Of Mice And Men - Cyngor Gwynedd Council...

Cyngor Gwynedd council held a Cabinet meeting on the 11th June, 2024. The agenda pack can be found here -
https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru//documents/g5221/Public%20reports%20pack%2011th-Jun-2024%2013.00%20The%20Cabinet.pdf?T=10

First up was the Asset Management Plan and most notably the decision to spend money on the smallholdings the council own. Once upon a time, Gwynedd council considered smallholdings a valuable source of income but a past report showed concerns with low rents and arrears. A Task and Finish group was set up to investigate these concerns last year but does not appear to have yet met...

The Strategic Safeguarding Panel Annual Report 2023/24 was also discussed -
It is essential that Cabinet members are aware of the Panel’s work on safeguarding and are satisfied that the Panel has undertaken the required work in a thorough and conscientious manner.

The panel is chaired by councillor Menna Trenholme, but ultimate responsibility lies with the Director Of SS. Concerns with the safeguarding of children has come to the fore with the recent trial of Neil Foden - but the report only mentions this in passing -

There were also cases during the year of crime against children. Whilst legal proceedings and the courts are doing their work, it is important that, as social services, we consistently learn from these incidents through reviews and improve our services to ensure the safety of those who are most vulnerable in our community.

It will be difficult for the Director, Dylan Owen, to deal with many of the issues emerging from the Foden case having only recently joined the council. It is the same with councillor Trenholme.
Morwena Edwards, the former Director and Dilwyn Williams, former CEO of the council will have more knowledge of events in this case but will they be part of the review? A reminder that some of those who have failed children are still in post...

A Performance Report for the Cabinet Member for Adults, Health and Wellbeing was also given. The cabinet member, Dilwyn Morgan, was the cabinet member for children until 2022. His report mentions making more use of technology to improve the ability of Gwynedd residents to access support and care -

So no support for the elderly and disabled. The most vulnerable in the county left to care for themselves. Nothing in this report helps the issue of bed blocking in the local hospitals, either.

The Performance Report for Children and Supporting Families was presented by Councillor Elin Walker-Jones. The report focusses on the department's priority projects, namely the Autism Plan and the Small Group Homes Scheme.

The report gives an update on the house purchased by the council in Morfa Bychan for children with intensive and complex needs who are currently in very expensive out of county placements. The report mentions the doors are to be opened in September...

Questions from councillors on the group home schemes were responded to by Aled Gibbard, assistant head - resources. His answers show that little thought has been given to the project. Councillors asked what happens when these children reach the age of 18. Gibbard replied that the council no longer have a responsibilty for these children. So what happens to them and where will these teenagers go then?

Gibbard made reference to Gisda, an organisation that supports young people in the area. But Gisda only have four flats which are presumably used by the youngsters they support. What happens to them?

But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane,
In proving foresight may be vain;
The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
Gang aft agley,
An’lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy
Robert Burns

Elin Walker Jones report references the Autism Plan and promises to "improve our provision and make it easier for individuals and their families to transfer between different services."

This is disingenuous of the cabinet member who knows better than anyone that there is no real provision for autistic individuals without a learning disability and never has been. How can you improve something that does not exist? 

The cabinet member for children was also heard to make a comment regarding autism and disability, but the comment can not be verified as the webcast meeting has not yet been made available to the public.

Regardless of the many concerns, the Cabinet members voted to accept the reports as requested by senior officers.

Something is very wrong within Gwynedd council...

 

 

Are Children Safe? Gwynedd Council Safeguarding And Risk Model...

Whose job is it to keep children in Gwynedd safe from predators like Neil Foden?

 

While Jackson is holed up at home refusing to answer the door to reporters - who is asking questions of the school governors at Ysgol Friars? -
https://www.ysgolfriars.cymru/en/the-governing-body

and Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle? -
https://www.ysgoldyffrynnantlle.cymru/en/governors/whos-who

And what of the cyngor Gwynedd safeguarding team...?

The Senior Manager Safeguarding and Quality at Cyngor Gwynedd Counci is Dafydd Paul -

'Senior manager within statutory Children Services with responsibility in areas of child protection (safeguarding), adult protection, corporate safeguarding and quality assurance. Manager of the Safeguarding and Quality Unit. Internal coach, coach supervisor and trainer in corporate programmes. AcademyWales associate in areas of executive coaching, facilitation and Managing Change training programme.' 

Dafydd Paul and Bruce Thornton created the Risk Model -

 

The Risk Model continues to be developed.  As it is introduced in ever increasing numbers of Authorities, Bruce modifies and extends the tools and training products.  Dafydd has incorporated the Risk Model into a new innovation developed by Children Services in Gwynedd called Effective Child Protection. 

About the project -

Has the Risk Model failed..?
All models, policies and procedures are heavily reliant on the honesty, integrity and professional judgement of those in senior positions...

In June, 2023, feedback from a safeguarding review by Care Inspectorate Wales was presented to the Care Scrutiny Committee. It was found that -

Children in Gwynedd benefit from agencies sharing information effectively, and this is supported by a clear and understood model of practice. It was considered that children in Gwynedd are safeguarded effectively...
https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru/documents/s38246/Feedback%20from%20Safeguarding%20Review%20by%20Care%20Inspectorate%20Wales.pdf

But the council do acknowledge  -
However, two examples were seen where external agencies had not shared information with children’s services in a timely manner.

