Wednesday, December 15, 2021
Wednesday, December 08, 2021
Cyngor Gwynedd Council Fail.: "it would frighten you how few members of staff undertake these trainings..."
Cyngor Gwynedd council's Care Scrutiny Committee meeting held on the 25th November, 2021 was interesting on so many levels....
All
councillors on the committee bar two, were emailed calling out the
Autism plan as a cut and paste of Hugh Morgan's, review summary and
recommendations. Only one response was received and 6 councillors
excused themselves on the day as not able to attend the virtual meeting.
Gwynedd council's 'public' webcast does not include the start of the
meeting where those apologies were given.
The webcast of the meeting can be found here -
https://gwynedd.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/621168
Moving on, the Cabinet Member for Children and Families, Dilwyn Morgan, talks about the difficult times during the pandemic but sees the autism plan produced during these times with 'pride'. He also mentions the importance of listening to young people and their families...
The councillor appears to have forgotten that in 2018, he, along with the children's senior complaints manager, refused point blank to discuss an investigation into this case with the Care Scrutiny Committee. Has he also forgotten the email exchanges he had with a family who raised issues of bad behaviour by officers where he stated in relation to the first Ombudsman's investigation that the council has 'accepted and acted upon his recommendations' ?This was not correct...
It is also a
matter of concern that issues were raised with the Cabinet member
regarding the accuracy of annual SS complaints handling reports written
by the children's department. A SAR has revealed that the Cabinet Member
did indeed discuss the matter - not with the council's democratic
services as one may expect but with the senior complaints manager for
children and families. The conversation does mention that a corporate
complaint could have been made, but the email exchange has been so
heavily redacted by Gwynedd's Information Manager that the remainder of
the conversation is unreadable.
Regardless, the Cabinet Member did not pass on that information...Sshh...
During the webcast, Dilwyn Morgan attempts to blame the system for the deficiencies highlighted by the various investigations and implies that he and the officer's will 'sort it out'.
The
same people who ignored their responsibilities under the Autism SAP,
the Equality Act 2010, the SSWB (Wales) Act 2014, NICE guidelines, code
of ethics et al and ignored the SS complaints procedure (in order to
squash complaints)...will now sort it out. Right oh...
Regarding
the training of members and staff, the Cabinet member states - "it
would frighten you how few members of staff undertake these
trainings..."
Imagine
what it is like for people on the receiving end of these untrained
staff - from a Head of Services that does not know what the Equality Act,2010
is to a Gwynedd social worker who 'suggested' parents setting up an autistic child
up to 'fail' re safeguarding - "I can't help him otherwise..."
He
also states that the situation is more difficult and far worse in other
counties of Wales. Which counties are those, Mr Morgan and have you
raised concerns ?
And where was the voice of the Cabinet Member
for Adults, Dafydd Meurig ? Still sitting on an Ombudsman's report where
an autistic young man was left to rot in bed when his commissioned
hours were taken from him and the staff used elsewhere in the home to
cover for its own staff shortages...
Cyngor Gwynedd Council Fail.: Cyngor Gwynedd Council - 'it would frighten you ho...:
Sunday, December 05, 2021
Cyngor Gwynedd Council Fail.: Autism Plan Is Simply A Cut And Paste Exercise.
The Ombudsman for Wales finally had his meeting with the present CEO
of Cyngor Gwynedd council, Dafydd Gibbard, to discuss continuing non
compliance with recommendations made in 2019 - that the past CEO had
informed was complete 'bar a nuance'.
The nuance happens to be the Autism plan now heralded on the council's website as 'innovative'. It is anything but....
The
'plan' presented by the contact officer, Aled Gibbard, is simply a cut
and paste of the review report summary and recommendations agreed to
after the Hugh Morgan, OBE review of services in Gwynedd undertaken last
year -
The plan can be found here -
https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=32127
Aled
Gibbard is also responsible for the 'equality impact assessment report'
- tacked on to the already published council agenda. It, too, is a copy
and paste - this time, of the Code of Practice for Autism -
https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=32135
A plan is meant to inform and clarify - this does neither. Ditto the equality impact assessment report....
Senior officers gave evidence to Hugh Morgan and presumably assurances during his review of the evidence presented -
https://gwyneddsfailingcouncil.blogspot.com/2021/04/finally-gwynedd-councils-autism-report.html
Hugh
Morgan's thoughts on the council 'plan' would be interesting. The
urgent recommendations from his review have still not been complied
with....
Has Dafydd Gibbard been dodging the Ombudsman until
the Derwen manager, Aled Gibbard, presented a 'plan' that they consider
meets with compliance ? By now we are guessing that Nick Bennett may
have become so frustrated with the council that any piece of work
masquerading as a plan will be accepted as compliance. Interesting
times...
Senior
officers may claim there are no financial resources but as Mr
Morgan points out the money is already there. He makes mention of the
ring fenced monies from 2008 until 2016 at £60,000 a year and then
£40,000 (not ring fenced) from then on. By my calculations, Gwynedd
council have received £680,000 of government money for support services
that do not exist. Where has that money gone ?
And talking of money, Gwynedd council have once again increased the amount in 'reserves'.
This money can only have come from the council not spending on services and support.
Why is Wales Audit not raising concerns ?
Cyngor Gwynedd Council Fail.: Cyngor Gwynedd Council's Autism Plan Is Simply A C...: