Many people will remember the banner protesting cyngor Gwynedd officers misuse of council vehicles, in 2021. It was attached to the railings outside Morrisons supermarket in Caernarfon before being swiftly taken down by council officers...
A council spokesman said - “We are aware that there are some instances where staff may not have
adhered to this policy, and we are working with our trade union partners
to address this matter and update our policy.
The picture is from the article written by Gareth Wyn Williams, in 2021 - https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/gwynedd-council-review-vehicle-policy-19777848
On the 13th April, 2023, Dafydd Meurig, Cabinet Member for the Environment reported - A letter and email
was sent to officers who had the right to take vehicles home as part of
their working terms, on 29/03/2023. The letter stated that the
consultation period has ended and that
no officer from the Waste and Recycling service is now exempt from the
new policy - 'Use of Council vehicles for commuting'. In accordance with
the procedure, a period of notice must be given to staff and the period
of 90 days has started on 31/03/2023 and
ends on 29/06/2023. So by the end of June the exercise of using the
council's vehicle for journeys between home and work will come to an
end. Does this mean that officers continued to misuse the publicly funded vehicles for nearly two and a half years? Perhaps councillor Meurig could give an explanation for the long delay?
The public and local politicians may presume that this directive applies to all departments. Where cyngor Gwynedd is concerned nothing should be presumed...
In November, 2021, Neil Foden, headteacher at Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle in Penygroes wrote to parents informing that any child with a debt of 2p would be refused school meals. This caused a national furore with interventions from Marcus Rashford and blogger Simon Harris (men behaving dadly)
The headteacher blamed the decision on his council bosses who he claims 'threw him under a bus' - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-59341464 "All I did was to pass on the authority's message to parents."
Gwynedd Council blamed "lack of clarity" from its education department on school food debt policy - https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/education/council-apologises-school-meal-debt-22153658
Councillors of Gwynedd's Education and Economy Scrutiny Committee challenged the Head of Education, Garem Jackson, for an explanation. He did not provide one but promised an update for the next meeting.
Two months later, a video was posted online that appears to show Neil Foden grabbing a pupil by the scruff of the neck - https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/education/head-teacher-filmed-appearing-grab-22967578
At the next scrutiny meeting, Mr Jackson failed to answer the committees previous concerns and was also unwilling to respond to the latest incident. Once again, promising to get the full facts and return with an update for councillors. There is no record of Mr Jackson updating the committee on either incident...
Mr Foden has a history of controversy. In 2018, a Biology teacher was awarded £8,000 compensation after an 'outrageous' suspension by the Ysgol Friars headteacher - The tribunal was convinced Mr Foden had at one stage been “looking for an excuse to make things difficult for the claimant”. https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/biology-teacher-awarded-8000-compensation-14867550
Also - “We developed a particular view about the evidence given by Mr Foden
which undermined his credibility and/or reliability as a witness.” https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/autocratic-gwynedd-headmaster-included-malpractice-14853841 How is this not perjury?
In 2020, he was found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct by the Education Workforce Council. It was proved that Mr Foden treated a third teacher unfairly when
providing a reference in 2016 in which he said he was facing an
allegation of malpractice when, in fact, the teacher had been cleared. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-54300055
The panel heard evidence that included - "I
felt victimised by Neil Foden due to the way he operated. You were
either in his gang or you were not," person D told the panel. He
claimed he was never interviewed by school governors and that Mr
Foden's daughter had investigated the allegations against him. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-51710557
The teacher claimed Mr Foden was looking to "pressurise" him after he
made whistleblowing complaints over erroneous submissions of exam
results by his department boss. Person D said he made the whistleblowing complaints in 2014 because
pupils had been "awarded an exam pass" and he was initially concerned it
was an "administrative error".
However, he said the evidence had been moved for the five pupils concerned. "The evidence had been removed from a computer file. It had taken a year and a quarter for the exam board to be told." Person D said he and two other concerned teachers were not interviewed about the exam concerns until "four to six months later". https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/headmaster-victimised-teacher-who-blew-17850450
The delay in interviewing the teachers will affect any legal process as there is a very short window to lodge complaints and/or take legal action. After one year, it is presumed that the exam board would dismiss any concerns as out of time... Mr Foden is also Head of Ysgol Friars in Bangor.
Perhaps the scrutiny committee could remind the Head of Education of his promise to report on the incidents and also ask for an update on the two teachers believed to have been suspended on full pay for 9 years...
In 2014, the council's safeguarding team began an investigation alongside north
wales police.. It did not go well. In 2016, the CPS threw out the case
after they did a deep dive of the 'evidence'.
