The Bournemouth and Poole College's poor compliance with the Freedom of Information Act continues, having failed to reply to internal review requests after almost a year

(Post made at 1618 UK BST time on 6 Jun 2018 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests).

The Bournemouth and Poole College is extremely late in responding to two Freedom of Information Act internal reviews:

How often have fire drills taken place at the Centre for Wessex Young Musicians? 

(see here).

and

Discrepancies in information given by College about communicating Wessex Youth Orchestra rehearsal dates to schools

(see here).

Bournemouth and Poole College's Centre for Wessex Young Musicians Facebook page still claims it is a charity ...if so, since when?

(Post made at 1900 UK time on 05 Jan 2018 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests). 

Further to my previous post, the Facebook page still claims that the CWYM is a charity.  The normal rule is that organisations with income exceeding £5,000 and claiming to be charities need to be registered ...

Update 1630 UK time on 10 Jan 2018: the page now seems to have been corrected, and says "Orchestra in Poole, Dorset". This particular Facebook page seems to have been set up almost a year ago (the first visible post is dated 7 Feb 2017 - how long has the false claim been made that CWYM (or by implication SWYM) is a charity? And why did the College think this was appropriate/acceptable? During my time on the SWYM Committee the question as to whether SWYM could become a charity was discussed on several occasions, and each time the College representatives replied that SWYM could not be a charity because it was part of the College.  (Indeed this appears to be correct from paragraph 1 of the SWYM Constitution -unless this was changed at the 2017 AGM which is possible but unlikely -which says

The society shall be called the Society for Wessex Young Musicians and shall be affiliated to and form part of Bournemouth and Poole College of Further Education (“The College”).)

So whoever set up the claim in the CWYM Facebook page that it was a charity should have known that this not right.)

The Bournemouth and Poole College's Wessex Youth Orchestra spent just under £2,000 on extra players for two concerts

(Post made at 1412 UK time on 02 Jan 2018 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests). 

On 3 December 2016, as still then Chairman of the Society for Wessex Young Musicians (SWYM), I was very surprised to be asked to sign cheques totalling just over £3,000.  This included just under £2,000 for extra players for the WYO's concerts of 16 November 2016 (the Music for Youth Schools' Prom at the Royal Albert Hall, 16 extra players) and 4 December 2016 at the Lighthouse (at least 8 extra players).

I have no objections to extra players in principle e.g. to fill in missing parts (e.g. harp), or in situations where the musicians concerned were ex WYO members. The latter help provide extra continuity, and can usefully - because they often know the WYO children well - be part of the accompanying adults team on tours.

But the numbers involved seemed a) much higher than usual, b) the majority had no connection with the WYO, and c) had not been cleared with the SWYM Committee in advance. Expenditure had instead been approved for the WYO to receive sectional rehearsals led by Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra players. I have always felt this was very valuable because all WYO players benefit from such tuition, and it also enhances the link with our excellent local professional orchestra.

The Bournemouth and Poole College's Centre for Wessex Young Musicians Facebook page claims it is a charity - I don't believe it is one

(Post made at 0855 UK time on 02 Jan 2018 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests). 

The Centre for Wessex Young Musicians (CWYM)'s Facebook page, set up by the Bournemouth and Poole College early in 2017, is at https://www.facebook.com/cwymwyo/.

This states that it is a "Charity in Poole, Dorset" (click on the image to see it in larger detail).

Why? And for how long has this claim (false in my view) been made?

To the best of my knowledge, CWYM has never been a charity, and neither has SWYM (the Society for Wessex Young Musicians).

"Even though I'm deaf, it does not mean I can't play the violin!": a touching, but also troubling story

(Post made at 2110 on 24 Dec 2017 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests). 

I must confess to ignorance here: I knew about virtuoso percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie, but before reading a recent article in the National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS) magazine, I did not know that deaf people could play the violin.

The NDCS has a "Get Deaf Aware" poster (the link should download a copy to your device) that includes as one of its phrases "Even though I'm deaf, it doesn't mean I can't play the violin!". There is a touching (but also troubling) article in their magazine about a girl with moderate deafness who has been playing the violin and has really been enjoying it.

To quote the article:

"This summer Olivia, who's been playing the violin since she was seven years old, won our Raising the Bar competition.  Her prize was to spend a weekend playing in an orchestra with professional musicians who are deaf, which gave her another confidence boost".

I have made contact today with the Bournemouth and Poole College's Board and I was also contacted by Ofsted

(Post made at 2246 BST on 26 Sep 2017 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests). 

I have just managed to contact a member of the Bournemouth and Poole College's Board directly (as you recall the College refused to pass on my concerns to that Board). I have asked for a formal response from the Board.

As a result, I now hope that my concerns (and those of the other parents and teachers whose evidence formed the basis of my complaint to the College) will be properly addressed.

Bournemouth and Poole College: a failure of governance because of a lack of accountability and little apparent concern for ethics

(Post made at 2245 BST on 25 Sep 2017 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests). 

