Council chief John Mundell has asked taxpayers to pay for his commute from the Edinburgh area to Orkney for so long it’s enough to make it right around the world, we can reveal.
The “temporary” authority boss has claimed around £75,000 in expenses since taking the post on an interim basis three years ago.
The spending on travel and accommodation dwarfs the amount claimed by other council chief executives in Scotland.
Our investigation found Mr Mundell claimed more than £24,000 in expenses last year as he made 65 trips between Scotland’s capital and the Orkney Islands.
A total of 49 of the journeys were flights and a further 16 were by car and ferry.
Despite his travel leaving a vast carbon footprint, he also claimed expenses to attend the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow last November.
Mr Mundell claimed £21,675 in expenses during the previous year, including 27 trips by plane and another 16 visits by road and sea.
The distance covered in the last two years alone is the equivalent to the circumference of the planet.
Some of the travel was made during periods of lockdown restrictions during the pandemic.
The council has insisted the chief executive was able to make the trips because he was a key worker.
Temporary role
Mr Mundell was only expected to be in the post for four to six months when he was appointed to temporarily replace Alistair Buchan in the top job in June 2019.
Despite Orkney regularly topping quality of life surveys, the authority has failed to find a permanent successor to take on the £129,000 role.
Mr Mundell, who was previously in charge of Inverclyde Council, recently agreed to stay on until January next year, by which point he could be close to completing the equivalent of two laps of the world.
Ariane Burgess, Scottish Greens MSP for the Highlands and Islands, questioned the environmental impact of the travel arrangements.
“All of us should be thinking about our carbon footprint, and that includes Orkney Islands Council,” she said.
Questions for council
“If the temporary chief executive is clocking up all of these road and air miles then it raises questions about how the council is being run.
“Are there other ways of working that they could try? Could more of his work be done remotely?
“The chief executive does a very important role, but it is surely not effective or sustainable to have any senior officer having to travel hundreds of miles a month.”
Ms Burgess added: “This also underlines the importance of the council appointing someone in the role permanently.”
The recruitment drive is expected to resume after the summer, with the three failed campaigns so far having cost more than £15,000.
A spokeswoman for Orkney Islands Council confirmed Mr Mundell is not permanently based in the local area, and that his travel and accommodation expenses “reflect that fact”, as well as Orkney’s “remote and rural nature”.
She said that since taking on the role he has agreed to extend his interim cover on a number of occasions, increasing his original commitment from three days a week to five, and spends the vast majority of his time in Orkney.
‘Deeply loyal and committed’
“In his time with us he has driven forward a number of key initiatives as well as leading the council through the Covid-19 pandemic,” the spokeswoman said.
“He is undoubtedly deeply loyal and committed to Orkney Islands Council – but it is not – and nor was it ever meant to be – a permanent arrangement.”
The spokesman continued: “Following previous unsuccessful attempts to recruit permanently to the role, elected members have agreed that a further recruitment exercise should be carried out after the summer recess and that Mr Mundell should be asked to stay on in his acting role until January 2023 – an offer he has accepted.
“We understand the public disappointment and frustrations around the lack of a permanent appointment – frustrations and disappointments we share as an organisation.
“The employment market for senior level public sector executives is a small one, competition to secure those employees is fierce and it’s an even bigger challenge for remote areas like ours.”
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