Outdated Laws, Canolfan Brynffynnon And An Interim Head Of SS - Cyngor Gwynedd.

In April, 2019, after a whistleblower raised concerns re Neil Foden, the head of children and families SS sent an email to Gwynedd's LADO requesting a meeting -
'Mater Diogelu Brys- Cyfrinachol’ (Urgent Safeguarding matter – Confidential)
 
But with a senior officer of cyngor Gwynedd's legal team present, the safeguarding meeting became one of a 'professional issue' only.
Who made the decision to ignore the safety of children - and why?

Is the answer to be found in the Canolfan Brynffynnon affair?

In 2016, the trial of two staff members at the pupil referral unit (PRU) in Felinheli, was halted after the CPS received new information...

In September, 2016, councillors of the services scrutiny committee did mention Brynffynnon when discussing the report -
GWYNEDD COUNCIL PERFORMANCE OVERVIEW 2015-16 -
CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE AND CARE
Cabinet Members: Cllrs. Mair Rowlands, Gareth Roberts, Gareth Thomas

The agenda pack for that meeting can be found here -  
https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru/documents/g1706/Public%20reports%20pack%2027th-Sep-2016%2010.00%20Services%20Scrutiny%20Committee.pdf?T=10 

A wall of silence...
No statement has been made by cyngor Gwynedd in a case that led to three staff members being suspended on full pay for approx 9 years. 
The council did not answer a FOI request on the length of suspensions and the monitoring officer ignored the request for an internal review.

The council also paid NWP £800,000 after the collapse of the trial...

Sshhh...
Why has no councillor called for an investigation..? 

It is believed Marian Parry Hughes and Dafydd Paul were the senior officers at this time. 
Who interviewed the children? 
Who gathered their evidence? 

Who else would have known?
Dilwyn Williams, who was then ceo of cyngor Gwynedd?
The director of SS at that time, Morwena Edwards?
Dyfed Edwards, who was the then leader of the council - and is now chair of BCUHB?
The monitoring officer?

In 2022, a final investigation report into Canolfan Brynffynnon, was received by the council.
Shortly after, Morwena Edwards, left her position.

The previous year, notable departures from the council included the ceo, along with the head of finance and a senior officer from the legal department. 

Once bitten twice shy... 
Were mistakes made in the handling of the Brynffynnon case possibly instrumental in officers failing to take action in regard to Neil Foden?

Evidence appears to have been an issue in both cases in one way or another - that, and the assessment of risk and thresholds. 

Paul was also senior complaints officer for the children's SS when officers raised a complaint on behalf of a resident - without the resident's knowledge - so the council could 'investigate' a data breach that had already been investigated and upheld by an independent investigator. 

This led to the manager of the Gwynedd information team producing a report that then vindicated the children's department. It was only after a second meeting with the manager that her report acknowledged the data breach of children's information. It took Parry three attempts before she finally took note of the evidence...

Both Hughes and Paul have been 'absent from work' for the last year after the council received a report by the barrister, Genevieve Woods, who investigated their roles in the Neil Foden case. (This report has still not been published)

It is well known that abuse continues when a system rewards silence and cover up...

In other news -  
Essie Ahari, former chair of governors at Ysgol Friars, has retired from north Wales police.

Cyngor Gwynedd are to appoint a new interim head of the children's SS.
The position advertised internally was needed as - 
'...a responsible and accountable Head was needed to lead; with the appointment of an interim Head, this
would allow for other vacancies within the Department to be filled retrospectively and the establishment of a robust structure for the service''

This would have been ratified at the chief officers appointment committee on March, 25th.
Cyngor Gwynedd have not yet announced their decision.
Only one application was received.
https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru//documents/g5693/Public%20reports%20pack%2025th-Mar-2026%2010.00%20Chief%20Officers%20Appointments%20Committee.pdf?T=10

Legislation and Law not updated in 16 years...
Cyngor Gwynedd's Private Rented Sector Housing Enforcement Policy is to be updated as it was revealed that the original policy created in 2010 is still in use - despite much new legislation coming into force over the last 16 years including for HMO's...

Something is very wrong within Gwynedd council...

 

 

 

 

 

Neil Foden - Without Accountability Abuse Will Continue - Gwynedd Council...

Neil Foden, the paedophile headteacher, who was in charge of Ysgol Friars, Bangor and Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle in Penygroes was arrested in September, 2023 and jailed in 2024.
 
