#arfon

Cabinet members of cyngor Gwynedd council have made the decision to close two more local schools in the county. 

'With a heavy heart...' Ysgol Nebo and Ysgol Baladeulyn (Nantlle) will close at the end of the year...

The cabinet meeting was held on the 19th May, 2026 and the webcast of the meeting can be found here -  https://gwynedd.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/1091820

Cabinet members also voted to allocate more money for Commissioning Investigations re the Neil Foden case and the failings of the children's department - 

4.2 As the Cabinet will commission these investigations, there will be a need to report back to a range of various forums, e.g., the Governance and Audit Committee, to the Scrutiny Committee or to the Safeguarding Strategic Panel - those paths will depend on the nature of the work and the investigation in question. Any investigation reporting back to the Safeguarding Strategic Panel only will avoid proper scrutiny by Gwynedd councillors and the public... The agenda pack for the meeting can be found here -   https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru//documents/g5764/Public%20reports%20pack%2019th-May-2026%2013.00%20The%20Cabinet.pdf?T=10

The Governance and Audit committee met on the 21st, May, 2026. The statutory director of Gwynedd SS departments, was to update members on the recent Estyn and presumably Care Inspectorate Wales reports. The agenda suffers from a bad interpretation at times...

It does contain this snippet - Still disappointed that there was no acknowledgment by Estyn of the deficiencies in their review of the Council's safety arrangements, June 2023.

This follows on from decisions made at the extraordinary meeting of the council in February, 2026 -

Committee members appeared to have forgotten the reasons for previous decisions made by them and the director of SS, Huw Dylan Owen, left the meeting without giving the update requested. 

The Governance and Audit committee is one of the most important meetings of a council and should be webcast for other councillors and the public to view later. A webcast would also give members an opportunity to remind themselves of past meetings and prepare better.

Accountability at last..? Later in the meeting, committee members called for senior managers to appear before them to explain the decisions and actions taken by the departments they are responsible for.  .

The agenda pack can be found here -   https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru//documents/g5754/Public%20reports%20pack%2021st-May-2026%2010.00%20Governance%20and%20Audit%20Committee.pdf?T=10

In other news, cyngor Gwynedd's Employment Appeals Committee have sat again recently. The committee has now heard more cases in 5 months then is usual for an entire year.

With a Plaid majority in the Senedd, will the Plaid council now renew their call for a public inquiry into Neil Foden? 

Something is very wrong within Gwynedd council...

Neil Foden, the paedophile headteacher, who was in charge of Ysgol Friars, Bangor and Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle in Penygroes was arrested in September, 2023 and jailed in 2024. Many people in Gwynedd, including some councillors are of the belief that Foden was a one off. Abuse of children, especially of those in care in north Wales has been going on for decades.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/FY1QjMDlMCc The North Wales Child Abuse scandal... Where children were abused in 'care' homes across Gwynedd, Clywd and Wrexham. Gwynedd council sacked a social worker who blew the whistle on the abuse.  This led to the Waterhouse inquiry and the Lost In Care Report, published in 2000. 

The Lost In Care report was reviewed in 2010 -   'Lost in Care abuse report recommendations reviewed' Sir Ronald will speak with health and social work professionals about the lessons learned and analyse whether local authorities across Wales are now developing and implementing effective care plans for looked-after children. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-11884852

In 2012, the scandal was raised by the government in Westminster -  Theresa May, then Home Secretary, gave a statement -  The recommendation was that there should not be a public inquiry but an examination of the work of private care homes and the social service departments in Gwynedd and Clwyd Councils. This work revealed not only shortcomings in the protection of vulnerable children, but that the shortcomings had persisted even after the police investigation and subsequent prosecutions.https://www.gov.uk/government/news/historic-allegations-of-child-abuse-in-north-wales-home-secretarys-statement

Carwyn Jones, then First Minister for Wales, also gave a statement -  It made extensive recommendations for improving child protection, many of which were subsequently implemented by the Welsh Government.   The Prime Minister has announced an inquiry to examine the extent to which the Waterhouse Report did what it was supposed to do. https://www.gov.wales/written-statement-north-wales-child-abuse-allegations

