A senior member of the council administration has been accused of "misleading" the city over funding applications.

Conservative councillor Robert Connelly claimed SNP's Jennifer Layden, the head of communities had contradicted her previous claims she was "unsure" of why the media was alerted to changes to the Glasgow Communities Fund applications deadline before councillors. 

Mr Connelly, who represents Calton, said Ms Layden, convenor for community empowerment, had previously stated she did not know how the information had got to the press before councillors or senior officials. 

At a council meeting on Wednesday, Ms Layden told members of the group responsible for the fund that she had made the decision to extend the application deadline and that the council press office had then told the media.

An official at the council said he had taken the decision to update journalists on the change without informing Ms Layden, meaning she would not have known about the change at the meeting in January. 

Mr Connelly said this means she did know how the information got to the press and suggested if she had instructed the press office to alert the media, then her earlier comments had "misled elected members on this crucial issue". 

Speaking to the Glasgow Times, Mr Connelly was unconvinced the convenor could not have known how the information got to the press. 

He said: "There’s no full guarantee that she would not have known, even if an officer had given it out because she’s the political lead, she should have known about it.

"The fact that she didn’t know in the first place was quite a bad story in itself."

He added that he had spoken to senior officers at the council who did not know about the decision to extend the deadline until it was revealed in the press.

Following interventions from SNP MSP Bob Doris and the First Minister, the council decided to extend the deadline for applications to the fund, a reversal of its previous position. 

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Changes to the application process for the Glasgow Communities Fund, which provides cash to essential community organisations, resulted in the council rejecting groups due to "petty administrative errors", as Mr Connelly's letter states. 

The Glasgow Communities Fund is run by the council and provides funding to charities, community groups and voluntary organisations in the city.

On its launch, the council said the fund would support the health, well-being and economic position of people and communities. 

The fund was the subject of controversy earlier this year after the council rejected the applications of over 100 groups and senior SNP MSPs signed a letter expressing concerns about the running of the scheme. 

Glasgow City Council’s Head of Communications, Colin Edgar said: “When it became clear that we were going to change how we dealt with applicants who had not correctly completed the application paperwork we had to consider that some media that were continuing to cover the issue had been briefed with information that was now no longer accurate. On that basis, I took the decision to update journalists.

“I did not discuss this with Cllr Leyden before taking the decision. When she stood up in the chamber last week she was correct to say that she did not know how this change had made its way into the media.”