Following on from this morning’s post, we understand that Swansea Council officials are presently giving their side of the story to councillors - behind closed doors. Suggestions that the local authority has sought to downplay reaction by publishing all three serious case reviews on the same date have been denied – despite allegations that some draft reports have been available for nearly a year.
Councillors have been told that the three young people, identified only by initials, all had a history of substance abuse and that the circumstances of their deaths had warranted a serious case review by an independent person.
It is understood that the details of all three cases will be published to councillors early tomorrow morning and that the press will get their copies at midday. A statement from deputy minister Gwenda Thomas is also to be published.
Suspicions have already been voiced among some political groups that the reports which detail extensive departmental failings were deliberately delayed to allow senior staff to either resign or take early retirement.
It is not yet clear if there will be calls for a full independent public enquiry into what are described as ‘corporate-level concerns’. However, it is understood that one councillor is preparing a Freedom of Information request that will demand copies of correspondence within the authority and to external agencies on how the reports were commissioned and the arrangements for publication.
2 Comments:
Knowing the record of Swansea's councillors, I believe that they will swallow any old swill put before them. As long as they think that can hold onto their precious little sinecures then they will do what they're told.
Your comments box is screwed up again.
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