An investigation is to be launched after cleaners were permitted to work in Renfrewshire schools without criminal background checks.
Renfrewshire councillors voted for the public inquiry after the Paisley Daily Express revealed last month that head teachers had escorted agency staff from their premises after learning they had not been properly vetted to work in schools.
The security failure was brought to the attention of senior management by full time cleaners and janitors.
PAISLEY DAILY EXPRESS: Live news as it happens
But their claims that Park Mains High School was not being cleaned properly, as a result of staff shortages, was rubbished by Council leader Iain Nicolson and councillor John Shaw.
They insisted a review found that any minor issues identified at the school had already been addressed.
But that view was not shared by the majority of councillors who at a meeting of Renfrewshire’s full council agreed to launch a public inquiry into the concerns raised about cleanliness and security.
Councillor Jim Harte raised the motion, referring to allegations made by staff in the Express.
He said: “In two schools agency staff who didn’t have PVG checks were asked to leave the school, only to be sent to another school.
“This type of thing, if it is accurate, is totally unacceptable and one that puts the health of pupils and staff at risk.
“The cleanliness of our schools, covid safety within our schools in terms of cleaning, unchecked employees working in our schools and knowingly being sent to other schools. Why were they employed before checks were carried out and does this behaviour permeate through the council?
“An inquiry held in public is the only way to get to these answers and to try and get confidence in the system to assure staff and parents that this won’t happen again.”
Councillor Harte spoke out after a whistle blower at Park Mains revealed that staff shortages had lead to huge swathes of Scotland’s biggest high school not being cleaned properly including the dining hall, corridors and other communal areas.
A senior council officer at the meeting meanwhile admitted some agency staff had been asked to work in schools without a PVG certificate - awarded to those deemed suitable to work with children and vulnerable adults.
But councillor John Shaw asked his peers to throw out councillor Harte’s motion, arguing it was a “slur” on hard working staff - despite the allegations being brought by staff members themselves.
Dubbing Councillor Harte’s motion “politically motivated”, he said: “What a miserable, ill thought-out, negative attempt to score political points.
“Facilities and education staff have been working together tirelessly all the way through this pandemic to ensure that our schools are clean and safe for our young people and his attempt to suggest otherwise is an appalling slur on the incredible effort that these staff have put in.”
He posed an amendment urging the councillors to note the efforts of staff and the work of Unison health and safety officers who found no major issues when they visited schools and early years centres in the local authority area.
It was seconded by council leader Iain Nicolson and supported by his SNP colleagues but ultimately failed to win enough support.
Mr Nicolson, whose Erskine constituency includes Park Mains High School, said councillors had already been furnished with a report addressing the concerns raised via this newspaper.
He said: “The issue of the PVGs was investigated and it was discovered that night time staff who were awaiting their PVGs had been re-directed in error to cover daytime staff.
“The issue was rectified immediately when it was raised.
“We have over 900 hard working staff in our teams who do a great job keeping our schools clean and responding to Covid outbreaks under very difficult circumstances.”
Trade Union GMB which has supported cleaners, caterers and janitors in raising concerns within Renfrewshire schools, welcomed the inquiry.
Renfrewshire organiser Kristen Muat said PVG checks are “vital” for protecting both children and staff and urged that its members be “fully consulted” as part of the inquiry.
