|
|
 |
| |
John Foster |
Security alert after kids’ papers dumped
TOWN Hall chief executive John Foster has ordered a dramatic shake-up of security measures after confidential documents – this time concerning children – ended up in the hands of the public for the second time in a month.
Papers, notepads and photographs of unnamed children, routinely shown to prospective foster parents, were discovered in a locked cabinet, which used to belong to a social worker from Islington Council’s children’s services department.
In an interview with the Tribune last night (Thursday) Mr Foster said some of the papers did contain miscellaneous casework and details about some children, but none of the cabinet’s contents related to at-risk children.
He has ordered director of children’s services Eleanor Schooling to conduct an immediate investigation.
Following the clearance of a council building in Essex Road in March and May this year, the cabinet was sold or donated to an unknown company. Workers there discovered the papers and handed them to a national newspaper. Its contents have since been returned to the Town Hall.
Mr Foster admitted last night that no member of staff had reported the loss and the council did not know for how long the papers and photographs were missing. He is also trying to establish if any papers are outstanding.
It comes one month after sensitive files containing names and addresses of mental health patients belonging to Islington’s legal services department somehow ended up strewn across Holloway Road. An investigation is ongoing.
In this week’s case, unwanted council office furniture was sold or donated to charity following the sale of a number of council buildings.
Ordinarily the department responsible for the furniture – in this case children’s social services – and the property services team are responsible for checking all furniture.
But this time the cabinet was missed and sold on while still locked.
Mr Foster said he “hadn’t tracked down precisely” who the people who found the documents were. He said it was “grossly unfortunate” that the papers had gone astray and that there was “no excuse”.
Mr Foster added: “At least it’s alerted us to the fact that all is not as well as it can be. I apologise for any concern and can only assure people that this is an exception which we will remedy.
“It’s happened because the systems in place have not been fully maintained.
“There are two points of checking. On this instance both of those points of check failed and we’ll have to remedy that.”
Mr Foster said the investigation will establish a timeline for when, how and why the information went astray and check all procedures are as strong as possible.
He added: “It’s a matter of training and applying and checking procedures.”
From now on there will be two separate checks of furniture at different times and if anything is locked it must be opened first.
Labour leader Councillor Catherine West said: “I’m worried there may have been a serious and substantial breach of the council’s duty of care to vulnerable children. We must know urgently how it happened.”
Council leader Terry Stacy said: “I apologise on behalf of Islington Council for the loss of confidential documents. This should not have happened.
“The council has a clear policy on secure document handling and disposal and this incident is a breach of these arrangements.”
|
 |
|
|
|
Your comments:
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
