COUNCIL bosses are refusing to reveal why a senior officer suddenly left the town hall.

Karen Sharples had been IT director at Blackburn with Darwen council, and last week councillors were told she had departed but not given reasons.

Speaking at a full council meeting on Thursday night Dave Harling, resources spokesman for the opposition Labour group, said: “Why has the director of IT, who came to this authority some time ago, and did a sterling job in transferring IT back to the council from Capita and bringing this service up to scratch, left?

"We got an email last week to say she was no longer in the employment of the authority.”

Coun Harling said he was particularly concerned given the importance of a crucial IT government programme called GovConnect.

In response, Tory resources chief Colin Rigby said: “My understanding is, there’s a confidentiality agreement, and I’m not prepared to go into any details at this time.”