COVERT surveillance has been used by Kirklees Council – to trap conmen and law-breakers.

It emerged last night that the council had used private security firms to help in investigations, as a row broke out over such tactics.

More than £3.9m has been spent by public bodies across the UK in the last two years on paying private investigators for surveillance work – including snooping on their own staff.

The Department for Transport (DfT) is among a range of public organisations that have paid private firms to spy on their behalf, while it has been claimed some 14 bodies, including 10 councils, may have commissioned potentially illegal surveillance.

The findings, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by civil liberties and privacy campaigners Big Brother Watch, revealed that four organisations paid other public bodies to undertake surveillance and four councils used private investigators to spy on their own employees.

But Clr Mehboob Khan, pictured, leader of Kirklees Council and a key spokesman for the Local Government Association, insisted such projects were invaluable.

“Local councils, including Kirklees, and West Yorkshire Trading Standards service use these tactics to trap such as doorstep conmen who prey on the elderly, people who illegally sell cigarettes and alcohol to children, which is damaging to their health, and unscrupulous loan sharks who charge up to 4000% interest and force families deeper into debt.

“It is used only sparingly and if we have to use covert CCTV for example we would always seek permission from a court.

“I am sure Big Brother Watch would be the first to criticise if councils let the cheats and the conmen get away with it”.

BBW director Nick Pickles said the revelations prove that surveillance laws are “not fit for purpose”.

He said: “The Government has acted to control surveillance by local councils but this research shows more than ever before public bodies are using private detectives to do their snooping.

“The law is at breaking point and public bodies shouldn’t be able to dodge the legal checks on them by using private investigators,” he added.