Pembrokeshire council chief's £95k pay-off investigated

A spending watchdog is investigating the departure of a council's chief executive with a £95,000 pay-off.

Ian Westley left Pembrokeshire County Council in November with a payment agreed by council leader David Simpson.

Opposition members said they had not been given a chance to query the sudden decision taken in September and had called for an internal investigation.

A scrutiny committee was told an investigation by Audit Wales would be concluded soon and a report delivered.

Mr Westley had been with Pembrokeshire for 17 years, the last five as its most senior officer.

At the time of the decision, Pembrokeshire council said he had agreed to leave "by mutual consent", while Mr Simpson said the authority had "nothing to hide".

However, BBC Wales later saw an email from former leader Jamie Adams claiming the departure was due to the cabinet's "poor relationship with senior management".

He added that members had not been given the opportunity to scrutinise the pay-off.

Mr Adams had put forward a motion to the corporate overview and scrutiny committee on Thursday calling for an internal investigation into the matter.

However, a report by interim chief executive Richard Brown said Audit Wales was already looking into the matter.

Mr Adams asked for his request to be shelved until that review was published, even if it did not answer all his questions.

He added: "The decision of that payment should have been a democratic decision at council. I would seek to understand why that was not the case."

Another council member Michael Williams asked why the departure of Mr Westley was of interest to Audit Wales when other senior officers leaving had not prompted any investigation.

Members of the committee also questioned a "gagging" clause which meant people could not talk about the reasons for Mr Westley's departure and payment.

On the matter of working relationships between council leaders and officers, Mr Simpson said they "already feel greatly improved" since the issue was highlighted and work to address it had begun.

The committee agreed to defer the matter for consideration by the full council once the Audit Wales report was published, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Audit Wales confirmed it was "currently examining the circumstances that led to the termination of the employment of Pembrokeshire County Council's Chief Executive, Mr Ian Westley, and to those circumstances surrounding him receiving a payment of £95,000 under the terms of a Settlement Agreement".

"We cannot comment further whilst our review is underway," it added.