22 April (Part 2) - Arses and elbows?
Bexley council’s stance on publishing the address of any resident who wishes
to fully participate in democracy via question time at council meetings is
getting ever more confusing.
For almost two years, the Data Protection Act has been ignored at the insistence
of Bexley’s Constitutional Review Panel
chaired by council leader Teresa O’Neill. No great surprise there, she appears
to believe that
laws do not apply to her. The revised Constitution was
approved at a Full Council
meeting in May 2011 and the Appendix A of its Agenda is reproduced below left. (Click to expand.)
This year
the Information Commissioner eventually cottoned on to Teresa
O’Neill’s law flouting while at the same time her senior officers, Nick Hollier, Paul Moore and Will Tuckley were
still defending her decision in writing. Then the
council accepted questions for next Wednesday’s meeting without any address attribution. Had they caved in? It looked like it.
Another of Bexley council’s illegal acts was to operate for a couple of months
without a Constitution.
That too has been recently put right. It is now
available on the council’s website though if you can download Volume 2
(Complete) you have a better internet connection than me.
Volume 1 is however quite enough to be going on with and Appendix B (below right) to the section on public questions is interesting. We seem
to be back to square one and address publication is back on the agenda - no pun intended.
Maybe it is all a big mistake. That particular Appendix B doesn’t appear in the Contents List.
If that is so it will be another Fox foul up.
How come Bexley council is in such a muddle? What is the Monitoring Officer for?
Under section 5(2) of the Local Government Act 1989, it is the duty of the
Monitoring Officer, if at any time it appears to him that any proposal, decision
or omission by the authority gives rise to a contravention of the law or a
relevant code of practice, or to maladministration or injustice under Part III
of the Local Government Act 1974, to prepare a report to the authority with
respect to that proposal, decision or omission. It would appear that Mr. Akin
Alabi, by failing to prepare such a report in the face of clear evidence of
breach of data protection law and guidance, is himself in breach of his
statutory duty as a Monitoring Officer.
I think Mr. Dowling is on to that one.