A Freedom of Information request has found almost one in four members of North Lanarkshire Council have a mobile phone which is paid for by their employers.

Wishaw Press report:

Around 16,000 staff have nearly 4300 devices between them and the bill for them is up by over £25,000 in the last year.

And over the last five years the cost for mobile phone calls by council workers has cost the taxpayer £1.8million.

Shotts MSP Alex Neil hit out at the costs after Freedom of Information requests uncovered the figures.

But the council argued mobile phones helped efficiency.

Mr Neil said: “This is another example of the financial mismanagement which has the potential to cost jobs and frontline services at North Lanarkshire Council.

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Matthew Burgess
http://www.mattburgess.co
I am a journalist and author. I am a journalist at the UK edition of WIRED magazine. In 2015, my first book Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists, was published. My second book Reed Hastings: Building Netflix, was published in March 2020. I created FOI Directory in 2012 and have maintained it in my spare time ever since.