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Letters from Connexions Letter to an ARCH spokesperson from Anne Weinstock, Chief Executive of Connexions 06/11/02 Dear Terri, I am writing to ask you for a slot in your diary to discuss the Connexions Service. I know that ARCH are passionate about young people and concerned about the way in which information about them is shared and I share these passions and concerns. I have only recently joined the Department for Education and Skills and I came specifically to run the Connexions Service precisely because I'm convinced that we are developing something new and exciting that will benefit young people. As you probably know, young people are involved in the design and management of the service. That's why I am worried that you have misinterpreted the aim and processes of the service and think that a meeting might help. I also wonder whether you might like to visit your local Connexions Partnership which would enable you to see some of the excellent work taking place at grass roots level. Your website suggests that sensitive information collected by Connexions is being shared with all and sundry. This is definitely not the case. Information given by young people will only be shared with other professionals where their support is needed and with the express consent of the young person. The exceptions to this confidentiality are made very clear and relate, for example, to child abuse and imminent danger. Everything the Connexions Service does is in accordance with the Data Protection and Human Rights Acts. Our primary concern is to enable young people to have access to services which will provide them with an excellent start in life. I must admit to a fear that negative press coverage will do untold damage and spoil the opportunities for joined up service delivery that so many of our most vulnerable teenagers desperately need. I do hope that you will be able to meet me. I will ask my secretary to contact you. Anne Weinstock Reply sent by ARCH 28 November 2002 Dear Ms Weinstock, Thank you for your letter of 4th November. As you are probably aware, ARCH is a network of families throughout the UK and I am only one of several spokespersons within that network. We have discussed the points you raise and this reply is sent as a result. We were somewhat surprised to receive your letter, bearing in mind the rebuffs we received to our enquiries about the Connexions service when we first made approaches about our areas of concern. Initial evasion was followed by a refusal to speak to us, following which attempts were made to marginalise us and portray us to others as misguided and in error. Over the last 18 months we have researched the Connexions service and believe that we now have a sound knowledge of both its day to day workings and the aims behind it. We are also entirely aware of the attempt to camouflage those aims and the misinformation circulated publicly. It has taken us concerted and persistent effort finally to achieve some publicity and to advance the matter into the public arena for discussion. We are gratified to see that others too are now increasingly making known their concerns about how the service is organised, and note that Ofsted itself has recently voiced the same concerns about data sharing, and about the training, supervision and skills of Personal Advisers. Against this background, we now receive your invitation to discuss what is still referred to as our misinterpretation of the "aim and processes of the service". We must assume that you have studied our website and are therefore fully aware of our position, yet your letter fails adequately to address any of our concerns. You would appear not to have grasped that there is considerable discontent with the Connexions service "at grass roots level". Until there is some evidence of an understanding of the issues we are raising and a commitment to addressing them, we can see no useful purpose in a meeting with you. We do agree that it appears that information collected by Connexions can be shared with "all and sundry", yet all we have done is to set out those agencies entitled by s120 Learning and Skills Act 2000 to share information, including sensitive information. |