Basil McCrea & the 'note taker'....

David Gordon of the Belfast Telegraph appears to have got the scent of blood over the Basil McCrea fiasco where Basil made two of his staff redundant after misjudging his OCA (Office Costs Allowance). David Gordon has focused his attention on Catherine Williamson, who was described as McCrea's 'Human Resources Manager' and then as an 'unpaid note taker' in the BBC report at the time. Gordon has this to say:

The Lagan Valley MLA made representations on Mrs Williamson's behalf earlier this year, when she was at the centre of an investigation by the Assembly's Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
In a letter to the PAC in April, Mr McCrea criticised a report by the watchdog Northern Ireland Audit Office relating to the businesswoman's past conduct.

The Audit Office had examined the obtaining of duplicate invoices by Mrs Williamson during her time with a publicly-subsidised hotels body in the late 1990s.

Its report also detailed a “conflict of interest” situation connected to her position on the board of a taxpayer-funded quango, the Northern Ireland Events Company.

This involved her securing a PR contract for a golf tournament that was being financially supported by the Events Company.

The Audit Office findings, which formed the basis for a PAC probe, were strongly challenged by Mrs Williamson, who firmly denied any wrongdoing.

A damning report published by the Assembly PAC in June underlined the conclusions of the Audit Office.

If, as Basil McCrea has stated, Mrs Williamson was present when he was dealing with the redundancies in an 'independant note taking capacity' surely any past relationship should be scrutinised? At the time of speaking on behalf of Mrs Williamson to the PAC did Basil have a past relationship with or any connection to her? Gordon rounds of his report with a statement that is very telling:

Mr McCrea has blamed his two redundancies on the challenge of running two constituency offices, while the sole UUP MLA in Lagan Valley. His sister remains a member of his backroom staff.

MLAs receive £72,000 a year to cover office running costs.

David Gordon has certainly answered one of my questions surrounding family members working for Basil and this raises serious questions that can relate back to having a HR manager: criteria for redundancy, alternative employment arrangements and an impartial implementation of these procedures. I get the feeling as well that there will be more to come out of this story.