Sandwell Council staff suspended over secret meeting 'leak'

In the latest twist at the crisis-engulfed authority, West Bromwich West MP Adrian Bailey said the staff members were placed on ‘gardening leave’ last week, with a view to them being relocated to other jobs.

The suspensions are said to relate to a private meeting that took place the night before an ethics hearing into the conduct of Councillor Ian Jones.

At the hearing last Wednesday, Labour councillor Mr Jones was found to have breached the members code of conduct for removing a plot of land from public auction.

Along with Mr Bailey, he has accused Sandwell Council leader Steve Eling of being involved in the suspensions.

Top secret

“The night before the hearing there was a meeting in the chief executive’s conference room that was supposed to be ‘top secret’,” Mr Jones said.

“It featured a number of members of the ethics committee and council officers.

"Steve Eling was not happy that details of this meeting were made public and has taken what can only be described as extreme action,” he claimed.

Mr Eling has denied he had anything to do with the suspensions, which he called ‘a HR matter’.

“Members certainly do not deal with staffing issues. There were some people suspended, but to say that I am behind the decision is not true.

"It is very disappointing that certain people are making such completely unfounded allegations over a HR matter,” he said.

At a constituency Labour Party general committee meeting on Friday, Mr Bailey passed an emergency motion, demanding the immediate reinstatement of three of the staff, who are members of the Unite trade union.

He told the Express & Star: “It is obvious that for any senior officer to suspend staff, seemingly without an adequate reason, such a measure can only have been taken with the sanction of the council leader.”

'A process for HR'

After initially saying that it would be 'inappropriate' to comment when approached by the E&S, a Sandwell Council spokesperson released the following statement after the story had gone to press: “Suspension is a neutral act and does not imply any wrongdoing.

“Suspension is carried out with HR advice and is not a process in which elected councillors are involved at all.”

Mr Eling is currently embroiled in a war of words with Halesowen and Rowley Regis Tory MP James Morris, who used a House of Commons address to call for the council leader’s resignation.

Mr Morris spoke out over allegations of abuse of power, fraud and corruption at the authority, and urged the Government to send in commissioners.

Mr Eling said his remarks were ‘disgraceful’ and branded him a ‘coward’.

He added: “It is clear he has no answers to any of the problems [at Sandwell Council] and is content to lob hand grenades from behind the barricades.”