Not forgetting OperationPallial -  In November 2012, Operation Pallial was set up to examine specific allegations of past child abuse in north Wales. This report looks at the early processes established by OperationPallial, including communications work, support for survivors, transition and the implications on children in present care settings in Wales -  https://www.childcomwales.org.uk/2015/01/learning-the-lessons-operation-pallial/

Then there was the Macur Review laid before Parliament in 2016, with Plaid MP, Liz Saville Roberts leading the discussion -  https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cdp-2016-0070/ 'Lessons not learnt' from report into sex abuse teacher. The Welsh government said: "The recommendations from the Clywch report were implemented, and consistent national policies and procedures to safeguard children were introduced.

"The Our Bravery Brought Justice review found that despite there being clear processes in place, including those implemented following Clywch, there was a failure to apply them properly." https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce3kexe2eeko

The Clywch report, from 2004, involved teacher, John Owen, who sexually abused pupils at Ysgol Gyfun Rhydfelen, near Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf. 

But how is it that so many senior people in Gwynedd failed to follow procedures? Worse still - many simply ignored concerns raised... What of the two police officers, Essie Ahari and Keith Horton, then chair and vice chair of the school governors at Ysgol Friars?

What of the senior officer within Gwynedd's legal department who sat in on the safeguarding meeting re Neil Foden in 2019? 

Sexual harassment in schools... Delyth Lloyd Griffiths, was the senior safeguarding officer within the Education department before becoming a councillor in 2022.

Griffiths is named as the relevant officer in a report entitled 'Sexual harassment in schools' discussed at the Education/Economy scrutiny committee on the 8th, February, 2022. This report was in response to an Estyn report dated 2021 - 'We do not tell our teachers' The report can be found in the agenda pack for the meeting here -  https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru/documents/g4378/Public%20reports%20pack%2008th-Feb-2022%2013.30%20Education%20and%20Economy%20Scrutiny%20Committee.pdf?T=10

Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle... This committee also failed the children by not taking action against Foden when the video of him appearing to grab a pupil by the scruff of the neck appeared online. The matter was raised at the meeting and answers were promised for the next scrutiny committee.

The next meeting scheduled for the 31, March, 2022 was cancelled. 

Sshh... The council elections in May, 2022, meant a new scrutiny committee was formed.  Five members sat on both the old and the new committees - they are Olaf Cai Larsen, Beth Lawton, Dewi Owen, Paul Rowlinson and Colette Owen (co-optee) It is believed that the alleged assault by Foden was never mentioned again...

Since Foden's arrest in 2023, cyngor Gwynedd have suspended 3 members of school staff from Friars.  Two other staff at different schools have also been suspended.  No further details have been released by the council or NWP.

Extended Child Practice Review... Were all of the abused children receiving 'care' from the council ? Were any in foster care? The head and assistant head of the children's SS are still 'absent from work'.

A Statutory Public Inquiry... Dafydd Gibbard, ceo of the council, told a meeting in February, that a reply to the requst for a public inquiry has been received from Welsh government but he has not yet shared the response...

Without accountability, the abuse will continue... Something is very wrong within Gwynedd council...

Cyngor Gwynedd council are advertising for a new head of the children's SS department. The job is paying £84,480 - £93,163 a year, which is a lot less than the £104,15, the former head, Marian Parry Hughes was 'earning' last year. The highest-paid council employees in Gwynedd and Anglesey https://www.northwaleschronicle.co.uk/news/25065053.highest-paid-council-employees-gwynedd-anglesey/

Hughes failed to act when concerns were raised against Neil Foden in 2019.  The former headteacher of Ysgol Friars, in Bangor was finally arrested for sexually abusing children in September 2023.

Hughes leadership has been dogged with controversy since the farce of Canolfan Brynffynnon. Then there was the Ombudsman for Wales report highlighting the department's ignorance of law, policy and procedures. The PSOW recommendations for improvement were not acted upon...

Untrained social workers/senior officers... Dilwyn Morgan, the former cabinet member for children, did raise concerns about a lack of training within the department in 2021 - 'it would frighten you how few members of staff undertake these training.' What action did Morgan, now cabinet member for adults take..?

