Why after 2 years, 9 months and 13 days have Wirral Council U-turned on refusing a FOI request for minutes of the Safeguarding Reference Group?

Why after 2 years, 9 months and 13 days have Wirral Council U-turned on refusing a FOI request for minutes of the Safeguarding Reference Group?                                                     Before I start this epic tale, I would just like to point out that someone has started a petition demanding an apology from the Labour administration at Wirral Council … Continue reading “Why after 2 years, 9 months and 13 days have Wirral Council U-turned on refusing a FOI request for minutes of the Safeguarding Reference Group?”

Why after 2 years, 9 months and 13 days have Wirral Council U-turned on refusing a FOI request for minutes of the Safeguarding Reference Group?

                                                   

ICO Information Commissioner's Office logo
ICO Information Commissioner’s Office logo

Before I start this epic tale, I would just like to point out that someone has started a petition demanding an apology from the Labour administration at Wirral Council for their answer at the last Council meeting about information requests and their poor record on FOI requests.

A long time ago (29th March 2013), I made this FOI request for the minutes of meetings that happen behind closed doors (not public meetings) for committees that councillors sit on. Part of this request (part 26) was for minutes of the Safeguarding Reference Group.

I think it is better to provide a chronology at this stage as to how this part of the request went (references are to this part of the request).

29th March 2013 FOI request made.
29th April 2013 Internal review requested due to lack of reply.
30th April 2013 Internal review sent by Wirral Council. Request refused on cost grounds (section 12), but offer made to send minutes of Safeguarding Reference Group.
30th April 2013 Clarification over meaning of request sent/internal review as response on 30th April 2013 was first response.
30th July 2013 Internal review changes reason from cost grounds (section 12) to vexatious or repeated request (section 14).
14th August 2013 Decision appealed to Information Commissioner’s Office.
19th June 2014 Wirral Council amends reason for refusal from vexatious or repeated request (section 14) to cost grounds (section 12).
8th September 2014 ICO issue decision notice FS50509081. Decision notice overturns cost grounds (section 12) reason, finds Wirral Council failed to provide advice and assistance (section 16) and hasn’t responded to request within 20 days (section 10(1)). Wirral Council given 35 days to provide information or different reason.
4th November 2014 FOI request for minutes of Safeguarding Reference Group refused on section 40 (personal data) grounds.
12th November 2014 Internal review of 4th November 2014 decision requested.
30th April 2015 After ICO intervention Wirral Council replies. Wirral Council refuses internal review on section 14 (vexatious or repeated request) grounds.
Unknown date Decision appealed to ICO.
29th July 2015 ICO issued second decision notice (FS50569254). Decision notice overturns section 14 (vexatious or repeated request) reason for all of request except adoption/fostering panel part. Finds Wirral Council have breached section 10 (again).
3rd September 2015 Wirral Council respond to decision notice FS50569254. Minutes of Safeguarding Reference Group now refused on section 36 (prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs) and section 40 (personal data).
7th September 2015 Decision appealed to Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
11th January 2016 Wirral Council supply minutes of Safeguarding Reference Group held on 19th April 2011.

Wouldn’t it have just been easier (as they made the offer to send the minutes of the Safeguarding Reference Group in April 2013) to supply these minutes then? How much officer time was wasted in refusing six pages of minutes on a committee that 7 councillors sat on and at least 5 senior managers (although one wasn’t present for the meeting).

The sixteen page serious case review about Child A, Child B, Child C & Child D referred to in the minutes dated 6th April 2011 can be found on Wirral Council’s website.

Three of the 7 councillors present are no longer councillors and at least three of the senior managers have either gone into early retirement or left Wirral Council.

There are 4 parts in the six pages of minutes where names have been blacked out. Did it really take 2 years, 9 months and nearly a fortnight to do this?

What was the point in spending over 2 years and 9 months refusing this request? The minutes they’ve supplied refer to a further meeting on the 20th July 2011 so although this is welcome, they may not be the right ones! I requested the minutes of the meeting immediately before my request on the 29th March 2013. Is the implication that the incoming minority Labour administration in 2011 scrapped the Safeguarding Reference Group (which was re-established on the 15th December 2014)? I’m not sure!

If you click on any of the buttons below, you’ll be doing me a favour by sharing this article with other people.

DASS Management Structure (Wirral Council) | (Department of Adult Social Services) | Wirral DASS Management Structure

As there have been some searches made to the blog about the Social Services management structure I thought I would explain the current structure (or at least with the caveat that obviously this changes over time), along with contact details (whether email or phone). For each tier of management, I’ve given it a number followed by a letter. C stands for councillor, E stands for employee. The number represents what tier (starting with 1 at the top), followed by in brackets how many people are at this tier. I’ll also state who they report to/are line managed by.

