Did Ombudsman For Wales Ignore Whistleblowing By An Independent Investigator?

Having survived Cyngor Gwynedd council's SS complaints process, you then have the option of approaching the Ombudsman for Wales. If the Ombudsman accepts your complaint, they will investigate the council for how it dealt with your complaint...

A 2019 Ombudsman for Wales report into Cyngor Gwynedd council's senior SS officers and the children's customer care/complaints team focussed on senior officer's interference with the Stage 2 complaints process and their treatment of an Independent Investigator...

The Stage 2 complaint - an investigation of an assessment undertaken by the children's department - was running alongside a previous Ombudsman's investigation of failings and non compliance with recommendations from a 2010 report. The Independent Investigator and the Ombudsman even had discussions to work out the remit and who would be focussing on what...

The council received the completed Stage 2 report in November, 2018. All points of complaint were upheld. The SS department refused to accept the report...

Emails show the investigator had contacted the Ombudsman with 'concerns' that the council were not following the process. A phone conversation took place where presumably the Investigator raised issues with officer's 'pushback' and refusal to accept the report. Whistleblowing?

The Ombudsman did not act nor advise the Investigator leaving her with little choice but to continue with the 'process' and 'work' with the senior officer's. If a report is not accepted by the council do the Investigator and Independent Person still get paid...?

(The Ombudsman has refused requests for the detail of this conversation to be released)

The Ombudsman commented in his report -

But 'hard evidence' was provided to the Ombudsman...!!!
Copies of the original report and the amended report and the 'final' report were sent to the Ombudsman for comparison. The senior officers had managed to downgrade the complaint against the social worker from 'upheld' to not requiring to be upheld and a recommendation removed. In all, four to five pages critical of the department are missing...

This was pointed out to the Ombudsman - the report was not changed...

The Ombudsman chose to single out the social worker for her disingenuity but bad behaviour by her line manager and other senior officer's involved were not properly addressed. Whilst the report was indeed 'damning' the Ombudsman had failed to address the main thrust of the complaint - that the second assessment was as fake and 'predetermined' as the first.

Concerns were raised with the Ombudsman that he had investigated the wrong complaint and a review of his investigation was asked for. The Ombudsman's office did indeed review the work of the Ombudsman and found no fault with the Ombudsman. The review was dismissed...

The Ombudsman for Wales also failed to investigate Gwynedd council for non compliance with recommendations from a previous investigation. A complaint to the Ombudsman was not acted upon and so the 'work' undertaken by Gwynedd council was ticked off as complete - when it was not...

The Ombudsman wrote personally to apologise for the failing of the officer and a policy of verifying evidence from Welsh councils before ticking the box has now been implemented. The Ombudsman felt unable to return to the council on this matter due to the box already ticked so non compliance and false assurances from the senior officers was not investigated...

 

 

Enduring Gwynedd Council's SS Complaint Procedures...

For the Ombudsman to consider a complaint against 'the council' - a member of the public must first endure a council's formal complaints procedure beginning with a Stage 1 complaint. If dissatisfied with the outcome of the Stage 1, it is your right under law to ask for a Stage 2. If granted, a senior officer from a different department will investigate the complaint. Only then can the Ombudsman be approached.

Under SS procedures, the council will employ an Independent Officer and in the case of the children's department an Independent Person also - there to oversee proceedings in the interest of the child.

Independent Investigators are often senior officer's working for, or who have worked for local authorities. Many are excellent and will follow the evidence - some will not...

Once the investigator is chosen by the council - they then meet with the complainant to fully understand the grievance and work on the 'remit' (main points of complaint). This remit is then presented to the council's Senior Complaints Officer who will then decide if the remit is acceptable before the investigation can begin. 

One Gwynedd parent asked their 'independent investigator' to interview a witness involved with their complaint of an 'inadequate' assessment undertaken by two social workers. The investigator declined. Think on that - an 'independent investigator' not wishing to collect evidence and speak to witnesses in an investigation...

The investigator then presented her remit to the council for their permission to proceed - without the complainant's approval or knowledge...

Note - The person making the complaint is not necessarily informed of the remit at this point.

Emails show that this complainant was far from happy with the 'remit' and claimed that their evidence had been misrepresented by the investigating officer and contained factual errors.

Further emails show the Senior Safeguarding and Quality officer intervened and insisted that all correspondence with the investigator go through him....

The witness then asked to join the complaint. This was not welcomed by the council and the email thread shows considerable pushback. It concludes with the Senior Safeguarding and Quality officer implying that the only way he would allow the complaint to continue was if a child with complex issues and a diagnosis of autism be interviewed by council officer's - alone..

