Middlesbrough Council says it does not have any record of how many days of work were completed by an adviser to the mayor despite paying him nearly £2.5k a month.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service submitted freedom of information requests to Middlesbrough Council after an audit report found the appointment of Dave Allan as Independent Mayor Andy Preston’s adviser was unlawful. The local authority did not follow its proper recruitment or procurement procedures meaning it was unable to prove the payments represented value for taxpayers’ money, according to the review by finance firm EY.

The payments for the adviser were paid to DNA PR & Publicity, the communications company founded by Mr Allan. Between October 2019 and November 2020, the council paid the company nearly £32,000. However, when the local authority was asked how many hours, days or weeks of work were completed by Mr Allan it said it did not hold the information.

The council was invoiced monthly by DNA PR & Publicity for £2,499.60 from October 2019 to October 2020, except in November 2019 when no bill was lodged. The communications company then charged £1854.54 for November 1 to 23 2020, after which the agreement was terminated. The local authority’s chief executive Tony Parkinson directly approved the payments.

The council boss later said the agreement was ended as soon as it was found to be unlawful. The local authority is entitled to fund a mayoral assistant, which is a politically-restricted post, but when the audit review was released in July the position had been vacant since September 2019.

The council was unable to explain to EY’s auditors the exact nature of the services provided by Mr Allan but did accept some likely fell under the mayoral political assistant remit, which contravened the Local Authorities Regulations 2002.

The audit report stated: “The arrangement was entered into by the council without following either the council’s recruitment policies, which would have applied to a permanent employee of the council, or the council’s procurement policies, which would have applied to an external supplier.”

It went on to add: “Notwithstanding the lawfulness of the arrangement, by making payments to a supplier without understanding the nature of services being received in exchange for those payments the council is unable to demonstrate that the payments represented value for money for taxpayers.”

Middlesbrough Council declined to comment. Mr Allan has been contacted for comment.