The Public Services Ombudsman for Wales
Text version of PSW’s response
By email geoff.jones1@btinternet.com
Dear Mr Jones
Complaint against Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council
I have considered your complaint against Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council (“Council”), which we received on 4 April 2024. I am sorry to read of your concerns.
Your complaint
You complained that the Council had failed to record sufficient information as required by specified guidelines; failed to adequately record the reasons for some of the decisions or actions it has taken; and said there is evidence of falsification or tampering with records.
What we do
We consider complaints of maladministration or service failure on the part of public bodies, which causes hardship or injustice to members of the public.
We normally take maladministration/service failure to mean that the body concerned has not acted in accordance with its policies or procedures.
In considering a complaint, we take account of the Ombudsman’s legal powers and jurisdiction, as well as thinking about whether our intervention is proportionate taking account of our limited resources, or if anything further can be usefully achieved.
Our factsheet explains our complaint and review procedures.
My decision
My role is to consider, on the Ombudsman’s behalf, the complaint you put to us and to assess whether, or to what extent, we can help you.
I have carefully considered the information you provided.
Having considered all the information, I am sorry to tell you that your complaint is not one which we can investigate. I will explain the reasons for my decision.
You will be aware from previous correspondence, as you made a similar complaint to the Ombudsman in October 2022, that a complainant must have directly suffered a personal hardship or injustice as a result of maladministration or service failure to allow the Ombudsman to investigate and/or uphold their complaint.
As per your previous complaint, I cannot see from the information you have supplied that, even if the Council was in some way at fault, you have suffered a personal hardship or injustice (over and above any of the Council’s residents) as a result, particularly as you do not appear to live in the Council’s area.
This being the case, there are no grounds for the Ombudsman to investigate your complaint.
As I advised previously, issues relating to the way in which the Council confirms its minutes are likely for its elected members to scrutinise.
Falsification of documents may be for the Police, if the falsification is criminal in nature, or potentially for the Information Commissioner’s Office to consider.
Whilst I have decided that we will not investigate your complaint, I would like to stress that this does not mean I am not sympathetic to the problems you have described. My decision is based upon the information I have seen.
Procedural matters
An anonymised copy of this letter, which constitutes a formal statement of reasons for the decision not to investigate your complaint, has been sent to the Council.
Your data
In considering your complaint, we need to process personal data. We have legal powers to look into complaints about public services in Wales.
The law allows us to ask anyone we think may have information that will help us to reach a decision on your complaint to provide that information to us.
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We may need to share your complaint and all the material you supplied with the public body you have complained about unless you tell us otherwise.
We need to ask the public body to share information from their records with us.
This may include information held in health or social services records if your complaint relates to one of these areas.
Please note that the information we receive from you will be scanned to an electronic case record. We therefore routinely destroy hard copy information received 3 months after receipt unless there is an exceptional reason to keep the information for longer. Please let us know as soon as possible if you would like us to return any of the information you have sent to us.
Your electronic complaint record is retained for 10 years from the date your complaint is closed. We remove identifiable information from the electronic case record so that we can keep information about complaints for longer to analyse trends.
Yours sincerely
Амито
Leigh McAndrew
Rheolwr Tîm Derbyn/Intake Team Manager
Text version of my response to PSOW
Thank you for your response to my complaint.
You state that a complainant must have directly suffered a personal hardship or injustice as a result of maladministration or service failure to allow the Ombudsman to investigate and/or uphold their complaint.
I accept that I have not suffered personal hardship as a result of the Council’s failures to comply with its Constitution.
I note that you say that the way in which the Council confirms its minutes are likely for its elected members to scrutinise.
I must say that it is not so much to do with falsification of documents, it is more to do with the suppression of official external reports and misinforming or misleading the elected members.
Elected Members cannot debate and make decisions on reports that have not been put before them.
It is my belief that the reason for withholding certain reports from the elected members is down to the Senior Officers protecting themselves for being held to account for their wrongdoings.
Regarding the presentation of minutes of Committee Meetings to the Full Council for approval rather than to the Committees themselves, Merthyr Council is the only Council in Wales that follows this unconstitutional practice.