But the child had no desire to meet with even more officers of the department whose previous bad behaviour led to the former CEO, Dilwyn Williams, having to personally apologise for.
More on that here -
https://gwyneddsfailingcouncil.blogspot.com/2019/09/an-apology-from-cyngor-gwynedd-council.html

Obviously, the complaint did not proceed and was eventually timed out by the council.
The council were well aware that past policies and procedures have meant the Ombudsman can not intervene without a complaint to take forward. (Policies and procedures have now changed)

Work undertaken on one recommendation from the Ombudsman of Wales but called out as fake was not investigated by the council. Questions remain to the integrity of the work undertaken by two social workers and the senior manager responsible for the 'assessment'. The email thread also raises questions with the actions of the 'independent' investigators.

The culture within the council has become increasingly more toxic since a joint investigation with North Wales Police, in 2014. The CPS dropped the charges after new information from NWP in 2016...

Yet another investigation report into this farce has been with the council for nearly two years now. Since then both the CEO and the Director of SS have left their posts. Is this another report that will find failings within the council? This time with Education and SS officer's and perhaps the council's legal team? What of the other agencies involved?

If there are no failings, one would assume that it would have been released immediately - along with the champagne corks...

What no report will detail is the emotional damage such underhand tactics cause to children and their families - nor the financial costs... 

Something is so very wrong within Gwynedd council...

 

 

Are Staff Suspended For 8 years? - Cyngor Gwynedd Council.

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) recently 'advised' Cyngor Gwynedd council to release information relating to a subject access request (SAR) from 2020. On the 14th July, 2022, the Information manager emailed in response to the ICO 'advice' - the original information asked for has not been provided...

The ICO has explained that if the council refuse their advice then the next step would be a judicial review - costs of such a review start at £25,000. The council's legal team have access to unlimited public funds to fight the public in such cases - joe public does not...

The original SAR was delayed in part due to the council having to purchase specialist data redaction software... When the information was finally provided it had been so heavily redacted in places that it was unreadable. A complaint was raised and a review was undertaken by the Information manager's line manager, Emyr Edwards, who also informed that the software had destroyed some data on retrieval. Hope the council got a refund. Mr Edward's review did not release the information hence the ICO's involvement...

One such example of heavy redaction is an email thread between the Senior Safeguarding And Quality Officer and a Cabinet Member discussing a possible corporate complaint. Concerns had been raised that the Annual Complaints Handling report presented to the Care Scrutiny Committee was not accurate. The report that year was authored by the Senior Safeguarding officer, himself. A meeting was requested so the evidence could be presented. The Member ignored the request. Both the officer and Cabinet Member have refused to answer questions from Councillors of the Scrutiny Committee in the past...

In 2020, a complaint was raised with the council that the same officer had misled another Care Scrutiny Committee. The officer had given a statement regarding the Ombudsman for Wales. The Ombudsman was contacted and denied the words of the officer...

Correspondence from the former Director of SS raises more concerns. In it, she admits that she with the aid of the legal team could not understand the Ombudsman's wording in one report.The former CEO had claimed the same during his incumbency. The present Head of Children's SS has stated in 'lessons learnt' a need to 'read and understand' reports....

The Ombudsman has already raised concerns with the council's lack of knowledge of procedures and law and dismissed one social worker's evidence to his investigation as disingenuous...

In other news, the council's information department has failed to comply with law regarding the FOI Act. A question involving the number of officers suspended from work and for how long has been awaiting an internal review by the Monitoring Officer for over a year.

From a 2018 Wales Online article - 'Welsh councils have paid £9m to staff they have suspended'

Second was Gwynedd, totalling £1,327,117. They said £800,000 of that referred to "police matters". The longest time a member of staff has been on paid suspension at the authority is four years – the longest in Wales...
“The other case involves the suspension of members of staff for the duration of a statutory investigation by the police and social services which lasted for approximately three years.
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.”

The full article can be found here -
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/welsh-councils-paid-9m-staff-14876849

So the CPS dropped the case - issues with evidence? The council then began its own internal investigation but since then radio silence... Has this investigation been completed?

Or are the officer's still suspended from the council - after 8 years?

Something is very wrong within Gwynedd council...

GwE Travel Claims And Cyngor Gwynedd Council.

A meeting of the GwE Joint Committee was held on Wednesday, 13th July, 2022 1.30 pm. The agenda for the meeting can be found here -
https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru//ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=243&MId=4718

GwE made the news during the early stages of the pandemic when the Daily Post drew attention to an audit report highlighting concerns with GwE's expenses -

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....
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.

The full article, by Gareth Wyn Williams, can be found here -
https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/eyebrows-raised-what-schools-agency-18716183

Eyebrows raised indeed. What was the response of the former CEO to the concerns raised by the auditors - was an investigation undertaken? Could the new CEO update...?

Something is very wrong within Gwynedd council...

One Councillor Walked Out Of The Meeting - Cyngor Gwynedd Council.

Cyngor Gwynedd council held a hybrid Planning Committee on Monday, 4th July, 2022. The webcast can be found here -
https://gwynedd.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/681487

The meeting has already attracted media attention -
'Gwynedd planners went against officers' recommendations to allow the development on Ffordd Capel Coch after hearing it was the "only way" a local woman could afford to continue living in the village'

That article can be found here -
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/llanberis-bungalow-build-granted-amid-pleas-to-help-keep-welsh-speaking-family-in-area/ar-AAZjAjK

The committee dealt with other applications.Those watching the live webcast in english were not able to hear the english speaking participants due to a sound failure. The failure does not occur in the Welsh version. One participant mentioned vested interests and a possible judicial review - but you have to listen to the Welsh version to hear her. 