No outsiders allowed..? Cyngor Gwynedd are advertising the position internally, 'for a period of 6 months, with the possibility of an extension of up to 12 months...' Does this mean that one of the interim heads of the department, Aled Gibbard or Sharron Williams Carter, is next in line to take the reins?  What next for Gwynedd's assistant head - safeguarding and quality also what next for the senior officer within the legal team?  Both knew about Foden in 2019.

Something is still very wrong within Gwynedd council...

Five years ago, Audit Wales flagged the culture within cyngor Gwynedd as 'destructive'.

At the recent extraordinary meeting of the full council, councillors Nia Jeffreys and Olaf Cai Larsen spoke of staff feeling safe to challenge.  Irony indeed - speaking to a full council meeting where councillors had been 'advised' not to challenge...

The webcast of the meeting can be found here -  https://gwynedd.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/1063308

Larsen, the chair of the Plaid Cymru constituency party and Jeffreys may have missed the council's recent audit on whistleblowing. Staff do not feel safe...

It is not just staff... People who do raise concerns have been smeared by senior officers and ignored by councillors.  

Actions not words... Safeguarding, scrutiny and culture are now buzzwords for council officers/members since Neil Foden's arrest in 2023. The reality is somewhat different...

On April 11th, 2024, the children's department finally released their annual complaints handling report from 2022/23 to the care scrutiny committee. 

Standards... It was the first time the SS annual complaints reports had come before a scrutiny committee since 2019, after which a complaint was made against a senior officer for misleading the committee. The same officer had refused to answer questions of the care scrutiny committee at a previous meeting.  The report can be found in the agenda pack here -  https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru//documents/g4975/Public%20reports%20pack%2011th-Apr-2024%2010.30%20Care%20Scrutiny%20Committee.pdf?T=10

Page 36 mentions a historic complaint –

The Senior Manager discussed fully with the Senior Complaints Officer as ten years had passed. The social worker did not work here anymore, therefore we would need to rely on records only to investigate the complaint...

Who is the senior manager? It is believed that Dafydd Paul was the senior complaints officer at this time. Did the legal department give advice to the officer's on the matter..?

The Ffordd Gwynedd way... The PSOW can investigate historic complaints.  Treating the complaint in this way may have shut down the pathway to the Ombudsman for Wales. 

There was another historic complaint on page 37 – 

The cabinet member for children was silent on the historic complaints and not one councillor of the committee raised concerns. The report was voted through by the committee... Shameful...

The presentation of the 2022/23 report for scrutiny had been long delayed.  The report - with the historic complaints of safeguarding failures - was finally released to the committee after Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) had completed its review of the council.

Would the CIW's report been different if they had known of the historic complaints of failure to listen and safeguard these two individuals ?

Playing catch up..? 5 months later, on the 26th, September, 2024, the SS departments presented their annual complaints handling reports for 2023/24 to the care scrutiny committee. The agenda pack for the meeting and the reports can be found here -  https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru/documents/g5188/Public%20reports%20pack%2026th-Sep-2024%2010.30%20Care%20Scrutiny%20Committee.pdf?T=10

The 2023/24 complaints report credits Marian Parry Hughes – Head of Children and Supporting Families Department and Aled Davies – Head of Adults, Health and Well-being Department as the authors.

During the meeting, Dafydd Paul, acting as the senior complaints officer and presenting the report gave the impression that he was the author of the children's report. 

Darvo... Paul, did not update the committee on the investigation that had taken place of the historic abuse from 2013/14 nor did any councillor ask...

Neil Foden used the same tactic of denial and blaming others...

The committee also scrutinised this complaint from the adult's learning disability team - 

Dodgy..? What was the 'relationship' between the support worker and the service user? No proper explanation was given nor asked for by councillors. Councillors passed the reports anyway...

3 months later, on the 17th, December, 2024, a cabinet meeting was held.

The 'Complaints and Service Improvement Report Quarter 1-2 2024/25' was presented. The report can be found in the agenda pack here -  https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru/documents/g5260/Public%20reports%20pack%2017th-Dec-2024%2013.00%20The%20Cabinet.pdf?T=10

The contact officer for the report is Ian Jones, Head of Corporate Services.

