Autism Pathway ? - Cyngor Gwynedd Director Of SS Annual Report.

The Director of Cyngor Gwynedd Social Services, Morwena Edwards, has published her Annual report to be presented to the council on the 1st October.

Unlike the Welsh Government's generic report she presented last year, this report gives more detail of the performance of both the Adult and Children departments she is responsible for but like so many reports emenating from this council it doesn't seem to tell the whole story.

On page 31, under the title of Learning and Development, the Director makes mention that -

"The Department has been in contact with the Ombudsman's Office for some years now regarding one specific case....
The Department has received many recommendations from the Ombudsman, and one remains as outstanding; however, slippage has been seen in the work as a result of the Covid-19 crisis."

The Covid-19 crisis is only the latest 'reason' for 'slippage', so somewhat misleading....

 (There have been 5 Ombudsman investigation reports into both the Adult and Children departments - in 4 years.)

 

In June, 2019, the Chief Executive Officer, Dilwyn O Williams, sent a letter to the family apologising for all the failings upheld by the Ombudsman's investigation and informed that the Children's department had agreed to implement the recomendations by September, 2019.

 

 The Ombudsman's recommendation regarding autism is as follows -

"71. The Council should (within three months) seek specialist input to develop a plan for dealing with future assessment and support requests from/for those suffering with Autism."

 

The Council's action to meet this recommendation was to provide the Ombudsman's investigator with a copy of the "Integrated Autism Service (IAS) North Wales Update- February 2018" and a copy of the "supporting guidance" document.

No specialist input sought.  Just yet another attempt to avoid creating any 'pathway' for autistic individuals seeking social services care assessments or support. 

 

This 'evidence' was obviously not sufficient to meet the Ombudsman's recommendation and in October 2019, an officer of the Ombudsman for Wales contacted the council for an explanation of why the recommendations had not been completed as agreed and a phone call was arranged with the director Mrs Edwards to discuss compliance matters. Even though this call was arranged two weeks previous, - the council cancelled the call an hour before it was due.

 

The IAS do not carry out 'care assessments', that is the domain of health and social services, although autism advice can be sought from the IAS during the process.

 

As robust evidence of compliance was yet to be provided to the Ombudsman, in November 2019, the CEO was summoned to Cardiff to explain the 'slippage' to the Ombudsman, himself, we were also informed that the Ombudsman had other matters to discuss with the CEO..... 

(I wonder how much this cost Gwynedd taxpayers claimed as expenses but at least there was an opportunity for the CEO to do some Christmas shopping in the capital.)

 

Earlier this year, the CEO admitted that the Ombudsman for Wales is 'outraged' with Gwynedd council.

Not that outraged, as Nick Bennett could have published a 'Special Report' as he did with the Wrexham council when they failed to comply with recommendations agreed after an investigation.

 

All this was many months before the #Covid19 crisis and for the Director of Gwynedd SS to now use the pandemic as an excuse to cover for her departments failings is disingenuous.

 

When the pandemic took hold, the Ombudsman for Wales did indeed grant Cyngor Gwynedd extra time to comply with the recommendations for improvement. On the 11th June 2020, the Ombudsman wrote to the family - 

Fair enough - the pandemic has affected everything, though the Gwynedd council staff outing where one officer contracted the virus on a night out forcing an entire council group to self isolate for two weeks was not appreciated by anyone.

 

The Ombudsman wrote again to the family on the 24th August 2020 - 

 

        

So why is none of this mentioned in the Director's Annual report ? Sshh....Is it a secret ?

 

Something is very wrong within Gwynedd council.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Silence From Unison And Unite Trade Unions. #BCUHB

With regard to the Robin #Holden report into Institutional Abuse at #BCUHB dated 2013, snippets of the report have appeared in the media informing of staff in tears and at the end of their tether working in the North Wales NHS mental health units. Issues of bullying are also said to be raised within the report.

The Information Commissioner had ordered BCUHB to release the report but the Board have refused and are appealing the ICO's decision. The Tribunal has a date of early 2021...

Local Trade Union branches in North Wales were recently approached for their thoughts and reaction to the report by the North Wales Community Health Council into Vascular services at BCUHB and in particular the worry of increased limb loss amongst patients. The use of antibiotics was also raised as a concern.

That report, dated 8th October, 2019, can be found here - 
http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sitesplus/documents/900/Exec%20Minutes%2008102019%20%28APPROVED%29.pdf
It is a PDF document that will not open a new page but will be downloaded to your pc.

