'Technical Difficulties...' Cyngor Gwynedd Council.

Two years have passed since Cyngor Gwynedd council agreed to implement the recommendations of an Ombudsman for Wales investigation yet the council remain in non compliance...

The last CEO of the council had told councillors that all recommendations had been met 'bar a nuance' - this was not correct.

The present CEO was meant to have had a meeting with the Ombudsman in which he was to provide the Ombudsman with an update and discuss issues around compliance. Unfortunately.... 'technical difficulties' meant the meeting had to be abandoned. Why the CEO could not update the Ombudsman by telephone or email remains unclear.

It has also been over two years since the Ombudsman for Wales sent two of his officers to North Wales to take a complaint in relation to non compliance with yet another Ombudsman's investigation.

                                 
The officer's explained they could not take this complaint as the Ombudsman's office had already signed off compliance without really understanding what was required of the council. The Ombudsman has apologised for the actions of the officer who signed it off.

The Ombudsman's investigator also refused to take a complaint against the social worker involved in the Stage 2 complaint investigation that senior managers of the council interfered with as the SW may have forgotten what happened....and may deny the charge..!!!

Instead, the Ombudsman wished to focus on the assessment undertaken by Gwynedd council in response to a recommendation from his previous investigation.

Concerns had been raised with the Ombudsman that the council would not treat the assessment fairly and we asked that an independent social worker be assigned. The request was refused and the council then tasked Sharon and Barry with conducting the assessment. It has come to light that Barry was not there for the assessment and one can only wonder why he was involved in the process.

The assessment carried out ended up an exercise in parent blaming...

Questions remain of who was actually in charge of the assessment. The assessor visited the parents to inform the assessment was complete before flying off to holiday in Florida the next day. Yet comments made after this have found their way into the file. Which manager in the SS department was responsible for the handling of this assessment ? A SAR (subject access request) was requested but Gwynedd council's information manager has heavily redacted the information to the extent it is unreadable. Sshh...

Something is very wrong within Gwynedd council...

Cyngor Gwynedd Council - Adjudication Panel Of Wales.

 It was a surprise to many when the CEO of Cyngor Gwynedd council retired earlier this year during the Covid19 pandemic. Now the council are advertising for a Head of Finance...

The council are also looking to employ a solicitor or barrister to head their legal team...

In other news a person has reported finding a discarded file of various documents -  a data breach ?
One relates to a recent 'code of conduct' complaint made to the Ombudsman by one Gwynedd  Council member about another. It appears to show that the Ombudsman has passed the matter on to the Adjudication Panel of Wales - so that will be an interesting report...

Something is very wrong within Gwynedd council...
 

ICO Update On The Holden Report - Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board.

 ICO Disclosure Log – Response IC-132080-Q6Y0
“What is happening with the Holden Report please?”

Your request has been handled under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000 (the FOIA). As you are probably aware, this legislation provides public access to recorded information held by a public authority unless an appropriate exemption applies.

Our response
We do hold information with the scope of your request. As you may be aware the ICO issued a Decision Notice under the reference FS50882004 in June 2020 in which the Commissioner decided that
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board was not entitled, under section 21 or section 41 of the FOIA to withhold the requested

information which was contained within the Holden Report, and required that it be disclosed, with personal data redacted.

The Health Board subsequently raised an appeal against the Commissioner’s decision which is now before the First-Tier Tribunal.

As the matter is now the subject of an appeal the Health Board is not required to disclose the report until the Tribunal issues its decision and depending on whether the Tribunal upholds the appeal
or not.

FOI review procedure

If you are dissatisfied and wish to request a review of our decision
or make a complaint about how your request has been handled you should write to the Information Access Team at the address below or e-mail icoaccessinformation@ico.org.uk.
Your request for internal review should be submitted to us within 40
working days of receipt by you of this response. Any such request
received after this time will only be considered at the discretion of
the Commissioner.
If having exhausted the review process you are not content that your request or review has been dealt with correctly, you have a further right of appeal to this office in our capacity as the statutory complaint handler under the legislation.
To make such an application, please write to our Customer Contact Team at the address given or visit our website if you wish to make a complaint under the FOIA. 

 

Inaccurate And Misleading ? - Gwynedd Council - Ysgol Abersoch

Cyngor Gwynedd Council's Education and Economy Scrutiny Committee met on 21/10/21 to discuss the closure of Ysgol Abersoch. The decision to close the small school in December has caused much tension between locals and the council.

Concerns have been raised that the majority of the consultation process has happened during the Covid19 pandemic and that the council's report was inaccurate and misleading...

The Cabinet Member for Education, Cemlyn Williams, is confident the process has been fair.
Can the same be said of other processes the Ed department has been involved with ? Are critical reports being sat on by this department, too ?

With the meeting going nowhere, Councillor Judith Humphreys proposed sending the matter back to the Cabinet.  This did not go down well and an amendment was raised by Dewi Roberts, Councillor for Abersoch, who asked for the matter to go before full Council to hear the views of all Councillors.

Things then became a little surreal. During the vote on referring the matter to full council - one lay member seemed to freeze and stated she did not know what to do and asked for help. Democratic services had to intervene saying she could not be advised how to vote. The lay member voted against referring to full council and the amendment fell by the one vote.

The proposal to send the matter back to Cabinet - from whence it came - was passed.

The webcast of the meeting can be found here - https://gwynedd.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/610141

 

 

 

 

Gwynedd Council - Application For Indemnity By A Councillor Under The Council's Policy

There is to be a special meeting of Cyngor Gwynedd Council's Standards Committee on Tuesday, 26h October, 2021. 

4. EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC
The Chair shall propose that the press and public be excluded from the
meeting during the discussion on the following item due to the likely
disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 18C, Part 4,
Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972. This paragraph should
apply because it concerns the deliberations of the Standards Committee in
reaching a finding on a matter referred to it by the Public Services
Ombudsman for Wales.

It is believed that the information should not be disclosed so that the
councillor is not prejudiced by any possible publicity of the case before any
hearing. Consequently the public interest in maintaining the exemption
outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

5. APPLICATION FOR INDEMNITY BY A COUNCILLOR UNDER THE
COUNCIL'S POLICY
To consider the report of the Senior Solicitor (Corporate) (separate copy to
follow for committee members only).

Are both matters related ?
Usually these cases are simple spats between councillors and mostly unimportant...

The Local Authorities (Indemnities for Members and Officers) (Wales) Order 2006
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/wsi/2006/249/contents/made

But a councillor asking for indemnity is not usual - is it ?