For some reason, a complaint from the children's SS department was included. Neither Jones nor Menna Trenholme, the cabinet member for children, explained why the report was being presented to the cabinet rather than the care scrutiny committee...

'difficult and tiresome complainants...? So a complaint to the children's service was brought to the attention of the monitoring officer who had to remind the children and adult's SS customer care/complaint officers of the law when dealing with complaints...

Nolan Principles...The officer's are well aware of the law, procedures and guidelines. It is a choice to ignore them and infringe on the rights of the residents of Gwynedd.

Jones, also included two complaints concerning the education department. Again, these complaints were not presented to the education/economy scrutiny committee... 

The complaints in question are on page 53 and 54 of Jones' report. Three serious complaints - one a safeguarding issue -  avoiding proper scrutiny.

Cabinet members should have challenged Jones' report.  Instead, cabinet members voted to accept the report without real discussion...

All this has taken place after Neil Foden's arrest... Many councillors continue to turn a blind eye...

Trauma informed... For many families, seeking advice and support from Gwynedd's SS departments is traumatic -  SYSTEMS GENERATED TRAUMA  How disabled children and their families are traumatised by dysfunctional public services when they ask for support -  https://cerebra.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Systems-Generated-Trauma-Report-web.pdf

The Cerebra report is authored by Professor Luke Clements and Dr Ana Laura Aiello. They give insight to the damage caused to children and families by the very departments that were created to support them...

Culture... Clements is a Professor of Law at Leeds University and has written an article on Gwynedd council -  ‘Omg … will it never end’ https://www.lukeclements.co.uk/omg-will-it-never-end-2/

Grooming...?  Some councillors and senior officer's have mentioned they were also groomed by Foden. This is disingenuous...

Cabinet members through to scrutiny committee members – most complicit in the toxic culture that has been allowed to continue to cover for incompetence and protect reputational damage - for years. 

A public inquiry is needed. Has the Children's Commissioner for Wales, Rocío Cifuentes, been approached?

When will the monitoring officer give an account of the 'advice' given by a senior officer within the legal department to the safeguarding meeting re Neil Foden in 2019? 

Dafydd Gibbard, CEO of cyngor Gwynedd has authored the council's 'Response Plan to the Our Bravery Brought Justice Report'. He writes -  The Committee is asked to scrutinise the revamped Response Plan before it is submitted to Cabinet for formal adoption.

This January, his report has gone before the Care scrutiny committee, the Education/Economy scrutiny committee and the Governance and Audit committee. His report can be found here - https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru//documents/g5668/Public%20reports%20pack%2013th-Jan-2026%2010.30%20Care%20Scrutiny%20Committee.pdf?T=10

The 'extended' Child Practice Review, by Jan Pickles, looked at events from 2017. From a BBC article dated April, 2025 – She looked at 2019 because, during Foden’s trial, the council’s former head of education Garem Jackson said that was when he made a senior safeguarding officer aware of concerns about Foden’s “close relationship” with some teen girls. He said he was advised there was no need for a formal investigation as no official complaint had been made. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly2njvjwzko

So who advised Jackson? In this respect, Jan Pickles is vague... From page 13 of her review -  LA1 Head C&FS requested a meeting on a ‘Mater Diogelu Brys- Cyfrinachol’ (Urgent Safeguarding matter - Confidential) via email to LA1 C&FS Senior Manager LADO. On 15 April 2019 a meeting of four senior LA1 officers from LA1 Ed, LA1 C&FS and LA1 Legal departments was held to consider the information reported by Core SMT 1 to LA1 Head of Education 1.  No formal minutes were made of this meeting however the Reviewers have seen transcripts of handwritten notes taken contemporaneously by two attendees.  Core SMT 1 was not invited to the meeting to give further nformation.  The meeting was deemed not to be a child protection meeting and was instead regarded as being for the consideration of a ‘professional issue’.

So a senior officer from the legal department was present... Was this the monitoring officer? Did any senior officer apart from Jackson give evidence at Neil Foden's trial? Did the chair and vice chair of the school governors, both serving police officers, give evidence? If not - why not..?

