Open complaint against fourth person over Warwickshire County Council SEND storm

The council has confirmed that a complaint remains open against one more individual from the meeting that saw three Conservative councillors come under fire for their comments on the surge in demand for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision in Warwickshire.

What has happened so far?

Councillor Jeff Morgan (Bulkington & Whitestone), Councillor Brian Hammersley (Bedworth Central) and Councillor Clare Golby (Arbury) were cleared by an investigation into hundreds of complaints about the terms they used in a meeting of the county council’s children and young people’s overview and scrutiny committee, a panel of councillors that runs the rule over the work of the council and other public bodies in relevant sectors.

Cllr Morgan, who had been the county’s cabinet member for children and families until May 2023, questioned whether some children put forward for assessments were “just really badly behaved” and in need of “some form of strict correction”.

Cllr Hammersley had asked whether a surge in demand was down to “something in the water”, while Cllr Globy referred to social media pages where “families are swapping tips on how to get their children diagnosed”.

The investigation found that Cllr Morgan and Cllr Hammersley had failed to be respectful, “champion the needs of the whole community” and uphold the reputation of the council, all of which was contrary to the code of conduct, but also that they were entitled to make the comments under freedom of speech protections.

Cllr Golby’s words were not deemed to have gone against any element of the code of conduct.

Cllr Morgan and Cllr Golby have since declined to comment, while Cllr Hammersley referred us back to the investigation report, stating: “I haven’t broken the (council’s) code of conduct.”

Warwickshire County Council updated a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) during the investigation process but on the back of queries from SEND parents, carers and campaigners, the Local Democracy Reporting Service sought further detail on the handling of the matter.

That included whether any other councillors or staff members had been complained about in relation to that meeting.

The council confirmed one more person had been and that the case remains open but it has declined to comment on the identity of the person or the nature of the complaint.

The council's FAQs revealed that 26 complaints had been selected as a “representative sample” to be heard in full by Claire Ward of Birmingham law firm Anthony Collins Solicitors, who was drafted in as an independent investigator.

It later confirmed that the first 26 complaints related to all three named councillors had been taken forward to be heard in person.Information sought after that has established that any complaints submitted after February 5, 2024, did not make the cut, although the council has stressed all along that every complaint was considered and put forward to the investigator.

The council has since confirmed a sample size of 25 “was agreed with the investigator” on February 23, with the extension to 26 coming as a result of discovering a further complaint that “should have been included” at the back end of March.

Asked who had taken the decision to set that sample size, it was said that monitoring officer Sarah Duxbury, Warwickshire County Council’s most senior legal officer, had “agreed with the investigator”.

Further clarification on who led that decision was sought but the council declined to comment further.

Asked whether complainants outside the first 26 had been contacted directly to update them on the progress of their complaints, the council said its FAQs had been "used to inform other complainants about the process”.

The council was also asked what it was about the first 26 complaints that made them the most representative sample.

It was put to the authority that those with valid points to make in person may have missed out on doing so based on nothing more than submitting a complaint after February 5.

The invite to offer an explanation or assurance around that was not taken up.