Friday, March 20, 2009

Highland News finds the Freedom of Information Act door shut in their face

The Highland News has been trying to find out how much a civil servant got in a pay-off before he moved to another public funded job. Their investigation was a follow-up to the 'cashblack' affair. Their leader states:

'A YEAR ago the Highland News exposed the CashBlack affair – the extraordinary system that allowed senior civil servants to hop from one highly-paid public agency job to another with pockets full of golden handshake cash.
It was a scheme widely condemned by politicans when we revealed how Inverness executive Stuart Black accepted a £138,000 pay-off after volunteering to quit his £60,000-a-year post at Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) as director of global communications and nine days later was appointed to a £100,000-a-year post as director of planning with Highland Council.'
A follow-up request concerning another civil servant was submitted. The request was refused, the HN appealed only to eventually have the request turned down. The full story here.

No comments: