Fourth person investigated in special needs probe

Comments made by councillors at a meeting in January attracted hundreds of complaints

A fourth person is being investigated over a council discussion about special needs that prompted hundreds of complaints.

Warwickshire County Council confirmed a complaint remained open against one individual following the January meeting that saw three Conservative councillors heavily criticised for their comments.

The meeting included a discussion the surge in demand for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision in Warwickshire.

Councillors Jeff Morgan, Brian Hammersley and Clare Golby were each cleared following an investigation.

Mr 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”.

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

The investigation found that Mr Morgan and Mr Hammersley had failed to be respectful, champion the needs of the whole community or uphold the reputation of the council but concluded that they were entitled to make the comments under freedom of speech protections.

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

Mr Morgan and Ms Golby have since declined to comment, while Mr Hammersley referred to the investigation’s outcome and said he had not broken the authority’s code of conduct.

The council has subsequently confirmed that one more person had been complained about in relation to the matter, and that the case remained open.

The council declined to comment on the identity of the person or on the nature of the complaint against them.

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