Tories slam council staff record

AN ALARMING number of disciplinary hearings have been recorded at Haringey Council.

The council's Audit Panel has been notified of 103 disciplinary suspensions and offences over the past 15 months. It has led to the authority being described as having a 'Fagin's kitchen climate of fraud and deception.'

And in the first three months of the current council calendar a total of 39 cases has been logged.

Local Conservatives said that the figures are "an A-Z catalogue of serious offences".

Among the listed offences are: fraud, theft, deception, moonlighting, assault and sexual misconduct.

Peter Forrest, a spokesman for Haringey Tories, said: "These figures are astounding and vindicate our previous claims that much lower levels of reported cases were simply the tip of an iceberg.

"Haringey has a 'Fagin's kitchen' climate of fraud and deception. The list of disciplinary cases reads like an A-Z of serious offences in an anything-goes catalogue of crime."

Haringey's list of shame is even more concerning compared to neighbouring Enfield Council which logged a total of 15 suspensions and four summary dismissals in the last year.

But Haringey Council defended its record, saying that its policy was to stamp out on misconduct.

A council spokesman said: "Haringey employs more than 8,000 staff and there were 103 investigations during the year, not all of these were proven and some resulted in just verbal warnings.

"We are committed to investigating performance and where misconduct is alleged we will not shy from investigating and taking disciplinary action if necessary."

15:16 Thursday 15th August 2002

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