Councillor accuses officials of ‘passing the buck’ over email
A COUNCILLOR being investigated over posting a confidential email online has accused officials of trying to pass the buck.
Outspoken councillor Andy Strangeway could face a standards hearing after publishing the email, which he says exposed security issues with East Riding Council’s email.
The email from a member of the adoption team to colleagues and blind-copied to 160 adoptive carers contained details of future events for two groups of adopted children.
Coun Strangeway said he published the email on his personal website to highlight a “breach of safeguarding as it was not sent via secure email”.
However it sparked a complaint from Pam Allen, head of children and young people’s support and safeguarding, who said revealing the location and time of the events posed a “real danger” to the children and their carers, as birth parents could show up trying to make contact.
It led to the events in April and May being cancelled, causing “distress and upset”.
Coun Strangeway said he made it clear on his website he was not posting in his capacity as a councillor.
He said: “It’s an absolute joke. To this day adoptive carers are getting emails which are not going via a secure email system. They are shooting the messenger instead of dealing with the issue.”
A council spokesman said: “Having considered a complaint made against Coun Strangeway, the standards assessment subcommittee have concluded the allegations may breach the Code of Conduct.
“A full investigation will now take place and the findings will be presented to standards committee in due course; therefore it would be inappropriate to comment further.”
In April East Riding Council accidentally sent out contact details of more than 600 people, instead of a “what’s on” guide.
The council quickly sent another email apologising and asking people to delete the original without reading the attachment.