The Woods report will give more detail of the safeguarding failures.  After HR completes it's investigations will the report be published?  There were calls from councillors for the report to be released, even as an exempted document, this was flatly refused by the monitoring officer. Gibbard informed that the HR investigations had already cost £30,000... The Jan Pickles review can be found here -  https://www.northwalessafeguardingboard.wales/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/30.10.25-FINAL-ENGLISH-CPR-REPORT-_.pdf

A reminder that the children abused by Foden were receiving 'care' from the council... Did Social workers of the 16+ team and the Youth Justice Service also fail the children?  Both departments are to have their recent work scrutinised at a care scrutiny committee on the 29th, January.

In other news, Nia Jeffreys, the leader of the council, challenged the minutes of the North Wales Corporate Joint Committee. She explained that she was against excluding the public and press from a previous meeting and had asked that her vote against be recorded.  The council leader's vote was not recorded...

Something is very wrong within Gwynedd council... 

Cyngor Gwynedd cancelled the Care Scrutiny committee that was to be held on the 20th November. The agenda pack for the meeting can be found here - https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru//documents/g5651/Public%20reports%20pack%2020th-Nov-2025%2010.30%20Care%20Scrutiny%20Committee.pdf?T=10 A Task and Finish group is being setup to examine social services complaints. Has there been an investigation?

Foden used the procedures to shut down complaints and smear complainants. The same has been said of cyngor Gwynedd.    Last year, Dafydd Paul reported 'bad behaviour' towards staff. The language he used was disparaging and awful, demonising people who have no opportunity to challenge this, or defend themselves from such accusations. 

Can we see the evidence? 

Issues relating to the adults department handling of complaints include - A serious complaint against a safeguarding officer was downgraded to an enquiry.  A Gwynedd councillor has on more than one occasion publicly expressed discontent with the department's handling of his own complaint. 

Many parents of disabled children approach Gwynedd children's SS seeking support, their children only to be deemed 'not disabled' and daring to complain about matters can lead to parent blame and worse...  A recent report by Professor Luke Clements and Dr Ana Laura Aiello gives insight into how families are treated by the same services that have been created to support them -  SYSTEMS GENERATED TRAUMA How disabled children and their families are traumatised by dysfunctional public services when they ask for support https://cerebra.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Systems-Generated-Trauma-Report-web.pdf

There is little purpose to investigate one year's report so will the Task and Finish group extend their remit and be willing to listen to the experiences of past complainants?

Menna Trenholme, cabinet member for children, was to present her department's performance report -  The Children and Supporting Families Department has two projects in the Council Plan, namely the Autism Plan and a Plan for developing a residential provision for looked after children in small group homes.

Then there is the plan for looked after children in small group homes. The home in Morfa Bychan is still not registered.  Aled Gibbard says it's not a problem as they are in close contact with CIW...  

The reason for the delay is Aled Gibbard having to register as a 'Responsible Individual'. Why is it taking so long?

Cyngor Gwynedd has reported that they are now buying 'foster' homes.  Yet Gibbard appears to be suggesting that one of these properties will be a small group home..? Apparently none of either the 'foster' homes or small group homes needs any change of use from a 'house' to a 'care home'.

In other news, concerns raised by the Governance and Audit committee into council owned care homes, Plas Hedd and Plas y Don, could be compounded by the threat of closure of Cerrig Camu in Dolgellau.

Cerrig Camu care home's closure could force vulnerable adults out of Gwynedd https://www.cambrian-news.co.uk/news/cerrig-camu-care-homes-closure-could-force-vulnerable-adults-out-of-gwynedd-845111

The threat of closure comes after an inspection report by Care Inspectorate Wales in July showing people at risk of harm and calling for Priority Action to be taken - 

Instead of improving the home for the residents, the company considers closing the home. Profit before care..? 

https://www.youtube.com/embed/6MneA9pgLVw Is this an opportunity for the council to buy the home..?

