Anne Woodhouse v a drag queen teacher

FFS. Charade.

Incidentally, and no obligation to answer @Woodmoose, but who requested the hearing be in person?

I can have a stab at a couple of those @Cailin66

• why did the HCPC take 3 years to process a complaint

https://www.professionalstandards.org.uk/sites/default/files/attachments/Monitoring%20Report%20-%20HCPC%202024-25.pdf

That’s not uncommon. The median time taken from receipt of a concern to a fitness to practise decision at HCPC is over 160 weeks. That’s a common theme among the big regulators. Regulatory reform has been promised for years but progress is painfully slow. Systems and ways of working are archaic. There are around 1500 cases that are over a year old. It’s not good for the public and not good for registrants.

• once the police had decided Anne had no case to answer why did the HCPC continue against her (police said her social media posts were lawful)

The two processes are looking at different things. The regulator is looking to establish if fitness to practise is impaired against the standards (www.hcpc-uk.org/standards/standards-of-conduct-performance-and-ethics/), not if a crime has been committed, and the burdens of proof are different in both cases.

• Does the HCPC not dismiss meritless cases, or cases that have no chance of success

Don’t even get me started on this. Things may be changing but at the time of this case it’s basically a one way track once the case has “met threshold” and there’s no off-ramp until it gets to the investigating committee - Anne has already commented on how that bit went 😐

• Does the HCPC not dismiss obvious ‘activist’ cases, taken by people trying to shut down perfectly legal views and opinions of professionals

As above really - it might be a mitigating factor but depends how much weight is given to it and in Anne’s case it sounds like it wasn’t given any weight at all at an earlier stage in the process.

Given the way the Information Commissioner has sought to ensure NHS Fife are held to account on various data breaches, I would expect they would be similar in this case surely? I can't imagine there's any justification for the transfer of data to this chap. But also, that he's then gone on to use it maliciously shows the harm that using data in this way can cause. Precisely why there are protections in place. Apologies if this is already in hand as I'm a bit late to this case, but I'm astonished that there's been a washing of the hands of this particular issue by the Council. I'm astonished Fergus Ewing isn't kicking it up too!

Some questions …

• why did the Highland Council reveal Anne’s name to John N Campbell
• will this person be sanctioned or written to in strong terms, or indeed sacked if it was done deliberately and with malice, will the actions of this person be investigated and strict instructions issued on confidentiality
• what was done then about John using that breech to target Anne
• why did the HCPC take 3 years to process a complaint
• once the police had decided Anne had no case to answer why did the HCPC continue against her (police said her social media posts were lawful)
• Does the HCPC not dismiss meritless cases, or cases that have no chance of success
• Does the HCPC not dismiss obvious ‘activist’ cases, taken by people trying to shut down perfectly legal views and opinions of professionals
• After Anne’s letter, did the council reply to her on her safeguarding query (staff social media/parents/secret communication/children …)
• What are the council doing about a Head Teacher trying to access the Tik Toc of a minor (Anne’s daughter) Surely this is a prime safeguarding matter
• Are the public allowed access to John’s statements in this matter

That looks suspiciously like people who are actually doing their jobs. Good to hear.

Yes definitely - happy to donate

Screenshot.

School inspection of the secondary he is head of notes areas of safeguarding need to be addressed 'as a matter of urgency.'

@Woodmoosethank you so much for seeing this through, and I hope you are able to take some time to rest and recuperate.

I saw on Twitter/x that the complainant was given your details by Highland Council because they decided his being upset was more important than upholding your privacy. Firstly, thank you for posting this, because I’ve just learned that my eyebrows can move even further up into my hairline than I thought. Secondly, are you going to take action against them for the data breach? (I hear NC knows someone who is rather good at privacy law!) If you decide you want to do this, I would want to chip into your fundraiser - and I’m sure plenty of other MN gardeners would be willing to join in

Good to see that this man's behaviour is getting an awful lot of attention on twitter X. Haven't spotted anyone thinking his stalking a parent or DQ act is appropriate for little children but still looking:

https://x.com/JournalistJill/status/1999544858906689544

Merry Christmas @Woodmoose. I admire you enormously.

@Woodmoose Hi Anne. I just read your statement on x. Absolutely horrendous. It is genuinely frightening how safeguarding principles have been demolished by this ideology.

Well done for sticking with it, I'm very grateful to you. I wish you a restful Christmas!

Even though that’s incredible why on earth did it take the HCPC take years to hear your case? A “case” of such flimsiness is collapsed. Which clearly demonstrates it was meritless. In my view it was vindictive, which obviously you cannot comment on. Your experience is very much a classic: ‘The Process is the Punishment. ‘

Also of note is the ‘ performative nonsense’ of the screen. That he was pandered to on this is shocking and the HCPC should not have tolerated it. Because it makes it ‘look’ like you were guilty. That he was in ‘fear’ of you. It was a DARVO by him.

Just joining in to say to Anne - so sorry you had to go through this process. I am horrified it was allowed to get this far, and it must have been incredibly stressful. As you say, the process is the punishment - and it silences women who may fear a similar experience if they share their lawfully held gc views.

It's good to hear there are at least some gender critical psychologists out there, and I wish you well going forward.

Anne, you are a shining example of a strong woman.Standing up to targeted and vindictive abuse despite the personal pain and stress it caused you, makes you a heroine in my eyes.

I am at the same time horrified that it is taking the personal, emotional and professional sacrifice of strong women like you to ensure that other women, our daughters, our grand daughters,our sisters and our nieces, can pursue our lives and express the truth about how women are being limited by a minority of deluded and entitled men who are fuelled by misogyny and a disregard for science and logic.

I wish you and your family a happy and stress free Christmas and New Year.

He needs to be referred to his regulator.

The whole process is not fit for purpose.

Article in the Times:
https://www.thetimes.com/article/02246534-54c4-4069-8b1f-10d79d769699?shareToken=13cc4ae721185916bd64855c6d563b69

The IC in my case literally ignored every single bit of evidence I provided. They stuck rigidly to the fact I might’ve offended the transgender community and did not think beyond that.

Agree - total breach

Once the concern is raised and determined to meet the (exceptionally low) bar for investigation it’s a one way street to investigating committee - there’s little to no facility for officers within HCPC to bring an investigation to a close without it being considered by committee. Committee will decide if there’s a case to answer for the case to proceed to tribunal. Registrants should have an opportunity to raise issues like vexatious complainants in their response at committee stage and it should be taken into account by committee.

Why is any professional organisation giving Watson any credibility given the public exposure of his malicious targeting of individuals?

There are more still in the works:

Dr P: Puberty is not an illness
@Psychgirl211
Me next. I've been reported by Lyndsay Watson. He was harassing me here on X for about a year and went to extraordinary lengths to discover my identity, that essentially amounted to stalking. The HCPC have taken him seriously and they are considering whether to bring a FtP hearing against me. They've said my tweets are "harmful to trans people".

https://x.com/Psychgirl211/status/1999749514891083986