This is scheduled for next Tuesday, 11 July at 6.00pm in Blackdown House, streamed live on the EDDC Youtube channel. 

In October 2022 Verita Consultancy Ltd were appointed by East Devon District Council (EDDC) to carry out an independent investigation into the actions of the council following the allegations, criminal charges and subsequent conviction of former councillor John Humphreys.

The aim of the investigation is to understand the actions of staff and Councillors in the handling of matters relating to former councillor John Humphreys, and to recommend any improvements required for the Council with particular reference to safeguarding issues.

The purpose of the extraordinary full council meeting is to discuss and agree the recommendations of the Verita report.

There are now two Verita reports published in the public domain:

Independent investigation into the actions of EDDC following the allegations and criminal charges against John Humphreys This is a revised version of the original report that was withdrawn in March, following the receipt of further information.

Supplementary Report to the above which reviews the further information received from Devon and Cornwall Police that appeared to cast doubt on the accuracy of the evidence gathered originally.

It has taken longer than expected to conduct this supplementary work, partly because it spanned the period during which the elections were held, mainly because of “shortcomings in the retention of important information”.

In paragraph 24 of the supplement, Verita catalogues, over four pages, the sequence of key events and tasks (50) that needed to be completed for this phase of the review.

As Verita acknowledges, the commissioning group: led by the EDDC Finance Officer with Chair EDDC, originally Cllr Ian Thomas, now Cllr Eleanor Rylance, Cllr Sarah Jackson the Portfolio Holder for Democracy and Transparency and Cllr Jess Bailey; has had to work hard with them to facilitate progress and resolve barriers. 

The group met 13 times in 13 weeks.

This has now become a very involved and complicated inquiry.

To gain a flavour of this Owl reproduces the “Findings and Conclusions” of the Supplementary Report.

This is a review of the additional information provided by the Police.

However, it is necessary to read everything in the context of both reports.

Glossary:

LADO Local Authority Designated Officer

MAS Multi- Agency Safeguarding

fMO former Monitoring Officer

From the Verita Supplementary Report to EDDC dated June 2023.

3. Findings and conclusions

 Findings

73. We set out below the key findings of this phase of the investigation. 

F1 The minutes of DCC’s LADO MAS meeting of 9 March 2016 record that “The Chief of East Devon District Council had been made aware of the situation”.

F2 The fMO has denied that he received a copy of those minutes and maintains that he is unaware of the statement made in them about “The Chief”. Although the minutes of the meetings indicate that they were to be sent to those attending, we have been unable to get definitive confirmation from DCC that the minutes of the 9 March 2016 meeting were sent to the fMO. 

F3 Having seen the correspondence between the fMO and the Police we find that it reinforces our view that the fMO was under strict instructions from the Police not to let Humphreys know that he was aware of the circumstances. 

F4 Whatever his reasons for asking how he should engage, if at all, with Humphreys, our view is that he did not and this was consistent with Police advice, and with the evidence he had already given us. 

F5 The statement in the minutes of the DCC LADO MAS meeting on 9 March 2016 is not attributed to any person or organisation. We found no-one who was able to substantiate or corroborate the statement. We do not know which person or organisation made the statement. 

F6 The CEO, after delaying the release to Verita of his answers to our questions, has denied any knowledge of this statement. 

F7 We were unable to contact the three former DCC officers who attended the meeting as they had left the Council.  

F8 Our attempts to validate the information were reliant on DCC, the Police and EDDC holding comprehensive contemporaneous records. In the case of DCC and EDDC we found shortcomings in the retention of important information.

F9 We found no reliable evidence, other than this statement, to confirm that the CEO of EDDC had been made aware of any developments in respect of Humphreys. 

Conclusions 

74. We consider that the record in the minutes of the meeting on 9 March 2016 cast doubt on the evidence given by the fMO and the CEO in the course of our original investigation. 

75. The statement was, however, recorded in the formal minutes of a LADO MAS meeting, and we have no evidence that it was subsequently amended. In our view it is more likely than not, on the balance of probabilities, that the comment was made in the course of that meeting. 

76. Although the precise wording of the statement may be open to misinterpretation, we conclude that the reference to “The Chief” could only mean the CEO of EDDC. 

77. However, because we have been unable to corroborate this statement, we conclude that it does not constitute sufficiently reliable evidence that the CEO of EDDC was aware of the Humphreys situation.