GLASGOW UNIVERSITY is being investigated over why it spent £1 million of public money on gold-plated severance packages that included gagging orders for outgoing staff.

ScottishFundingCouncil(SFC) officialsarelookingatwhetherthe university has broken strict rules on protecting whistleblowers, by encouraging staff to sign "confidentiality clauses" as part of their redundancy deals.

Theprobeisanembarrassment fortheuniversity,ascurrentrector Mordechai Vanunu is one of the world's most famous whistleblowers.

The row springs from the university's drivetomake£10mofefficiency savings,whichincludedvoluntary redundancy packages for 230 staff.

It has since emerged that 23 staff who opted to leave signed gagging orders as part of their severance packages.

However, SFC guidance on public interest disclosure, which was published in 1998 as a way of protecting whistleblowers,states:"Institutions mustnotagreetoconfidentiality clauses within severance agreements except where it is necessary to protect commercially sensitive information."

It adds that exceptions to this rule must be discussed first with the SFC chief executive before being agreed.

Morecontroversially,thegagging order contains a "non-disparagement" clausewhichdoesnotrelateto commercial sensitivity. It states: "The Employee agrees that he has not and will not make or otherwise communicate any disparaging or derogatory comments whether in writing or by spoken word and whether or not they are considered by the employee to be true, concerning the university "

SFC officials were alerted to the cases last year and asked the university to clarify its actions.

A breakdown of costs reveals more than £1m of taxpayers' money was spent paying off staff who signed the gagging order, an average of £43,000 per person.

Documents passed to the Sunday Herald showed one departing employee received a severance package of around £125,000,whichwasmadeupofa £10,000windfall"inlieuofnotice", £90,000compensationanda£25,000 pension payment.

Anotherstafferwhosignedthe silence clause received £20,000 in lieu of notice and up to £70,000 for "loss of office", which topped up the package to £90,000.

The deals have worried critics who believe the university is shelling out publicmoneytobuythesilenceof outgoing staff.

GlasgowUniversity'sfondnessfor confidentiality clauses is also deemed ironic given that its current student rector is Mordechai Vanunu, the world- famous peace campaigner who blew the whistle on Israel's nuclear weapons programme.

A spokesperson for the university said: "In the last round of voluntary severance, 23 members of staff signed confidentiality clauses. This represents less than 10% of the total number who chose to leave under this scheme.

"Those who signed a confidentiality clause did so for reasons of commercial sensitivity.TheUniversityofGlasgow hasanannualturnoverofmore than £300m and operates in a highly competitivesector.Itisentirely appropriate that, in some instances, departingstaffagreetosignaconfidentiality clause."

A spokesperson for the Scottish Funding Council said: "The matter is ongoing and correspondence is still continuing between the university and SFC."