In typical Ffordd Gwynedd way, Marian Parry Hughes, Head of Children and Family SS does not name the external agencies in her report. 

Also - 
2.8 It was noted that North Wales Police’s policy is not to attend review child protection conferences. It was recognised that they provide a report to the meetings, but it was flet (sic) that this was a failure to participate in the discussion in relation to whether the child remained at risk of significant harm

One wonders if the Care Inspectorate Wales review was the reason for the Director of SS, delaying publication of the 2022/23 Annual Complaints Handling report? The CIW may have probed deeper if they had known about the historic complaints reported...

The report can be found here - 
https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru//documents/g4975/Public%20reports%20pack%2011th-Apr-2024%2010.30%20Care%20Scrutiny%20Committee.pdf?T=10

A reminder that this is the first SS Annual Complaints Handling report to go before the Care Scrutiny Committee since 2019 after which Dafydd Paul was called out for misleading councillors.
No proper scrutiny for five years...

“A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.”
Thomas Paine  

Something is so very wrong within Gwynedd council...

                          

                

Cyngor Gwynedd Council - Leader Of The Gang...?

In November, 2021, Neil Foden, headteacher at Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle in Penygroes wrote to parents informing that any child with a debt of 2p would be refused school meals. This caused a national furore with interventions from Marcus Rashford and blogger Simon Harris (men behaving dadly)

The headteacher blamed the decision on his council bosses who he claims 'threw him under a bus' -
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-59341464
"All I did was to pass on the authority's message to parents."

Gwynedd Council blamed "lack of clarity" from its education department on school food debt policy -
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/education/council-apologises-school-meal-debt-22153658

Councillors of Gwynedd's Education and Economy Scrutiny Committee challenged the Head of Education, Garem Jackson, for an explanation. He did not provide one but promised an update for the next meeting.

Two months later, a video was posted online that appears to show Neil Foden grabbing a pupil by the scruff of the neck -
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/education/head-teacher-filmed-appearing-grab-22967578

At the next scrutiny meeting, Mr Jackson failed to answer the committees previous concerns and was also unwilling to respond to the latest incident. Once again, promising to get the full facts and return with an update for councillors.
There is no record of Mr Jackson updating the committee on either incident...

Mr Foden has a history of controversy. In 2018, a Biology teacher was awarded £8,000 compensation after an 'outrageous' suspension by the Ysgol Friars headteacher -
The tribunal was convinced Mr Foden had at one stage been “looking for an excuse to make things difficult for the claimant”.
https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/biology-teacher-awarded-8000-compensation-14867550

Also -
“We developed a particular view about the evidence given by Mr Foden which undermined his credibility and/or reliability as a witness.”
https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/autocratic-gwynedd-headmaster-included-malpractice-14853841
How is this not perjury?

In 2020, he was found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct by the Education Workforce Council.
It was proved that Mr Foden treated a third teacher unfairly when providing a reference in 2016 in which he said he was facing an allegation of malpractice when, in fact, the teacher had been cleared.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-54300055

The panel heard evidence that included -
"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

The teacher claimed Mr Foden was looking to "pressurise" him after he made whistleblowing complaints over erroneous submissions of exam results by his department boss.
Person D said he made the whistleblowing complaints in 2014 because pupils had been "awarded an exam pass" and he was initially concerned it was an "administrative error".

However, he said the evidence had been moved for the five pupils concerned. "The evidence had been removed from a computer file. It had taken a year and a quarter for the exam board to be told."
Person D said he and two other concerned teachers were not interviewed about the exam concerns until "four to six months later".
https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/headmaster-victimised-teacher-who-blew-17850450

The delay in interviewing the teachers will affect any legal process as there is a very short window to lodge complaints and/or take legal action. After one year, it is presumed that the exam board would dismiss any concerns as out of time...
Mr Foden is also Head of Ysgol Friars in Bangor.

Perhaps the scrutiny committee could remind the Head of Education of his promise to report on the incidents and also ask for an update on the two teachers believed to have been suspended on full pay for 9 years...

In 2014, the council's safeguarding team began an investigation alongside north wales police.. It did not go well. In 2018, the CPS threw out the case after they did a deep dive of the 'evidence'. 

A spokesman for the council said -
"This process concluded with the CPS deciding not to proceed with any prosecutions. The council is currently carrying out its own subsequent internal investigation into the matter and as a result the individuals remain suspended from their posts.”
https://web.archive.org/web/20180729072902/https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/welsh-councils-paid-9m-staff-14876849

Gwynedd council also paid over £800,000 of public money to north wales police. For what...?
The costs of this case, including the legal fees, must be approaching 2 million pounds - if not more... 

An FOI seeking information on the matter was shut down by the monitoring officer who simply ignored the request for an internal review. The next step in the legal process - a complaint to the ICO - usually requires an internal review to have been undertaken. Regardless, the ICO can only 'advise' the council to release information. Gwynedd council have ignored the 'advice' of the ICO in the past...

Questions to the integrity and professionalism of the safeguarding team remain. The senior safeguarding officer for Gwynedd has not been seen at a council meeting since 2019 when he was called out for deceiving the care scrutiny committee in another case.

Something is so very wrong within Gwynedd council...