UPDATE: Mon 7/09/12 11:54 AM
John,
I’ve sent this straight to the secretary of state.
I’ll let you have his reply as soon as it arrives. If it is unsatisfactory we will see where we go next, i.e. Commissioners etc.
Best,
Ian Murray MP
Labour Member of Parliament for Edinburgh South
Dear Ian,
I wish to officially report a breach of the Civil Service Code of Conduct by Mr. Terry Moran, Chief Operating Officer at the DWP.
He has made statements to hundreds of colleagues which breach the Code’s requirements to act with ‘objectivity’ and ‘impartiality’.
He has blatantly strayed into the political arena:
Objectivity
He paints a picture of an army of people ‘pretending to be disabled’. The DWPs own figures estimate DLA Fraud at just 0.5%. Full Fact and other organisations have conclusively exposed DWP suggestions to the contrary as the propaganda it is – a smokescreen to carry out cuts to the benefits of some of the weakest and most vulnerable people in our society.
Integrity and Impartiality
In view of the above breach of objective standards, Mr. Moran’s behaviour has fallen far short of the conduct that I and other people with impairments are entitled to expect from our public servants.
His behaviour, we submit ‘unjustifiably …..discriminates against particular individuals or interests’ as he makes assertions that are not balanced nor based on ‘rigorous analysis of the evidence’.
The use of anecdotal/hearsay ‘evidence’ allegedly garnered from ‘disabled family members who were upset by the frequent reports of bogus claimants’ compounds his error and is deeply offensive, we submit, to the vast majority of disabled people who are fighting back against unconscionable policies and systems advocated by this government and implemented by him.
His statements have all of the appearance, at least, of having come directly from the present government or in any analysis as an explicit statement of support for it in flagrant breach of the Code.
He cannot pretend that he was ‘speaking personally’.
His bigoted statements, coming as they do from a senior public official of his rank who ought to know better, may be liable to further inflame and incite public hostility to sickness and disability benefit claimants. This is fueling the exponential increase in disability hate crime reported by constabularies throughout the United Kingdom and we have entered into the Official Record of Evidence to the Leveson Inquiry our own evidence to that effect.
Mr. Moran was of course speaking at an official function composed of many hundreds of colleagues according to the objective test.
I would like ask you to write to the relevant commissioners on our behalf and convey to them the very serious level of concern, alarm and anxiety being expressed by disabled people at this latest development.
We do not intend to let this pass.
We implore you to act on this matter of the utmost gravity with the urgency which we believe it fully deserves.
Yours Sincerely,
John McArdle
As a Constituent and
on behalf of
Black Triangle
Anti-Defamation Campaign
In Defence of Disability Rights
https://blacktrianglecampaign.org
The Civil Service Code states:
As a civil servant, you are appointed on merit on the basis of fair and open competition and are expected to carry out your role with dedication and a commitment to the Civil Service and its core values:
integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality.
In this Code:
• ‘integrity’ is putting the obligations of public service above your own personal interests;
• ‘honesty’ is being truthful and open;
• ‘objectivity’ is basing your advice and decisions on rigorous analysis of the evidence; and
• ‘impartiality’ is acting solely according to the merits of the case and serving equally well Governments of different political persuasions.
4. These core values support good government and ensure the achievement of the highest possible standards in all that the Civil Service does. This in turn helps the Civil Service to gain and retain the respect of Ministers, Parliament, the public and its customers.
5. This Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of you and other civil servants. These are based on the core values which are set out in legislation. Individual departments may also have their own separate mission and values statements based on the core values, including the standards of behaviour expected of you when you deal with your colleagues.
Standards of behaviour
Integrity
6. You must:
• fulfil your duties and obligations responsibly;
• always act in a way that is professional and that deserves and retains the confidence of all those with whom you have dealings
• carry out your fiduciary obligations responsibly (that is make sure public money and other resources are used properly and efficiently);
• deal with the public and their affairs fairly, efficiently, promptly, effectively and sensitively, to the best of your ability;
• keep accurate official records and handle information as openly as possible within the legal framework; and comply with the law and uphold the administration of justice.
Impartiality
12. You must:
• carry out your responsibilities in a way that is fair, just and equitable and reflects the Civil Service commitment to equality and diversity.
13. You must not:
• act in a way that unjustifiably favours or discriminates against particular individuals or interests.
Political Impartiality
14. You must:
• serve the Government, whatever its political persuasion, to the best of your ability in a way which maintains political impartiality and is in line with the requirements of this Code, no matter what your own political beliefs are;
• act in a way which deserves and retains the confidence of Ministers, while at the same time ensuring that you will be able to establish the same relationship with those whom you may be required to serve in some future Government; and comply with any restrictions that have been laid down on your political activities.
15. You must not:
• act in a way that is determined by party political considerations, or use official resources for party political purposes; or
• allow your personal political views to determine any advice you give or your actions
Terry Moran, a senior official at the Department for Work and Pensions , said he wanted to shame bogus claimants into stopping claiming but admitted his idea was unlikely to be adopted.
Mr Moran is the chief operating officer at the DWP, and is the official “senior responsible owner” of the Universal Cerdit programme, Iain Duncan Smith’s key benefits reforms.
He told hundreds of civil servants at a conference in west London on Tuesday that he wanted to shame bogus claimants into stopping claiming – but admitted that his idea was unlikely to be adopted.
