A letter from Jersey Child Protection Committee chairman Iris Le Feuvre, representing officers from Senator Syvret’s own department as well as the National Society Preventing Cruelty to Children, GPs and the Education department, asks that an alleged breach of the Data Protection Law by the minister, relating to a child sex abuse victim, be investigated by the Data Protection Commissioner. But Senator Syvret has denied the allegations. He claims that the committee’s letter is deliberately misleading and that they have misrepresented the events to defend failures in child protection standards. He said that no confidential material was published, only discussed between relevant agencies. The letter follows Senator Syvret’s recent criticism of the child protection system in Jersey. In the States last week Senator Syvret said that the States were ‘failing bitterly’ in the area, adding: ‘I have serious concerns, to be honest, about the whole child protection care and residential arrangements in Jersey, not just in my own department and the Children’s Service, but across the board.’ The Child Protection Committee’s letter also refers to an e-mail about the Child Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) in which the Senator is said to have stated that ‘my initial response is to sack everyone who works there and close it down’. Those comments prompted the letter from Mrs Le Feuvre, a former Constable of St Lawrence and Education president – in her role as head of the cross-departmental committee – which was discussed by the Council of Ministers on Thursday.
Jersey Evening Post