A spokesman for the council said - "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.” https://web.archive.org/web/20180729072902/https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/welsh-councils-paid-9m-staff-14876849
Gwynedd council also paid over £800,000 of public money to north wales police. For what...? The costs of this case, including the legal fees, must be approaching 2 million pounds - if not more...
An FOI seeking information on the matter was shut down by the
monitoring officer who simply ignored the request for an internal
review. The next step in the legal process - a complaint to the ICO - usually requires an internal review to have been undertaken. Regardless, the ICO can only 'advise' the council to release information. Gwynedd council have ignored the 'advice' of the ICO in the past...
Questions to the integrity and professionalism of the safeguarding team remain. The senior safeguarding officer for Gwynedd has not been seen at a council meeting since 2019 when he was called out for deceiving the care scrutiny committee in another case.
Something is so very wrong within Gwynedd council...
Last month, Cyngor Gwynedd council's monitoring officer's reassurance that there is indeed a code of conduct for members AND officers of cyngor Gwynedd council is welcomed, but is it accurate?
The code of conduct for councillors is regulated by the Ombudsman for Wales (PSOW). If a complaint is received the Ombudsman will investigate taking account of all evidence and come to a decision. Many of these complaints are petty and probably best described as turf wars between local councillors. One Gwynedd councillor has a history of complaining about their political opponents come election times but the code of conduct is much more than this...
No public record of the code of conduct for officers of the council can be found. Obviously, managers will have access to disciplinary procedures against employees who do not meet the Gwynedd standards but what happens when the problem is 'the management'?
One Employment Tribunal found in favour of a disabled social worker in a dispute with her senior manager. Employment Judge T Vincent Ryan, found against Gwynedd council. The decision to dismiss the claimant in these circumstances was discrimination arising from disability.
This case is disturbing on many levels. During the legal process, it is reported the senior officer wanted the complainant to undertake a psychological assessment. Perhaps the hope was a colleague would find the social worker unfit for work due to a mental health issue..?
This action forced a more senior manager to step in calling the psychological assessment 'unusual and potentially inappropriate'. Gwynedd council have a history of undertaking fake assessments so this officer should be praised for her actions.
The Tribunal also commented that the senior officer 'gave his evidence in an unconvincing way which was not credible in the circumstances'. How can being called out by a Judge in a court of law not break the officer's code of conduct? Isn't this perjury?
The monitoring officer is well aware of the bad behaviour by the senior officers but instead of taking on the bad apples he appears to have washed his hands of them. The council's constitution has been recently changed so the MO is no longer responsible for the service. The 'responsible officer for SS complaints is now Ian Jones, the Head of Corporate Support. More on that change here - https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru/mgAi.aspx?ID=20536
To sum up - fact checkers would say that the monitoring officer's claim is accurate. One senior manager may say 'as long as you're not dumb enough to actually try it.'
Cyngor Gwynedd Communities Scrutiny Committee met on Thursday, 13th July 2023. Yet another meeting beset with 'technical issues' and translation problems.
The leader of the council, Dyfrig Siencyn, was to present the Annual Report of the Gwynedd and Anglesey Public Services Board 2022-23 - https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru//documents/s38421/Annual%20Report%20of%20the%20Gwynedd%20and%20Anglesey%20Public%20Services%20Board%202022-23.pdf
The report lacks detail of the Board's work and committee members would have had many questions for the council leader. Mr Siencyn instead sent his apologies and did not attend the meeting.
Concerns were raised that the documents of the board's meetings were absent from it's own wesbsite and committee members asked how there could be proper scrutiny without them. An officer blamed admin for the site not being updated...
After a break to sort out more technical issues, a motion was raised that the meeting should be stopped. The motion was voted down and so 'scrutiny' continued...
There was discussion on the board's climate change subgroup and questions were asked to the meaning of net zero. One councillor reminded the meeting that CO2 is food for plants...
Questions were asked of the electric buses that should have been running since February. It was reported that Gwynedd council have three such buses but they can not be used. The officer blamed Scottish Power for the lack of infrastructure. Range anxiety was also mentioned.
The Welsh Government may have handed over four electric buses to the council - but technical difficulties made following the conversation difficult. Gwynedd council have since uploaded both the english and Welsh translations but there is a discrepancy with one being shorter in length - https://gwynedd.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/792005
Concerns were raised that bus services were already failing residents in outlying villages. It was revealed that due to 'issues' there will be even less buses running after 6pm. Will those issues be with the young people who had their youth clubs closed by Gwynedd council?
One councillor compared the plans to a 'slow motion car crash whilst laughing along the way...' The reports were still accepted by the committee.
In other news, the council's bin collections are still a cause for concern. Also the funding from Welsh Government for public transport during the pandemic will no longer be available from early next year.
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
