Liberal Democrats reveal County Council staff 'gagging orders' costs over £200,000

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 8th Sep 2009

Suffolk County Council Liberal Democrats can today reveal that the County Council has spent £208,263 on 'gagging orders' for its own staff since the 1st of January 2008.

Gagging order or 'Staff Compromise Agreements' are used by Suffolk County Council to ensure that employees having their contracts terminated (being sacked) are not able to talk about the situation. Many believe that gagging orders are used to ensure that the failings of public and private organisations are not heard in the public domain.

Cllr Andrew Cann Liberal Democrat Group Spokesperson for Finance and Resources said, "The use of public money to prevent the failings of Suffolk County Council being aired is bad enough. To see that SCC is using £200,000 of public money, at a time of recession and service cuts, to cover up its own mistakes is shocking."

"Suffolk County Council should make a commitment to stopping these payments immediately. Public money should be spent on the public providing essential services in the community. If SCC is at fault it should simply come clean, not use our money to make it appear more professional than it is."

The information comes courtesy of a Freedom of Information enquiry made by Cllr Andrew Cann.