Havering Council: Racism and sexism dossier to remain secret

The Romford Recorder fought for two years for council taxpayers’ right to read the document, which they had paid for.

We took our legal fight to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) – but the watchdog has ruled that the public interest in the contents is overridden by an interest in suppressing the information.

The council claimed the document was “raw, unfiltered and uncensored… with a view to full and frank disclosure”, so publishing it “would lead to staff being more reserved” in similar future investigations, creating a “chilling effect”.

Even councillors were prevented in 2021 from viewing the 400-page dossier, despite being asked to tackle the “disturbing” culture it had uncovered.

Investigation

The Local Government Association (LGA) read the secret “internal self-assessment” as part of a voluntary review, and concluded that racism and sexism had been “normalised” at Havering Council.

But councillors tasked with fixing the problem could only go on the LGA’s conclusion, not the evidence which prompted it.

The existence of the top secret, 400-page racism and sexism dossier was revealed in this Local Government Association (LGA) report, known as the READI report (Image: Archant)

The council claimed showing elected members the actual evidence of racism and sexism would not be fair to the staff who had reported it.

Ray Morgon – who was then leader of the opposition, but is now leader of the council – complained at the time that the “very generic” LGA report left him “not quite knowing where the issues lie”.

“Is this mainly an internal problem, or are there problems outside?” he asked in 2021. “Does it include councillors? Not include councillors?

“The solutions appear to be quite generic as well. I’m not overly optimistic that it will address the problems.”

Secrecy

But under Cllr Morgon’s leadership the council has continued to fight against the Romford Recorder’s bid to make the document public.

In a statement this week, the council said: “We understand the importance of transparency and accountability, however, it is imperative that staff feel protected and can participate in reviews such as this with the confidence their identities and experiences will be kept confidential.

“We therefore welcome the ICO’s decision.”

The LGA said it had seen 'disturbing' examples of racism, sexism and disability discrimination - but Havering taxpayers have been banned from hearing any details about them (Image: Archant)

The Recorder had specifically stated that the identities of those who reported the incidents should be redacted before publication – a requirement under data protection rules anyway.

We began battling to uncover the 400-page dossier in autumn 2021, when it was briefly mentioned in the LGA’s Race, Equality, Accessibility, Diversity and Inclusion report into Havering (also known as the READI report).

'Discrimination'

The READI report said there was evidence of discrimination at the council based on race, gender, sexuality and disability.

It found “widespread negative views” about the council’s record on equality, with staff “frequently” alleging “casual racism” and “casual sexism”.

Employees said there was “a culture of no consequences” and “a lack of support” for victims.

Councillors and middle managers were said to be “unaware” of their legal responsibilities and while there were “pockets of good practice”, that was “not consistent across the organisation”.

The LGA said they heard “examples of racism, sexism and discriminatory behaviour towards disabled people” which were “disturbing”.

However, these examples were kept out of the LGA’s report.

Catch up:

-'Disturbing': Report finds culture of 'normalised' racism and sexism at Havering Council

-Council refuses to publish dossier on racism and sexism allegations

The LGA's READI report said the 400-page dossier showed racism and sexism had become 'normalised' at Havering Council - but the authority has won the legal right to cover up the evidence (Image: Archant)

Public interest

The Recorder argued that there was an overwhelming public interest in transparency over a taxpayer-funded investigation into wrongdoing at Havering Council.

But the council claimed that if forced to publish the dossier, other organisations undergoing similar reviews in the future would “either not engage in the process at all, or spin such information so as to ‘control the narrative’.”

The ICO wrote that, “there is a public interest in disclosure of the information”, citing the “weighty public interest in disclosure of information that relates to issues that concern race equality, accessibility, diversity and inclusion”.

But it added: “The commissioner accepts the council’s argument that there is a real risk that disclosure of the requested information would affect the openness of future peer reviews and self-assessments conducted by councils.”

Havering Council said it was “pleased” with the decision.

“We acknowledge we still have a long way to go,” a spokesperson said, adding that it was working with managers, unions and staff forums to “build a modern, inclusive workforce in an anti-discrimination organisation”.