Cyngor Gwynedd Council - Leader Of The Gang...?

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 2018, 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...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cyngor Gwynedd - 'Unusual And Potentially Inappropriate...'

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.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5cf61dd7e5274a0771578036/1600022.2017_Mr_S_Parry_v_Gwynedd_Council_-_CORRECTED_JUDGMENT_AND_REASONS.pdf

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.'

Something is very wrong within Gwynedd council...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gwynedd and Anglesey Public Services Board - 'a slow motion car crash whilst laughing along the way'

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.

Something is very wrong within Gwynedd council...

 

 

 

Cyngor Gwynedd - A 'Children's Parliament...'

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

Something is very wrong within Gwynedd council...

 

 

Anglesey Council - Delay in the preparation and publication of the draft accounts beyond 31 May 2023...

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...

Cyngor Gwynedd - Rinse And Repeat.

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.

 

Could Cyngor Gwynedd Owned Smallholdings Be Used For Housing?

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.
 
Something is very wrong within Gwynedd council...