that conversation, but, on the balance of probability, that conversation did take place as the director did meet with the leader on that day and 12 working days later the chief executive had been suspended by the director acting on behalf of the leader.
‘Based on the evidence that I was able to collect through my investigation, my conclusion is that the conduct of the director of customer and community services...in this matter fell far short of the requirement for excellent governance.
‘It is very disappointing that the authors of these anonymous emails have not used the council’s whistleblowing arrangements, which are designed to give protection to those who wish to make complaints in the knowledge that their identity would be protected. Clearly, those employees who have been the authors of the anonymous emails do not have the necessary assurance that the council’s whistleblowing arrangements would give them that protection.’
The report recommended that ‘consideration is given as to whether the conduct’ of Mr Parkin ‘warrants a disciplinary investigation’ and called on the council to review its whistleblowing policy and procedure to ‘determine what changes are required in order to provide the assurances that are clearly required’.
The MJ understands that the council decided not to carry out a disciplinary investigation into Mr Parkin though a review of whistleblowing procedures was carried out earlier this year.
A council spokeswoman insisted a ‘robust and open recruitment process’ had been undertaken to find a permanent chief executive.
Cllr Munawar did not respond to a request for comment.