Inaccuracies ? Ombudsman - Cyngor Gwynedd Council.

A copy of the Ombudsman for Wales Report 2019 has been sent to the Cabinet Member responsible for Children and Young People, Dilwyn Morgan, for his consideration.

In the meantime a couple of paragraphs from the Report -

52. The Regulations state that Stage 2 is an Independent Investigation.

The public’s expectation is just that – independent. In its ordinary meaning,that means free from influence or control in any way by other people. A delay and multiple versions of a report, naturally, leaves a complainant wondering if it is not independent after all. It comes as no surprise that
Mr & Mrs A were unhappy with the process. This was particularly given the Council’s clear reluctance to accept some of the recommendations made by the IIO, which I will comment on later.

The Council has said it was not seeking to influence the IIO into changing the report, rather it wanted to make sure that “inaccuracies” were corrected. When commenting as part of this investigation, it has reiterated this view. However, it has not identified any particular inaccuracies. Having spoken with both the IIO and IP, it is clear that they considered the report to be accurate.

53. In reaching a view, I find the IP’s evidence persuasive. I place significant weight upon it given her function and experience in her role. I am persuaded by not only the IP’s evidence to me, but the certification she gave (twice) about the report (draft and final versions) being accurate, fair and that she endorsed the findings– see paragraphs 22, 32 & 49 above.

The IP’s function is to provide oversight and she considered the evidence together with the IIO. I note that the IP also recalls the IIO as saying she felt she was being “bullied”. The IIO said she felt “overwhelmed” – only she knows how she genuinely felt. The imbalance in the number present at the
meeting was, at least, sufficient to make her question, as she has, whether the independence of the process was being compromised. Both the IP and IIO have described what happened as not usual.

Whether or not the Council intended to (and it says it did not), the overall impression when viewed, objectively, is that the Council was unhappy with the findings. By acting as it did, it gives at least the impression that it was seeking to influence the outcome even though I have no hard evidence that this was its intention (bearing in mind it has denied such).


Something is so seriously wrong within Gwynedd council.

Gwynedd Council Fail.: Disingenuous - Cyngor Gwynedd Council - 2019.

Well it has been a while coming but the Ombudsman for Wales has finally completed its investigation into Cyngor Gwynedd Council.



Council officer's and senior managers did indeed interfere with a
Statutory Complaints Procedure and the Independent Investigating Officer
used the words "bullied" and "overwhelmed" to express how her dealings
with the senior management team had made her feel.



The Ombudsman's Report also highlights a lack of knowledge of Procedure
AND Law by the Children and Family Department and their solicitors.
Something we have been saying for years now.



Our attempts to raise concerns have been thwarted by council officer's
gas lighting us to Councillors and even our MP. Our case has not been
helped by the personal relationships and history between them all.



The first Ombudsman's Report (2018) showed serious failings within the
Children and Family department from 2010 through to 2016 and also
highlighted serious failings with the Customer Complaints department. So
serious the Ombudsman advised that ALL those involved undergo
retraining in all aspects of Statutory procedures. (This has still not
been complied with)



We have been informed that the council have still not complied with
other aspects of the Ombudsman's Recommendations which begs the question
what happens when a council reneges on its promises to individuals and
Government Agencies ?



This second Ombudsman's report finds certain officers evidence (to its own Investigation) as "disingenuous".



From the Free Dictionary -  disingenuous

adjective artful, artificial, counterfeit, crafty, cunning, deceitful, deceiving, delusive, delusory, designing, devious, dishonest, dodging, evasive, false, false hearted, feigned, fraudulent, hypocritical, insidious, insincere, lacking frankness, lying, mendacious, misdealing, misleading, parum candidus, prevaricating, scheming, shifty, sly, spurious, tricky, truthless, uncandid, underhanded, unethical, ungenuine, unprincipled, unscrupulous, unstraightforward, untrustworthy, untruthful, wanting in candor, wily, without truth



The above adjectives perfectly describe our experience of dealing with certain officers of Gwynedd Social Services.....



Our concerns with an officer - responsible for redacting and censoring
our personal information - leaving the council, not being interviewed
during the Investigation and then rejoining the council after the
interviews had been completed were NOT investigated by the Ombudsman.



Nor has the Ombudsman answered our fears that Care Records and Reports
have been subject to cherry picking and revision in order to support the
false narrative senior managers have constructed to cover for the
failings that two Independent Investigations and now two Ombudsman's
Reports have uncovered - over 10 years.



Lessons learnt ?



There is something seriously wrong within Gwynedd Council.





 Gwynedd Council Fail.: Disingenuous - Cyngor Gwynedd Council - 2019.:

Blake's 7 - 1x01 - The Way Back