They've searched high and low but Gloucester City Council have admitted that they no longer have a copy of the report into the 2014 whistleblowing allegations at Marketing Gloucester.

The content of that report is a key part of the puzzle when trying to stitch together the complete tale of why a council-owned, arms-length company went bust owing close to £1million.

Punchline has reported in depth on the circumstances that led to Marketing Gloucester entering insolvency and the details of the money it owed.

But at the heart of the story at large is the allegations made by two whistleblowers into the management of the company made more than five years ago.

Punchline has seen the allegations - which include significant concerns over financial matters at the company as well as personal grievances with the then MGL CEO Jason Smith.

These allegations say there "were no financial controls in place and no business plan" and that there was "no budget in place for 14/15 and no budget information has been issued to staff."

They also allege that staff were instructed to "inflate costs on invoices to partner organisations."

A further allegation over the appointment of "a new book keeper. This is replacing someone who left by there was no interview process etc..."

When asked about the credentials of the new bookkeeper, the reply was: "he went to Crypt School, what more do you need to know."

These allegations were made using Gloucester City Council's Whisleblowing Policy and were received by a senior council officer in July 2014.

They were passed to the council's head of human resources who met both whistleblowers to discuss "potentially more sensitive HR concerns" that were raised.

As a result, an independent company, Heather Resource Management were engaged to conduct a review and report back to the council on the matter.

That report was made and in September 2014, the whistleblowers were told that it had been passed to the Marketing Gloucester board for review.

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To this day, the whistleblowers have not seen a copy of the report.

At Tuesday night's City Council Overview and Scrutiny Meeting, both councillors and council officers responded to questions about the whistleblower report.

Paul James, leader of the council until November 2019 and chair of the Marketing Gloucester board from 2010 through to May 2019 said he no longer had a copy.

He told Tuesday night's meeting: "The leader of the council has many responsibilities but organising the filing system is not one of them.

"It would have been inappropriate for me to keep a copy of a report about a company I am no longer involved with.

"The head of policy and resources will be able to confirm that all my files and e-mails pre 2017 were lost when I switched over my laptop."

Cllr James added he had "been able to contact two of the professionals who were involved at the time and both have confirmed that my recollection of events is correct.

"Following the allegations there was an external investigation that came at no inconsiderable cost and that report was presented to the board of Marketing Gloucester and found there was no substance to the allegations.

"It is also worth noting that the communication of the board decision to the employees affected was undertaken by another board member, not by me.

"I have no idea whether they still have a copy, I would be pleased if they did as it would further underline the points I have made."

Punchline has asked repeated questions of the city council about the report, its recommendations and which individuals were responsible for decisions and actions.

The response to our questions has always that it was "an enquiry that needs to go directly to Marketing Gloucester."

On January 30 of this year, Punchline asked "was anyone employed by the council involved in any decisions concerning the report?

We were told: "Noone at the council was involved in decisions resulting from any report."

At the heart of the matter is whether Marketing Gloucester is seen as a department of the council or a fully independent company.

At Tuesday night's meeting Marketing Gloucester was repeatedly referred to as a "teckal company" by senior council officers and councillors.

Documents produced by the council also refer to Marketing Gloucester as a "Wholly-owned Teckal company."

Punchline has been unable to find any definitive description of what Gloucester City Council defines as a teckal company.

By contrast in their Annual Report for 2017/18 Gloucestershire County Council refer to Teckal companies are "treated as an in-house department."

Two senior city council officers appeared in front of Tuesday's Overview and Scrutiny Committee: Head of paid service John McGinty and corporate director Jonathan Lund.

Mr McGinty was asked about why the whistleblower report was not kept by the council. Mr McGinty joined the council in March 2015, after the report was published.

Punchline has a copy of the 2012 Whistleblowing Policy used by the two Marketing Gloucester whistleblowers to guide their complaint.

It says "the policy applies to all employees and those contractors working for the council on council premises. It also covers suppliers and those providing services under a contract with the council at their own premises."

The policy also sets out what should happen at the end of the process.

"All concerns raised under this policy together with the outcome of the investigation will be recorded in a register held by the Group Manager Audit & Assurance.

"The purpose of this register is to ensure a central record is kept which can be cross referenced with any other complaints in order to monitor any patters (sic) of concern across the Authority and to assist us in monitoring the procedure.

Asked about the 2014 report, Mr McGinty said: "As far as I am aware, there was a copy of the report given to my predecessor as head of paid service. The allegations came into the council and my predecessor directed it to the board of Marketing Gloucester.

"A copy of the report was held at one point by a council officer. That report and any documents held in his mail box are no longer kept by the council.

"We have done a thorough search of files and can no longer find that report.

"Because it is a report made by an employee of Marketing Gloucester about the CEO of Marketing Gloucester, there was no reason for the council, under its whistleblowing policy, to keep that report.

"I presume the reason my predecessor received that report is because he wanted to assure himself that the report had been produced and the allegation had been looked into so he could close down the line of investigation.

"Having checked under the council's policy and spoken for advice, there is no reason for the council to have kept that report."

The 2012 Whistleblowing Policy also explains the measures that will be taken to assure those making allegations that the matter has been dealt with, regardless of the outcome.

It says: "You will be informed of the action that has been taken to resolve your concern. Sometimes, however, it may not be possible to reveal the full extent of the investigation where this related to personal issues involving a third party.

"Where action is not taken, we will explain the reasons for that decision."

The original whistleblowing complaint ran to 23 separate allegations.

While six of those allegations are related to personal issues as listed in the policy, the vast majority, 17 in this case were over financial and management issues.

The two whistleblowers have still not seen a copy of the report, six years after it was issued to the board of Marketing Gloucester.

Asked whether the policy should change at Tuesday's meeting, Mr McGinty said: "I think I would be willing to reconsider that for teckal companies by not others...

"I would need to give more thought to whether a 100 per cent owned company should do that and am happy for that to be included in the recommendations."

The Overview and Scrutiny Committee resolved to ensure the City Council "review its whistleblowing procedures, particularly in regard to teckal companies."

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