A whistleblower MP has accused a council’s “activist” staff of putting diversity and inclusion above children’s safeguarding. Tory MP Rebecca Paul, a Surrey County Council councillor, has told how she reported a “deeply concerning photo” of now convicted pedophile Stephen Ireland with a child to both protection officials at the council and Surrey Police in 2023.
But her alarm about the 2021 photo was allegedly met with an informal complaint against her by county council officers. She also said she was asked to halt communication with staff on the equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) portfolio without cabinet members’ approval.
Ms Paul said she was moved off her EDI role around two weeks after she first voiced concerns.
The councillor had urged senior officers at the local authority not to allocate any further funds to Pride in Surrey, which was co-founded by Ireland, while he was investigated.
But a Freedom of Information Act request shared online appeared to show the organisation continued to receive funds from the county council despite the concerns.
It is understood that an independent review into the council’s handling of the matter has taken place but the findings have yet to be made public.
Ms Paul said: “Many officers, and this includes some of the most senior, are not acting impartially in their roles. Some I would go as far to say are activists. And I think it’s fair to say I was a thorn in their side with all my questions and challenges, so they wanted rid. To be clear I do not include the new CEO in this who, although being slow to release the findings of the review, has been the only senior officer to take my concerns seriously and bring in an independent reviewer, which I am incredibly grateful for. But action is now needed.
“As far as I’m concerned, child safeguarding trumps everything. A council should always be putting the safety and needs of children first, and not pandering to a minority group.”
“Depressingly there are officers at the council that put EDI above child safeguarding. And that leads to different standards for different groups, which is a predator’s dream. It is in everyone’s interests for all groups to be held to the same high standards
“Imagine what signal it sends to council employees when someone is removed from their role for rightly flagging a child safeguarding concern? It makes them much less likely to report something when it doesn’t fit with senior officers’ world view. Surrey County Council need to urgently release the findings of the independent review and take real action to address this culture.”
Ireland was jailed for 24 years in June after being found guilty in March of raping an “extremely vulnerable” 12-year-old boy.
The county council finally cut all ties with the Pride group in July, four years after whistleblowers first raised serious concerns about its pedophile founder.
Surrey council’s chief executive has withdrawn funding from the controversial Pride in Surrey group, and has barred staff from attending Saturday’s Pride event in an official capacity.
Terence Herbert, chief executive of Surrey County Council, said: “The council is reviewing any interactions regarding Stephen Ireland and Pride in Surrey during his time at the organisation. We are awaiting the conclusions of that review. While we wholeheartedly support the LGBTQ+ community in Surrey, there is no funding currently committed to sponsoring Pride in Surrey.”
Recent applications for funding for Pride in Surrey from certain opposition councillors has been refused by the council.
While the council supports the LGBTQ+ community in Surrey, there have been concerns raised about Pride in Surrey as an organisation.
They do not believe Pride in Surrey to be truly representative of the whole LGBTQ+ community and Surrey County Council services, including Surrey Fire and Rescue Service, will not be attending or funding Surrey Pride.