In the Shiptonthorpe Village newsletter dated October 2023, PC Chairman Victor Lambert wrote that the Shiptonthorpe Parish Council had complained about non compliance issues to the Information Commissioners Office and East Riding Council.

The outcome is now known and as it’s unlikely that Cllr Victor Lambert will provide any information, I am happy to update residents.

The Information Commissioners Office has responded:

“We have considered the information you have provided and we have determined that no further action by the ICO is necessary on this occasion.
Your correspondence states that, while you are not able to explicitly confirm that data has been deleted due to the nature of the incident, you believe that the majority of the lost data relates to internal councillor interaction. This suggests a lower likelihood of risk of harm or detriment than if documents or data relating to parishioners or members of the public had been deleted”.

The East Riding Monitoring Officer has stated to me that:

“generally, we are unable to accept complaints about Parish Clerks. Complaints about individuals who are no longer Councillors (at the time of receipt of a complaint) would usually be ‘filtered’ out by the Monitoring Officer, in accordance with the Standards Committee’s adopted process/procedures”.

On 31 May 2023 the internal auditor for SPC reported:

• The accounts and governance arrangements of the council have been maintained to a very high standard.
• The internal financial control environment within the council is excellent.
• The Internal Audit has been conducted in accordance with the Governance and Accountability for Local Councils – Practitioners Guide 2022.

I confirm that I have no relationship or interest, financial or otherwise, with any member or officer of the council.
Richard Dixon

In summary:

• Cllr Victor Lambert was not able to provide any evidence to the ICO that information had been deleted.
• The ICO has decided no action is required.
• The ERYC Monitoring Officer has explained how complaints about former councillors are filtered out.
• Cllr Victor Lambert said he would provide an update when the outcome of the complaint was known.
• The internal auditor gave the council a clean bill of health in May.
• A draft copy of recent council minutes stated that the former Internal Auditor was friends with the Clerk even though no such statment was made.
• Cllr David Gough continues to claim that data has been deleted.
• It’s almost as if David Gough made claims, repeated by others, before checking if there was any evidence to prove that his claims could be justified.