Local authorities - do they have a duty to keep records?

[appropriatelytrained]

Little sods.

I chased S&LT for about eight months to get a copy of a record of a meeting they held with the LA and our head before Tribunal.

We didn't know about it at the time but it was clearly a meeting to patch up their case and get their lies straight.

I have asked the LA for a copy of this record and they say:

The meeting was a pre-tribunal meeting to inform the witnesses of the process of the tribunal and discuss outstanding areas of dispute and no minutes were taken.

Of course they weren't as they would have to write. We got together to patch up our case and get our lies straight!

It's not a major issue and, of course, pursuing things with this bunch gets me branded vexatious, but, I would like to know whether there are any rules governing record keeping for local authorities.

I do know s/lt diaries have to be kept for 5 years...

DPA territory if they are holding information about your child they msut disclose it.

If no minutes were taken then there'd obviously be no info to disclose. But, as part of their Tribunal submission my LA provided a chronology of every contact I had had by phone, meeting etc - so it must all be logged centrally somewhere within the LA.

Yes, Wet, they say no minutes were taken. Of course they weren't! Why would you record what you are doing? I thought of the chronology but I am sure it is not on there.

I think local authorities commonly pretend these meetings are just to explain the Tribunal process. Funny how non-Tribunal witnesses were there and some who were Tribunal witnesses weren't.

It's the same old, same old.You wouldn't have a meeting for a planning applicaiton with outside agencies and not record it and this is about a child's provision.

Local authorities are just so unaccountable though.

LAs are deviant liars.

It never ceases to amaze me the lengths they will go to to dissemble.

These are publically accountable bodies who should be working for us - not against us.

Actually, planners are just as bad. When I applied to build an extension my neighbours complained to their mate - the local Tory MP who spoke directly to the Planning Officer on their behalf, to insist that my application went before the full Planning Committee, instead of receiving Planning Officer consent out of committee - as applications that fell within her scope always did. (The Planning Officer told me this).

I contacted the Chair of the Planning Committee, who just happened to be a lovely 'old' Labour Councillor. Explained to him what had happened and he was outraged at the interference by "this bloody Tory" . He told me that as the Labour members outnumbered the others on the committee he would ensure I received planning permission, and rang me immediately after the meeting to tell me I had it.

So, I doubt if any of that was minuted either.

Scumbags the lot of them

Have you seen your child's s/lt file?
A meeting like that should be recorded in it as PCT are obsessed with recording stuff primarily it would seem so they can claim it as 'client contact'.

If it's in your child's file, you have proof. If not, you can point out that the file is inaccurate and their record keeping sloppy. Not recording contacts is considered pretty serious.

That's a whole different saga moondog!

I got the S&LT record after 8 months of chasing and a complaint to the Health Service Ombudsman. This eventually resulted (after 6 months) in the head of CYP services at the Trust writing to me and saying exactly what the LA have said i.e. 'there are no records, it was just a meeting for Tribunal to go through the processes, no therapeutic outcome, blah, blah'.

I took it to the Chief Exec and complained that the lack of records meant they'd breached their professional duties as they were clearly discussing provision for my son - thus it had therapeutic implications.

Then, I got the S&LT file and lo and behold, there IS a record - however small and inconsistent with what I'd originally been told about it. It exists despite senior management LYING to me about it.

While I was going through the battle with S&LT, I requested the LA record and three months later, they have confirmed they do not have one.

Of course, they are not bound by the professional ethics of health care professionals, but I wondered whether there was a more general duty on them to keep proper records.

Even if there was, you'd have to catch 'em out!

It's beyond belief.
I can't fathom what you have and are gonig through.

I had a meeting with senior Trust staff about it last week and they did at least sit there shaking their heads.

They said it would be a matter for human resources too. Does that mean disciplinary action?

I won't hold my breath!