Stephanie: the storm goes on

The implications of how Mrs Lawrence's kids were wrongly put on, and kept on, the 'at risk' register are many and serious enough. But why and how a local authority then took it upon itself to - in the words of the Ombudsman - punish Mrs Lawrence for being difficult and non-compliant is arguably more worrying.

This is an issue the Mercury makes no apologies for covering extensively, because we believe it is a 24-carat scandal that touches upon every family in Pembrokeshire.

This week, in the wake of a hard-hitting TV documentary, the Mercury takes a look at just a few of the issues arising.

How accurate is the 'at risk' register?

THE FACT that the latest investigation of Mrs Lawrence was based on flawed information has sparked concern about how accurate the 'at risk' register actually is.

When Mrs Lawrence took one of her children to Withybush Hospital A&E for treatment to a wrist injury last September, doctors there checked the register. Finding that the child was apparently at risk of physical abuse, they contacted social services.

The county council and the police then launched a 'Section 47' investigation, which included going to the child's school and interviewing him without the knowledge of his mother - something the Welsh Assembly say should only happen in the most serious cases.

However, not only should the child never have been on the register, he and his siblings' names had been removed over a year before the trip to A&E. And never had there been any question of physical abuse.

Concerned about the apparent inaccuracy of the register, Cllr Joyce Watson said: "If we can't inform people that certain children are off the register, how can we be confident the system is working in reverse? Are there children who should be on it but aren't? That would be even more serious than this incident."

Pembrokeshire and Derwen NHS Trust say they are unable to comment on this particular case as the children have a right to confidentiality, "and we do not believe it to be in the public interest for such details to be disclosed."

But, the Trust spokesman went on: "The child protection register is the property of the social services department, and it is the responsibility of that department to manage the information included in it.

"This includes advising other people, including GPs, and agencies as appropriate about any changes. It is then the duty of the people or agencies to enact the advice as appropriate.

"No record is kept in the A&E notes of individual children about whether they are on the child protection register or not."

The council, meanwhile, accept it is their responsibility to "administer the register on behalf of the agencies involved in child protection." But they also suggest the Trust had been informed the Lawrence children had been removed from it.

Last week, the Merc asked council leader John Davies: once the decision was made to remove the children's names from the register, how long did it take to inform other agencies, such as the health trust?

He replied: "Key members of the agencies involved were in attendance at the meeting which decided to remove the children's names from the register. This meeting was minuted and the minutes later distributed to all the agencies and to the complainant."

Mrs Lawrence says that four months after it began, she has still not been formally told the outcome of the Section 47 investigation.

A spokesman for Dyfed Powys Police, however, said: "Pembrokeshire Area Child Protection Committee recently met in relation to this case and is now considering the most appropriate way forward. In light of this it would be innapropriate to comment any further.

A council spokesman told the Mercury: "There is a duty of confidentiality on the council and while it is appropriate to respond to issues contained in the Ombudsman's report, the council will not comment on any other matters relating to individuals."

'Skone must go' says Stephanie

THE MILLIONS of viewers who tune in to Britain's most popular magazine show will today (Thursday) see Stephanie Lawrence call for the head of Pembrokeshire's social services.

Mrs Lawrence holds Mr Jon Skone primarily responsible for her three-year ordeal and says she will use the platform offered by ITV's popular 'This Morning' show to say so.

Mrs Lawrence said: "That man should definitely resign. I'm very strong about that and I'm going to London to say it on live TV."

A call for Mr Skone to 'consider his position' has also been made by Cllr Mike Stoddart, while Cllr Joyce Watson commented: "If you are the director of a department, it's your job to ensure it runs well or make a good case why it doesn't. At the end of the day, you are at the helm and if the ship sinks - well, we all know what happens to captains whose ships sink."

Meanwhile, viewers of last week's 'Wales This Week' programme on HTV will have seen council leader John Davies decline to give Mr Skone his unqualified backing.

Asked if he had confidence in the director, Cllr Davies replied:"I have total confidence that this council can put right the shortcomings we've experienced and seen from this process."

Asked a similar question again, Cllr Davies said: "The director of social services plays an instrumental part in the corporate running of this authority. As leader of this authority, I'm more than confident we can learn from these mistakes corporately."

