Cyngor Gwynedd held a full council meeting on the 6th July, 2023. The chair welcomed all and asked for everyone's full attention as the meeting was being webcast. Not all councillors got the message.
The Annual Report of the SS Statutory Director was presented. The report had not been corrected with regard to the work of the Youth Justice team and the recent imprisonment. Yet again, a generic report is published with incorrect data. The report was passed anyway.
The full agenda can be found here - https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru//ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=130&MId=4889
The former Chair of the Care Scrutiny Committee praised the work of scrutiny members and referenced a meeting he chaired that took the Wales Ambulance Service to task. But made no mention of the critical Ombudsman for Wales investigation(s) into the SS departments under the committee's watch. No mention either of the SS departments not being properly scrutinised for the past four years...
Some Councillors raised their own concerns with scrutiny practices and one compared it to a 'children's parliament.'
Gwynedd council's monitoring officer did state that there is a code of conduct for members and officers - any concerns with his role are to be raised with the CEO.
Link to the webcast - https://gwynedd.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/789318
This page has now been removed from the Isle of Anglesey website... The statement of accounts explains Isle of Anglesey County Council’s
finances during the financial year and its financial position at the end
of that year.
Further information about the accounts and budgets of the council is
available from the Finance Service. You are welcome to send any comments
or questions to the Finance Service.
Delay in the preparation and publication of the draft accounts beyond 31 May 2023
Regulation 10(1) of the Accounts and Audit (Wales) Regulations 2014
(as amended) requires that the Responsible Financial Officer of the Isle
of Anglesey County Council sign and date the draft Statement of
Accounts of the Isle of Anglesey County Council and certify that it
presents a true and fair view of the financial position at the end of
the year to which it relates and of the council’s income and expenditure
for that year.
The Regulations require that this be completed by 31 May each year.
However, the regulations make provision for local authorities having
to delay preparing and publishing their annual financial accounts on the
basis that a notice is published on the relevant council’s website to
explain why the draft accounts have been delayed.
This notice is to inform Anglesey citizens and stakeholders that the
council’s Statement of Accounts for 2022 to 2023 will be delayed.
Welsh Government’s expectations for the revised timescales for the
preparation and publication of local authorities’ 2022 to 2023 Statement
of Accounts are shown on this page. Welsh Government has recognised
that 'following the pandemic and infrastructure assets (such as roads,
footpaths, street lighting and street furniture), audit issues raised
last year', there is an ongoing impact on local authority staff
resources and there may be additional work to finalise the accounts this
year.
Welsh Government's suggested timetable
Draft Statement of Accounts
Statutory deadline: 31 May 2023
Extended deadline: 31 July 2023
Audited Statement of Accounts
Statutory deadline: 31 July 2023
Extended deadline: 31 December 2023
The Responsible Financial Officer has not signed and certified the
draft accounts for the year ended 31 March 2023 by 31 May 2023.
This is due to the impact of the delayed completion and audit of the
Statement of Accounts 2021 to 2022, as highlighted by Welsh Government.
In addition, more complex and additional work has led to a further
delay, particularly in relation to increased agency arrangements, more
joint working with other local authorities, increased capital accounting
due to the progress of the sustainable communities for learning
projects, such as the new school Ysgol Corn Hir in Llangefni, and the
building of new council dwellings, as well as the purchase and
refurbishment of houses to further increase the number of council
houses.
The draft statement of accounts is also delayed awaiting CIPFA
guidance in relation to the council’s unusual pension asset position,
which also affects several other councils. The council will, therefore,
work within Welsh Government’s extended deadlines.
Marc Jones FCPFA Director of Function (Resources) / Section 151 Officer Isle of Anglesey County Council Council Offices Llangefni Anglesey LL77 7TW
https://www.anglesey.gov.wales/en/Council/Council-finances/Statement-of-Accounts.aspx This page has now been removed by Isle of Anglesey council...