More than £1billion is fraudulently claimed every year, which £60million is paid out in disability allowances, while another £10million is wrongly claimed in sickness benefits.
Mr Moran told an audience at Civil Service Live, in Olympia, West London, that healthy people who claimed disability benefits illegally distressed him “greatly”. He said “if I had my way” he would stick photographs of cheats to their neighbours’ lamp-posts.
He said: “One of the things that distresses me greatly is when I see these headlines in newspapers when people have pretended to be disabled in order to get money out of the system.
“If I had my way I would put their photograph on every lamp-post in the street where they live because it is a very distressing thing for genuinely disabled people to see the reputation of disabled people damaged in the way that is by those people. We have got to do something about it constructively.”
Mr Moran told The Daily Telegraph afterwards that he was speaking personally, and it was not Government policy.
He was moved to speak out, he said, because of disabled family members who were upset by the frequent reports of bogus claimants.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9373372/Pin-photos-of-benefits-cheats-to-lamp-posts-to-shame-them-says-top-DWP-official.html#
————————————————————————————————————
Terry Moran, Chief Operating Officer, Department of Work and Pensions (DWP)
Terry Moran – Director General, Chief Operating Officer
Contactable via the Departmental Secretariat, 4th Floor, Caxton House, 6-12 Tothill Street, London, SW1H 9NA
Role and responsibilities
Responsible for leading all of DWP’s services to the public, both those delivered by our own staff and those delivered under contract. Also the Senior Responsible Owner for the Universal Credit Programme responsible for the design and implementation of the Universal Credit .
Universal Credit will simplify the benefits system by bringing together a range of working-age benefits into a single streamlined payment to make work pay and combat worklessness and poverty.
Terry is also responsible for Business Continuity for the Department.
Biography
Terry took up post as the Chief Operating Officer on 3 October, having previously been appointed as the full time Senior Responsible Owner for Universal Credit on 1 December 2010. He has previously been the Chief Executive of the Pension, Disability and Carers Service (1 April 2008 – 30 November 2010); the Acting Chief Executive of The Pension Service ( 23 July 2007 – 30 March 2008); and the Chief Executive of the Disability and Carers Service (June 2004 – June 2007).
He joined the Department in 1977 straight from school as a clerical assistant and spent his first 12 years working in local offices in Yorkshire and London. Terry’s career has included time as Head of Benefits Management, Yorkshire Area Director in the Benefits Agency and Jobcentre Plus Field Director for the North West.
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/about-dwp/senior-management/the-executive-team/#tm
11 Responses
Good for you John, this is an obvious breach and you have my full support in taking this action.
Named and shamed.
What, I wonder, would be the effect of putting up posters along the streets of those senior officials from DWP and parliament with their photos and details of how they had lied to get their benefits? Would it be reported ‘objectively’ in the DT or would those responsible have their collars felt?
It does seem worth a try, especially when the subsequent court proceedings would necessarily need to reprt the details of what had been said and done,
My thoughts go out to the executives of companies running SlaveFare, falsely briefing the press, distorting statistics – God the list is almost endless.
The other thought is – Is what he did an act of disability hate crime? On the face of it, advocating special action against a specified group with protected rights would make it one but then, I am no lawyer, just a pissed off member of the disabled community.
Congratulations to John for not letting this one go, a blatant breach of the Code which leaves little room for the scum to wriggle away from.
Well done; I look forward to hearing the outcome.
Well done JJ you are doing us proud. Rogr I think you make a good point about hate crime- the European Human rights legislation includes a lot about promoting a positive image of people living with disabilities. This idiot is clearly doing the opposite. it’s worth checking the European legislation out as the UK is signed up to it.
Thanks for the idea! I’ll do my homework!
Brill! Thanks JJ.
Good one. check this out: I heard today at Brighton Housing Trust while pursuing my case against landlord for disrepair, that all funding for legal challenges for disrepair is being taken away. so no one can take forward a serious disrepair by landlord. There are going to be no standards at all. No matter how bad or dangerous your property or if your family, kids or elderly are affected you will have no recourse to living in a hovel. Thought you shd know this to see if it can be headed off.
I believe we should aslo add the charge that Mr Moran is advocating actions which are contrary to the UN covention which gives the following rights;
” UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities:
Article 15 Freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
‘No one must be tortured or subject to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Degrading treatment means treatment that is grossly humiliating and undignified.’
Article 16 Freedom from exploitation, violence and abuse
‘Governments must do everything they can to: protect disabled people from all forms of exploitation, violence and abuse at home and in the community’
”
The convention does not define a disabled person as one that has passed The British Governments WCA , nor does it take the long and tortuous approach of the DDA , it states simply ;
That disabled person is one who has :
‘ an impairment, illness, injury or health
condition and who may face barriers to being
included in society. It includes Deaf people,
people with learning disabilities, people with
sensory impairments, people with physical
impairments, people with mental health
conditions, people with autism, people with
epilepsy and people who are HIV positive.
The Convention says that ‘a person with a
disability’ includes people with long-term
impairments. However, it could also cover
people with short-term disabilities. There are
around 11 million disabled people in Britain
who have rights under the Convention.’
Yes tim and i think it worth checking out the meanings of the words cruel, inhumane and degrading in the context of this legislation as it may well be that the method and outcomes of WCA fon people fall under these terms as well as many other things like cuts in Council budgets for Social Care.
Brilliant!..its about time that we fought back against this never ending line of scum..scum in suits!see i can discriminate too!