A COUNCIL boss has vowed "not to sweep anything under the carpet" after his authority was criticised for the way it handed out contracts.

Charles Anderson, of Teesdale District Council, has said a full investigation will be carried out into the tendering process for work on the £60,000 refurbishment of Barnard Castle Tourist Information Centre.

A local resident has claimed the council acted unlawfully by not complying with its standing orders concerning £28,000 worth of account items on the TIC refurbishment.

Findings from an internal audit, which was endorsed by the Audit Commission, included:

* Some purchase contracts should have been awarded following a tender exercise as the estimated costs exceeded £10,000, but the work was allocated in smaller packages.

* Verbal quotations were accepted without being followed up by written quotations.

The commission said the council should also look at the way it works with partnerships such as the Market Towns Initiative which helped find money for the TIC project, to avoid potential conflicts of interest.

The commission report has not given a view on the local resident's claims that the council acted unlawfully.

The report says: "We have not tested the correctness of the elector's assertion.

"Given the sums involved and the small likelihood of reoccurrence the District Auditor has exercised his discretion and decided not to form a view on this matter at this time."

Mr Anderson said: "Obviously we'll be conducting an internal investigation which will investigate everything fully and seeing if there any lessons we can learn for the future.

"Nothing will be swept under the carpet."