Surely, this should be a concern for the appropriate organisation and needs to be investigated.
I understand that whilst you have decided that you will not investigate my complaint, you do stress that this does not mean that you are unsympathetic to the problems I have described.
I also understand that your decision is based solely upon the information you have seen.
So, I would like to give you more information that should enable you to review your decision.
You say that even if the Council was in some way at fault, you cannot see that I have suffered a personal hardship or injustice (over and above any of the Council’s residents) as a result, particularly as I do not appear to live in the Council’s area.
This being the case, there are no grounds for the Ombudsman to investigate my complaint.
I made my complaint of maladministration against the Council as I don’t know any other way of getting you to investigate the matter.
I have read the Factsheet KEEPING RECORDS and note that thorough record-keeping is necessary to ensure accountability in decision-making.
It is also often a good practice requirement and is set out in the appropriate guidelines assisting public bodies in the delivery of their services.
This Factsheet is about complaints relating to flawed or inadequate record-keeping on the part of bodies within the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.
It states that thorough record-keeping is necessary to ensure accountability in decision-making. It is also often a good practice requirement and is set out in the appropriate guidelines assisting public bodies in the delivery of their services.
It goes on to say that although the initial grounds of a complaint may not necessarily include any reference to record-keeping, we may nevertheless uphold at least part of a complaint where the record-keeping has been flawed or inadequate.
We consider that examples of flawed or inadequate record-keeping will include the following:
• where a public body has failed to record sufficient information as required by specified guidelines;
• where a public body has failed to adequately record the reasons for some of the decisions or actions it has taken;
• where there is evidence of falsification or tampering with records.
It is my belief that Merthyr Council’s unconstitutional governance practices fall within these categories.
I consider it irrelevant that I do not live in the Council’s area.
I am reporting that the Senior Officers of Merthyr Council should be made accountable for their wrongdoings in matters relating to good governance and failure to comply with its Constitution.
These wrongdoings affect the residents of the Council’s area.
The residents deserve to have a Council that complies with its Constitution at all times.
If the PSOW is not able to deal with a Council’s maladministration, perhaps you could suggest which organisation/institution can deal with such wrongdoings.
Email response from PSOW
Text version
Complaint made to the Ombudsman – 202400119 [REF/xn/ky/Ok/80/]
Leigh McAndrew <Leigh.McAndrew@ombudsman.wales>
To: geoff.jones1@btinternet.com’ <geoff.jones1@btinternet.com>
Fri, 12 Apr 2024 at 12:48
Dear Mr Jones
Thank you for your email, the content of which has been noted.
As you have agreed that you have not suffered a hardship or injustice, there are no grounds for the decision to be reviewed.
It is a legal requirement that a complainant must have suffered a personal hardship or injustice to allow the Ombudsman to investigate and/or uphold a complaint.
I am not aware of other organisations to pursue your concerns, other than raising them with elected members of the Council.
Yours sincerely
Mr Leigh McAndrew
Rheolwr Tim Derbyn/Intake Team Manager
Ffôn / Tel: 01656 644216
Ombwdsmon Ombudsman Cymru Wales
My Observations
It would appear that the world of the PSOW exists in a parallel universe to the world that I live in.
In my world, if I witness a crime committed, say, in Swansea where I do not live, I would be able to report that crime to an appropriate organisation, and it would be investigated accordingly.
In the PSOW world, such a crime could only be investigated if I were the victim of the crime and also if I lived in Swansea.
In the PSOW world, perpetrators of crimes would be able to avoid accountability for committing a crime if the victim was unable to recognise the perpetrator of the crime.
The fact that there is a witness to the crime being committed would be irrelevant as the witness was not harmed and also because they were not a resident of Swansea.
The PSOW world is a fantasy world.
Email sent to PSOW – Text Version
Complaint made to the Ombudsman – 202400119 [REF/xn/ky/Ok/80/]
1 message
<geoff.jones1@btinternet.com>
Sun, 14 Apr 2024 at 16:06
To: Leigh McAndrew <Leigh.McAndrew@ombudsman.wales>
I must say that I was rather lost for words with your response.