#Unison branches in the area were reluctant to give any response, some did not even acknowledge the question of if they were going to make a public statement on the damning report.

The decision by the local union officers to make no statement regarding the treatment of staff and the patients within the health board has come as a surprise to many members, especially after the shocking revelations now being made in the local press.

Now I may have expected too much from Unison as I am not a member so I approached my own union, Unite.

An acknowledgment was received from the BCU branch secretary and senior workplace rep, with regard to my inquiry, excerpts of which are reproduced below -

  ...concerns come through the recent review of the Board's Vascular Services and in particular claims of those in fear for their careers if they speak out.
Have the Trade Unions had contact with the Board and what has been the response from senior managers within the organisation - if any ?
There is also the issue of the Board discharging 1700 mental health patients from their services and the LA's having to pick up the pieces - during the lockdown.

The senior workplace rep, duly responded and on the 2nd June, said that they would be discussing with the regional officers and get back to me.

By early August, there had been no further response. I then came across a discussion on Twitter involving the Holden report and tagged both local Unison and Unite accounts into the thread hoping one would join in the conversation.

Whilst Unison did not respond - Unite simply blocked me...

The Unite rep did eventually get back to me via Facebook -

"As you are not a member of the BCU branch and you are not an employee of BCUHB I can’t provide you with that information im afraid. If you require information you will need to address your concerns to the Regional Secretary Peter Hughes at the Cardiff Office." 

Any union members that have concerns regarding work practices or whistleblowing in BCUHB may be better informing the regional organisers outside of the BCUHB region. The same goes for any Unison or Unite members within the local government organisations of North Wales.

Something is very wrong within the local government organisations of North Wales. 

 

#BCUHB Protecting Whistleblowers Or Their Managers ?

A recent #QSE report from the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board casts a little more light on the debacle surrounding the Robin Holden report, completed in 2013 but still not released by BCUHB, even after the recent Information Commissioner's Office ruling to publish under the FOIA. 

BCUHB have appealed this decision and a tribunal hearing is expected in early 2021.

The Quality, Safety & Experience report makes mention - 
It is vital the Health Board is able to give confidence to its community and stakeholders that the recommendations from the Holden Report (2013) have been implemented and sustained. The Executive Medical Director and Executive Director of Nursing and Midwifery/Deputy CEO have commissioned work to validate that the recommendations have been implemented and remain in place at this current time...

...This work, due to the need to robustly validate the evidence, is aiming to be completed by the end of September for executive scrutiny and reporting to the QSE Committee at its next meeting in October 2020.

The report, authored by Matthew Joyes, Acting Associate Director of Quality Assurance who is also the Assistant Director of Patient Safety and Experience at the health board is titled 'Holden Report - Update' and is for the attention of Responsible Directors, in this case - David Feanley, Executive Medical Director and Gill Harris, Executive Director of Nursing and Midwifery/Deputy Chief Executive.  

Bearing in mind, the Holden report was completed 7 years ago, it is concerning that only now 'responsible directors' are working towards ensuring that Holden's 19 recommendations have been implemented and sustained within the regions Mental Health Units.

Or is this ongoing work only now taking place to circumvent the ICO tribunal next year by presenting 'evidence' that all is now well in the mental health field and argue that the matter should be closed ? 

The update states that the Executive Director of Nursing and Patient Services made a personal visit to the Hergest Mental Health Unit in July, 2013, in order to speak to a number of staff who had raised concerns. A letter, dated 26th July, 2013, confirmed the exact nature of the allegations made by staff, also informing of a staff members petition of "No confidence in the Managment of the Mental Health Clinical Programme Group in their dealings with the Hergest Unit."  

The claimed institutional abuse within the BCUHB units, that included frail, elderly with dementia alongside other mental health patients, not only affected patients but staff, too.

Who were the managers responsible for the Mental Health Clinical Programme Group that failed so terribly ? Are the actions of BCUHB only to protect the managers and not the whistleblowers as claimed ?

Something is very wrong within the local government organisations of North Wales.

Rebuilding Communities - A Future For Gwynedd By Looking To The Past ?

A recent article, by Branwen Jones, a community reporter, has the headline - 
'Ban the sale of second homes or Welsh speaking communities face being wiped out, councillor claims' amid calls for a two tier market to be introduced in Gwynedd.