There are three which aren’t employees in the Social Services department. One is an office-holder, one is an employee and the other is a vacancy (office-holder). Those are Cllr Jeff Green (Conservative) – resigned 21/5/12 Cllr Phil Davies leader@wirral.gov.uk (Cabinet (Chair), Labour) (from 21/5/12), vacancy – resigned 21/5/12 Cllr Anne McArdle (from 21/5/12) (Cabinet Member for Social Care and Public Health, Labour) and Dawn Stanley-Smith. Dawn Stanley-Smith is an employee in the Children and Young People’s Department (CYPD).

—————————————————————————————————————————

Cabinet Member for Adult Ed- added 21/5/12 Social Care & Inclusion, C1 (3): Cllr Jeff Green, Conservative, leader@wirral.gov.uk – resigned 21/5/12 Cllr Anne McArdle (from 21/5/12) (Cabinet Member for Public Health),

Cabinet Member for Public Health, C1 (3): Vacancy to 21/5/12, Cllr Anne McArdle (from 21/5/12) Labour, N/A, Public

Cabinet Member for Finance/Best Value, C1 (3): Cllr Jeff Green – resigned 21/5/12 Cllr Phil Davies leader@wirral.gov.uk (Cabinet (Chair)) (from 21/5/12), Public

—————-

Director of Adult Social Services, E1 (1): Graham Hodkinson, 0151 666 3650, Cllr Jeff Green resigned 21/5/12 Cllr Phil Davies & Cllr Anne McArdle

—————-

Graham Hodkinson has four people he line manages, these are:-

Stephen Rowley (Head of Branch, Finance and Performance), E2 (4), 666 3662, Graham Hodkinson
Chris Begya (Head of Branch, Personal Support), E2 (4), 666 3624, Graham Hodkinson
Caroline McKenna (Head of Branch, Safeguarding), E2 (4), 666 3938, Graham Hodkinson
Rick O’Brien – seconded to DoH from August 2012 (Head of Branch, Personal Assessment and Planning), E2 (4), 666 476?, Graham Hodkinson

I’ll then split it into who reports to who starting with those who report to the Finance and Performance Head of Branch.

——————————–

Those who report to the Head of Branch, Finance and Performance (SR).

Sandra Thomas, Principal Manager (Finance and Performance), E3 (12), 666 4776, Stephen Rowley

????, Planning and Performance, E3 (12), ?????, Stephen Rowley

Mal Price, Principal Manager (Market Management and Development), E3 (12), 666 4785, Stephen Rowley

—————————-

Those who report to Head of Branch, Personal Support (CB)

Paula Pritchard, E3 (12), Principal Manager (Support Provision), 666 4932, Chris Begya

Kenny Robinson, E3 (12), Principal Manager (Specialist Services), 666 ?, Chris Begya

Nick Broadhead, E3 (12), Principal Manager Early (Advice and Support), 666 3630, Chris Begya

—–

Those who report to Head of Branch, Safeguarding (CM)

Amanda Kelly, E3 (12), Service Manager (Safeguarding Adults), 666 3614, Caroline McKenna

Dawn Stanley-Smith, E3 (12), Manager Complaints, Note: CYPD position, Caroline McKenna & CYPD?

—————–

Those who report to Head of Branch, Personal Assessment and Planning (RO)

Pete Gosling, E3 (12), Principal Manager (Wallasey), 666 4967, Rick O’Brien – seconded to DoH from August 2012

Peter Tomlin, E3 (12), Principal Manager (Birkenhead), 666 4967, Rick O’Brien – seconded to DoH from August 2012

Jayne Marshall, E3 (12), Principal Manager (West Wirral), 666 4967, Rick O’Brien – seconded to DoH from August 2012

Anne Bailey, E3 (12), Principal Manager (Independence), 666 4967, Rick O’Brien – seconded to DoH from August 2012

———————————–

After the third tier of managers (E3), there is a fourth tier (E4).

After the fourth tier of managers (E4), there is a fifth tier (E5).

After the fifth tier of managers (E5), there is a sixth tier (E6).

At many tiers you get people without line management responsibility too, such as social workers, apprentices, administration staff such as secretaries, vacant posts, support workers etc.

Then there are people who work for Social Services, but are seconded elsewhere. Often when somebody is seconded, a second post is created to do the work they would be doing if not seconded. Also sometimes the post is created and is a vacancy as there isn’t the money in the budget to pay twice for basically the same post.

There are also agency staff too who are line managed by Social Services but not part of it.

However to show all the employees of Social Services department (as well as those line managed by it), would take 10 A4 pages and is a little beyond the scope of a short blog post. It’s a large department with a large Budget. Does anyone know the Budget for Adult Social Services for Wirral Council for 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 or where I can find it out?

Ed 18/3/2012 Thank you a reader for sending me the information to answer this question, the answer is as follows:-

Department of Adult Social Services 2010/2011 Budget £64,745,000

Department of Adult Social Services 2011/2012 Budget £65,520,900

The staffing element of Social Services budget is 2011/12 is £21.6 million and for 2012/13 is £21.7 million.

However Adult Social Services is currently predicted to overspend its Budget in 2011/12 by £3.715 million!