THE impartiality of internal investigators at the Department of Works and Pensions who looked into ‘specific concerns’ about the sale of Remploy businesses has been called into question by Glenrothes and Central Fife MP Lindsay Roy.

In a report published by the National Audit Office last week, it was stated that that specific concerns had been referred to the DWP internal investigations team which had concluded, following a preliminary study, that there was no evidence of fraud of improper practices.

But Mr Roy said, “The investigators were hardly neutral and independent – in essence they had a vested interest in achieving an outcome which largely exonerated the Department, the Remploy board, and management.

“Such an arrangement begs the question on whether the reported outcome was based on self-delusion or robust self-evaluation.” The Cardenden and Kinglassie MP, who has written to Amyas Morse, the Comptroller and Auditor General, asking for a ‘robust and independent’ investigation into the management of Remploy Marine in Fife, said the process appears to have been flawed.

The Cowdenbeath and Leven factories were part of the closure process which saw over 60 employees made redundant in Fife.

He continued, “I want to know what the specific concerns were and why it was thought proper to ask the DWP to investigate them; and why it appears that only a preliminary investigation was carried out.

“Was a subsequent, and presumably more thorough, review carried out? If not, why not?” Mr Roy believes that a separate investigation into Remploy Marine is needed after the report identified inadequacies in the documentation relating to intellectual property rights and contracts, and the huge mark-up made on the life-jackets that were manufactured in Leven and Cowdenbeath.

He added, “It has not been disputed that Remploy received £25-£30 per life-jacket through a management deal with a private company who marketed it, without adding any value, for between £125-£130.

“In other contexts, this would rightly be described as a rip-off – who in the Remploy management team negotiated and sustained such a deal which was a ‘cash cow’ for a private company?” Concluded the MP, “The report has made it clear that there were problems at Remploy Marine, problems that perhaps stopped it being viable and almost certainly prevented it from being sold. Only a separate, rigorous investigation will provide the answers that the former workers, everyone who supported them and fought for the business’ survival, and the local communities want and deserve.”