The full report by the CIW can be found here - https://digital.careinspectorate.wales/directory/service/SIN-00009094-KPVB

It is not usual for a CEO of a county council to deny involvement in the delay of a report - Council boss denies it was behind Foden report delay https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1kwy7wnnk4o Nor is it usual for a safeguarding boardto delay a review report whilst it 'considers its legal obligations and information sharing further' 

Due to the lack of trust in the council, it is understandable that the CEO, Dafydd Gibbard, felt the need to publicly deny involvement. What is the reasoning behind the North Wales Safeguarding Board's decision to delay the Jan Pickles review? 

The Jan Pickles review, aided by the Genevieve Woods report, looked at the crimes of paedophile headteacher, Neil Foden and how he continued to abuse even after concerns were raised against him...

Foden could have been stopped yet many people failed to do so... Claims of undeserved examination passes at Ysgol Friars do not appear to have been investigated, nor when Foden's own union, the NEU, took action against him. There was much anger over the no school meals policy for children who had 2p of debt during the pandemic and also the video of the alleged assault on a pupil at Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle -  Head teacher filmed appearing to grab pupil by scruff of the neck   https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/education/head-teacher-filmed-appearing-grab-22967578 Much of what Foden did made the press and social media. Concerns were raised about his behaviour at Gwynedd's education/economy scrutiny committee - on more than one occasion. This committee are also investigating safeguarding in schools but it is unlikely their own lack of action will be examined in any detail.

Dewi Jones, the cabinet member for education, is leading the investigation.  The panel's draft report, originally due in September 2025, then 11th December 2025,  has now been delayed until 12th February 2026. 

The reason being that members forgot to include the voices of children in the investigation... More information can be found in the  Education/Economy draft forward programme -  https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru//documents/s46071/2025-10-16%20Education%20and%20Economy%20Scrutiny%20Committee%20Forward%20Programme%202025-26.pdf

So what of Gwynedd's Scrutiny Forum? This Forum is made up of the chair and vice chair of each scrutiny committee and aided by senior officers it decides on what is of importance for investigation and/or discussion at forward meetings. 

Has Foden ever been the subject of discussion by this forum, or any of the other 'informal' scrutiny meetings, not open to the public..?

What of the monitoring officer and the legal team's advice to senior officers over the years? Did they not raise questions re Foden with the senior officers? Were they advising senior officers?

The Genieve Woods report has already led to two senior officers within children's SS being 'absent from work' Perhaps the child practice review will highlight how these girls were failed? Some may say that it was the procedures that failed, but the procedures could only be robust if they were implemented in a timely and correct manner by those whose job it was to protect children...

Those will include school governors, the former head(s) of education, cabinet member(s), senior officers within social services and the safeguarding/child protection team. 

It should come as no surprise - though many will claim it to be - that some of these officers are the same ones responsible for allowing social workers to bully, undertake fake assessments on children, interfere in investigations and mislead the Obudsman for Wales. One social worker appears to have been promoted after giving evidence to an investigation that was later called out as 'disingenuous' by the PSOW.  The Ffordd Gwynedd way...? The director of Gwynedd SS, Huw Dylan Owen, spoke of the embarrassment to come during his presentation of his Annual Report at a meeting of the full council. His report can be found in the agenda pack -  https://democracy.gwynedd.llyw.cymru//mgChooseDocPack.aspx?ID=5504

Owen will have had knowledge of the Genevieve Woods report since March.  His report appears to have been written at the same time as it contains little new information since then. No statement on the head of SS, Marian Parry Hughes, still 'absent from work'.

It is presumed that the complaints manager is also 'absent from work', due to his lack of input in the complaints handling report.

Having these officers 'absent from work' may have improved some aspects of the department but their wages are considerable and that means that children's services are losing out on £4 to £5K a week. 

One would hope that Owen will have spent some time going through past cases involving these officers looking for anything of concern. It is not likely that reports written by these officers will properly inform the director. Has he read the investigative reports created by the Canolfan Brynffynnon affair and associated 'employment' investigation reports? 

A reminder that draft reports are often more informative as not all criticism of individuals/departments make the final cut...

Then there are the several PSOW investigations...

A public inquiry is needed.  

Something is so very wrong within Gwynedd council...