When Dave received the letter from the local MP dated 5 December 2011 he was dismayed at the deliberate obfuscation.  The salient issue of the 'claim' that a letter was sent to him by the Director of Children's Services was avoided and a "copy" conveniently added as an enclosure as if proof that it was sent.  However, that "copy" seemed to have a part missing and so Dave phoned the Director's office on 9 December 2011 and asked for a full copy.  The secretary kindly emailed the original Word document (below) the same day and said she would put a copy in the post for Dave's files.  This Word document raised more suspicions since it was not the same as the one sent to the MP.  The hard copy never arrived - maybe the Director intercepted it.

From: Elizabeth Prendergast <Elizabeth.Prendergast@sumshire.gov.uk> To: "dave@inkomi.co.uk" <dave@inkomi.co.uk> Subject: Hook Letter (04-10-11).doc Dear Mr Hook, Please find attached letter from Adrian Greenhead, as discussed. I have put a copy in the post for you, for your file. Kind regards Liz Elizabeth Prendergast PA to Abigail Nobel, Asst. Director, Children's Services Sumshire County Council County Offices Oldacre Chainton AZ1 1ZA Tel: 01234 567890 Note: We are a Microsoft Office site. Our base version is 2003. Please make sure that files you send can be read in this format. Any form of reproduction, dissemination, copying, disclosure, modification, distribution and/or publication of this e-mail is strictly prohibited save unless expressly authorised by the sender. The information contained in this message is intended for the named recipients only. It may contain privileged and confidential information and if you are not the addressee or the person responsible for delivering this to the addressee, you may not copy, distribute or take action in reliance on it. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender(s) immediately by telephone. Please also destroy and delete as soon as possible the message from your computer. ********************************************************************************* ********************************************************************************* Hook Letter (04-10-11).doc

This is the content of the attached Word document.  It strangely differs from the "copy" sent to the MP.  Not by a lot but Mr Hook's address is repositioned and the layout consequently differs from the "copy".  The strong implication is that this letter was never printed out and sent to either Mr Hook or the local MP.  On examining the Word document, in the hope of establishing that it had been hastily put together to cover their tracks, Dave found that the properties of the Word document suggested it had indeed been created on the 4 October 2011.  Precisely the properties state "Created: 04 October 2011 16:54:00".  But it also asserts it was "Printed: 21 January 2008 13:04:00" which rather invalidates the reliability of these properties and suggests it was never printed and sent to Dave.  Even that doesn't explain things because there was a version evidently printed out and supplied (albeit incomplete) to the MP prior to this emailed copy.  Something is definitely amiss and Dave intends to get to the bottom of all this.

Sumshire COUNTY COUNCIL 04 October 2011 Adrian Greenhead Head of Service Children's Services Directorate Room 4.13 Plantation house Plantation Street Chainton AZ1 1ZA Tel:  (01234) 567890 Fax:  (01234) 567890 Mr Dave Hook 80 Haslet Road, Biston Sumshire AZ1 1ZA Dear Mr. Hook, Further to our meeting on the 24th August I am now in a position to respond to the points we agreed at the meeting. Firstly may I apologise for you not receiving a response any sooner, and thank you for your patience. At our meeting and in subsequent emails we agreed that I would respond to your concerns that: The length of time to respond to complaints has been out of timescales; That assessments (initial and core), were submitted out of timescales; That the content of the assessments was written in a prejudicial fashion; That you were not effectively involved during the process of assessment; That the overall impact of the above concerns has been negative You have also asked that the reports (Initial Assessment and Core Assessment) be removed from the ICS System as you feel that they are illegitimate in themselves. I shall endeavour to respond to each point in turn. 1.  The length of time to respond to complaints has been out of timescales I do acknowledge that the length of time taken to respond to this complaint, and previous concerns have not been within the timescales allowed as part of Sumshire County Council's complaints procedure. For this I sincerely apologise, and shall be working with my team to ensure that any future complaints or concerns from either yourself or any other party is dealt with in accordance with the policy. 2.  That assessments (initial and core), were submitted out of timescales I have reviewed the dates of the assessments (initial and Core) on ICS and cannot find any evidence that they were approved outside of the target timescales. 3.  That the content of the assessments was written in a prejudicial fashion From my reading of the Initial Assessment and Core Assessment held on ICS I have found the language used to be appropriate given the context of the assessment.  However I do recognise that taken out of this context the language could be seen as inappropriate. 4.  That you were not effectively involved during the process of assessment From the reports held on the ICS system I do acknowledge that there is limited information pertaining to your direct involvement during the process of assessment.  Again, for this I apologise and will ensure that in respect of future practise wherever possible (in the best interests of the child), we shall engage the voice of parents and carers in our assessment processes. 5.  That the overall impact of the above concerns has been negative Clearly, by virtue of the fact that you have felt the need to complain there has been a negative impact on you and your family.  However, given that I find that our actions have been in line with normal operational practice Sumshire County Council can take no responsibility for the nature of any specific difficulties that you may have had or are currently experiencing. In respect of the removal of reports from the ICS System, I am afraid that I am unable to support this request, as an authority we have a legal duty to retain records related to our assessments, even where the outcome is that no further action is necessary. We are of course pleased that our Core Assessment activity found no further cause for concern because as I relayed when we met, the best place for children is with their families.  We do continue to want the best for you and Helen and will be providing you with contacts or information related to support available to you in Biston as agreed. Whilst I recognise that some of my findings may still be at odds with your expectations, I hope that this letter clarifies for you the areas of concern that you have raised. Further to your letter of the 2nd October, again I apologise for the delay and distress this has caused and have recommended that we progress to stage two of our complaints process. Yours sincerely Adrian Greenhead Head of Service