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This profile was last updated on 2/7/07  and contains information from public web pages.

Mr. Brian McGinnis

Wrong Brian McGinnis?
 
Background

Employment History

  • Chair
    Bromley Learning Disabilities Forum
  • Chairman
    L'Arche
  • Chairman
    United Kingdom
  • Chairman
    L'Arche UK of the Learning Disability Coalition
  • Mencap Special Adviser
    Mencap

Board Memberships and Affiliations

12 Total References
Web References
Valuing People article
www.bldf.org.uk, 7 Feb 2007 [cached]
This is an article about "Valuing People" by Brian McGinnis, chair of the BLDF
Housing Options - Latest News
www.housingoptions.org.uk, 2 Nov 2003 [cached]
Background Reading is a newsletter by Brian McGinnis.Brian gives his own personal views on Social news, which are not necessarily the opinion of any organisation or group he is or has been a part of.
Brian has a long and distinguished career as a Health and Social Security civil servant, Mencap Special Advisor and now, in retirement as Chairman of L'Arche UK.Brian is involved in a variety of disability activities locally and nationally and is a life long campaigner for people with learning disabilities.
Housing Options is a particularly grateful to Brian for his outstanding contribution to our service.
Disability Now
www.disabilitynow.org.uk, 21 June 2006 [cached]
L'Arche, which has Catholic roots but now describes itself as an "ecumenical" organisation providing residential "communities" for people with learning difficulties, told DN it "continues to have full confidence" in its UK chairman, Brian McGinnis, despite the two separate arrests by different police forces.
Mr McGinnis, a former special advisor for the charity Mencap, who is also believed to have been a senior civil servant in the Department of Health, has worked with people with learning difficulties for 40 years.
He was arrested last August over allegations that he raped a child with learning difficulties at the Betts Way respite home in Bromley, Kent, in the mid-1990s.
A Metropolitan police spokeswoman confirmed that an allegation of rape of a child with learning difficulties was made to police in November 2004.
She added: "A 68-year-old man from the Croydon area was arrested on 5 August 2005.
...
None of those allegations concerned Mr McGinnis, who had been a volunteer visitor at the home, which closed in 2000.
An investigation by police, the London Borough of Bromley and health authorities took place between 1999 and 2001, but no-one was charged.
DN has discovered that Mr McGinnis was also arrested and questioned in 2001 on allegations unrelated to Betts Way, when he was still employed as Mencap's special advisor.
A Kent police spokeswoman said: "A 63-year-old man from the Croydon area was arrested on suspicion of rape in March 2001.He was later released without charge."
Mr McGinnis is an influential figure in the disability world, with links to a string of charities, learning difficulty organisations and his local church in Shirley, Croydon, south London.
As well as chairing L'Arche, he is on the ruling national council of the Association for Real Change (ARC), which represents providers of care homes for people with learning difficulties.
John Peet, general secretary of L'Arche, said the charity was aware of both arrests and trustees "continue to have full confidence in Brian McGinnis as chairman".
...
Mr Peet said: "Mr McGinnis informed L'Arche immediately after the police spoke to him, and took the initiative to withdraw from any activities involving contact with members of L'Arche with learning disabilities.
...
"We have not informed ARC that Mr McGinnis was arrested and questioned by police last August.
...
Mr McGinnis also represents L'Arche on the Royal College of Psychiatrists' patients and carers committee.A college spokeswoman said: "We were not aware of the allegations so obviously we will be looking at the membership of our committee."
A spokesman for Bromley council said it had advised its staff to "disassociate" Mr McGinnis "with anything related to children with learning difficulties and council services" and informed him of this decision by letter four years ago.
He added: "To the best of our knowledge he hasn't a connection with Bromley any longer."A spokeswoman for Croydon Council said it told church authorities that Mr McGinnis "should be suspended from duties that involved him working with children", after being told by Bromley council about last August's arrest.
Mr McGinnis had been working with a children's church group.A spokeswoman for the Diocese of Southwark, which covers St George's - the church Mr McGinnis attends in Shirley - said it agreed that he "should have no direct contact with children or vulnerable adults and this policy has been followed".Mencap says Mr McGinnis retired in 2003, "for reasons unrelated to the allegations".
DN contacted Mr McGinnis for a comment on the allegations he faced.In a message left on our answerphone he said: "I am not going to get in discussions over details.
Mission Statement
www.bereavementanddisability.org.uk, 23 April 2006 [cached]
Brian McGinnis Brian McGinnis is Special Advisor for Mencap, and Chairman of L'Arche UK of the Learning Disability Coalition, and of the Bromley Learning Disability Forum. He is personal advocate for a number of people with learning disabilities.
Disability Now
www.disabilitynow.org.uk, 28 July 2006 [cached]
DN revealed last month how Brian McGinnis was twice arrested - but never charged - over unconnected rape allegations, one of which involved a child with learning difficulties at a respite home in Bromley.
Mr McGinnis, 69, from Croydon, a former senior civil servant with the Department of Health and special advisor for Mencap, denied all the allegations, claiming he has always been "a celibate".
But DN has discovered he also faced a third investigation, relating to his visits to another respite home in Bromley.
The investigation in 1995, by the now-defunct Ravensbourne NHS Trust, followed staff concerns about his relationship with a severely disabled girl with learning difficulties.
A confidential council report from the mid-1990s said his contact with children in Bromley was subsequently "monitored and restricted".
The report raises new questions about the measures Bromley council took to alert other agencies of their concerns.The council said last month it had advised its staff to "disassociate" Mr McGinnis "with anything related to children with learning difficulties and council services" four years ago, following his first arrest - more than six years after the Ravensbourne investigation.
And it only passed on concerns to neighbouring Croydon council, where Mr McGinnis was volunteering with a children's church group, after his second arrest last August.
There are also concerns that Bromley council never appeared to ask for Mr McGinnis to be placed on the government's lists of those banned from working with children and vulnerable adults.
...
A Bromley council spokesman said they were now reviewing their files on Mr McGinnis.
But he added: "When we were able to act we did so decisively and appropriately."
Since last month's story, Mr McGinnis has stepped down as chair of charity L'Arche, after a four-year term, and resigned as a trustee after 17 years.
L'Arche could not say why he resigned but said it was "delighted" with his service and would have been happy for him to continue as a trustee.
Mr McGinnis has also resigned as a trustee for Disability Alliance and been asked to resign from a Royal College of Psychiatrists committee.
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