Cyngor Gwynedd Council - One Child In Care Costing £25,000 A Week...

Cyngor Gwynedd council held a meeting of their Governance and Audit Committee on Thursday, 16th January, 2025. It was not webcast and so not available for viewing later by councillors and the public.

The agenda pack can be found here - 
https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru//documents/g5292/Public%20reports%20pack%2016th-Jan-2025%2010.00%20Governance%20and%20Audit%20Committee.pdf?T=10

A member of the committee raised concerns that the Plaid Cymru councillor, Dafydd Meurig, was not in attendance at the meetings...

The minutes of the previous meeting contain -  
           
Many people would challenge this statement especially in light of recent complaints that have avoided proper scrutiny. 

As the committee are probably not aware of these complaints pushed through via the cabinet they simply accepted the report...

It was believed that the performance of cyngor Gwynedd's information department in dealing with FOI requests was to be discussed. The agenda simply informs -
Note: Freedom of Information Requests Audit –
a request to consider that the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 are addressed by the Committee – the Committee to receive an annual report setting out the Council's Arrangements to deal with Freedom of Information matters.

Under the 'Implementing The Decisions Of The Committee, in relation to the -
REVENUE BUDGET 2024/25 - END OF AUGUST 2024 REVIEW -

The intention was for the Statutory Director of Social Services to provide an update during the 28/11/24
Committee on the work involved with the overspend in the Department for Adults, Health and Wellbeing.
Due to IT issues during the meeting, the Director was unable to report. The intent is for him to present/report in the next committee.
An update on the current situation - the outcome of the end of November 2024 review will be reported in a
separate item on the Committee's programme.

The director did inform the meeting that one child was costing the council £25,000 a week (£1.25 million a year). Huw Dylan Owen also made mention that one child was living in a caravan. The audio was not great for this part of the conversation.

One committee member asked questions of the director - the director did not answer them...
Towards the end of the meeting, the chair did bring attention to this and told the member that she would ensure the questions were answered albeit outside of the meeting.

The Capital Programme was discussed, along with the Savings Overview and the Forward Work Programme. The Audit Wales report was also presented.

Dewi Morgan, the council's head of finance appeared to take a swipe at the officer in attendance from Wales Audit, complaining that the media channel S4C had read the report and presumably raised concerns with the figures. Once again, the audio for this section was poor...

The Wales Audit officer simply responded by telling Morgan that the figures used were those that Morgan himself had supplied....

The committee also heard concerns from a member that the planning committee was refusing applications for social housing in the Llyn area and that their decisions were putting schools in the area at risk. The chair thanked the councillor for raising the issue.

Something is very wrong within Gwynedd council...

 

A "Commitment To Apologise Sincerely..." - Cyngor Gwynedd Council...

The virtual meeting of Cyngor Gwynedd's council's cabinet took place on the 21st January.

First up was the report to close the day centres Y Ganolfan, in Blaenau Ffestiniog and Encil y Coed, in Cricieth.

Dilwyn Morgan, the cabinet member for Adults, began his presentation of the report by reading from a prepared statement 'for clarity'. He began by apologising that part of the report is incorrect or as he put it 'a bit ahead of the game'. 

We are also aware that there is a new hub development set up in Porthmadog very recently and we are very keen to collaborate and learn more about this new development.

Why was it not deleted?
Its retention within the report gives the impression that those with profound needs and dementia will not miss out, indeed it informs that these very people are by now enjoying numerous and varied support services in their own communities, the report also states that in some cases people are having to travel out of their local area for support/services.

But in the meeting, Aled Davies, the Head of Adults SS could not guarantee that support services would be available... 

One day centre building also houses the local library, which presumably closes too?

Members of the cabinet voted for the closures anyway...

The response to the Neil Foden's offending plan was also passed.
It has been 16 months since Foden's arrest and Gwynedd council's "commitment to apologise sincerly to the victims and survivors and their families for what they have had to suffer" will be seen as disingenuous by many - and way too late.

The webcast of the meeting can be found here -
https://gwynedd.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/947749/start_time/0

Instead of 'commiting to apologise' perhaps people would prefer the council took action on the officers who failed the children?

There were ample opportunities for school governors and council officers to stop Foden - they all failed. In addition to these failures, it is still not known who the safeguarding officer was that advised Garem Jackson to simply have a word with Foden when concerns were raised in 2019.
Is that officer still in post?