On reflection, it would appear that the world in which the PSOW exists is a parallel universe to the world that I live in.
For example, in my world, if I witness a crime committed say in Swansea where I do not live, I would be able to report that crime to an appropriate organisation and it would be investigated accordingly.
In the PSOW world, such a crime would only be investigated if I were the victim of the crime and also if I lived in Swansea.
In the PSOW world, perpetrators of crimes would be able to avoid accountability for committing a crime if the victim was unable to recognise the perpetrator of the crime.
The fact that there is a witness to the crime being committed would be irrelevant as the witness was not harmed and also because they were not a resident of Swansea.
You say that you are not aware of any other organisations available to pursue my concerns, other than raising them with elected members of the Council.
I have raised the matter with the elected members of the Council but it would appear that they are in the thrall of the Monitoring Officer and the other Senior Officers and they are apathetic towards ensuring that they and the Senior Officers behave in a way that would comply with the Council’s Constitution.
I would also stress that, whilst all the other Councils in Wales manage to keep their Constitutions up to date and fit for purpose, Merthyr Council has still not updated its Constitution.
However, I am aware that there may be a new Draft Constitution available for consideration by the Full Council sometime soon.
Regards
Geoff Jones
I have today submitted, to the PSOW, an Own Initiative Wider Investigation into the Maladministration at Merthyr Council.
Response from Own initiative Team
Dear Mr Jones
I wish to acknowledge receipt of your suggestion for a wider own initiative investigation.
Your suggestion will be added to a list of potential ideas for consideration as a topic for a wider own initiative investigation. We do not require any further information or evidence from you at this stage. If it is decided to pursue your suggested topic as an own initiative investigation, you will be approached to provide updated information at that stage.
Please note that the submission of a suggestion for an own initiative investigation does not guarantee that an investigation into your suggested topic will be completed.
The Ombudsman’s power to conduct wider own initiative investigations is a power that is used sparingly, but effectively, to investigate a problem that is or may be widespread.
I wish to thank you for your interest in the Ombudsman’s own initiative investigations.
Own Initiative Wider Investigation
“The governance practised by the Senior Officers of Merthyr Council is not in compliance with the Council’s Constitution.
There are serious failures with their record keeping.
They are misleading the elected members.
They suppress key reports, for example, the Audit Wales Report on the Review of Whistleblowing Arrangements relating to Safeguarding at Merthyr Council.
This is just one report that has never been presented to the Full Council or any other committee for discussion.
Their Factsheet on Record Keeping states that examples of flawed or inadequate record-keeping will include the following:
•where a public body has failed to record sufficient information as required by specified guidelines;
• where a public body has failed to adequately record the reasons for some of the decisions or actions it has taken;
• where there is evidence of falsification or tampering with records.
It is my belief that the Merthyr Council’s unconstitutional governance practices fall within these categories.
A further example of their maladministration is the failure to present minutes of Committee Meetings for approval to the next committee as required by the Constitution.
The minutes of Committee Meetings are presented to the Full Council for approval.
Merthyr Council is the only Council in Wales that follows this practice of bad governance.
The Monitoring Officer’s explanation for following this practice is :
“The reason why the minutes are approved at this meeting is because that is the way they get entered into the Council’s formal records.
So, it’s not approval on the basis of the people who were present at the meeting approving the minutes it’s a way of ensuring that they are entered into the Council’s formal record so we then comply with the Council’s Constitution which allows us to record actions and decisions made at formal meetings within the Council agenda so that’s the reason why it’s done like that”.
The Constitution states that the agendas and the minutes of meetings ARE the Formal Record.
There is no constitutional requirement for the Full Council to approve minutes of committee meetings as a correct OR indeed to RESOLVE that said minutes be entered into the Council’s formal record.
For more information, you can visit my blog website
https://merthyrcouncilcoverupblog.home.blog/
Hyperlink to PSOW Factsheets
https://www.ombudsman.wales/fact-sheets/
Hyperlink to PSOW Factsheet on Record Keeping
Various other – Record Keeping
SEE PART 3
Merthyr Council Cover-up 