Investigation into complaints about Warwickshire councillors' controversial SEND comments to conclude in June

Warwickshire County Council is investigating Councillor Jeff Morgan (Con, Bulkington and Whitestone), Councillor Brian Hammersley (Con, Bedworth Central) and Councillor Clare Golby (Con, Arbury) following a flurry of formal complaints over their contributions to a discussion on demand for special education needs and disabilities (SEND) provision during a council meeting in January.

Widespread outrage followed Cllr Morgan questioning whether some children put forward for SEND assessments were “just really badly behaved” and in need of “some form of strict correction”, Cllr Hammersley asking whether a surge in demand for services was down to “something in the water” and Cllr Golby referring to social media pages where “families are swapping tips on how to get their children diagnosed”.

Apologies on behalf of all three were issued by the council’s communications department but they all have declined to comment further since.

Leader Councillor Izzi Seccombe OBE (Stour & the Vale) distanced her Conservative administration from the remarks but stopped short of removing the whip – essentially banishing the trio from the party – while the investigation is concluded.

Timescales

The council’s update in late February suggested the investigation would take around 12 weeks to complete.

That timeframe has passed and been updated since with the anticipation that the matter will be concluded in early June issued with the caveat that “our commitment to a thorough investigation means it may take longer if the investigator requires additional time”.

Volume and ‘representative samples’

The council confirmed this week that the volume of formal complaints submitted “is in the hundreds”, adding that the exact number was not available due to monitoring officer Sarah Duxbury, the authority’s most senior legal officer, being on leave.

Claire Ward of Birmingham law firm Anthony Collins Solicitors has been hired to conduct the investigation which has selected a “representative sample” of complainants for interview.

The council said “around 25 people” had been identified for that process, adding that all other complaints had been “read and considered”.

A statement continued: “Given the large number of complaints received, it would be impractical and cause unnecessary delays if the investigator were to interview every complainant.

“Instead, whilst we will share all complaints with the investigator, they will directly engage with a representative sample of complainants.”

The council informed the Local Democracy Reporting Service that it was unable to comment on what process would be available to anyone unhappy that their complaint was not selected prior to Ms Duxbury’s return.

Costs

The council says the cost of the external legal help is expected to be between £20,000 and £30,000.

The statement added: “We consider this to be the most cost-effective approach given the officer time that would be involved in an investigation of this scale.”

The council did not respond to an invitation to comment on whether the investigation was expected to remain within budget, or from which budget or reserve the money would come from other than to say it would be “from WCC funds”.

Further clarity was sought but the council said it was unable to provide it during Ms Duxbury's absence.

Reaction

Cllr Seccombe was approached but unavailable to field questions on the matter.

Councillor Jonathan Chilvers (Leamington Brunswick), leader of the Green Party group at Warwickshire County Council that called for the Tories to remove the whip from the trio at the time, backed the principle of paying for external legal assistance.

“The council was absolutely correct to do a full, independent investigation into these awful comments. Obviously, that does cost money,” he said.

“I am disappointed that the Conservatives themselves have still not taken action on the members of their own group, they have left the council on their own to deal with this.”

The kind of money being spent equates to the cost of a part-time SEND tutor. Asked whether he could understand members of the public baulking at this coming out of the public purse, Cllr Chilvers replied: “I haven’t seen how that figure is broken down.

"It does sound like a lot of money but if the council had not paid for an external investigation then there would have been criticism of that too.

“I want to see this done in the most cost-efficient way but it is important from the council’s point of view to restore trust with parents around the county.”