To: House Committee on Oversight and Accountability
Cc: Administrative Oversight, Lewes Crown Court Listing Office, Lincolnshire Virtual School, Gary Daniels
Subject:
Dear Members of the Oversight Committee,
Further to my communication dated 23 November 2025, I am writing to report a serious development that occurred after my statutory request for disclosure of Virtual School records relating to my daughter, Emily Cathryn Newbold Smith (DOB 30-10-2006).
On 15 and 16 November 2025, I issued formal statutory requests under writ and warrant A9Q51NHR and court case 640MC413 Lewis to Lincolnshire Virtual School and Mr. Gary Daniels, demanding full disclosure of all Virtual School records, including PEPs, placement history, funding logs, and audit trails.
Following my subsequent email to your Committee on 23 November 2025, requesting a subpoena for Mr. Daniels in relation to concerns about approximately 430,000 UK children missing from Child Trust Fund entitlement systems, the following occurred:
- Multiple core operational endpoints of the secure ePEP portal (
secure.epeponline.co.uk) returned 404 “Not Found” errors at 17:04:00 GMT, including:/pep/teacher,/pep/socialworker,/pep/fostercarer/pep/neet,/pep/qa,/pep/concern/reports,/funding,/admin/users,/dashboard
- These URLs represent critical statutory record functions for looked-after children, including educational planning, funding accountability, and safeguarding oversight.
- The timing of this deletion strongly suggests reactive removal of content following my oversight communication.
Given the statutory duties under the Children Act 1989, Children and Families Act 2014, and the role of the Virtual School Head, this action may constitute:
- Interference with evidence relevant to ongoing judicial proceedings and oversight inquiries.
- Non-compliance with statutory record-keeping obligations for looked-after children.
I respectfully request that the Committee:
- Issue a subpoena for Mr. Gary Daniels to provide testimony regarding these deletions and the wider issue of unaccounted Child Trust Fund beneficiaries.
- Secure forensic copies of the ePEP system and associated audit logs before further data alteration occurs.
- Investigate potential systemic failures in Virtual School oversight and data retention practices.
I am preserving all evidence, including:
- Original statutory requests (15 & 16 November 2025).
- My email to your Committee (23 November 2025).
- Timestamped error logs showing the removal of critical endpoints.
- Screenshots and technical reports confirming the deletions.
Please confirm receipt of this escalation and advise on next steps. I remain available to provide full documentation and testimony.
Yours sincerely,
Martin Newbold


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