A council has refused a regional daily access to a report about its chief executive’s role in the ‘Partygate’ scandal on the grounds it is “not necessary” to make it public.

Sheffield City Council has rejected a request by Molly Williams, local democracy reporter at the city’s daily title The Star, for access to a report that guided its decision to bring back its chief executive Kate Josephs.

Ms Josephs had been at one of the Whitehall lockdown parties when she worked at the Cabinet Office, prior to joining the council, although her attendance was only revealed after a fight for the truth involving The Star.

She was allowed to return to work in recent months following nearly six months of council deliberations, but no explanation on how the authority came to the decision has been forthcoming.

The rejected FoI request provided a splash for The Star on Tuesday, pictured above.

In its rejection of the request, the council said it was withholding the document because it is “personal information of Kate Josephs” and “not necessary” to publish it.

It accepted there was legitimate interest in knowing what the council considered and ensuring it conducted a full investigation into the complaint, but added: “In the council’s view, every attempt has been made to keep the public and staff apprised of its investigations, albeit within the confines of an ongoing investigation.”

The Star is not the only regional title to have faced an access battle regarding this case.

Earlier this year, the council refused to release correspondence to the Yorkshire Post between itself and the Cabinet Office about the issue.

Molly is now planning to challenge the authority’s latest decision.

She told HTFP: “I wasn’t surprised by the council rejecting my FOI but it was important to ask anyway. The press and public were given very little information about the investigation over the several months it dragged on.

“Also the costs mounted at a time when the council was and is being forced to cut services to the bone, if not beyond it, to balance its budget.

“My job as a local democracy reporter is to scrutinise decision making. This was a huge decision for Sheffield Council related to something deeply upsetting for many who suffered during Covid-19.

“The council said it couldn’t make a decision without this report so the public deserves to know what was in it.

“Without proper transparency how can the public trust that decisions made on their behalf are the right ones?

“Kate Josephs is back in position now and she should be allowed to get on with her job and move on but I believe releasing the report would help rebuild trust and ensure transparency.

“I disagree with the council’s refusal and I’ll be challenging the refusal.”