Cyngor Gwynedd - A 'Children's Parliament...'

Cyngor Gwynedd held a full council meeting on the 6th July, 2023. The chair welcomed all and asked for everyone's full attention as the meeting was being webcast. Not all councillors got the message.

The Annual Report of the SS Statutory Director was presented. The report had not been corrected with regard to the work of the Youth Justice team and the recent imprisonment. Yet again, a generic report is published with incorrect data. The report was passed anyway. 

The full agenda can be found here - 
https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru//ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=130&MId=4889

The former Chair of the Care Scrutiny Committee praised the work of scrutiny members and referenced a meeting he chaired that took the Wales Ambulance Service to task. But made no mention of the critical Ombudsman for Wales investigation(s) into the SS departments under the committee's watch. No mention either of the SS departments not being properly scrutinised for the past four years...

Some Councillors raised their own concerns with scrutiny practices and one compared it to a 'children's parliament.' 

Gwynedd council's monitoring officer did state that there is a code of conduct for members and officers - any concerns with his role are to be raised with the CEO.

Link to the webcast -
https://gwynedd.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/789318

Something is very wrong within Gwynedd council...

 

 

Cyngor Gwynedd Council Scrutiny Committee Pass What Exactly...?

Cyngor Gwynedd council's Care Scrutiny Committee met on the 3rd February, 2022, to receive a progress report on the Occupational Therapy service and also to scrutinise the North Wales Population Needs Assessment.

Whilst the OT report was quite encouraging, if accurate - the Needs Assessment had not been completed.
The officer blamed the pandemic and a lack of data but promised the report will be ready to be presented to the Cabinet next week. So no proper scrutiny then?
Regardless, a vote on the report that was not a report was called for....!!!

A debate ensued - well sort of...
There appeared to be a plea for councillors to help in the collecting of data - then it was said there is enough data...!!
Concerns were raised that few people were responding with requests for information - surveys etc and were there mumblings that the data was not positive to the services?

The meeting bemoaned the fact not enough people are engaging to aid with data collection. But families have tried to engage and are ignored...or parent bashed. Councillors of the Scrutiny Committee have been made aware of the concerns for those with protected characteristics (and the data) for several years now - the committee has not engaged. Are members now asking for those with past experience of council services to come forward? It was all very confusing...

Have any of the five recent Ombudsman's investigations been used to inform the Assessment? Has the Hugh Morgan, OBE review been used - apart from the cut and paste 'plan' presented to the last Scrutiny meeting?

Have we reached the point where departmental reports and data are in complete contradiction to recent investigations, reviews and people's personal experiences?

One of the counci's most important pieces of work to plan services for the next 5 years is being bodged...For why? The data is worthless....

Only one committee member saw through it all and voted against accepting the report, one other abstained - the rest voted it through....

The webcast of the meeting should be available on the council's website for viewing some time soon -
https://gwynedd.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcasts

The North Wales Population Needs Assessment can be found here -
https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru/documents/s32793/20220223%20Appendix%201.pdf

Something is very wrong with Gwynedd council....