THE press and the public were prevented from hearing an update on the provision of adult social care by SEQOL during Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting after a last minute vote.

Unusually, the Director of Adult Social Services delivered an oral statement on the situation to councillors rather than providing a written report published in advance.

The council has the power to discuss certain items in a private setting providing that sufficient notice is given, in this case neither the online or print versions of the agenda for the meeting made mention of the intention to do so.

Just hours before the meeting, a line was added to the council website stating that, due to the need to discuss details that were commercially sensitive, the press and public would be excluded.

The political correspondents from both the Swindon Advertiser and BBC Wiltshire challenged the legality of the decision when it was announced by the leader of the council David Renard about an hour into the meeting.

They made the argument that insufficient notice had been given to allow those who may wish to challenge the move to do so – they acknowledged that the legal suggestion of 28 days’ notice was unrealistic but asserted that a few hours was woefully insufficient.

The council’s director of law, Stephen Taylor, responded that the situation with SEQOL was a dynamic one and that information received just hours before the start of the meeting had made it necessary to hold the discussion in private.

He also said that it was only necessary to provide 28 days’ notice when councillors were expected to make a major decision, rather than just a decision.

In February, the council took the decision to give 12 months’ notice to SEQOL, who currently deliver adult social care across the borough, so that they could bring in a new system of working.

It is believed that the oral statement related to their ongoing ability to fulfil that responsibility through to the end of the 12 month period.