Cyngor Gwynedd Council - Monitoring Officer 'Advice' Overturned.

 Cyngor Gwynedd council held a Special Meeting of its Standards Committee on Wednesday, 10th January, 2024.  

The agenda pack can be found here - 
https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru//ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=157&MId=5122

It involved two Councillors, Gwynfor Owen and Dawn Jones asking for special dispensation to be allowed to join the Task and Finish group that is to be set up to look into Gwynedd's Autism Plan. 

The two Councillors have worked with and have experience of those with autism and other Councillors supported their inclusion to the group. But the monitoring officer, Iwan G D Evans, 'advised' them that there was a prejudicial interest to their inclusion.

Task and Finish panels have no vote, nor do they allocate any funding so why the monitoring officer initially advised against the councillors makes no sense...

The committee granted both Councillors dispensation to join the task and finish group.

This special meeting will have incurred costs to the council and Councillor Owen had to give his evidence whilst on holiday in Spain. 

Something is very wrong within Gwynedd council...

 

 

Application For Indemnity Refused - Cyngor Gwynedd Council.

With regard to the article, dated 20th October, in which a councillor asked Cyngor Gwynedd council for indemnity under the council's policy. 

The Standards Committee published a decision notice on the 26th October declining the request - 

Having looked very carefully at the application, and considering Gwynedd Council's Indemnity Policy attached as Appendix 1 to the report submitted to the committee, the Chair should write to inform the member that the Standards Committee is not in a position to offer him indemnity in relation to legal representation at a hearing of the Standards Committee.
The case the councillor is defending deals entirely with his role as a Town Council Councillor. Any decision would impact on that role only, and would not have any affect on the councillor's role as a member of Gwynedd Council. 

 https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru/documents/g4500/Decisions%2026th-Oct-2021%2010.00%20Standards%20Committee.pdf?T=2

Does this relate to the discarded file of various documents ? One of the councillors named has previously made a complaint against a fellow councillor which was upheld. 

That case involved a councillor who wrote in his blog that a local person “intended to retire soon...and stand for election to the council in a seat held by another councillor”.

The Appeals Tribunal, found these allegations to be “factually untrue and unfounded” and the councillor was then suspended from Gwynedd council for three months.

The local person then stood for council and was elected....
So what on earth is going on now....?

Comments From Cyngor Gwynedd Councillors On Member Training Meetings.

There has been a recent Report released entitled Learning and Development Provision for Members.

It lists two successes -

 • "I benefited from the Effective Presentation training. I have learned how to structure a presentation professionally, something that can become very useful when you have to present in a Committee eg Planning Committee. This training can be very useful for all Members. It was brilliant"

• "The Dealing with the Press was very valuable. No-one knows what issues can arise within their ward, and so the experience I've had on this course are great. Very challenging training, and gained valuable skills. "

It also lists challenges -

Attendance Numbers of Members attending are inconsistent e.g. "Unconscious Bias" training was organized at the request of a Member, but only 2 Members attended the whole session.

However, the response to some titles has been disappointing e.g. when a Corporate Parenting session was arranged for an evening in January (following a specific request from Members), the session had to be cancelled as only 5 registered to attend.

Comments that were received from the councillors included - 

• "I only attend titles that are of interest to me"

• "Too much training"

• "Of course I go to the Planning training because those are compulsory and I am interested in the subject as I am a Member of the Committee"

• "I think others are important, Childcare / Care of the Elderly etc, however, I have contacts that specialise in many areas - and I get any information that I need through those sources"

• "Between day to day work and all Committees, I have to prioritise matters"

• "It is sometimes better to have some Members who specialise in some areas, instead of Members trying to get information about everything"

• "The titles you offer are all that we need as Members and I can only praise that"

• "A great obstacle is that I have to take 'unpaid holidays' for the Committees and training that coincide with my working time, so attending events can be costly for me. In addition, it is very difficult to get time off. Events later in the afternoons would work well for me). "

• "If Members can not attend events, that they receive a copy of the materials by e-mail after the event, so that they can see the presentation."

• "Any area I need help with, I can get the information over the phone / email / internet and I do not feel that Managers / officers need to give me information."

• "At my age, I’m not sure how much more 'development' I need to do - so I do not think it's important for me by now."
 
The full Report can be found here - 
https://democracy.cyngor.gwynedd.gov.uk/documents/g2595/Public%20reports%20pack%2012th-Feb-2019%2010.30%20Democratic%20Services%20Committee.pdf?T=10