Unwise to say the least....

Last week I published a blog about a Hartlepool council employee, Edwin Jeffries, using his hartlepool.gov.uk email address to encourage attendance and accept bookings for the Peoples' Assembly coaches to protest at the Conservative Party Conference. 

See HERE

I am grateful to Hartlepool Council's Monitoring Officer for his prompt and courteous response to my inquiry.

I refer to my earlier e-mail below and the mention that I would undertake further inquiries.

 

I was able to see Mr Jeffries yesterday and reminded him of the sensitivities behind use of the Council’s e-mail in conjunction with the Council’s ‘E-mail Policy’. That policy is designed to ensure, amongst other things, that such use is not ‘inappropriate’ where the Council could be brought into disrepute. Mr Jeffries is a Trade Union representative and is allowed, by law, certain rights in the performance of his Trade Union duties. Consequently that can include the dissemination of information, but in this case, the contact through the Council’s e-mail system for various ‘bus pick up points’ was perhaps unwise, to say the least.

 

Mr Jeffries is accepting of that advice and has been reminded of the Council’s policy on e-mail use. He did use his own personal e-mail in connection with attendance at this ‘rally’ on some literature, but was remiss in using solely the Council’s e-mail as mentioned above. In future, I trust in comparable situations he will rely on and use solely his own e-mail as opposed to the Council’s.

 

I trust the information provided herein is of assistance and I will bring this matter to the further attention of the Council’s Chief Executive Officer.