Part 1
Introduction
The Council’s Constitution stipulates:
(G) Asking The Question At The Meeting
The Mayor (or Chairperson) will invite the questioner to put the question to the Member of the Cabinet named in the notice.
If a questioner who has submitted a written question is unable to be present, the Mayor (or Chairperson) can ask the
question on their behalf,
and a written reply will be given ([sic]: to the person who raised the question) and copied to all
Councillors.
The Mayor put my written questions to two meetings of the Full Council. (further details are given later in the post).
I never received any written reply.
Details of the Questions and the so-called responses given by Councillor Julia Jenkins which did not actually answer the questions.
Agenda item
“When will the WAO Report on the Review of Whistleblowing Arrangements relating to Safeguarding at Merthyr Council be considered by the Full Council”
Question from a member of the public
The Mayor referred to the following question that had been received from a member of the public:
“When will the WAO Report on the Review of Whistleblowing Arrangements relating to Safeguarding at Merthyr Council be considered by the Full Council”.
Councillor J Jenkins Cabinet Member for Social Services, then gave the following response to the question:
‘There have been two reports from Welsh Audit Office (WAO) in recent years in respect of Safeguarding, both in August 2019.
These were a Review of Corporate Arrangements for Safeguarding and a Review of Whistleblowing arrangements relating to Safeguarding.
The initial audits were linked to a national piece of work across all 22 authorities, which was linked to a previous Safeguarding Audit in 2015.
Following the 2015 report, WAO felt that the Council had responded positively to all the Corporate Safeguarding recommendations.
They felt that corporate leadership had taken appropriate steps to increase awareness of Safeguarding across the Council and its partners and that there were clear procedures in place for the safe recruitment of staff.
In response to the recommendations, the Corporate Safeguarding Reference Group was relaunched and each Department within the Council is represented at that meeting, ensuring that each department has someone who is championing safeguarding in their area.
This group meets quarterly and also includes elected members, the Cabinet Member for Social Services, The Shadow Cabinet Member, and the Safeguarding Champion.
Within this meeting, we monitor and review training of staff and elected members around safeguarding, raise awareness where required, and ensure that appropriate training is completed.
We have also developed a Corporate Safeguarding Policy, which is in line with the Cwm Taf Morgannwg Safeguarding Board Policy.
Safeguarding is an annual agenda item on the Social Services Scrutiny Committee to update on what work is being done in this area.
In response to whistleblowing, the audit was completed following correspondence received in September 2018.
There were five recommendations, all of which have been completed.
The recommendations linked to above in that we developed a Corporate Safeguarding Policy and have the Corporate Safeguarding Reference Group where training and awareness raising is discussed and rolled out to all areas of the Council.
The Whistleblowing Policy was also discussed and reviewed.
Communications were sent out to all staff and elected members raising awareness of this policy.
The updated policy was presented to Council this year.
In respect of schools Welsh Government have developed a Whistleblowing Policy, which has been shared with all Governing Bodies – this Policy is one that needs to be reviewed and accepted on an annual basis.
In relation to HR recommendations there is sufficient capacity to fulfil its statutory duties with schools.
Also, regular SLA questionnaires are undertaken to ensure the service provided is reviewed.
Consultation takes place to ensure any changes are implemented and the agreement reviewed.
Good progress has been made in this area, and there is regular scrutiny of this work.
Corporate reference group links closely with the board work.
Following these reviews, an internal audit was commissioned to look at the recommendations, and an information report was shared with Cabinet in July 2021’.
Meeting of Full Council
13th September 2023
Minute No 260
| 260. | “Has the WAO Report on the Review of Whistleblowing Arrangements relating to Safeguarding at Merthyr Council ever been considered and discussed at any official Council Meeting. If it has, please provide details of the meeting/s concerned. If not, why not, and when will the original report be presented to the Full Council for consideration and discussion”. Minutes: Questions from a member of the public The Mayor read out the following question that had been received from a member of the public: “Has the WAO Report on the Review of Whistleblowing Arrangements relating to Safeguarding at Merthyr Council ever been considered and discussed at any official Council Meeting. If it has, please provide details of the meeting/s concerned. If not, why not, and when will the original report be presented to the Full Council for consideration and discussion”. Councillor J Jenkins Cabinet Member for Social Services then gave the following response to the question: “Reports were considered at Standards Committee (November 2019) Governance and Audit Committee (November 2020) and Social Services Scrutiny (February 2021) in respect of Whistleblowing arrangements. A report was also received by Cabinet in July 2021 outlining progress against the audit report recommendations. All recommendations have been actioned and addressed. In response to this further question the Director of Social Services has written an Information Report, which is included in today’s papers. This report outlines the work that has been completed in the past few years in respect of whistleblowing and safeguarding and the responses to audits and inspections. I respectfully refer Members to that report in response to the question asked.” Councillor J Jenkins also advised that at the Wales Audit Office report issued August 2019 – ‘Review of Whistleblowing Arrangements Relating to Safeguarding – Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council’ had also been circulated to all Councillors. |
Summimg Up
The issue of the Wales Audit Office Review of Whistleblowing arrangements relating to Safeguarding at Merthyr Council was an Agenda Item for two meetings of the Full Council on 12th July 2023 and 13th September 2023.
The agenda items were related to questions being asked by the Mayor on behalf of a member of the public (aka ME).
On both occasions Councillor Julia Jenkins responded in considerable detail.
Unfortunately, none of the details contained an answer to the question asked.
I attempted to have another question put to a further meeting of the Full Council to clarify what the question was asking.
I was refused that request.
Part 2
Some helpful suggestions
If the Full Council is only required to consider its own minutes at each meeting, there would be ample time to spend on checking the minutes for approval as a correct record and also to ensure that there are no items in the minutes that should be on the agenda for the current meeting.
The Chairs of the Governance and Audit Committee, and the Standards Committee both follow this process.
They do it because both are not Councillors (they are lay members as required by the Constitution) and they have vast experience of governance at other organisations.
The Monitoring Officer does not take them to task for not following her procedures.
Merthyr Council Cover-up 