With nearly 40% of house sales bought as second homes last year, the paper returns us to 1973 and an article written by Ann Clwyd, the ex Labour MP, though makes no mention of Meibion Glyndŵr, a group of activists who, during the 1980's and early 90's set fire to over 200 English owned homes in the area and also letter bombed the estate agents they considered profitering from the house sales. 

Police reported finding a bomb in the garden of a local actor - (neighbours spoke of seeing a stranger in the garden the previous day) - and he was arrested and taken for questioning to Dolgellau. Rumours of MI5 involvement in the case were denied. Whilst the actor was finally released, one man was eventually jailed.

Many in the area were supportive of Meibion Glyndŵr, who saw the Welsh language being diluted and youngsters forced out of the area to seek housing and employment, ironically, in England. This was the time for local politicians and the council to act - they did not and the opportunity of buying cheap housing to improve and rent to locals was lost. It would be interesting to see the property portfolio's of those whose job it was to serve the local communities, back then and today.

Gwynedd Cabinet Member for Housing, Craig ab lago has said - "It doesn't matter how many homes we can build or how many empty ones we bring back into active use, until we sort out the root issue what we're doing is putting a sticking plaster over a gaping wound." 

The Councillor is right. 'Build more homes' has been the loud shout reverberating throughout Wales - mostly by those who can not think further than their own profitable links with property developers and the building industry. There is no need.

The idea of heavily taxing the property of wealthy incomers more, while attractive to many is also a non starter. Jersey is not a good example of how it could be done though not without some merit it will simply alienate and divide people even more.We must also remember that many locals have bought second homes as an investment and those who use such property as a business.

Cyngor Gwynedd recently revealed there are 1000 people on the housing list; coincidentally there are 1000 empty properties in the area. Let the council employ a small in-house team of builders, plumbers, electricians, and carpenters, let them take on local youth as apprentices, renovate the empty homes and rent them to the apprentices who have been working on them. Then move on to the next house, creating job security and affordable rental housing as it goes. 

I do believe, Councillor, Craig ab lago, has been working on such a program but progress will be too slow without the council and its senior officers fully supporting him.

The scheme would eventually pay for itself by the rental income and council tax raised on the properties that are currently rotting and worthless. When the apprentices become the masters, let them teach the new influx of apprentices. They will eventually move on, hopefully start their own businesses and create opportunities for other local peiople.

Insulate these properties properly - with the climate crisis in mind carbon neutral would be the goal or as near as damn it. Llyr Gruffydd, Plaid Cymru shadow rural affairs minister has been vocal with regard to Welsh wool being used as insulation in homes to support the regions sheep farmers who have been on their knees for years. Excellent. Use the wood from the regions sustained forests and Welsh slate for the roofs, too. This would not only support these businesses but massively reduce the carbon footprint importing these products from abroad.

These homes would not be available to buy and their tenancies would be linked to their employment with the council. Creating jobs and security for the local youth in the area. Once the program has started then renovate the houses for those in need on the housing list.

So where will the money come from initially ? 
UK governments have always provided money for apprentice schemes so use those grants now while still available. Other grants will also be available Across the North Wales council's is a £2 Billion pension pot - much of which is invested abroad. Why not invest that money in schemes supporting the region(s) ?

Ask for those in the community with expertise and knowledge to come forward to pass on their skills to the youth and the unemployed; stonemasons, engineers, metal workers, fishermen, computer coders et al. The area is awash with retirees and others who would be more than happy to volunteer their time and knowledge as the recent covid19 crisis has shown.

Reopen the youth clubs and community centres so these skills can be taught in the local communities by the local community.These schemes run locally will not cost much and if small amounts of monies are needed then dip into the council reserves. Schemes such as these will also deal with the issue of gangs of bored, youth roaming the town centres and estates. Dispersal notices are not the answer as the reported attacks on police in Bangor have shown. These centres could also be used as a focal point for all ages within the community - a meeting place for music, sport and drama - as they used to be.

The effects of the Covid19 pandemic, on health and the economy, will be with us for decades. Gwynedd, its people and the Welsh language could thrive with the right leadership. The last forty years has shown where mistakes were made - those lessons must be learnt otherwise they will only be repeated.

Tawel Fan And The Hascas Report - #BCUHB

As we await the latest, taxpayer funded, shenanigans employed by Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board in their attempt to conceal the #Holden report into institutional abuse at the #Hergest mental health unit at Ysbyty Gwynedd, it may be useful to take a look at a more recent report into North Wales mental health units.

