Following an interesting exchange of emails yesterday with a number of Rotherham councillors I have submitted a formal complaint online about Judith Badger. Note what Judith Badger wrote to me on 29 September 2017, Deputising on behalf of the Chief Executive (Sharon Kemp) in response to the petition I spoke to at the Council meeting on 13 September 2017: ----- Original Message ----- From: Kemp, Sharon Sent: Friday, September 29, 2017 4:59 PM Subject: Petition Dear Mr. Harron, I write in response to your petition submitted and presented to the Council on 13th September 2017. Your petition requested that I “write to all employees of RMBC about the importance of truthfulness in their communications with representatives and advocates of victims and survivors of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) in Rotherham”. As stated by The Mayor at Council it was confirmed that I would provide a written response. As Chief Executive of the Council I believe truthfulness is essential in everything that we say and do and one of the first things I did upon becoming Chief Executive was develop a set of staff values and behaviours (attached). The five values are: • Honest – open and transparent in everything we say and do • Accountable – we own our decisions, we do what we say and we acknowledge and learn from our mistakes • Respectful – we show regard and sensitivity for the feelings, rights and views of others • Ambitious – we are dedicated, committed and positive, embracing change with energy and creativity • Proud – we take pride in our borough and the job that we do You will see both from the values and the underpinning behaviours for each value that I am fully committed and recognise the importance of honesty and respect with all the people of our borough and particularly with the victims and survivors. These values have been shared with every member of staff and have become embedded in our everyday practice and way of working and our managers continue to work with all staff to ensure that we consistently apply these across all our interactions with residents, partners, stakeholders and each other. I understand that you will be meeting Shokat Lal, Assistant Chief Executive, next week who will be taking you through exactly how we have implemented and use the values and behaviours. So in response to your petition I would like to assure you that I have already engaged with the workforce on the importance of being truthful and will continue to reinforce this message. I would also like to thank you for raising the petition and recognise both the importance and significance of the issues. Kind regards Judith Badger Deputising on behalf of the Chief Executive ……………………………………………………………………………………….. Here is my complaint: Complaint about Judith Badger, Strategic Director, Finance and Customer Services On Monday 2 October 2017 I emailed Judith a simple but very important request in her role as Strategic Director, Finance and Customer Services. I wish to complain about the lack of response from Judith Badger. Almost unbelievably the request I sent to Judith goes back to a letter I sent Dermot Pearson (Assistant Director, Legal Services) on 6 October 2016. The letter to Dermot Pearson on 6 October 2016 included this: It is so important that the facts are established. Officers in RMBC cannot establish the type of culture I referred to in my first letter to you on 19 September, nor bring about a better future, if they do not honestly deal with the mistakes of the past, including mistakes over the past fifteen months. On 7.12.15. I once again requested a Review of my FOI Request on 16.9.15. Sadly, despite offering to meet or at least talk to the Reviewer to clarify my concerns, Linton Steele’s review, sent to me on 15.1.16., was quite limited in scope. Despite its limitations, the Review revealed new and disturbing information about Jean Imray’s involvement – information that did not go far enough to get to the truth. Linton Steele, before sending his Review, picked up my concerns about dishonesty and on 12.1.16. referred this onto “Mrs Parkinson the Interim Director of Legal Services and Monitoring Officer, and her deputy Mr Fletcher” (See point 6 below). I still do know if any action was taken about this – despite Jean Imray indicating on 22.2.16 that she had been dishonest in the FOI response sent to me. What would you like to happen in response to your complaint? A prompt professional response from Judith Badger, Strategic Director, Finance and Customer Services ----- Original Message ----- From: Reply-To: Sent: 09/11/2017 18:01:39 Subject: Your Rotherham live online form receipt This is an automated message from an unattended mailbox. Thank you for completing the Complain about Council Services form.