Warwickshire County Council: Cabinet member agrees party should make clear process on SEND storm trio

Councillor Martin Watson (Coleshill North & Water Orton) serves on a 10-strong cabinet – panel of Tory councillors in charge of major service areas – as the county’s portfolio holder for economy.

An investigation into hundreds of complaints about comments made in January by Councillor Jeff Morgan (Con, Bulkington & Whitestone), Councillor Brian Hammersley (Con, Bedworth Central) and Councillor Clare Golby (Con, Arbury) on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision concluded earlier this month (June 2024). It found that none of them had breached the authority’s code of conduct.

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, contrary to the code of conduct, but also that they had been 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.

The outcomes have led to further anger from parents and SEND campaigners as well as questions over what the Tories plan to do as a party, an entirely separate process to the council’s handling of complaints.

Some have advocated removing the whip – banishing them from the party – on the basis that Councillor Izzi Seccombe OBE (Stour & the Vale), leader of the council and the Conservative group, stating at the time that the comments were “not what I or my administration reflect”.

Cllr Seccombe said in March that such a call, if it were to be considered, would “have to go through the group” but in May her written response to a question asked at a council meeting said that “any decision on the whip is for me to consider reflecting of course on all evidence available”.

She was invited by the Local Democracy Reporting Service to clear up the differences between those answers and clarify what the process would be but has yet to do so. She has also yet to respond to our requests for comment since the council’s verdicts were published on Thursday, June 13.

Cllr Watson was approached following Wednesday’s meeting of the county’s communities overview & scrutiny committee.

He did not know how matters related to party discipline would be instigated or by who.

Put to him that it would be a reasonable thing for parents and carers to know, he replied: “It is a reasonable question.

"Unfortunately, I don’t know the answer but it is something that should be available, known or understood I would have thought.”