INFORMATION which could shed light on the circumstances leading up to the death of Gloria Foster will not be released by Surrey County Council, after the authority ruled doing so would risk its own workers' privacy.
It is now nearly six months since Ms Foster, 81, died in hospital after Carefirst24, the Sutton-based care provider tasked with caring for her, was closed down following a UK Border Agency and Metropolitan Police raid on January 15.
Ms Foster was discovered in her Banstead home by chance by a district nurse nine days later, and was taken to Epsom Hospital suffering from severe dehydration, kidney failure and bed sores. She died on February 4.
Surrey County Council has always denied responsibility for mistakes that led to the death of Ms Foster, and in February councillor Michael Gosling, cabinet member for Adult Social Care at the time, said he would not resign over the issue.
But since January the council has failed to provide any explanation as to how Ms Foster came to be missed by care officials, although the council was informed about the raid on two occasions before it happened. The authority has also refused to release details of conversations that took place between the council, police, and UK Border Agency before and after the incident.
Furthermore, Surrey Police, who carried out their own investigation, announced in May that no criminal charges would be brought.
In refusing a Freedom of Information request made by the Mirror – which requested correspondence between councillors, council officers, the police and Carefirst24 staff – the council admitted there was a public interest in releasing the information, but said it would not be doing so because it could identify individual members of staff.
In response to the Mirror's request, a council officer replied: "In the context of your request and the wider circumstance around this case, the correspondence, meeting notes, briefings and paper work relating to the matter are the personal data of third parties. It identifies individuals by name and indeed through their expression of opinions in working roles.
"It will not be fair to release information if this could identify individuals unless this is the only reasonable way to address the legitimate [public] interest."
He continued: "It is both established and accepted that there is a legitimate public interest in accountability and transparency around this case," but later added "… the disclosure is not necessary as the only reasonable way to satisfy the legitimate public interest."
A Surrey County Council spokesman said: "Our thoughts remain very much with Ms Foster's family and friends. Now the police inquiry has ended an independent investigator is completing a review of the actions of all the agencies involved and the findings will be published shortly."
The council's Safeguarding Adults Board is still carrying out its own internal investigation.
