Nine councillors miss training after SEND row

Warwickshire County Council said there would be more opportunities for training for councillors who had not yet taken part

Nine councillors have yet to take part in mandatory special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) training after a row over language used in a meeting.

Warwickshire County Council received hundreds of complaints after comments made by councillors Jeff Morgan, Brian Hammersley and Clare Golby at a meeting in January.

The council voted for all members to undertake the compulsory training by 19 June but confirmed nine had not yet participated.

The authority previously apologised on behalf of Mr Morgan, Mr Hammersley and Ms Golby, who were cleared of breaching the authority’s code of conduct.

During a discussion about the demand for SEND provision at the meeting in January, Mr Morgan questioned whether some children were “just really badly behaved” and “in need of some form of strict correction”.

Mr Hammersley asked whether there was “something in the water” and Ms Golby referred to social media pages where “families are swapping tips on how to get their children diagnosed”.

A council investigation found Ms Golby had said nothing wrong, while Mr Morgan and Mr Hammersley were protected by freedom of expression laws.

Warwickshire County Council declined to name the nine councillors who had not yet taken part in the training when asked by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

A spokesperson cited “a variety of reasons” for the outstanding training, including work commitments, holidays, medical appointments and illness.

They emphasised that no one had declined the training and that more sessions were being arranged for later this year.

“Before serving on any panels, scrutiny committees and other bodies that handle the provision of children’s services, councillors need to have attended the training session," the council spokesperson said.

"The democratic services team is keeping this under review.”

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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