The Wardman Wire

Miss Wagstaff is reporting that the Welsh blogger, and Welsh Assembly Government employee, Christopher Glamorganshire, is going to an Industrial Tribunal after being sacked for blogging during the autumn of 2007. The tribunal is today. I do not have a date for the tribunal.

The greatest value that I can add to this is an English perspective, and one from involvement in the debate that lead to the development of a set of Principles for Online Participation for Civil Servants.

These are my initial thoughts about a significant cultural divide between “us” and “them”.

In Wales they sack Bloggers

The most intriguing and important point is how the “Welsh Civil Service Code” has lead to Christopher Glamorganshire being “dismissed for activities related to the Glamorganshire Blog that contravened the Civil Service Code”.

In England they work with them

while the English Civil Service Code is now complemented by the set of principles mentioned above, which were developed after an English Civil Servant blogger (Civil Serf) caused a debate online among bloggers lead by a Government Minister.

…using an almost Identical Civil Service Code

This is the thing I don’t get. If you compare the Welsh Civil Service Code with the British Civil Service Code, they are like two peas in a pod.

• The Welsh Civil Service page (in English) is here on the Assembly Goverment’s site. The Welsh Civil Service is here as a PDF (70k) – local copy.
• The English Civil Service Code is here (published 6th June 2006). There is a PDF version (40k) – local copy.

Try comparing the two Civil Service Codes Yourself yourself. These were the only differences I could find:

• Replacement of “Parliament” with “National Assembly for Wales”. Hardly controversial.
• The Welsh version omits a sentence from clause 4: “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.”That seems to imply less “local” control, which is probably fair enough – if a touch control-freakish – because the Welsh Assembly Government is much smaller.

Something must change in the air at Offa’s Dyke.

So why was he sacked?

On that I am baffled. I can see that certain elements of the code can be interpreted widely, but I think it probably has far more to do with organisational culture inside the Welsh Assembly Government. After all, Civil Serf was a far more snarky blog than Christopher Glamorganshire – but we still ended up with a win-win outcome this side of the border.

These are the opinions of the Glamorganshire blog that Miss Wagstaff has rounded up:

I’ve noticed that there seems to be a healthy community spirit in the blogging community and a number of compliments have been made today, with the following among them:

* “funny”, “well written”, “not at all offensive”
* “Of course there are issues of confidentiality and lines that must not be crossed, but I can’t remember a post by Christopher that was either revealing or controversial, certainly nothing that would appear to justify his dismissal from public service”
* “Clearly, if his contract of employment said he was not allowed to blog, he doesn’t have much of a case. But if it is simply a question of supposedly contravening the code, I think sacking him is very harsh and heavy handed.”

The limited times I read the blog back that up, as did the reaction from the man himself when I posted about him last September.

Christopher Glamorganshire (Western Mail via Miss Wagstaff again) was sacked under the clauses to do with “integrity” and “rights and responsibilities”:

Under integrity, the relevant clauses read: “You must always act in a way that is professional and that deserves and retains the confidence of all those with whom you have dealings,” and: “You must not misuse your official position, for example by using information acquired in the course of your official duties to further your private interests or those of others.”

There’s huge scope for interpretation there, but I wouldn’t like to be the one to argue from that basis if there was not a clear breach of confidentiality or abuse of position involved as well.

Who’s Reporting it?

The current reporting in Wales:

• Western Mail original article
• Miss Wagstaff presents – good roundup. Start here.
• Miserable Old Fart. Calls on assembly to acknowledge the existence of 2008.
• Ordovicius. Simple report.
• Linguanaut – reflections on work blogging.

Conclusions

There’s more to be said here, but partly it will depend on the outcome of the tribunal – and more information becoming public. For the moment I note:

1 – The approach is slightly out of kilter in a country where only this week Hazel Blears was talking about giving more leeway for Council Officers to participate in the political process.

2 – It won’t work in the long run anyway, other than to provide maximum embarrassment when “control not collaboration” fails.

3 – The devolved Labour-led administration in Wales is pursuing a policy at variance with that of the UK Labour Government in a matter where they are using a version of the “Civil Service Code” that can only be distinguished from the UK Government one with a magnifying glass and a lot of patience.

4 – One of the great problems of the age is political engagement. Why strangle relatively neutral political comment in your own backyard ?

5 – There’s a great divide in culture symbolised by Offa’s Dyke here, and a difference in practice. Yet Human Rights legislation does not acknowledge that difference under Freedom of Expression.

6 – I think that this case highlights the point made by Dave Cole before, during and after the Principles for Online Participation were published – protecting the Employee’s Right to Blog is as important as protecting the Employer’s right to have employees blog responsibly.

Wrapping Up

Bloggers aren’t going anywhere, and it is possible to blog pretty much anonymously (unless they get really serious in trying to find you) without making the exercise completely prohibitive – if you are careful.

In dealing with this issue the English Civil Service is living in 2008 (thank-you, Tom Watson), while the Welsh Assembly Government seems to have travelled in the TARDIS back to 1953 or so, and is hunkered down in the Torchwood Bunker.

There’s may be a culture war at some point. I sincerely hope that openness wins.

These are my initial thoughts about a significant cultural divide between “us” and “them”.

On this occasion the UK-wide approach is preferable.