Bristol councillors vote for inquiry into social media checks

The social media accounts of parents of children with disabilities were checked by council officers

Councillors want an independent inquiry after council staff monitored parents of children with special educational needs on social media.

Leaked documents showed Bristol City Council officers watched the accounts of parents for posts critical of the authority.

A report published in September cleared the Labour-controlled council of wrongdoing.

But on Tuesday councillors voted for an independent inquiry to be launched.

Labour insisted the initial investigation absolving the council had been "genuine".

Several months' worth of tweets were collected by council staff to use as evidence that two parents running a charity receiving local government money had been "campaigning" against the council, the Local Democracy Reporting Service reported.

The parents were part of the Bristol Parent Carer Forum (BPCF), which advocated for better services for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

Officers collected and shared a dossier of critical social media posts, cross-referencing anonymous Twitter accounts with private Facebook wedding photos.

The council allegedly gathered comments

Two of the parents involved told councillors they felt "humiliated" by senior council staff.

In July, council chiefs withdrew support for BPCF receiving government funding, but insisted the decision had nothing to do with the social media monitoring.

Speaking at a council meeting on Tuesday evening, Conservative Councillor Geoff Gollop said: "The administration appears not to have condemned these actions, and by not condemning them that means they appear to have condoned them.

"It doesn't matter to me whether this was systematic or random, it was wrong - yet we employ people who actually think it was right.

"Only an independent inquiry will tell us who was responsible for this."

'Ridiculous'

Asher Craig, cabinet member for education, said: "I take issue with how this motion (for an independent inquiry) talks about the council's legal team - implying their investigation wasn't genuine.

"There is a difference between not agreeing with the outcome of a report and questioning the integrity of those who wrote it.

"Any suggestion that this council was carrying out covert surveillance on parents is just ridiculous. But if councillors want to spend taxpayers' money on an external investigation, then that's fine."

The vote saw 39 councillors in favour of an inquiry, with 18 abstaining. Labour councillors chose not to vote.

'Take ownership'

Bristol mayor Marvin Rees asked for the inquiry to be independently chaired, and for the cost in both time and money to be published.

"Take ownership of the consequences of the actions you take when you're looking for your next angle or position of attack," he told opposition councillors.

It's unclear when the inquiry will be set up or who will chair it.

One option could be to get the Local Government Association, which represents councils, to help organise the investigation.