Yes - this is the problem. That gives this:

perl -MScalar::Util -e1

List::Util object version 1.27 does not match bootstrap parameter 1.56
+ at /usr/lib64/perl5/DynaLoader.pm line 213.
Compilation failed in require at /nfs/home/ ... /perl5/perllib/lib/per
+l5/Scalar/Util.pm line 23.
Compilation failed in require.
BEGIN failed--compilation aborted.
[download]

So it is an incompatibility between the modules we have downloaded from METACPAN and the default distributions which have come on the box. We will need to go with one or the other but not a mix of both. Either way we will need to get the sys admins to either install some more packages (as was initially suggested above) or remove what's there. It's always a pity when there is no direct root acces....

Thank you for the response and guidance. All the suggestions in this chain have been very helpful in uncovering the issue and moving us forward