Green-led Council to launch independent investigation into SEND spying scandal

Following a vote of the Children and Young People Policy Committee, Bristol City Council will commission an independent investigation into the historic monitoring of the social media accounts of parents and carers of SEND children.

The results of an internal investigation were published in September 2022. However, Councillors passed a motion to request that the Mayor commission an independent investigation. This was not taken forward by the then Labour Cabinet.

Cllr Townsend, the Chair of the Children’s and Young People Committee, who requested the matter be brought to committee, said, “Under the Greens, this Council is committed to supporting SEND children and their families. We understand the struggles they face and are working tirelessly to provide the support that they need.

“The actions of the previous Labour Mayoral administration have resulted in more than one legal case being brought against the council by the parents and carers of SEND children. Several of these have reportedly been in relation to the viewing and collating of social media data.

”This independent investigation will hopefully provide more definitive answers as to what happened back then, and provide closure to those who have been affected.

“In 2022, the Labour Mayoral Administration chose not to follow the motion passed by full-council and did not deliver an external investigation during their time in office, in fact Labour did not vote for the proposal at all.

“Cllr Bailes, who has recently started calling for this external investigation, has said that her vote wasn’t needed because she ‘knew the facts’. If at the time of the 2022 motion the ‘facts’ were known, the question as to why Cllr Bailes chose to stay silent until now is something only she can answer.

“I expect that this is another example of a Labour councillor unable to stand up to the Labour machine that clearly did not want an external investigation to take place. I am glad that she feels more free to speak her mind under the committee system.

“I hope that Cllr Bailes and her Labour colleagues will now encourage those in power and their political staff in 2022 to cooperate fully with the investigation, and that despite the several years of delay, they are able to help provide some answers.

“Following a significant rise in needs of children with SEND, we are all dedicated to supporting these most vulnerable children and young people. I am committed to supporting our team to be entirely focused on doing just that and hope that we can now move forward together to address the huge issues facing us.”