ALLEGATIONS of misconduct ranging from bullying to financial impropriety have been made against Swindon Council.

Three separate allegations have been made by whistleblowers people working within the organisation who alert senior managers to alleged impropriety although no details of the whistleblowers' names are being released because of confidentiality rules.

The issue was considered at a meeting of the authority's standards committee, when borough solicitor Stephen Taylor gave a report on the subject.

He said: "This is the second report the first was back in September, when we discussed two cases.

"Three are mentioned in this report, with two dealt with and one investigation still ongoing."

A report before the committee outlined the three claims:

Improper disposal of council equipment.

Improper use of council equipment and bullying and intimidation.

Financial impropriety.

In common with many councils and other large organisations, Swindon Council has a so-called whistleblowing policy, according to which employees are encouraged to report wrongdoings among colleagues without fear of intimidation or other reprisals.

The best known Swindon Council whistleblower was Deborah Rees, who made a number of claims about senior members of her former colleagues in the social services department. Last August, soon after being suspended on full pay, and in the midst of the crisis surrounding the department's zero star rating from Government inspectors, she set up a website www.swindonboroughcouncil.com detailing her claims.

The local authority has never commented publicly on the content of the site.

She claimed that her problems with her employer came after she acted as a whistleblower in a bid to report what she saw as failures in the department.

The reason she was given for her dismissal in late January was misconduct.

At last night's standards committee meeting, no indication was given as to whether any of the allegations under discussion were made by her.

Mr Taylor said it was interesting to note that, despite the whistleblowing policy being given extensive publicity, only a handful of allegations had been made.

Ms Rees herself was unavailable for comment.

The committee agreed to note the report.