Charity denies calling on council to spy on parents

ACHARITY has denied claims it requested Bristol City Council staff to monitor the social media posts and photos of parents with special educational needs.

Earlier this week leaked documents show council staff conducted surveillance last year on local parents critical about poor quality special educational needs and disability provision (SEND), sparking concerns about privacy and who else the council is monitoring.

Responding to the leak, a council spokesman had claimed the surveillance was carried out following a request by the Bristol Parent Carer Forum, a local charity, which was allegedly investigating the conduct of some of its members. But now the forum has flatly denied this.

A spokesman for the forum said: “We would like to clarify that the parent carer forum has not asked Bristol City Council to collect data about parents and carers of children and young people with SEND.”

Now the council has stuck with its original claim but this time providing more detail.

The surveillance appears to stem from a row last autumn when some forum members were “campaigning” online. The council claimed this conflicted with them representing the forum.

A Bristol City Council spokesman said: “We received an email from Bristol Parent Carers Forum (BPCF) on October 7, 2021, requesting that Bristol City Council supply evidence to substantiate concerns that members of BPCF were carrying out online campaigning and lobbying activities, which seemed in conflict with them representing the forum at strategic meetings as part of the SEND improvement partnership.

“BCC accessed BCC-administrated and publicly available social media pages in order to supply the relevant information to BPCF as requested.”

The forum’s denial raises further questions for the council about why the surveillance took place, as concerns are mounting. Over the next few days the council will be facing questions from councillors and other charities, with some voicing their concerns on social media.

Liberal Democrat councillor Tim Kent said: “I will be writing to People Scrutiny members today to ask them what action they think scrutiny should take. Like many people I am very concerned that officers have used precious time to covertly monitor social media.”

Award-winning local disabled charity WECIL said: “We are genuinely shocked to learn of surveillance of parents and carers of disabled children and will seek discussion with the council on this matter immediately.”

The leaked documents showed council staff “working hard to uncover concrete evidence”, which appeared to include trawling through the social media accounts of parents to find and collate posts critical of the council, as well as even sharing personal wedding photos with council chiefs.

The Bristol Parent Carer Forum is led by volunteers, to help “bridge the gap” between the NHS and local councils for SEND families. New forum officers were elected in January this year.

A forum spokesman added: “Our objective is for all services to work together effectively to ensure families in Bristol get the support they need. In January new forum officers were elected and over the last six months we have been working to strengthen our relationship with strategic partners and the wider SEND community groups in Bristol.

“Our aim as an organisation is to focus on working with our strategic partners and wider SEND community groups in Bristol to amplify and represent the voices of some of the most vulnerable people in our society, and we will continue to this commitment.”

> Councillor Tim Kent