Many people in Gwynedd, including some councillors are of the belief that Foden was a one off. Abuse of children, especially of those in care in north Wales has been going on for decades.

The North Wales Child Abuse scandal...
Where children were abused in 'care' homes across Gwynedd, Clywd and Wrexham.
Gwynedd council sacked a social worker who blew the whistle on the abuse. 
This led to the Waterhouse inquiry and the Lost In Care Report, published in 2000. 

The Lost In Care report was reviewed in 2010 -  
'Lost in Care abuse report recommendations reviewed'
Sir Ronald will speak with health and social work professionals about the lessons learned and analyse whether local authorities across Wales are now developing and implementing effective care plans for looked-after children.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-11884852

In 2012, the scandal was raised by the government in Westminster - 
Theresa May, then Home Secretary, gave a statement - 
The recommendation was that there should not be a public inquiry but an examination of the work of private care homes and the social service departments in Gwynedd and Clwyd Councils.
This work revealed not only shortcomings in the protection of vulnerable children, but that the shortcomings had persisted even after the police investigation and subsequent prosecutions. 
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/historic-allegations-of-child-abuse-in-north-wales-home-secretarys-statement

Carwyn Jones, then First Minister for Wales, also gave a statement - 
It made extensive recommendations for improving child protection, many of which were subsequently implemented by the Welsh Government.   The Prime Minister has announced an inquiry to examine the extent to which the Waterhouse Report did what it was supposed to do.
https://www.gov.wales/written-statement-north-wales-child-abuse-allegations

Not forgetting Operation Pallial - 
In November 2012, Operation Pallial was set up to examine specific allegations of past child abuse in north Wales. This report looks at the early processes established by OperationPallial, including communications work, support for survivors, transition and the implications on children in present care settings in Wales - 
https://www.childcomwales.org.uk/2015/01/learning-the-lessons-operation-pallial/ 

Then there was the Macur Review laid before Parliament in 2016, with Plaid MP, Liz Saville Roberts leading the discussion - 
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cdp-2016-0070/

'Lessons not learnt' from report into sex abuse teacher.
The Welsh government said: "The recommendations from the Clywch report were implemented, and consistent national policies and procedures to safeguard children were introduced.

"The Our Bravery Brought Justice review found that despite there being clear processes in place, including those implemented following Clywch, there was a failure to apply them properly."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce3kexe2eeko

The Clywch report, from 2004, involved teacher, John Owen, who sexually abused pupils at Ysgol Gyfun Rhydfelen, near Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf. 

But how is it that so many senior people in Gwynedd failed to follow procedures?
Worse still - many simply ignored concerns raised...

What of the two police officers, Essie Ahari and Keith Horton, then chair and vice chair of the school governors at Ysgol Friars?

What of the senior officer within Gwynedd's legal department who sat in on the safeguarding meeting re Neil Foden in 2019? 

Sexual harassment in schools...
Delyth Lloyd Griffiths, was the senior safeguarding officer within the Education department before becoming a councillor in 2022.

Griffiths is named as the relevant officer in a report entitled 'Sexual harassment in schools' discussed at the Education/Economy scrutiny committee on the 8th, February, 2022. This report was in response to an Estyn report dated 2021 - 'We do not tell our teachers'

The report can be found in the agenda pack for the meeting here - 
https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru/documents/g4378/Public%20reports%20pack%2008th-Feb-2022%2013.30%20Education%20and%20Economy%20Scrutiny%20Committee.pdf?T=10

Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle...
This committee also failed the children by not taking action against Foden when the video of him appearing to grab a pupil by the scruff of the neck appeared online. The matter was raised at the meeting and answers were promised for the next scrutiny committee.

The next meeting scheduled for the 31, March, 2022 was cancelled.  

Sshh...
The council elections in May, 2022, meant a new scrutiny committee was formed. 
Five members sat on both the old and the new committees - they are Olaf Cai Larsen, Beth Lawton, Dewi Owen, Paul Rowlinson and Colette Owen (co-optee)
It is believed that the alleged assault by Foden was never mentioned again...

Since Foden's arrest in 2023, cyngor Gwynedd have suspended 3 members of school staff from Friars. 
Two other staff at different schools have also been suspended. 
No further details have been released by the council or NWP.

