ANOTHER Herefordshire Council group leader has said he had no formal briefing on bullying allegations “hushed up” by secret  settlement and severance payments.

Cllr Bob Matthews, leader of the Independent group, told the Hereford Times that he had “no recollection of this issue being raised with me as a group leader over the past few years.”

Formal responses have been requested from former council leader Cllr John Jarvis and current leader Cllr Tony Johnson as to how much they knew of the allegations and the manner in which they were to be resolved with payments bound by confidentiality clauses.

Already, Cllr Alan Seldon, former chairman of council’s overview and scrutiny committee has said that, during his term of office, he  had “no hint” from any officer over the allegations or related payments made to resolve them in 2012 and 2013.

Nor could he  recall being given any information on the allegations or the payments by a senior councillor – if senior councillors knew.

As such, the overview and scrutiny committee – intended to function as a watchdog for cabinet decisions taken in either open session or behind closed doors – was never given any opportunity to analyse and question the way the allegations were handled or resolved.

A combined total for the related pay outs is thought to run into six figures.

As reported by the Hereford Times the council refuses to release even a ballpark figure for the payments and is backed by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in refusing to release all but the most basic details of the allegations and resolutions. 

This ruling means the Hereford Times cannot confirm how much public money has been spent in settlement and severance payments to resolve allegations said to involve between 10 and 20 staff.

Lib Dem group leader Cllr Terry James has said he, too, had been given no hint of the allegations and evolving resolution process.

 The issue, said Cllr James, went to the heart of the who ran the council and how with scope for a no confidence motion in the current leadership when the council gave every appearance of being run “by officers for officers.”

At a public debate in Hereford last night, a question from the floor related to the bullying row was refused.

The questioner  attempted to ask Cllr Johnson for his views on “alleged payments made to council staff for them to keep quiet about certain matters relating to their role”.

The panel chairman ruled that the question couldn’t be allowed  as he didn’t think the four panellists could provide an answer.

Those other panellists were It’s Our County leader Cllr Anthony Powers, the Lib Dems’ parliamentary candidate for South Herefordshire, Lucy Hurds, and Liz Morawiecka from the Here4Hereford group.