Further Emails With A Cyngor #Gwynedd Councillor.

Reading through the correspondence with Gwynedd's Chair of the Audit and Governance committee in respect of the 'Independent' Investigation and the Ombudsman's Report is quite revealing.

Several emails were sent over some considerable time and during our correspondence he also CC'd others into the conversation when he replied to us.

 Mr Hughes was also made aware of other emails that we sent to the relevant services in our attempt to obtain the Independent Investigator's Report of our complaint.

Mr Hughes wrote to inform us he has asked relevant officers for all Reports.
Some time later Mr Hughes wrote to inform us he is still waiting for the Reports.

Now it is worrying that the legal department were taking so long to get all relevant documents/Reports to the Chair of the Audit committee - Mr Hughes was also Vice-Chair of Gwynedd Council's Care and Scrutiny Committee at the time.

On the 19th June 2018, confident that by now he would have received all the Reports, we asked Medwyn - again - to meet with ourselves and our local councillor to discuss the serious issues highlighted by the Independent Reports within Gwynedd Children and Family services.

R Medwyn Hughes did not reply and we never heard from him again.

We Emailed Medwyn Hughes - Bangor Councillor.

In January of 2018 we sent an email to Richard Medwyn Hughes - 

Dear Richard,

My wife and I came across a copy of the report you authored in your capacity as Chair of the Audit and Governance committee dated 28 Sept, 2017. We also discovered that you are Vice-Chair of the Care Scrutiny Committee for Gwynedd Council.

I believe it is my families case that is mentioned in the report as being referred to the Ombudsman, the reason for this being the Council's refusal to escalate our complaint to Stage 2 of the complaints procedure.

We raised other issues related to but different from our earlier complaint and the Ombudsman advised us to raise this as a separate complaint with the Children and Family Department.

Due to the difficult history of the families case we raised an immediate stage 2 complaint with Customer Care, that was in May of last year, which has still not been concluded.

We believe the Council has behaved in an obstructive and delaying manner. There has been no proper communication or information forthcoming from the Council during the process and a staggering lack of transparency.

For your information we include a copy below of an email sent today to our MP, Liz Saville Roberts.

We note there is a Care Scrutiny Committee meeting later this month and ask if this meeting is open to the general public ?

Also, we would be happy to share and discuss our experiences with anyone from either the Audit and Governance Committee or the Care Scrutiny Committee to provide clarity on the situation regarding the Customer Care department and how the Complaints procedure has been implemented in our case.

For your information a stage 2 complaint was raised regarding the ongoing issues in this case in 2010 and all points of complaint upheld but recommendations never acted upon.

The Head of Children and Families has stated this report to be irrelevant to the current situation - we do not agree. Yet another example of the attitude that we have encountered for so many years.

The Department have repeatedly cited their disability criteria along with the Equality Act and even the Social Services Care Act 2014 as a means to refuse services rather than provide much needed support. This needs to change.

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His response on the 10th of January 2018 was to CC the Democratic Services Manager, Corporate Support Department, Vera Jones into the email.

Dear ***********

I acknowledge receipt of your email dated 06/01/18.

I have asked the officers concerned about your issues.

The Audit and Governance committee of which I am Chair tend not to look at individual cases but at trends and practices involving circumstances like this.

The Care Scrutiny Committee meetings are streamed live and are open to the public where space is available.

However as you have raised this issue  with me I have sent your email on.

No doubt an officer will be in touch as soon as possible.

In the meantime you should also contact your local councillor along with including your postal address to me in a future email.

Regards,
R Medwyn Hughes

Cyngor #Gwynedd Council.

On November 1st, 2018, Cabinet Member for Children, Dilwyn Morgan received an email.

 

Dear Mr Morgan,

 

We wish to bring to your attention, as Cabinet Member for Children and Families, our experiences with Gwynedd Social Services department.

 

To date there has been an Independent Investigation with all points upheld from 2010.

 

A second Independent Investigation, with all points upheld, in October, 2017, both were highly critical of the Children and Families department.

 

A Local Ombudsman for Wales Investigation of 2018 highlighted maladministration and service failure going back from 2010 through to 2016.

 

There is also an Information Manager's Investigation Report, dated June, 2018, concerning the release of the names of children on CIN plans. Including the redactions and mishandling of our personal Information and the question of legality of officers actions that remain unanswered.

