Council staff resign after internet surfing row

A council worker was dismissed and two others resigned after they were found to be spending too long surfing the internet, a local authority said today.

The employees at Neath Port Talbot Council, South Wales, were among six investigated by the local authority in the last 18 months for looking at shopping, travel and leisure websites during work hours.

Graham Jones, head of strategic personnel at the council, said another one of the six had been given a warning and there was an ongoing investigation into the remaining two.

Mr Jones said that when suspicions were raised that some employees were spending "significant periods of time" using the internet for private purposes, the council's IT experts were asked to look into their usage.

He said he could not specify how long the employees were spending on the internet, but added: "If there's the odd occasion where somebody strays for a couple of minutes, it would just be a question of saying 'Please don't do it'."

Those investigated worked in various departments at the council, which employs around 7,500 people.

"What the council has tried to do is open up internet access for all employees, with the exception of offensive sites, and allow them to use it freely as long as it's in their own time," Mr Jones said.

"Before anyone is given access they are asked to sign an agreement to that effect.

"The important message from the council is that we employ people to do a job of work for us and we trust them to do that.

"In the main, staff are excellent, but if there are serious cases of this kind the public expect us to deal with them in a very harsh way."

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