‘Free trips to Vegas broke rules’

Mar 22 2008 by Sam Casey, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

SENIOR staff at the organisation that runs Kirklees sports centres broke rules by accepting a series of hospitality trips.

They are believed to have enjoyed fact-finding trips to Italy and Las Vegas, as well as golf, motor racing and horse racing days and even a clay pigeon shooting outing.

Publicly-funded Kirklees Active Leisure (KAL) has admitted for the first time that it launched an investigation into the jaunts last year.

Chief executive Terry Meehan was later suspended and subsequently quit, but KAL has not said his departure was linked to the investigation.

David Heddon, chairman of the board responsible for overseeing the running of KAL, told the Examiner that board members were appalled by the fact that the rules had been broken.

He said: “Hospitality had been accepted outside of the trust’s rules.”

Hospitality trips led to ‘robust’ action

DETAILS of a series of hospitality trips enjoyed by senior figures in charge of Kirklees’s sports centres have been revealed to the Examiner.

A source has told how some bosses at Kirklees Active Leisure (KAL) went on fact-finding trips to Las Vegas and Italy.

They also went to a motor racing day at Brands Hatch, golf days, horse racing and clay pigeon shooting, along with rugby league and football matches.

Huddersfield-based KAL has finally admitted it launched an investigation after being “appalled” by the allegations.

It found that rules WERE broken, although it has not said which specific jaunts were found to have broken their rules. The trips were not paid for using public money.

The news comes after the Examiner revealed how former chief executive Terry Meehan was suspended last year over allegations he abused his position.

We then reported how he subsequently quit on December 24.

Publicly-funded KAL, which runs 10 centres and swimming pools in the district, refused to comment on the junket allegations.

But after being shown the details obtained by the Examiner it has now admitted it was forced to investigate claims that standing orders – or rules – governing what staff can do were broken.

David Heddon, chairman of the KAL board of trustees, said: “When the board became aware of these allegations they were appalled that their organisation could have been involved in receiving hospitality outside the trust’s rules.

“The board immediately took steps to investigate the allegations, carefully considered the findings and took robust action to address this issue and to ensure that standing orders were followed in the future.

“The investigation was clear that, while hospitality had been accepted outside the trust’s rules, there had been no commercial malpractice undertaken.”

Details of the junkets are catalogued in a document given to the Examiner.

It said there were two trips to Italy in 2003 and 2004.

The document said: “The three-day visits were to Technogym in Italy and the basis was to learn more about the fitness equipment supplied by the company.

“The visits included a tour of the manufacturing plant, viewing and using the latest products and a visit to the research and development section to see the future direction of the equipment.

“The visits were fully funded by Technogym and included extensive hospitality and gifts.”

The document also refers to the three-day Las Vegas trip in 2006.

“The event was fully funded by Technogym and included extensive hospitality,” it said.

Other trips included a £150-a-head championship golf day at the Forest of Arden course in Warwickshire, including a round of golf, free drinks, a dinner and a package of gifts.

A similar event was attended at The Belfry course in the West Midlands.

A racing day at York racecourse, including admission to the Royal Enclosure with meals and free drinks, was paid for by John Smiths brewery.

A law firm paid for a day racing sports cars and Technogym funded the Brands Hatch trip.

A chamber of commerce held a clay pigeon shooting event attended by one or more KAL employees.

There were also corporate trips to watch Super League rugby matches and Huddersfield Town games.

KAL rules covering corporate hospitality state that staff should not accept invitations to events that could be deemed “extravagant”.

The standing order states: “Invitations and hospitality must only be given or accepted on a scale that is appropriate to the circumstances, reasonably incidental to the occasion, not extravagant and justifiable as in the public interest.

“It must be apparent that no cause could reasonably arise for adverse criticism or suggestion of improper influence about the acceptance of the invitations and hospitality.

“The circumstances and the type of hospitality are to be recorded in a central record maintained by the chief officer.”

The document obtained by the Examiner – written while Mr Meehan was still in charge – said things changed when he became chief executive.

It said: “TM has said on many occasions that KAL is not the council any more and we can deal with hospitality more as commercial organisations would.”

There are also allegations that staff at KAL were allowed to accept gifts against the code of conduct set out by the organisation.

The rules regarding gifts say they must be discouraged. Anything received worth more than £10 should be reported to the chief officer, who will decide if it is returned or given to charity.

Instead, the document said, Mr Meehan decided gifts should be raffled off for KAL staff.

Gifts received from corporate events were also overlooked.

Our source said: “KAL has been run like a private company on public money.”

KAL is now looking for a new chief executive.

Mr Heddon added: “The trustees and staff of Kirklees Active Leisure are concentrating hard on delivering ever- improving leisure services to the people of Kirklees.”