80 Days Later And Still No Jillings Decision

On November 13th Wrexham Council revealed they had a copy of the previously thought to be lost Jillings report into North Wales child abuse. Wrexham.com placed a Freedom Of Information request to gain a copy of the report.

Today we are told that after eighty days the Council still has not decided what to do.

They said “The Council is, I am afraid, still considering legal advice and carrying out relevant consultations. This is taking much longer than originally anticipated but I am sure you will appreciate that decisions relating to such sensitive information need to be properly researched and resolved in accordance with the law and in the wider public interest. We are fully aware of our duties under the Freedom of Information Act, 2000, however, and we will respond to you just as soon as we are able.”

In early December we were told the decision was taking longer than anticipated – story here – and then in late December we were told a decision was being delayed until 2013.

We have also previously submitted FOI’s to find out how exactly a ‘lost’ report could have been rediscovered so promptly – you can read our report here.

Wrexham.com has contacted the Guinness Book Of Records to discover if there is a World Record for the longest FOI response, and if not, we will put this forward as a candidate.

UPDATE: Little Acton councillor William Baldwin has been in touch to let us know he will be asking a question related to this at Tuesday’s Executive Board meeting of the Council.