Gwynedd Council - Conflicts Of Interest...
Cyngor Gwynedd council - After the intervention of a Cabinet member, the translated feeds of the council's meetings are now working - the webcast library can be found here -
At the Governance and Audit Committee held on the 8th February, 2024, Clare Hitchcock, a lay member of the Committee raises concerns with how Gwynedd council deal with the recommendations for improvement they have agreed to undertake.
The meeting can be found here - https://gwynedd.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/852366 Clare's comments begin at timestamp 14.30.
At the committee's meeting in May, 2023, a Task and Finish Group was set up to look into the long standing issue with rent arrears and the low rents of council owned smallholdings. It was also meant to be dealing with - DOLS (Deprivation of Liberty) Exit Interviews/Staff Retention now called Planning - Communication Arrangements.
Last week, Gwynedd council reported that the group did not meet in 2023 due to 'a long term illness in the Internal Audit Service'. Have they met in 2024...?
The Cabinet member for Corporate Support/Democratic Services also passed on concerns that Carys Edwards, a lay member of the group lived in a smallholding rented from the council. Conflict of interest...?
Gwynedd council responded with - ...We agree that any member of the Governance and Audit Committee who has declared an interest cannot the be on the working group that considers the same matter in further detail. In the matter that you have specifically raised, Carys Edwards will not be able to be at the working group when smallholdings are discussed. The Head of Finance has informed me that this matter was subsequently discussed between the Chair of the Committee, the Internal Audit Manager and the Head of Finance.
Last year, the Chair and members of the committee allowed this without comment.
At least one officer from Audit Wales was also in attendence at the meeting...
More recently, the monitoring officer, Iwan G D Evans, had ruled that two Councillors put forward to a Task and Finish group to oversee the review of Gwynedd's Autism Plan were ineligible due to a conflict of interest.
Many Councillors questioned the MO's decision and believed the Councillors experiences would be invaluable to the working group and so a special meeting was called so that the Councillors could apply for 'special dispentation' and join the group.
At the special meeting, the monitoring officer actually supported the councillors and 'dispensation' was granted. The financial cost to the public purse of this special meeting was £793...
Something is very wrong within Gwynedd council...
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