One such report is the - 'Independent Investigation into the Care and Treatment Provided on Tawel Fan Ward: a Lessons for Learning Report.'dated May,2018.

There appears to be a disconnect between part one of the report - excerpts in italics - and the report's final findings and conclusions reached. When the report was released, there were many vocal cries of a coverup and a whitewash.

The Investigation was commissioned initially to examine specific concerns raised by some 23 families about the care and treatment received by their loved ones between January 2007 and December 2013...... In order to identify any other patients whose care and treatment might have fallen below an acceptable standard the Investigation was also asked to examine the archives developed during the following prior processes:

The majority of witnesses who were called to give evidence cooperated freely with the Investigation; however a significant number (some 20 percent) did not.

At the inception of the Investigation it was thought that the archives of all prior inquiry and review processes were complete, available and ready for analysis; this was not the case. It took 14 months (from August 2015 to October 2016) for the complete North Wales Police archive to be made available to the Investigation. 

There were also ongoing issues in accessing a complete set of formal concerns, incident and safeguarding documentation from both BCUHB and the Local Authorities. Some of this information was only made available to the Investigation as late as July 2017.

The Investigation Panel expected to source documentation from ‘locked down’ archives when the work commenced. At the inception of any NHS investigation there is a requirement that all pertinent documents are identified, recalled and secured; this is commonly known as the ‘lock down process’

...Continued security and monitored access is essential to make certain confidential documents are stored safely so that no suggestion of tampering with evidence can be made against either the organisation or an individual, during the course of an investigation, or at any point in the future. 

The Investigation Panel was surprised to find that (initially) documents had not been formally ‘locked down’ in accordance with commonly accepted NHS good practice.

Ockenden External Investigation: a file of documents was provided to the Investigation by BCUHB. However on close examination the archive did not appear to be complete. This was resolved by establishing direct contact with Donna Ockenden and no further delays were incurred.

North Wales Police Investigation: the original archive given to the Investigation had been provided directly to BCUHB by the North Wales Police. The assumption was made by the Health Board that this archive contained copies of all statements provided by its staff together with those provided by the families of patients who had been admitted to Tawel Fan ward between January 2011 and December 2013; at this stage BCUHB thought the archive was complete. 
On close examination it became evident to the Investigation Panel that this was not the case.

...During November 2015 discussions were held between the Investigation Chair and the North Wales Police to establish how many statements were missing from the archive given to BCUHB. There ensued a long process which entailed multiple discussions, meetings and written communications.  

Eventually at the end of May 2016 the North Wales Police allowed members of the Investigation Panel (via a supervised read at the Police Head Quarters) access to a further 70 witness statements

As a result of this supervised read another 20 patients were identified where families had either clearly raised concerns about the care and treatment provided on Tawel Fan ward, or where material within the statements related to matters which the Investigators determined required further investigation despite no explicit or direct complaint about the matter having been made. 

Investigation Panel members were permitted to take brief notes at the Police Headquarters and to list the new patient names. It was agreed by the North Wales Police that the Investigation could share these names with BCUHB so that a search could commence for their clinical records. The Police held a full list of family contact details which it was prepared to share with BCUHB directly. 

At this stage, however, the Police wanted to gain the consent of each individual who had given a statement prior to any further information sharing taking place with the Health Board and prior to the additional 70 statements being added to the archive.  

The Investigation Panel worked initially with the following departments and organisations to establish a credible witness management process to ensure that all future investigation work adhered to United Kingdom best practice:

BCUHB Workforce and Organisational Development Directorate
The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC)
The Royal College of Nursing
The British Medical Association
UNISON

Part one of the report concludes with this worrying paragraph. My emphasis in bold. 

The Investigation conducted its work in private and communicated headline findings to BCUHB only towards the end of the investigation process. During the course of the Investigation corporate members of the Trust Board were called as witnesses. The Independent Oversight Panel ensured quality monitoring processes were deployed and held at arm’s length from the Health Board. This guaranteed that the work was completed in a satisfactory manner whilst maintaining the total integrity of the Investigation’s independence. The Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board received the report after all due process was completed and was not permitted to exert any influence over the Investigation or the report findings and conclusions.
                                                  
                                                           ********************
I have read and reread this statement several times and whilst I understand its inclusion its length and tone concerns me. Is there a history of  BCUHB interference in investigations as other local government agencies in North Wales have done ? 

