AN INVESTIGATION has begun after concerns were raised over whether council payments to a senior officer's husband and his business were subject to appropriate scrutiny.

Former television presenter Vanessa Glover, who acts as Durham County Council’s corporate news manager, declared her relationship with Andrew Glover, whose company Lush Places Media Limited was paid £16,924 over a three and-a-half year period for video production, photography, media training and also the sale of broadcasting equipment.

Durham County Council said the purchases were “in line with the council’s contract procedure and procurement rules” and achieved best value.

Shortly after the final payments to Lush Places Media were made by Durham County Council’s media unit, in November 2013, Mr Glover’s company ceased trading and was formally dissolved in January of the following year.

It had previously been subject to an application to strike it off the Companies House register in August 2013, while the company was still being paid by the council.

Payments to Mr Glover directly from the council subsequently continued between December 2014 and April this year, amounting to £5,456.

The transactions were subject to a recent Freedom of Information (FoI) request, which raised concerns about whether adequate scrutiny had been carried out.

It has now prompted two councillors, County Councillor John Shuttleworth and County Councillor Owen Temple, to refer the matter independently of each other to the council’s chief internal auditor, triggering an investigation.

Cllr Temple said he was concerned about how the FoI had been handled by the authority.

He said: “I am concerned that this did not go internal audit straightaway.

“The FoI should have triggered some alarm bells and an appropriate response within the council.

“Anything that comes into question like this should be investigated."

Mrs Glover is understood to have drawn up the specification requirements which led to the equipment being purchased from Lush Places Media, while her boss, head of policy and communications Roger Goodes, carried out the negotiation and signed off the deal.

Mrs Glover, a former presenter at Border Television who fronted the local news programme in Cumbria, Lookaround, met her husband when both were working at the television station.

Mr Glover, also a former reporter and presenter, has been a managing editor at Radio Cleveland and a producer at Look North. He is now a senior lecturer in broadcast journalism at Sunderland University.

Lush Places Media delivered communications, PR and media training and boasted of clients including the Press Association, the British Olympic Association and the Daily Telegraph, along with other private and public sector organisations.

The Echo attempted to contact Mr Glover and left a message at his workplace, but did not receive a response.

Durham County Council said in its reply to the FoI: “There is scrutiny in place for the direct procurement of services and equipment by council employees from close relatives and the relationship referred to [between Mrs Glover and her husband] was declared in line with the council’s procedures.”

John Hewitt, Durham County Council’s corporate director of resources, said: “We treat any complaint we receive regarding how the council spends public money seriously.

“For this reason our internal audit team will consider the information that has been received. A similar claim was made in 2011 and an investigation at that time found no evidence of any wrongdoing.”