Extended Child Practice Review...
Were all of the abused children receiving 'care' from the council ?
Were any in foster care?
The head and assistant head of the children's SS are still 'absent from work'.

A Statutory Public Inquiry...
Dafydd Gibbard, ceo of the council, told a meeting in February, that a reply to the request for a public inquiry has been received from Welsh government but he has not yet shared the response...

Without accountability, the abuse will continue...

Something is very wrong within Gwynedd council...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nepotism, Cronyism And Bullying? - Cyngor Gwynedd Council...

Councillor Beca Brown presented a notice of motion re Neil Foden to a full council meeting of cyngor Gwynedd on the 4th December, 2025. The motion can be found in the agenda pack for the meeting - 
https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru//mgChooseDocPack.aspx?ID=5505

There were also 6 questions put to the council by elected members. 
One raised by Councillor John Pughe Roberts asked - 

 
The rest of the leader's response along with the other question and answers can be found here - 
https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru//documents/b15108/ITEM%206%20-%20QUESTIONS%2004th-Dec-2025%2013.30%20The%20Council.pdf?T=9 

John Nicholson, an ex governor at Ysgol Friars between 2013 and 2017, reports that he tried to raise concerns about Neil Foden but was not supported by other members of the board -
“If the maladministration was blatantly evident to me after just a few months of becoming a school governor, it must have been overwhelmingly clear to those members of staff who comprised the senior management team.
https://www.northwaleschronicle.co.uk/news/25655748.bangor-former-school-governor-reacts-neil-foden-report/

In the same article, Jan Pickles, appears to reply to Nicholson directly - 
“I understand that Foden was a controlling bully to children, staff and governors, and I don’t doubt he behaved that way with staff within the council’s education department.
“However, we are the adults in this situation. If he’s behaving like that with you as a governor, how is behaving with children?  

School governors did fail...
The chair and vice chair during the time of Foden's offending were Essi Ahari and Keith Horton - both serving police officers with North Wales Police. 
Is Pickles saying that experienced, senior police officers were bullied?
Did the officers give evidence to Pickles?

Councillor Richard Medwyn Hughes was also a governor during this time.
Hughes resigned after Foden's arrest but cyngor Gwynedd reinstated him last year.
For why...?

There can be repercussions for those who do raise concerns...
An example from a BBC article dated 2020 -

Gwynedd head teacher Neil Foden 'victimised staff'
"I felt victimised by Neil Foden due to the way he operated. You were either in his gang or you were not," person D told the panel.
He claimed he was never interviewed by school governors and that Mr Foden's daughter had investigated the allegations against him.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-51710557 
 
Neil Foden was an abusive bully and used the system to protect himself.
It is part of a culture that appears rife in Gwynedd that includes not just schools and the education department but many departments within the council.

Raising concerns in Gwynedd...
To raise a complaint about a senior officer in Gwynedd can be fraught with danger.
The culture means that complainants have on occasion been gaslit and smeared to others.
Foden used the 'vexatious complainants' approach to shut down complaints.
The children's SS use the term 'tiresome complainants'.

                                                                  ***********
Safeguarding children or safeguarding themselves? 
A reminder that the Pickles review was an 'extended' child practice review.
This means that some of the children were in the care of the local council or recently had been...

A whole team of social workers and their managers were meant to be protecting each child from predators such as Foden. 
All failed the children...
Were any of the kids in foster care?
Were Youth Justice involved?

The head of children's services is still 'absent from work' and Dafydd Paul, their senior safeguarding officer appears to have been replaced by Elliw Haf Hughes.

Leader of the council, Nia Jeffreys, could have explained what is happening within the department. 
She did not...nor did the cabinet member for children, or any of the senior officers present.

One Gwynedd councillor, Richard Glyn Roberts, saw through the mea culpa's -
Given the slowness in dealing with this issue and the lack of clinical focus on the procedural and organisational failures. one asks how we can have confidence in the leadership of the council.

Organisational failures of Gwynedd's senior officers will be detailed in the Woods report.
Councillors could ask Dafydd Gibbard to release this report which he has had in his possession since the Spring.

There was a question from Councillor Gruffydd Williams - 
Following the fact that article 4 has been quashed by Judge Justice Eyre and as a result of what he said, "that there has been significant misleading by the Officers of this Council", will the Council apologise to campaigners who have fought so hard to enforce article 4

Williams was answered by Craig ab Iago, cabinet member for the Enviroment.
The reference to officers misleading councillors was not properly answered...