My own experiences of 'independent' investigations in North Wales, where investigators are bullied and overwhelmed to alter critical reports, interference by senior managers in the process and staff that lie to cover for poor behaviour with the support of their managers leaves me sceptical of many reports published by local government and their agencies. 

Would I trust the Hascas report ?

No - and it is my opinion that the reason BCUHB is fighting tooth and nail not to publish the Robin Holden report is because it will simply confirm the claims of some staff and witnesses to the alleged institutional abuse within the North Wales mental health units.

The link to the full report can be found here -  HASCAS report, May 2018 (eng).pdf
The file is a PDF document and will be downloaded to your computer and not open as a new web page.

'Virtual' Locations And 'Hotdesking' In Gwynedd And North Wales.

Another article written by Gwynedd and Anglesey Local Democracy Reporter, Gareth Wyn-Williams has certainly raised eyebrows in North Wales.

From the excellent article which can be found here - https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/eyebrows-raised-what-schools-agency-18716183
Copy and paste the web address into your browser.


Auditors say they can't rule out that a school improvement service allowed its staff to change which offices they worked from so they could boost their mileage expenses claims.

GwE changed its policies at the same time that rules were tightened up for council workers. The new rules meant staff would only be able to claim for distances beyond that which they would normally travel to get from home to work.

When the changes came in, GwE allowed staff to choose that the office nearest to their homes should be their official workplace.

That meant that the point at which they could begin claiming mileage expenses was lowered.

While the council's decision to change the rules was aimed at saving around £290,000 a year, GwE - which is funded by North Wales authorities - saw its expenditure increase between 2017 and 2019.

The audit report states: "A number of staff had wished to change their official work location to the nearest offices to their homes.

"The fact that this may have happened in response to the change in policy and the effect this has on officers' travel costs, rather than for practical reasons for GwE, cannot be ruled out.

"This is based on the fact that officers’ travel claims suggest that there has been no change to their day to day working arrangements, but the changes have obviously impacted on officers' travel costs by reducing the element they have to subtract from their claims, as well as enabling officers to claim for travel beyond their new, official location."

An audit also found that mileage claims were not being checked properly, leading to one instance where an 800 mile claim submitted for an 80 mile journey was processed before the mistake was found.

Noting that the nature of their work meant that GwE staff had to regularly visit schools or to the various offices across North Wales, it added: "Among the discussions to change official work locations, it was discovered that GwE had tried to move some staff to ‘virtual’ locations, as they did not have offices in the locations staff wanted to move to.

"Nearby hotdesking facilities were eventually used as an official place of work as a physical location is required for the system.

 "Again this has the effect of enabling the officer to claim travel expenses (and time, if relevant to the terms of the job) for any journey that exceeds the distance from home to this official place of work."

The report concluded: "Whilst reviewing officers' travel claims, it appears that those who have changed their official work location have benefited financially, whether by claiming for the journeys they make to their usual place of work, or by reducing the loss associated with the distance from home to their official work location - or a combination of both.

"GwE's Value for Money Policy states that 'although internal audit has a primary responsibility for assessing the internal control system, the internal auditors are frequently well placed to assess and comment on VFM in the areas reviewed'.

"To this end, Internal Audit cannot provide assurance that value for money has been taken into account when changing work locations."

Responding to the report during Thursday's committee meeting, Cllr Paul Rowlinson suggested: "To me the main failing is the revelation that staff are allowed to choose their official place of work and that some may do that, not to fairly reflect where they truly work but to boost the amount they are permitted to claim back.

"Are they paying income tax on that? And if this is happening on a wide basis then it raises concerns over the culture and reminds me of the issue surrounding Parliamentary expenses in 2009, which may have been within the law but didn't look right to people looking in from the outside."

A council officer also conceded that it could be seen as "odd" that GwE amended many staff's official workplaces on the same day that Gwynedd's stricter guidelines were introduced, adding that the authority's HR department had attempted to challenge GwE on the decision.

In response, a GwE spokesperson said: "In reviewing the policy change regarding travel costs GwE worked closely with the relevant officers at Gwynedd council and the Directors of Education of the six Authorities across North Wales to secure agreement that the regional service remained effective and efficient and embed the policy change in a regional context.

"Following the policy change GwE staff are not claiming travel costs from their homes."