In a meeting of cyngor Gwynedd's Language Committee held on Tuesday, 27th June, 2023 10.00 am, the Head of Children's SS, Marian Hughes, reports (from the translated feed) -
"...and then of course the other barrier we have as i have already mentioned is the provision of placements beyond Gwynedd and Wales for children and young people who have intensive needs need specialist placements in the same manner as well. We are also concerned about the language needs of young offenders who receive a custodial sentence. When I was writing up this report we didn't have any single person who needed a custodial sentence in Gwynedd for several years but unfortunately that has changed in the past week and we have one young person now who has received a custodial sentence for very serious offences and of course has been placed in prison in england. So the youth justice service and his social workers now ensure he has access to resources through the medium of Welsh and they'll work with the prison to ensure that happens. The prison where he's been placed or where he has been imprisoned is one that encourages the use and the use of welsh medium resources for prisoners from Wales who are Welsh with first language and of course need translations through the medium of Welsh. This matter has been included on our departmental risk register because of the fact we feel that young people from Gwynedd are placed under a disadvantage in terms of their choice and use of their first language in the prison..."
This was a hybrid meeting held over Zoom which Gwynedd council do not upload to their website. Minutes will be available, but as many Councillors are now discovering the minutes are not always accurate.
The Director of Gwynedd SS, Dilwyn Owen, would have known of this case but in his just published Annual Report states - Implementing the 2022/23 Youth Justice Plan... The rates of new offenders and reoffending rates are lower than regional and national comparisons and no young person from Gwynedd has been remanded since 2020. https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru//documents/s38361/Item%208%20-%20Appendix.pdf
He also states - Using our influence is important. The former director was the national and regional lead on More Than Just Words, which enabled substantial progress in the provision nation-wide. Another example is that we refused to welcome Youth Justice inspectors as they were unable to guarantee bilingual inspectors, and they agreed to delay their inspection until this was possible.
This report along with the annual complaint handling reports are to be scrutinised by the Care Scrutiny Committee later this year.This will be the first time the SS complaints handling reports have come before the Care Scrutiny Committee since the senior
complaints officer for the children and families department was called out for misleading the Committee in 2019.
This also means that all through the Covid pandemic no SS complaints report went through a scrutiny committee, instead going straight to Cabinet for 'scrutiny'. One of the jobs of the scrutiny committees is to hold cabinet members to account for their departments actions. In the past some Councillors even went to the press to complain of similar issues - Gwynedd councillors say they were ‘shut out’ of decision-making during lockdown https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/gwynedd-councillors-say-were-shut-18705757
The former director's incumbency was littered with maladministration, managers who marked their own homework and wrote reports in spite of the evidence. The data is useless and recommendations for improvement from regulators unfinished. Officers have misled councillors and even the Ombudsman for Wales - repeatedly.
Mr Owen also raises concerns that some recent risks have not been managed by the Mental Health Service and worries for the future - The Children’s Referrals Team received over 7,000 referrals this year
- an increase of around 2,500 since the pre-COVID-19 period. The Mental
Health Service saw a similar increase and I know that due to the
excellent work of our teams the risks was managed in the vast majority
of cases. We take pride in this work, whilst also knowing that
dealing with the increace in referrals is not sustainable, and I am
concerned about the pressures placed on our workforce.
Cyngor Gwynedd meetings last month included the Planning Committee - yet another meeting plagued by 'technical difficulties'. The vote for a new Chair had to be retaken as a councillor who was not part of the committee took part in the vote.
One application caused consternation for some councillors who wondered whether having shares in the Wynnstay group meant they could not vote. It was pointed out that the application was not from Wynnstay and that officers were recommending to refuse.
The councillors voted to go against the recommendation and accept the application... The agenda and webcast can be found here - https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru//ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=135&MId=4919
On the 24th May, the GwE joint committe met. The school improvement agency reported a budget overspend - https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=243&MId=4879
Has there been any action by the CEO to concerns raised by council auditors in 2020? 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. https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/eyebrows-raised-what-schools-agency-18716183
Then there was the Governance and Audit committee on the 25th May. The meeting elected a panel of three as a service improvement group to look into issues that the Audit flagged - some have been ongoing for years... Staff retention (exit interviews) The Liberty Protection Safeguards formerly Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards DOLS Smallholdings.