The webcast of the full council meeting can be found here -
The translated feed is not working...
https://gwynedd.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/1044728

In other news, the job of Gwynedd's workforce development manager under social care is being advertised. Those interested should contact the current workforce development manager, Gillian Paul.

Something is so very wrong within Gwynedd council...

Deny Delay Deflect - Cyngor Gwynedd Council...

Sally Holland, former children's commissioner, spoke at the full cabinet meeting of cyngor Gwynedd held on the 11th November, 2025. As the chair of the council's response board, set up after the abuse of children by Neil Foden, Holland presented the - 
QUARTERLY REPORT TO CABINET: RESPONSE PLAN PROGRAMME BOARD
which can be found here -  
https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=46340

  

The webcast of the cabinet meeting can be viewed here - 
https://gwynedd.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/1034943

Holland states the overarching objectives of the board are - 
Acknowledge, Apologise, Support, Establish, Learn, Improve and be Accountable.
So who are the four cabinet members providing accountability to the public...?

Dewi Jones, the cabinet member for education, is surely one of the four.
When will he make a statement on the failings of the governing body at Ysgol Friars? 
First and foremost, Neil Foden was accountable to the school governors.

From 2018, Pickles highlights - Child A reports concern re Foden’s relationship with Child C. Education speaknto Foden. Reported to LA1 C&FS and NWP.

The chair and vice chair of governors were NWP officers - Essie Ahari and Keith Horton.

The former head of education, Garem Jackson, after being contacted by a whistleblower met with senior officers of the children's deparment. Pickles writes - 
The meeting was deemed not to be a child protection meeting and was instead regarded as being for the consideration of a ‘professional issue.
ie senior officers appeared to be more concerned for Foden's reputation...

The former director of SS, Morwena Edwards was not a social worker, her background was finance, and she would have relied heavily on the advice of the now absent from work, Marian Parry Hughes and Dafydd Paul, senior safeguarding and quality officer.
Cyngor Gwynedd's legal team advised the officers...

Jan Pickles conducted an 'Extended' Child Practice Review, which means that some of the children Neil Foden abused were 'in care' at the time of the abuse or the preceding 6 months.
Were any of the children in foster care?
One child was living in a hostel. The hostel manager raised concerns in 2018.

Anglesey council (LA2) also raised concerns  - 
LA2 informed LA1 C&FS Senior Manager LADO that had Foden been a professional working in LA2, a meeting would have been convened under Part 4 of the AWCPP 2008.

The NSPCC are also scathing about Gwynedd's LADO -
From the Pickles review - my highlight...

At this time, Dilwyn Morgan, was cabinet member for children and family.
His tenure is best remembered for the Ombudsman for Wales reports highlighting serious concerns and failings within the children's SS, including social workers faking assessments on children.
Will Morgan be giving a statement of what he knew...?

It was a busy time for the SS department as the PSOW also found serious failings within the adult's department. The cabinet member with responsibility for the department was then Dafydd Meurig.
Treatment of one adult in Gwynedd's care was so bad it made the Ombudsman's Equality & Human Rights Casebook-2019/20

https://www.ombudsman.wales/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/104483-Equality-and-Human-Rights-Casebook_Eng_v03.pdf

Neil Foden was an abusive bully, who used inadequate 'policies and procedures' to protect himself from investigation and censure. Complaints were ignored or dealt with badly. If the complaint was serious enough then the 'vexatious complainant' rule could be used to shut the complaint down.

Page 79 of the Pickles review -  

 

The Pickles review can be found here -
 https://www.northwalessafeguardingboard.wales/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/30.10.25-FINAL-ENGLISH-CPR-REPORT-_.pdf

Foden smeared those who challenged him and reversed blame onto the victim - Darvo.
Blame the children - blame the parents - deny delay deflect.

In other news, the Governance and Audit committee were made aware of concerns within the county's care homes. Little information given and little action taken despite a lay member's grave concerns. 
Also 'bedblocking' has been a major issue for years now with the adult SS coming in for criticism...

Internal audits still show issues with staff training and breakfast clubs in particular -

 

The reports can be found in the agenda pack - 
https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru//documents/g5460/Public%20reports%20pack%2009th-Oct-2025%2010.00%20Governance%20and%20Audit%20Committee.pdf?T=10

Something is very wrong within Gwynedd council...