A Turriff councillor has been suspended for two months after leaking a confidential email to a reporter.
SNP member Alastair Forsyth reported himself to Standards Commission watchdogs after an internal probe revealed he had passed on the confidential information.
Last August, a top secret message was sent to councillors regarding plans to turn Turriff Care Home into accommodation for asylum seekers.
The email revealed talks were being held with care provider Mears and the Home Office to house 46 women in the former facility on Woodlands Crescent.
But, the following day Mr Forsyth copied a portion of the message and sent it on to his personal email address.
He then sent that on to an unnamed journalist.
It was only after Aberdeenshire Council’s communications team were approached by the reporter for further information that they discovered the private information had been leaked.
The local authority launched an internal email inspection in order to determine who had let the plans slip.
Officers also approached the journalist and persuaded them not to run a story on the matter.
Turriff councillor Alastair Forsyth breached Code of Conduct
The Standards Commissioner found that Mr Forsyth had breached four areas of the Councillors’ Code of Conduct.
Two of the breaches related to breaking confidentiality, while the other two were based on the use of council resources.
The commissioner ruled that sending on the private information risked causing potential damage to the reputation of the council, which normally remains tight-lipped on any buildings being used to house asylum seekers.
And as the email was clearly marked confidential, it should not have been sent on to the journalist.
The commissioner also noted that officers had trusted councillors with the sensitive email and expected its contents to remain under wraps.
Care home plan an ‘open secret’ in Turriff, claims Alastair Forsyth
A hearing was held earlier today by a panel from the Standards Commission, an independent body responsible for “encouraging high standards of behaviour in public life”.
Aberdeenshire Council’s head of legal Karen Wiles admitted Mr Forsyth was “very candid” after he was found to be the culprit of the leak.
The secret email revealed:
She told the panel: “He was very open and outright, and it appeared to him that this had not been the right thing to do.”
Ms Wiles even explained that the councillor provided officers with the information he had sent on to the reporter.
However, she made it clear that Mr Forsyth raised the issue to the press as he believed plans for the care home was an “open secret” in the area.
He also believed his actions would help to relieve any speculation about the building’s future.
‘I hold my hands up – I did it’
Addressing the panel Mr Forsyth, who was elected in 2017 and reelected in 2022, said the situation was a “matter of regret”.
He argued that his constituents were “first and foremost” in his mind but admits he should have approached the matter in a different way.
The Turriff councillor said: “I’ve had a number of months to think about it.
“There wasn’t any malice in the way I was going about things.
“This particular saga has been going on since way before I was elected, and even yesterday I was asked about what was happening to the care home.”
But he admitted the error of his ways and took full responsibility for his actions.
Mr Forsyth added: “I’ve made no effort to hide or lie about it…but I hold my hands up – I did it, I own it.”
What did the panel decide?
After a break to deliberate, the panel believed a two month suspension was “appropriate” due to the serious nature of the breach.
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They noted that while the information in the email was not published, Mr Forsyth had no way of knowing that would be the outcome.
Panel members also believed a news article could have created speculation on the use of the facility before a final decision had been agreed, causing “undue and necessary” concern.
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