In my opinion a flawed complaints system (which is being used to silence criticism rather than address it) is preventing accountability for poor practices.  In what way is the College accountable for what I believe to be very poor ethical behaviour, if it accepts the results of a manifestly flawed (and itself unethical, because of incorrect statements that no witnesses came forward to support complaints) "independent" complaints investigation?  Where is the accountability and ethics in the College refusing to allow an appeal despite the clear flaws in the investigation?  Where is the accountability in the College refusing to allow my concerns to be passed on to its Board? How is the College's refusal to investigate items complained about not a violation of its Complaints Policy? Aren't all these things further evidence of unethical behaviour and a failure of culture, governance and leadership at the Bournemouth and Poole College?

My concerns about the current operation of the College's Complaints Policy

(Post made at 1957 BST on 15 Sep 2017 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests).  

In my opinion, based on my recent experience, there are many things about the current operation of the Bournemouth and Poole College's Complaints Policy that are inconsistent with good practice. Here are some of them:

The independent investigator appointed (and paid, although this is itself is not unusual) by the College objected to my taking a netbook (a small computer) to my first meeting with her, saying it made her feel uncomfortable, and there was no need for me to take notes because a notetaker from the College was present. I explained that I wanted to be able to refer to correspondence, and to take my own notes.  She insisted that she would prefer me not to. I therefore agreed to close the netbook. Soon in the meeting she asked me questions that I needed to refer to correspondence to answer, so I asked (and was granted permission) to temporarily open the netbook.  Towards the end of the meeting, I wanted to make a note of some action points that were down to me as a result of the meeting, so again I asked (and was granted permission) to write them down in my netbook. I said it was irregular that I was not allowed to take my own notes, in the way that I have done throughout my career to date, including meetings with senior lawyers, and in sensitive discussions.

The other complainant (my wife) had presented a detailed written statement to her first meeting with the investigator. (Her complaint and mine were being treated by the College as a joint complaint and were being investigated by the same investigator, albeit with separate meetings).

Response eventually received from BPCollege Principal, very unsatisfactory in my opinion

(Post made at 1112 BST on 29 Aug 2017 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests).  

See the comment added on 21 Aug 2017 to my previous post.

No response yet from BPCollege to my letter re significant concerns about the impartiality and fairness of recent complaint investigation

(Post made at 2354 BST on 31 Jul 2017 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests. Update 01 Sep 2017: response eventually received from the College, please see the comment below this post).  

This is a follow up to the preceding post.  Here is a copy of an email I sent earlier to the College (the chain of emails referred to is shown in the preceding post and this one):

Open letter:

Dear Bournemouth and Poole College Principal (cc Quality team)

I do not appear to have had any response to my requests, despite asking that correspondence be forwarded to someone deputising for you in your absence:

1. (see my email of 14 July below to your Quality team) “Please advise me which external agency is most appropriate.”
2. (see my emails of 17 July below), asking for confirmation that my email of 1017 on 17 July has been forwarded to the Chair of the Bournemouth and Poole College Board together with my comments “Please also forward this to James Hampton, Chair of the Bournemouth and Poole College Board – I wish the Board to be aware of my concerns about the way this investigation has been conducted and to ask for a response from them.”

Please would you provide me with responses to 1 and 2 above as soon as possible, and no later than 1700 on Friday 4 August.

Yours faithfully

Patrick Lee

One more witness confirms s/he was not contacted by the College/Independent Investigator

(Post made at 1757 BST on 18 Jul 2017 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests)

So far this makes a total of 6 supportive witnesses who say they were not contacted, and 2 who were, but were given a very unreasonable deadline (just over three hours before midnight to reply the same day).

If key witnesses for one side are not called, how can the process be impartial?

(Post made on 17 Jul 2017 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests)

In my opinion the impartiality and fairness of the investigation carried out cannot be relied upon (key witnesses not contacted + other irregularities)

(Post made on 17 Jul 2017 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests).  

This is a follow up to the preceding post.  This is a copy of an email just sent to the Bournemouth and Poole College.

Open letter:

Dear Quality team and Bournemouth and Poole College Principal

In fact I have since heard that, contrary to the statement in the Independent Investigator outcome letter to me that no witnesses interviewed corroborated my allegations and that no witnesses had been willing to step forward to support my allegations, so far 4 witnesses have confirmed that they were NOT contacted by the College/View HR Limited (the Independent Investigator’s company).  In addition, 2 witnesses had been contacted, but were given an unreasonable deadline (email sent at 2049 on 11 July requesting a response “today”). I also know so far of at least 1 witness supportive of the other person’s complaint who was also NOT contacted by the College/View HR Limited. In my opinion this raises serious questions about the impartiality and fairness of the investigation. 

in my opinion, in view of this and other procedural improprieties the outcome of the investigations must be regarded as suspect and neither the College nor anyone else should place any reliance on the investigation carried out by View HR Limited. I understand that some of the witnesses who the Independent Investigator failed to contact will be getting in touch with the College.

Yours faithfully

Patrick Lee   

Am losing confidence that BPCollege can be trusted to investigate itself for complaints of significant failings

Every day, I receive more evidence of highly questionable behaviour, some of which the College must have known about. (Apart from anything else, I raised concerns with them several months ago, yet their response was to shoot the messenger).

Recent events have also led me to question whether the College act with the required independence when investigating complaints, and whether the College really cares about the accuracy/reliability of its external communications.