Councillors' special needs comments cleared

An investigation found Brian Hammersley (left) and Jeff Morgan (right) had been entitled to make comments under freedom of speech protections

Complaints against three councillors for their views on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) have been dismissed.

An investigation took place into hundreds of complaints over contributions to a Warwickshire County Council scrutiny panel debate in January.

Jeff Morgan, Brian Hammersley and Clare Golby have all been cleared of breaching the authority's code of conduct.

The investigation found Mr Morgan and Mr Hammersley had been entitled to make comments, although disrespectful, under freedom of speech protections, while Ms Golby's words were not deemed to have been disrespectful.

The three were debating analysis which addressed some of the demand and cost pressures that had led to overspends for authorities around the country.

Comments surrounded the scale of demand, with Mr Morgan questioning whether some children put forward for assessments were "just really badly behaved" and in need of "some form of strict correction".

Mr Hammersley asked whether a surge in demand was down to "something in the water" and Ms Golby referred to social media pages where "families are swapping tips on how to get their children diagnosed".

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

Ms Golby's words were deemed not to have been disrespectful, nor to have caused reputational damage or a failure to champion the needs of the whole community.

Clare Golby's words were not deemed to have been disrespectful

The findings relating to Mr Hammersley and Mr Morgan recommended that the authority's chief executive "considers ways in which councillors can be supported to engage fully in debate at scrutiny and other committee meetings whilst ensuring that the language used is respectful, courteous, and sensitive to the matter concerned".

After the comments came to light, parents staged a protest at the council's headquarters.

Mother-of-two Abbie Mundy told the BBC at the protest: "The language used was damaging and they really need to take responsibility for their words.

“As soon as I saw the video, I felt sick, it’s out of date and they need to be educated more on SEND, they are making these decisions but they know nothing about it.”

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