A Cyngor Gwynedd spokesperson added that while concern had been raised that some managers at GwE were not, at the time of the audit, consistently checking the reasonableness and accuracy of mileage claims by GwE staff, management had since agreed to implement these steps.

 https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/eyebrows-raised-what-schools-agency-18716183

Article ends.

As Gwynedd Council is the leading council in respect of the finance and accountancy service for the Joint Committee, it is Gwynedd Council’s responsibility to complete the financial statements.

Gwynedd Council has been appointed as host authority in implementing and maintaining the service, and the Joint Committee of all the partners oversees the management of the service.

The accounts for the GwE Joint Committee from 2013/14 to the present date can be found here -
https://www.gwynedd.llyw.cymru/en/Council/Performance-and-spending/Budgets-and-finance/Statement-of-Accounts/GwE-Joint-Committee.aspx

Is this fraud ?

The Audit and Governance Committee webcast in relation to GwE and other matters can be found here along with the agenda packs that include the reports - 
https://gwynedd.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/502648

The sidenote alongside the webcast that informs 'An agenda has not been published for this meeting.' is not correct.

For those interested the agenda pack and relevant reports can be found here -
https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=136&MId=4129&Ver=4

 

                                   

Cyngor Gwynedd Councillors 'Shut Out" Of Decision Making Process During Lockdown - Updated.

An article by Gwynedd Local Democracy Reporter, Gareth Wyn Williams was posted to the North Dot Wales website on Friday, 31st July, 2020.

The article features the Llais Gwynedd party member, Alwyn Gruffydd, who makes comment on the recent Cyngor Gwynedd Annual Governance Statement and in particular the section referring to the low number of residents responses to various public consultations by Gwynedd Council.

The Council's statement states that there is "no great aspiration" amongst the public to hold the Council to account."

However, Councillor Gruffydd, representing Porthmadog - Tremadog, challenged this statement citing "a lack of trust" in the decision making of the Gwynedd Cabinet Members.

He continued - "I fear there may be a feeling out there that their local members simply aren't in a situation to represent them as they aren't part of any decision making process".

"The agenda today is full of items for considerations only, but we have to consider accountability or we'll be in an even worse situation, and a loss of that vital contact means that the principle of local government goes down the drain."

The Chair of Gwynedd Council Care Scrutiny Committee, Dewi Roberts, added - "I do agree there's been a lack of input in the decision making process."

Head of Finance, Dafydd L Edwards, is quoted - 

"The sharing out of business grants was an additional task above and beyond, with Gwynedd allocating £55 Million to local business, which is more than any Welsh authority apart from Cardiff."

Councillor, Paul Rowlinson, representing Gerlan, noted the pausing of committees, including the Employment Appeals Committee had left some members of staff in limbo.

This article by the Local Democracy Reporter for Gwynedd was first sighted on Twitter where someone pointed out the issue of FIVE Ombudsman for Wales investigations in just FOUR years shows that some people of Gwynedd are attempting to hold Gwynedd Council to account.

The Democracy reporter has since deleted the Twitter thread and the article below is no longer on the news website - why ?

Something is very wrong within Gwynedd Council.

Update - The local democracy reporter has since been in touch to inform that his tweet was deleted due to a an error in one of Councillor Gruffydd's quotes.
The corrected article can be found here - https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/gwynedd-councillors-say-were-shut-18705757

Cyngor Gwynedd Council - “extraordinary”, “ill-conceived”, and “emphatically wrong”.

Cyngor Gwynedd Council recently lost yet another Employment Tribunal. This case involved the Council dismissing two local school teachers.

So the Council appealed to the Employment Appeal Tribunal in London - and lost again.

The full judgment can be found here - Copy and paste the address into your browser.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5ed79310e90e0754cd08d6c4/Gwynedd_Council_v_Shelley_Barratt_and_Other_UKEAT_0206_18_VP.pdf

Below are extracts from the judgment. 
My emphasis in bold.

The Claimants were dismissed for redundancy following the closure of the school where they worked. They were unsuccessful in applying for positions at a new school that opened at the same location. The Tribunal held that the dismissals were unfair because of the failure to provide the Claimants with a right of appeal, the absence of consultation and because of the manner in which they were required to “apply for their own jobs”. 

The Respondent local authority appealed on the grounds that the Tribunal had erred in its approach to the assessment of fairness under s.98(4) of the 1996 Act in that it had treated guidelines as to what an employer should do in a redundancy dismissal as inflexible legal requirements; and had failed to take account of the particular limitations on the Respondent’s role in relation to recruitment at a maintained school.

