A SENIOR council official has come under fire for accepting regular gifts and hospitality when hundreds of staff within his department are being made redundant.
Robert Booth, the £130,000-a-year head of Glasgow City Council’s roads, parks and environmental health department, enjoyed regular free concerts at the SECC and Hampden, trips to Ibrox and Murrayfield and dinner with a firm employed to undermine industrial action.
The details come weeks after The Herald revealed the lavish hospitality accepted by the council’s chief executive, George Black, since 2008.
Hospitality registers show that since 2008 Mr Booth, who will quit the council later this year, has received free tickets to concerts by Michael Buble, Neil Diamond, Coldplay, comedian Al Murray, and the Mobo Awards, all but one provided by SECC chief executive John Sharkey.
In April 2008 the land and environmental services (LES) director was at Ibrox for the Uefa Cup quarter-final between Rangers and Sporting Lisbon, took in the Scotland-Spain game at Hampden last November, and was at Murrayfield for the Scotland-Wales clash in February 2009 and Scotland-England in March 2010.
He was a guest of the Scottish Rugby Union at a Scotland-Fiji match in November 2009.
However, unions within his department are livid at two dinners attended by Mr Booth and hosted by firms that have successfully bid for council contracts and subcontracts in recent times, they claim, at the expense of inhouse workers.
The details show last July Mr Booth and his deputy George Gillespie attended a lunch at the Chardon D’Or restaurant as guests of Maclays Engineering.
Mr Gillespie and many senior colleagues have been investigated over claims they breached their code of conduct when they were entertained by Maclays before it secured almost £2 million worth of contracts from LES.
And in November 2008, Mr Booth was a guest of Viridor Waste Management, a firm later recruited to clear domestic waste during an unofficial dispute staged by LES staff, which won a recycling contract unions say could have been carried out in-house.
Mr Booth’s brother is a senior executive at Viridor.
Since 2008 Mr Booth has been a dinner and awards ceremony guest of the Chinese Consulate, the Hilton Hotel group, the Scottish Council for Development and Industry, the Sunday Post, the Catholic Church and the Daffodil ball.
It all comes amid deteriorating relations between senior officials and councillors, with many politicians believing their role is being eroded by officers exercising too much authority.
There is also hostility between the unions and management over changes to working practices, subcontracting to the private sector and suggestions of moves to outsource services.
Last month it emerged £170,000-a-year George Black enjoyed free trips to Wimbledon, Gleneagles and Crystal Palace athletics stadium and also accepted tickets to various concerts since 2008.
Chris Stephens, LES Unison representative and SNP candidate for Glasgow Pollok, said: “This shows a disconnect with the reality that low and middle income workers face.”
The GMB’s Martin Doran added: “Our members will be aggrieved that management are being wined and dined by firms we believe are taking work they could and should be doing.”
Glasgow City Council said Mr Booth’s hospitality with Maclays was a working lunch that broke up a lengthy meeting, while he dined with Viridor at an annual waste conference hosted by the authority.
A spokesman said: “There are a variety of reasons why it would be appropriate for a senior officer to accept hospitality. In every case, Mr Booth and Mr Gillespie acted appropriately and within the rules.
“Robert Booth has done everything that could be asked of a senior official to make the council aware of these matters and to ensure no conflict of interest arises. The council is entirely comfortable with the situation.”
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