Shredders United (11/11/14)

Here's an interesting article from The Times which confirms the fondness that people in high places have for destroying records and evidence.

Watchdog joins row over shredding of MPs’ expenses claims

John Bercow presided over the destruction of thousands of expenses claims PA

By Laura Pitel - The Times

Parliament’s expenses watchdog has heaped pressure on John Bercow by revealing that it keeps records of claims for seven years. The Commons Speaker has come under fire after it emerged that he presided over the destruction of thousands of expenses claims under the old regime that existed until 2010.

Commons authorities have insisted they were obliged to shred all records after three years in order to comply with data protection laws. However, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, created after the 2009 expenses scandal, said that it retained claims for much longer. “We haven’t shredded anything and our policy is to keep all evidence for seven years.”

A source at the watchdog told The Daily Telegraph: “When you are thinking about destroying things, you should be thinking about the usefulness and historical importance of it.”

The shredding came to light when three Tory activists asked Kathryn Hudson, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, to look into concerns about their MP’s expenses between 2005 and 2010. She told them all claims made before 2010 had been destroyed.

Vanishing Evidence (6 August 2014)

So it's not just North Lanarkshire Council where hugely significant information goes missing at a critical time.

Here's a report from the BBC which highlights the fact that a crucial police message at the time of the Hillsborough Disaster simply  "vanished from the record" and yet no one, as yet at least, has been held accountable for its mysterious disappearance.

Hillsborough inquests: Crucial police message 'vanished'

Judith Moritz reports on former PC Trevor Bichard's account of the day

A note of a request from officers at Hillsborough, which would have stopped fans entering central pens, "vanished from the record", the inquests into the disaster have heard.

The radio message was from police near the Leppings Lane turnstiles calling for gates at the back of a tunnel to the pens to be shut.

But it was left out of subsequent logs.

Ninety-six fans died following the crush in the pens, when an exit gate was opened at Hillsborough in 1989.

The jury at the inquests in Warrington was shown a log typed by former PC Trevor Bichard from 16 April, the day after the disaster at the FA Cup semi-final game between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.

The request, logged at 14:55 GMT by the CCTV operator in the police control box, said: "From officers at rear of Leppings Lane terrace shut the gates at the back of the tunnel."

Mr Bichard, working in the CCTV room, said he made a note of the message

But mention of the request did not appear in Mr Bichard's second version of his log, written sometime between 16 April and his statement on 2 May.

The jury was told that the original document was available to the Taylor Inquiry into the disaster in 1989, but when Mr Bichard gave evidence at the hearing he said the tunnel was not mentioned in the police control box.

Brenda Campbell, a barrister representing a group of Hillsborough families, said when Mr Bichard was previously interviewed, he told officers the tunnel was "never mentioned, never discussed, never considered verbally".

Ms Campbell asked him: "Under whose orders did you leave it out from your other version?"

Mr Bichard replied: "Nobody's".

He told the jury a handwritten tick next to the message suggested it had been entered into the later log.

Ms Campbell then asked: "Under whose orders did you lie to Lord Justice Taylor, eight weeks later?"

Mr Bichard said: "I've never lied. I've always had honestly held beliefs.

"I'm not saying that I'm right with everything, but my beliefs have always been honestly held."

Ms Campbell said Mr Bichard told Lord Justice Taylor the tunnel "just didn't enter his mind".

She asked him how he explained the lies to Lord Justice Taylor and the original inquests.

Mr Bichard replied: "I can't explain it at all."

Retired PC Trevor Bichard, one of five officers who were in the control room, is continuing to give evidence at the inquests.

He told the jury on Monday no-one inside the box was monitoring the central pens where the crush took place.

The inquests continue.

The request asked for gates behind the Leppings Lane terrace to be closed

Destroying the Evidence (22 June 2014)

I'm told by a highly reliable source that one of the many revelations to emerge from the ongoing Employment Tribunal against North Lanarkshire Council is that senior managers ordered the destruction of important paperwork about the Council's job evaluation scheme (JES).

Now this is shocking on a whole number of counts.

First of all, the new JES was the most significant human resource issue to be dealt with in a generation and senior officials within the Council were well aware of the importance of keeping efficient and accurate records detailing how different jobs were scored and graded by the JES process.

Secondly, the outcomes of the Council's JES was already being vigorously challenged in the Employment Tribunal and so to destroy vital evidence when litigation was underway looks to be a deliberate act - an attempt to bury the evidence, if you like.

Thirdly, in this modern day and age absolutely no one, especially one of Scotland's largest councils, would be dumb enough not to 'back up' important records on a hard disk to keep them safe and secure for future reference.

So the big questions for senior officials within North Lanarkshire to answer are:

1. Exactly which records have been destroyed?
2. Which jobs have been affected?      
3. When was this instruction issued and by whom?
4. Why were the paper records not backed up?
5. Who is being held accountable and in what way for this shocking mess?

And you would think that local politicians would take these points up, on a cross party and all party basis, and help get to the bottom of exactly what has been going on.