8. On 18 August 2017, the chairperson of the Governing Body of School 1, Mr Siencyn, wrote to the Claimants’ representative apologising for the fact that no opportunity to make representations or appeal had been given. 
However, Mr Siencyn went on to say that the failure to allow an appeal did not cause any disadvantage to the Claimants and that the appeal would have made no difference as the dismissals were caused by the closure of School 1,which was something that no appeal panel would have been able to reverse so as to avoid dismissals. 

The Tribunal found that the assertion by the chair of the Governing Body of School 1 that denying the Claimants their right of appeal did not cause any disadvantage was “extraordinary”, “ill-conceived”, and “emphatically wrong”. 

6.An appeal is ingrained in principles of natural justice and, although I do not say that the absence of an appeal would render every dismissal unfair, I do determine that it requires truly exceptional circumstances to refuse an employee the right to appeal against their dismissal. Such exceptional circumstances do not exist in this case, particularly where the Claimants have a statutory and contractual right of appeal. It was substantively and procedurally unfair to deny the Claimants in the case the right of appeal. Furthermore, no reasonable employer would refuse to consider an appeal in circumstances where an employee had a clear right of appeal. 

37.Mr Siencyn was also wrong in his contention that the claimants’ appeals would have challenged the closure of the school. Both he and the Respondents conflate the closure of [School 1] with the inevitable dismissal of the claimants. The claimants were merely 2 teachers of many. They had never complained about the reorganisation of educational provision in general nor the decision to close [School 1].There is no factual basis to support the contention that the Claimants were opposed to the reorganisation affecting their school. Indeed they cooperated with the Governing Bodies by applying for their jobs/substantially similar jobs in the new school. It is a fiction (and indeed disingenuous) for Mr Siencyn to say what the claimants appeal would have been about without asking them. The vast bulk of teachers were not dismissed and were able to continue their employment with the respondent as (sic) the new school.

 39. Threatening to dismiss staff and compelling them to apply for their own jobs or similar jobs ignores years of jurisprudence on dealing with potential redundancy situations. It abrogates the employer’s responsibilities and seeks to circumvent employment rights. Mr Adkins submitted that the appeals would have challenged the Respondent’s approach to this reorganisation/redundancy and this was something that Mr Siencyn should have allowed. 

From the original Tribunal hearing -

41.... Some processes adopted by the employer are so unfair and so fundamentally flawed that it is impossible to formulate the hypothetical question of what would be the percentage chance the employee had still been dismissed even if the correct process had been followed: see Davidson v Industrial Marine Engineering Services Ltd EAT/0071/2003. This is an instance where the breach of a proper process was fundament (sic) and profound. I am not prepared to make a Polkey deduction in such circumstances.
                                                      
                                                    ********************


The school in question, Ysgol y Gader, had long been dogged by claims of poor management and heavy absenteeism of teachers leading to poor educational standards.

On the 15th March,2014, the Daily Post published an article with the subheadline - 
'Governors raise concerns over the number of experienced staff who have recently left the Dolgellau school and parents have signed a petition.'

It continued - 
One of the main concerns are pupils  complaining of not having formal lessons and being taught by classroom  assistants.
There are also concerns about the  number of experienced staff who have  recently left the school, and claims of a  culture of “overbearing management”  causing “a serious issue with staff morale”.

The full article can be found here - 
https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/gwynedd-ysgol-y-gader-pupils-6835574


The Daily Mail also reported on March, 27th - 

• Parents at Ysgol y Gader school, Wales, created petition about absent staff
• Meeting arranged and staff absenteeism was put at the top of agenda
• But headteacher Peter Maddocks was not present - and is now not at work
• One parent said: 'The meeting was a farce. Someone needs to step in'

Cllr Dyfrig Siencyn, chairman of governors at Ysgol y Gader said: 'The governing body recognises that there are concerns regarding staff absenteeism at Ysgol y Gader during the current academic year.

From the parent's petition - 
We believe that the school is failing to provide suitably-qualified staff to cover lessons during long-term staff absences, which leads to a lack of consistence and rigour in the standard of teaching and learning.

The full article can be found here - 
 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2590885/School-fire-high-levels-absent-teachers-holds-public-meeting-discuss-issue-head-fails-attend.html

Ysgol y Gader was closed in 2017 and replaced by a 3-16 all-through, super school, Ysgol Bro Idris.