No concerns raised with regard to Jackson giving Foden the name of the teacher who whistleblew in 2019, nor mention of the class action being taken against Gwynedd council.

The cabinet, which includes a school governor at Ysgol Friars in post during Foden's reign of terror, also missed an opportunity to discuss claims that some pupils received undeserved examination passes.
That particular councillor did not speak during the discussion...
No mention was made of the missing money either...

Not one cabinet member enquired if a 'critical incident' had been declared after Foden's arrest which would have preserved the integrity of the evidence...

The Education and Economy Scrutiny committee are also to hold an investigation into Neil Foden. This is the same committee that twice failed to hold him to account in the past....

The cabinet member for education did not ask questions of the safeguarding complaint that appears to have avoided any scrutiny, nor query the complaint about the assessment from the meeting he missed previously.

Nor did he ask for more information on the cohorts of children excluded from schools such as those with ALN and also council 'looked after children'.

A full public inquiry is needed - which covers the failures of council officers also.

Something is very wrong with Gwynedd council...

Cyngor Gwynedd Council - How Many Excluded Children Have Additional Learning Needs?

There appears to be some confusion regarding Cyngor Gwynedd council's Cabinet meeting to be held on the 21st January, 2024. While the front page is still saying that it will be a virtual meeting, the agenda pack is showing a hybrid meeting.
So which is it?

To add to the confusion, the link to the agenda front sheet does not work...

As well as accepting Gwynedd council's response to Neil Foden's offending, the Cabinet is being asked by senior officers to close the day care services in Blaenau Ffestiniog and Cricieth. These closures come on top of the day centres that have already closed in Bala, Porthmadog and Caernarfon. 

From the report -

Senior officers insist that the financial situation is not the reason for the closures -

Of course it is a financial decision - but in typical Ffordd Gwynedd fashion, the report is written in such a way to absolve the senior officers of bad decision making and simply blurs and deflects from the reality of the situation.

One sentence shows a total lack of understanding and empathy for those with dementia -
The focus would be on building on the strengths of those attending, strengthening skills and learning new skills and giving them a flavour of new experiences... 

What of the carers - usually the spouse and aged themselves with their own medical issues?
The day centres offered a little respite from the constant demands upon them.
Exhausted and isolated who now cares for the carers...?

 

The agenda also contains reviews of the Revenue Budget, the Capital Programme and the Savings Overview.

GwE, the schools improvement service is to close. 
Following a review of the responsibilities of Education partners in Wales, a recommendation has been made to move to a wider regional model of working.
To that end, the Transitional Board has been established to oversee the arrangements for transferring GwE services back to the local authorities in North Wales.

GwE have had their problems including the hotdesking and inflated expenses scandal but they are acknowledged as having done good work supporting schools in the North Wales region. Why this support was not embedded within the councils own education departments is not known. Privatisation?
The transfer back to LA's at this time does risk losing much needed expertise in the field.

The cabinet member for Education is to give the department's Performance Report.
Will the member be giving an update on the the issues contained in the agenda of the cabinet meeting that he missed in December?

 

In these times especially, the safeguarding complaint should be of high concern...
The complaint about an assessment is also concerning.
The cohort of children requiring assessments are usually disabled and or those with Additional Learning Needs.

Gwynedd council has a history of faking assessments on children to deny support...

The report also contains a section on Additional Learning Needs and Inclusion.

The CEO, Dafydd Gibbard, should have a good understanding of the situation as his wife is the senior specialist teacher within ADYaCh. This service and their educational psychologists support those with additional learning needs, speech delays, eating disorders and autism...
ADYaCH offer training for teachers to aid inclusion of this cohort of children within schools.

School absences remain high with 1 in 10 children often not in attendance.
The report also mentions the rise in exclusions from school -

How many excluded children have additional learning needs?
How many of the council's 'looked after children' have been excluded?

The agenda concludes with the Performance Report of the cabinet member for Finance and the Forward Work Programme.

The full reports for the meeting can be found here -
https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru//documents/g5261/Public%20reports%20pack%2021st-Jan-2025%2013.00%20The%20Cabinet.pdf?T=10

Something is very wrong within Gwynedd council...