Falkirk councillors have rebuked officers for a report on legionella in council-owned buildings that was not “what the committee had asked for”.
Concerns about the deadly bacteria – which can lead to Legionnaire’s disease – were first raised after the Covid-19 pandemic, when Falkirk Council had major problems reopening schools and nurseries following lockdown.
In 2023, a follow-up audit report found major shortcomings in procedures across the council, describing the situation as “unacceptable”.
Read more: Security breaches found in Falkirk Council buildings including schools are “unacceptable”
Since then an action plan has been put in place but the audit committee is still looking for assurances that there won’t be a repeat of the problems.
The convener of Falkirk Council’s audit committee, Councillor Margaret Anslow, made an statement that said this week’s meeting would not consider the Legionella Compliance Update on the agenda.
The report that had been requested by the committee, she said, “was to include all recommendations, agreed action updates, including their completion dates, alongside the agreed internal timescales and the lessons learned”.
However, she told the meeting: “The report provided to the committee today regretfully does not meet these requests.
“Therefore as convener, I’m going to ask the committee not to consider this report today and to ask the director to provide at our next meeting the reports that the committee asked for.
“I would also like to make clear to all senior officers that I and the committee expect when it calls for reports these are provided and contain the information as requested.”
However, several members – including Cllr Anslow – did commend officers for the work that has gone into addressing the problem.
Falkirk Council’s Head of Invest, Paul Kettrick, insisted that the report provided robust evidence that action has been taken to keep the deadly legionella bacteria out of public water in Falkirk Council buildings.
He said: “All actions that were identified to be complete by the September 10 have been taken.
“Following that initial completion, there continue to be actions taken to ensure that high levels of compliance and a comprehensive and robust approach to the management of legionella is adopted.
“It is important to note that some actions will always remain ongoing, for instance premises managers change regularly, staff leave roles and roles change.
“The key consideration for managing legionella compliance is to ensure that all premises managers are registered and that they are provided with training and support.”
The leader of Falkirk Council, Cllr Cecil Meiklejohn, acknowledged that a huge amount of work has been done but added that there appeared to have been “a misunderstanding or miscommunication” about the information councillors had hoped to see in the report.
“It’s unfortunate we’ve got to this position but I do agree that I’d want a bit more detail about the number of buildings that have now been tested and the actions that have been taken,” she said.
“I’m really pleased to hear some of the assurances that have been given by Mr Kettrick with regard to the training of premises manager but we need to have the reassurance that is something that will be sustained and ongoing.
“Ultimately, it’s about making sure that all our premises are safe.”
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