Leader: A reputation that must be repaired

SCOTLAND’S capital has suffered heavy reputational blows over the trams debacle. But there is another issue, lost from view until recently, that concerns residents and which has given rise to questions over the integrity and trustworthiness of council staff.

They centre on the operation of the statutory notice system under which the council can intervene to organise essential repair work by subcontractors on private homes. Allegations have been made over unusually high repair costs that have resulted. Some 18 council staff are understood to have been suspended pending investigation. Having commissioned a probe into work undertaken on a sample of 33 properties, the council is now proposing investigations of all 513. Both Lothian and Borders Police and Deloitte have also been brought in to the investigation process.

This wider report needs to be thorough and urgent. Not only do owner-occupiers need to be assured that the work has been undertaken after proper and unbiased competitive tender, but the reputation of the statutory notice system is also at risk. If doubts are allowed to persist, public compliance with this scheme will be in jeopardy, with all the attendant negative consequences that would flow from this. Council staff and those to whom work has been subcontracted need to show that work estimates obtained are done so at arm’s length and are genuinely competitive.