Corporate Services Directorate

Our Ref: FOI 2240 Your Ref: Please Contact: Suzanne Butterfield Telephone: 01422 392043 Fax: 01422 393073 Email: [email protected] Date: 1 October 2014

Ms Cathy Fox Democratic and Partnership Services WDTK Northgate House Northgate HALIFAX HX1 1UN

Dear Ms Fox

Freedom of Information Act 2000 Request for information

Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Request

Under FOI Act 2000 please could you answer:

1. There was an investigation into child sexual abuse at Skircoat Lodge and other places started by Chris Babbs, that at least a dozen social workers took part in. It was part of Operation Screen. Please could you send me the final report.

2. Can you tell me when the social services committee discussed the Operation report and send me the minutes?

3. Could you send me a copy of the Area Child Protection Committee Report on the Calderdale Social Services after the after the convictions in autumn 2001.

4. In 1994 the NSPCC authored a report that was critical of Skircoat. Please could you send a copy of that report

Response

1. We do not hold a copy of any such report. There is mention made in the Cabinet Social Services Committee minutes of 21 January 2002 of a written report being submitted by the Director of Health and Social Care. This was regarding the “Quality Protects Management Action Plan 2002-2003”, but we do not know if this is the report you are referring to. Any reports submitted to cabinet meeting were copied to microfiche for storage purposes and kept for 6 years. These records have therefore subsequently been destroyed some years ago in accordance with the Council’s retention and destruction policy.

Ian Hughes Head of Democratic and Partnership Services 2. I enclose copies of all cabinet minutes which referred in any way to Operation Screen from 1998 to date. As advised above, there is no specific mention of the report to which you refer.

3. We do not hold a copy of this report. If it had been held at one time as a report submitted to a cabinet meeting, it would have been destroyed in line with Council policy as explained in 1. above.

4. A copy of the NCPCC’s report entitled “Report of an Independent Investigation in respect of Officer in Charge, Skircoat Lodge”, undertaken in 1994, is held in our records. However, I am unable to provide you with a copy of this report, as it consists of a large number of interview statements made by individuals as part of the investigation. To go through the report and its appendices and redact all individual names, and all accounts of incidents which may enable an individual to be identified, would render the report meaningless. To provide you with an unredacted copy would be in contravention of the Data Protection act, so this information is therefore exempt under section 40(2) of the Freedom of information act. For further details please see the attached Section 17 notice.

I hope this is helpful to you and any feedback from you would be welcomed.

If for any reason you are unhappy with our response, you are entitled to approach the Head of Democratic and Partnership Services, Northgate House, Northgate, Halifax HX1 1UN.

If you remain dissatisfied with our decision, please contact the Information Commissioner, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF.

Yours sincerely

Suzanne Butterfield

Suzanne Butterfield Information Governance Officer

Ian Hughes Head of Democratic and Partnership Services Notice (1) under s17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000

Calderdale Council hereby gives notice to Cathy Fox under section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 that, in part, the information originally requested by you on the 4th September 2014 is exempt information under the Freedom of Information Act.

This notice refers to the following section of your request:

4. In 1994 the NSPCC authored a report that was critical of Skircoat. Please could you send a copy of that report

As the report consists of a number of detailed statements made by named individuals, to release even an amended copy of the report with all names redacted would mean that individuals could still be identified from the descriptions of the incidents recorded if the details made public. To release a copy of the report with all identifiable information redacted would render the report meaningless.

The exemption that applies is specified in Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act in that the information is personal information about a third party other than the requestor and disclosure would breach the Data Protection Act:

Section 40(2) of the Act constitutes an absolute exemption under the Act. Disclosure would breach Principal 1 of the Data Protection Act 1998 in that it would entail unfair processing of an individual’s data.

If for any reason you are unhappy with our response, you are entitled to approach the Head of Democratic and Partnership Services, Westgate House, Westgate, Halifax HX1 1PS. If you remain dissatisfied with our decision, please contact the Information Commissioner, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF.

Signed ……Tracie Robinson…………………………… [Corporate Information Manager] Dated ………1 October 2014…………………………………

Ian Hughes Head of Democratic and Partnership Services