 

There is also a second Ombudsman's Investigation currently ongoing.

 

We are at a loss to understand therefore how the council is publicly acknowledging the CIW Inspection yet nothing is mentioned of the more negative Reports.

 

We ask for a meeting with you to discuss our concerns. We also have concerns regarding the Children and Families Department's Complaint Handling Report 2017/18 that we have just had sight of and that you will be presenting to the Care Scrutiny Committee on November the 6th. 

 

 

Mr Morgan thanked us for the email and informed us that he had asked for a full briefing on the matter, then would get back to us and would look at the matters thoroughly.

                                                             

Cyngor #Gwynedd Council - Psst....

Something is so wrong within Gwynedd Council.

More -  https://gwyneddsfailingcouncil.blogspot.com/

Cyngor #Gwynedd Breaching Human Rights Of The Disabled.

Gwynedd council's Care and Scrutiny Committee held a meeting last week, 13th September, mainly to receive the adult and children's Reports presented by the departments.

The recorded meeting can be found here - both in Welsh and English.
https://gwynedd.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/372242

The last 30 minutes of the meeting are the most passionate where councillors appear to challenge officers presenting the Report on the lack of support and services for those with 'high functioning' autism and my thanks to all those councillors who challenged the officers and their Reports. We are grateful.

How many times have councillors heard officers say the same thing - things are progressing, things are in the pipeline, blah blah blah - for how many years ?

I urge the councillors not to fall for the emotional blackmail of the officers saying that other disabled children would miss out and receive a poorer service if children with Autism without a Learning Disability were supported.

It is the politics of fear and quite depressing to hear these comments from senior managers in the 'care' field.

We believe that ALL children with issues whether physical or neurodevelopmental are important.

The 2018 Ombudsman for Wales Investigation Report  into our complaint against Gwynedd council makes reference to Grants being available to the council and so how can the Departments use money now as an excuse ?

Gwynedd is a large county with a small population. There can not be that many children with Autism who are considered 'high functioning' with needs.
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There was back slapping a plenty and much praise for the recently published  Inspection Report by the Care Inspectorate for Wales (CIW).

But I was hoping for the Care Scrutiny Committee to raise the issues of the other Reports that have recently been published, too.

From the Independent Investigation presented to the council in October, 2017, which was so very critical of the Children and Family Department.

The Ombudsman for Wales Report in April, 2018 highlighting Maladministration and service failure by the Children and Family Support Department covered the period between 2010 until 2016.

There is also the June, 2018 Report of the Data Breach and the Children and Family Department's mishandling of personal information - see previous post.

The Ombudsman is currently investigating the council for undue interference in a 'Independent' Investigation and has been given evidence of very poor behaviour by council officers and senior managers.

And has anyone sighted the Ombudsman's Report dated 4th July, 2018 ?
http://www.lukeclements.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Ombudsman-Gwynedd-Council-report-201700388.pdf

In point 69 of that report the Ombudsman for Wales writes -

"69. - In my view, these failings not only caused Mr A a significant injustice but also impacted upon Article 8 of his Human Rights.

 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."

The Ombudsman also kindly provides a description of Autism for Gwynedd's Service officers and managers and other comments highlight issues within Gwynedd Council relating to ASD.

"A lifelong developmental disability which affects a person’s social interaction, communication, interests and behaviour. The characteristics of ASD vary, with some people finding it hard to understand other people’s emotions and some with restricted and repetitive patterns of behaviour".

"....The Council’s available ASD information, including its strategic plan for ASD services, particularly services for those with high functioning ASD, are limited....."

"Additionally, the Council’s failure to ensure that its officers receive appropriate ASD training and have an ASD strategy in place places not only Mr A, but other service users in its area at risk of having services cut or stopped because the reviewing officers do not understand the effects of ASD or there is nothing suitable available."

 

There appears to be a pattern of behaviour within Gwynedd council to see the disabled and the most vulnerable as 'low hanging fruit' and to deny and remove support in an attempt to save money. 

In our case the boy is soon to be a man, but social workers have already told us that he will not be eligible for support from adult services (even before an assessment by adult services) and that there are no services for 'Vulnerable Adults' or autistic adults (or children) in this area.

  

And where is the Children and Family's Annual Complaint handling Report ?

Something is so very wrong within Gwynedd council.

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