With regard to Gwynedd council's smallholdings, officers have already actioned - The Estates Manager has committed to implementing the following steps to mitigate the risks highlighted: Update the Smallholdings Management Policy to ensure consistency, encompassing e.g. responsibilities, procedure for letting the units, rent review, debt recovery and internal administration. Update the Service's records with current details of the holdings. Ensure that the tenants pay the correct rent. Review the arrears reports and assist the Finance department to recover them. More - https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru/documents/s38031/OUTPUT%20OF%20THE%20INTERNAL%20AUDIT%20SECTION.pdf
But in 2018, the CEO, Dafydd Gibbard authored a report presented by Dafydd Meurig to the Communities Scrutiny Committee - The size of the estate extends to 2996 acres or 1213.53 hectares. The size of the holdings vary from 2.5 acres to 212 acres. The average size of a holding is 65 acres. 1.4 There are 2 holdings in the commercial category, 22 in the middle category, 15 in the start-up units and 5 holdings are grazing land only. Part of Penllyn Farm, Tywyn is on a business tenancy as a caravan site and the holding of Tŷ Nant, Dolgellau is currently let on a business tenancy as a café and bunkhouse...
The former senior property manager also mentions one of the reasons for retaining 'smallholdings' as - A bank of land ready for any challenges the Council may face in future including affordable homes, environmental plans, carbon trading etc. https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru/documents/s19509/Gwynedd%20Councils%20Smallholdings%20Estate.pdf
Much of this land is in the Dwyfor Meirionnydd area. Councillors have cited the difficulty in purchasing suitable land as one of the barriers to building more affordable homes. It makes no sense that the council has not taken the opportunity to build much needed
council homes on this publicly owned land.
In other news, Gwynedd council have increased the amount in financial reserves to £130.6 million. Perversely all departments are reporting large overspends in their allocated budgets bar corporate support.
The dementia update by cyngor Gwynedd is grim - '...it is difficult to know exactly how many people are living with the condition. There arenational studies that estimate the proportion of the population of different age groups with the condition, and based on that it can be estimated that there are 2,049 individuals with dementia in Gwynedd, representing 1.67% of the population (122,864). Daffodil Cymru research predicts that the number of people over 65 in Gwynedd with dementia will increase from 2,018 in 2020 to 3,085 in 2040;a 35% increase in twenty years.
The 35% increase is incorrect and should read 52% - an apology was given. Whilst the figures are concerning the data is not specific to Gwynedd and its aged population.
The update also contains a table which highlights care homes offering specialist dementia support - https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru//documents/s37698/Support%20for%20Individuals%20with%20Dementia%20in%20Gwynedd.pdf
The number of these beds is recorded as 84 - but the report continues - 'Across six of our care homeswe will have 84 specialist dementia beds, which is 26% of the totalnumber ofbeds we have across thecounty. Please note that not all of these beds are in use yet. Understaffing has meant that we have been unable to open 9 specialist dementia beds in Bryn Blodau, Llan Ffestiniog. In addition, in relation to a total of 14 beds, the units at Hafod Mawddach and Plas Hedd are yet to be completed.'
So not 84 beds...Is 61 more accurate? Less? The crisis in Gwynedd social care services has been building for many years. The former Director of SS rang the alarm bell during her tenure even asking for ideas at one meeting.
So what is the reality for those with dementia and their families? The husband/wife will usually be the main caregiver and they will be exhausted. They will be dealing with medication, food and toileting. Some of their loved ones will be 'sundowning' - increased anxiety when darkness falls - and sleep patterns go out of the window. All this and no support...
There is no support for OAP's either. Frail elderly have been leaving hospital without a care package in place. No home help getting in/out of bed, no help with washing, dressing and meals. This domiciliary care has tradionally been used to keep the elderly and vulnerable safe in their own homes instead of a hospital or care setting.
The Gwynedd Adults Population Needs Assessment gives more information - https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru//documents/s37696/Appendix%201%20Gwynedd%20Adults%20Population%20Needs%20Assessment%202022-2027.pdf
This document also mentions direct payments and developing their use - The intention is to review our arrangements for Direct Payments and make it easier for people to access funding... We need to promote the use ofDirectPayments, simplify the process around it and develop arrangements that make it easier to establish DP arrangements in an emergency.
In a past meeting, one officer admitted to problems with the private company the council employ to process direct payments and people are not receiving the available funding. Why the council use a private company was not revealed - the council's webcasts are also contracted out...
The council believe that new technology and robots are the answer and inform of heavy investment in this area. One officer mentioned robots roaming the Gwynedd countryside - more like flying pigs...
