Cyngor Gwynedd Council - Neil Foden And FOI Requests...

Regarding Neil Foden -
S4C has put in Freedom Of Information requests to cyngor Gwynedd.
They have not been responded to and now the Information Commissioner has ruled against the council. 

Google translated -
"Based on evidence available to the Commissioner, by the date of this notice the public authority has not published a substantial response to this application.

"So the Commissioner finds a breach of section 10."

As a result of the decision, Gwynedd Council has 30 days to give a "substantial response" to S4C News, the Commissioner's Office said:

"The public authority must provide a substantive response to the request in accordance with its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act.

"The public authority must take this step within 30 calendar days of the date of the notification of decision.

"Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner certifying this fact in writing to the High Court in accordance with section 54 of the Freedom of Information Act and may be dealt with as contempt of court."

The S4C article can be found here -
https://newyddion.s4c.cymru/article/24125

Freedom of Information requests are dealt with by Gwynedd's Information Office...

The department has a history of failing to respond properly to some FOI's and complaints (internal review) to Gwynedd's monitoring officer are sometimes ignored.

 

The ICO has found against the department in the past...
The department simply ignored the ruling of the ICO.

 

Gwynedd's information office also deal with SARS (subject access requests). Some SAR's have not been dealt with according to law and the council has even censored information when it should not...

The information manager has also written investigation reports in spite of the evidence...

One involved a data breach by the childrens department which had already been upheld by an independent investigator. The council did not inform the ICO of the data breach...

So what information has Gwynedd council been asked for?
FOI's have been requested for correspondence between senior officers and the former head of education, Garem Jackson, between a certain date.
 

Correspondence has also been requested between Jackson and Beca Brown, the Cabinet member for Education between September until the beginning of October 2023.

 

The decision not to comply with the FOI would, presumably, have been made by the monitoring officer. The monitoring officer's main duty is to safeguard the council and its officers. 

 

It is not only Gwynedd council who are unwilling to share information re Foden...
North Wales Police responded to a FOI request re Foden in June -

 

NWP refused to answer...

Considerations against disclosure – Section 30
If North Wales Police released specific details of investigations it could prejudice law enforcement or potentially damage the criminal justice system. In this case, to disclose additional details of this case not already in the public domain would have a detrimental effect on any future proceedings or appeals process.

https://www.heddlugogleddcymru.police.uk/cy-GB/SysSiteAssets/foi-media/north-wales/disclosure-2024/2024-609-procedures-when-investigating-the-neil-foden-case.pdf

 

A reminder that the former chair of Ysgol Friars school governors is a chief superintendent of NWP...

 

In other news, Gwynedd council are to hold a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, 15th October, 2024. The agenda pack can be found here -
https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru//documents/g5257/Public%20reports%20pack%2015th-Oct-2024%2013.00%20The%20Cabinet.pdf?T=10

One report is -

LLECHEN LÂN (A CLEAN SLATE) -
SOCIAL SERVICES FOR OLDER PEOPLE FOR THE FUTURE

The action plan will drive policy in Gwynedd for many years.
It is not looking good for the elderly...

Something is very wrong within Gwynedd council...