Dyfrig Siencyn is now leader of Gwynedd Council.

Autism - The Ombudsman For Wales And Cyngor Gwynedd Council.

On the 4th July, 2018, the Ombudsman for Wales published a Report into the case of an autistic individual and his mistreatment at the hands of Gwynedd Adults SS department.

The Report can be found here -
 http://www.lukeclements.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Ombudsman-Gwynedd-Council-report-201700388.pdf

The Ombudsman for Wales Investigating Officer in this case was a Beverley Allen.

Her report is truly shocking especially when you consider some of the points highlighted -

"Mr A would seek reassurance from, or be influenced by, those present when responding,which meant that he would readily agree to an action without understanding what had been discussed or its impact".

Would those actions include asking the client whether he really wanted these services ?

Being in a Residential Home, this person would have had a key worker, assigned by the home's care team to support him during his assessment and guide him through the process.

From the I/O's report -

"Instead, the Residential Home re-allocated a significant portion of Mr A’s support hours to bridge gaps in its staffing needs".

A private, residential home used the client's taxpayer funded, commissioned hours to cover for their own staffing problems.

At least, we now know why there was no-one to support the person when his care plan was being deleted before his eyes....

Oh yes - no need to worry - of course we care - just sign here.

All support gone with the person being left to rot in bed.

In the Ombudsman's report, the I/O states -

69.In my view, these failings not only caused Mr A a significant injustice but also impacted upon Article 8 of his Human Rights.11 However, I have decided that the finding I have made of maladministration is so clear and so serious that to consider the human rights issues further would add little value to my analysis or to the outcome. I have therefore decided to say no more about that.

To my knowledge, the Cabinet Member for the Adults SS, Dafydd Meurig, has still not presented this report for scrutiny by Councillors and the public. Why not ?

Five Ombudsman Reports in four years critical of policy and behaviour of both Gwynedd Adults and Childrens departments. One in which a vulnerable person died.
.
The Officer for the Ombudsman, Beverley Allen, also recommended improvement in the areas in which the Council had so obviously failed and her recommendations were accepted by the Council in full.

These included -

81 (f) Reviews its process on monitoring commissioned services for adults.

(g) Undertakes a review of its ASD procedures, specifically those for adults and children with high functioning ASD, and ensure that the requirements of the SSWA 2014, MHM 2010 and ASD SAP have been met.

(h) Undertakes an audit of its ASD trained officers, identifies any shortfall and arranges appropriate training within the following 12 months.


Due to the disingenuous nature of some Councils behaving with little regard for Law and Government agencies, the Ombudsman is meant to have a robust system to check that Councils actually keep to their word after long and costly investigations.

It is usual for the Investigating Officer, in this case, Beverly Allen, to ensure that LA's implement the Recommendations. The I/O's  know best the issues raised and have sighted all evidence of the case in point. The Ombudsman's policies ask for proof that the improvements have been completed and in the agreed timescale.That is to include proof of Council committee meetings when policy change is needed.

Whilst the Council agreed to undertake the review and ensure that the requirements of the SSWA 2014, MHM 2010 and ASD SAP have been met within the agreed timescale - there is no evidence that the Council have kept to their word.

Why has the Ombudsman for Wales robust procedures not picked up on this failure by the Council ?

A recent FOI request to the Ombudsman for Wales has provided evidence that the Council, at that time, openly admit to not yet carrying out this review.

More on that here - https://gwyneddsfailingcouncil.blogspot.com/2020/01/an-ombudsmancyngor-gwynedd-council-and.html

Regardless of this, the Ombudsman then signed off on compliance, we do not know if such a review has since been undertaken, nor if the requirements of Law have been met.
               
This case - involved untrained council officer's behaving in a way that caused injustice(s) to and impacted on the human rights of a 'high functioning' autistic adult with mental health issues, features in the Ombudsman's casebook on Equality and Human Rights 2019/20.

Is the complainant Mrs X aware, that after surviving the Gwynedd Council Complaints Procedure then to bring a case to the Ombudsman for Wales which highlights apalling behaviour by council officers, that the recommendations in her son's case were not complied with as agreed to.

In the Ombudsman's casebook he rightly points out that the issue of people's Human Rights being trampled on by Government agencies must stop.

Joe Public can not do that alone, Mr Bennett.

It would be interesting to have the thoughts of the actual Investigator in this case.

Something is very wrong within Gwynedd Council.