A council spokesman commented this week that the leader "made it clear in the programme that, in his view, lessons had been learnt and that the director had a corporate role to play in improving the future delivery of the service."

Labour won't give up

AN ASSURANCE has been given that the furore over the Stephanie Lawrence case won't be allowed to fade without changes made and lessons learnt.

Though her ordeal has garnered extensive national publicity, Stephanie Lawrence is now frightened that once the media glare has died down, nothing will have changed.

But the leader of the main opposition group on Pembrokeshire County Council is adamant that won't be allowed to happen.

Cllr Joyce Watson said: "Having watched the programme and read the document, I don't think this council can claim the principal mistake was one of over-caution. What it's clearly about is that systems and procedures laid down by the Welsh Assembly, and the council's own systems and procedures, were put on the shelf and ignored. As a consequence, people were treated in such a way that resulted in an award for compensation being made against us - and it did not need to happen.

"One thing that will definitely happen is that the Labour group will monitor what happens now. We will keep asking questions because we have a duty to - a duty to everybody involved in this case and a duty to everybody else who might have need to access social services that those services are provided in the way they should be.

"We will be asking for regular reports over time. We want a systematic review that reports back to us at set times over a continued period."

'John his own man?'

PEOPLE asking for the Ombudsman's report were only asked for their name and address so a copy could be posted out to them, the council reckon.

Asked in last week's 'Wales This Week' programme to explain why people were being asked for their names and addresses when requesting a copy of the Ombudsman's report, Cllr John Davies said: "We have a responsibility as we hand out, I would suggest to you, we are aware in which directions these are being taken."

At that point, council press officer Len Mullins interrupted proceedings, saying "I know nothing about this."

When the film resumed, questioning took a different tack, focusing on whether the report would be freely available to anyone who asked for it, not why the council wanted to know who was asking for it.

To Labour group leader Joyce Watson, this was one of the most striking aspects of the programme.

She said: "When John Davies took office, I remember him responding to criticism the council was officer-led with words to the effect that he was his own man; that he would not be guided and would say whatever he wanted to say and here we are, on camera, when he's trying to be his own man, Len Mullins is intervening. That was the thing that really jumped out at me."

A council spokesman said: "The interviewer asked if the leader could give a guarantee that the report would be freely available to anyone who wanted to read it. The leader was able to give this assurance as the Ombudsman's report is a public document.

"The press officer intervened to make the point that the council was unaware that anyone had been unable to obtain a copy of the report and that if addresses were taken it was only in order to post reports to those unable to collect them in person from County Hall.

"As an operational matter, it would have been something the leader would not have been aware of."

Council reported to Commons Speaker

LOCAL MP Jackie Lawrence has reported Pembrokeshire County Council to the Speaker of the House of Commons for alleged contempt of Parliament.

During her well-publicised three-year battle with Pembrokeshire social services, Stephanie Lawrence forwarded much of the correspondence between her and council to the Ombudsman and to her MP.

That was until council solicitor Phil Grafton wrote a terse letter to Stephanie Lawrence referring to the MP, and containing the paragraph: "Would you please therefore desist from forwarding any further correspondence between us to third parties without the council's consent, including this letter."

The MP said: "We have already seen that the Ombudsman has outlined at least 12 cases of maladministration by the council against this particular constituent, who during the period of her complaint against the council was regularly in contact with her MP to seek help and assistance.

"What we now appear to see is evidence of attempts by the council to prevent that constituent from fully outlining their concerns and complaints to their MP.

"It is an important principle in a democratic society that every individual be able to approach their MP and fully discuss any problems or concerns they may have on any issue.

"Any attempt to stifle that could be regarded as contempt of Parliament. In view of that, I have written to the Speaker to seek his ruling on whether Pembrokeshire County Council has crossed that line in this case."

Mr Grafton had also asked Stephanie Lawrence to explain why she was forwarding copies of his letters to the Ombudsman when they were marked 'without prejudice.'

In his report, the Ombudsman, Mr Adam Peat, described Mr Grafton's request as "highly inappropriate."

He added: "Any complainant is entitled to send me a copy of any correspondence with the council."

The council declined to comment on being reported to the Speaker.