Just under four minutes of the wecast in english are missing. It is not down to the sound failure(s)...

In a previous meeting, the long suffering Planning officer mentioned possible Government intervention due to decisions overturned by council members. Government can only investigate if a complaint is received. Anyone can make a complaint....

On Thursday, 7th July, the Care Scrutiny Committee held a meeting -
The agenda and link to the recorded meeting can be found here -
https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru//ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=394&MId=4704

One agenda item was to appoint members to attend performance challenge monitoring meetings with senior heads of departments. Six were required - two each for Housing/Planning, Children and the Adults departments. Councillors were slow to put their names forward even with prompting from the new Chair - who is also a former Chair.
Five Councillors eventually came forward - all from the Plaid group....

The meeting was expected to pass the North Wales Market Stability Report that links with the Population Needs Assessment - has that been completed yet?. Officer's admitted the report was not perfect - yet a vote was asked for...
Just as happened with the Care Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 3rd February, 2022...
More here -
https://gwyneddsfailingcouncil.blogspot.com/2022/02/cyngor-gwynedd-council-scrutiny.html

One Councillor said it took her three days to read cover to cover because it was all 'jumbled up'.
Another walked out of the meeting after complaining about the state of the paperwork presented...

In last weeks other meetings, one Councillor stated there was no interest from the public regarding the Employment Appeals meetings. Of course there is public interest but these meetings usually take place with the public and press removed. Why would the Councillor say this - at such a time?

One Councillor appeared to nod off during another meeting - this meeting was not webcast but held over Zoom where the public have to ask for the link to join 'live'. What happens to these Zoom meetings afterwards? The meetings are not available on the council's website - are they simply deleted?

Something is very wrong within Gwynedd council...

 

Wales Audit Recognise Cyngor Gwynedd Council - For What?

Cyngor Gwynedd council held a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, 28th, June, 2022 - 
https://gwynedd.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/679724

One Councillor spoke of his experiences on social media and that people think the council live in ivory towers, do bugger all and collect bonuses for everything. He spoke of the council's plans for the future outlined in the agenda and made a plea to the new CEO, Dafydd Gibbard, to ensure they were carried through...

He referenced paragraph 5 of Mr Gibbard's statement in an attempt to rebuff criticism on Facebook -
The full statement and meeting agenda can be found here -
https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru/documents/g4693/Public%20reports%20pack%2028th-Jun-2022%2013.00%20The%20Cabinet.pdf?T=10

Can we have a factcheck, please?

The new CEO has only been in post for a year and may not have read all the reports relating to past performance and failures of this council - but 'recognised as performing excellently...'
By whom? Which departments?

Certainly not the Children and Families department which has been undertaking 'fake assessments' on disabled children - their complaints process manipulated to shut down complaints - interference in 'independent' investigations and behavior by senior officer's which 'outraged' even the Ombudsman.
On training staff, the former Cabinet Member for Children, Dilwyn Morgan, warned in November, 2021 - "it would frighten you how few members of staff undertake these trainings..."

Nor the Adult SS, which Dilwyn Morgan now has responsibility for, with recent Ombudsman investigations highlighting serious failings in this department, too. Have all the recommendations arising from the investigations been carried out yet? A reminder to the Member to seek robust evidence of compliance not just an officer's word...

It is a concern that neither the Children's nor Adult SS departments have allowed proper scrutiny of their Annual Complaints Reports since 2019. Three years with no proper scrutiny - a pandemic - and the Director with ultimate responsibility for both departments now leaving the council.

Mr Gibbard mentions 'recognition' from the Wales Audit Office - for what? A Wales Audit Office report from January, 2022 into Gwynedd council can be found here -
https://www.audit.wales/sites/default/files/publications/gwynedd_performance.pdf

From the report -

There is more....The report is not positive.

The CEO gives Care Inspectorate Wales a mention, too. The CIW's time would be better spent ensuring its past recommendations for improvement have been fully complied with. Gwynedd council have a history of not carrying through with agreements made...

And Estyn and local education...There is still the issue of Headteacher, Neil Foden, who claimed the council threw him under a bus during the school meals fiasco. The Education officer failed to answer a Committee and a public update regarding the video of the headteacher appearing to have a pupil by the neck is also outstanding. 

Perhaps, Beca Brown, the new Cabinet Member for Education, could give an update?

In the past year, the council has now lost its two most senior Executive officer's.

Just over a year ago, an investigation report was completed and presented to the council - has it been released?

In other news, the Information Commissioner is currently 'advising' the council to release information first asked for in 2020 and on the subject of data law - how long does an internal review of an FOI request take nowadays?
Openness and transparency...

Something is very wrong within Gwynedd council...