QUESTIONS have been asked of burial services in Argyll and Bute after a report highlighted a number of issues.

The document which went before councillors said that there was “no consistent approach” to the management of records across the authority.

Argyll and Bute Council’s chief internal auditor said that the delays in rectifying the issues were down to staff sickness. The report said that measures are due to be complete by the end of September.

The discussion took place at a meeting of the council’s audit and scrutiny committee on Thursday, September 5.

The report remarked on its findings: “There is no consistent approach to updating and managing burial records across the service. Private burials on home ground do not appear to be authorised or registered.

“Officers are printing documentation provided by funeral directors and applicants via email unnecessarily. Documentation was missing or could not be located at the time of the audit visit.”

It then recommended: “A unified approach to records management should be adopted to establish consistency and provide resilience across the service.

“Additionally, a sample of burial records should be periodically checked for accuracy. This should be documented in a procedure note and issued to the relevant members of staff.”

Councillor Graham Hardie (Liberal Democrat, Helensburgh Central) asked: “There is an issue regarding the registration of burials. Who is in charge of that – is it the registrar, and does this include cremations?”

Paul MacAskill, the council’s chief internal auditor, responded: “This is specific to burial records. It is really a unified approach.

“It would be amenity services that are responsible, but in terms of this recommendation, it is largely due to staff sickness.

“They have come back to say this will be addressed by the end of September, but somebody will speak to the auditor to contact them, to ensure that is progressing as well as we would expect.

“Cremations are dealt with separately in terms of registration details. There are appropriate measures in crematoriums to deal with those.”