Agenda item

To consider any questions the appropriate notice for which have been given under Section 4.18 of the Constitution.

 

(The Cabinet Members' written responses to the questions had been published in advance.)

 

1.     Question from Councillor Gwynfor Owen

 

If you don't already know, a campaign has been started in Harlech by a woman called Andrea Bowen to have a memorial to Catrin, daughter of Glyndŵr. Catrin's story is extremely sad, and she was clearly a very brave woman.

 

May I therefore ask whether the Council would be able to support in principle the community campaign to erect a statue of Catrin, daughter of Owain Glyndŵr, in Harlech, given her direct historic connection to the town through Harlech Castle, and the fact that there is currently no public memorial recognising her sacrifice and role in Welsh history?

 

Response from the Cabinet Member for Economy and Community, Councillor Medwyn Hughes

 

Thank you to the Councillor for his question. Harlech plays a prominent role in Welsh history, and the story of Catrin, daughter of Owain Glyndŵr, is significant in this history. I'm sure Cyngor Gwynedd would support in principle a local campaign to interpret the story by creating a statue of Catherine in Harlech. It would be an excellent opportunity to raise awareness and promote the story for the children and young people of Gwynedd and for visitors to the town and the Castle, which are of course part of a World Heritage Site. I know that officers from the Economy and Community Department are very willing to support the local group, and I'm sure other Council services will also support the campaign to identify a suitable site for the memorial.

 

Supplementary Question from Councillor Gwynfor Owen

                                   

            He thanked the member for the response and looked forward to discussing the matter with the officers. He believed that the Department would certainly agree that it was a good idea to have a statue of the girl in north Wales as there were only a few memorials for women across the whole of Wales.

 

Response from the Cabinet Member for Economy and Community, Councillor Medwyn Hughes

 

The Cabinet Member agreed completely.

 

2.     Question from Councillor Beca Brown 

 

A report was published by Audit Wales in January 2021, assessing how successful or otherwise Ffordd Gwynedd had been. A section of the report titled “Culture – Empowerment, Trust and Leadership” warned of two problems: that constructive challenge was being suppressed and that some destructive challenge existed, often from those in authority — something that undermines trust and prevents empowerment.

 

Both issues contribute to the same systemic risk: a culture where concerns are not raised effectively, where ideas are not shared safely, and where unsafe practices may go unchallenged. Some of the consequences of such a culture were highlighted in the Our Bravery Brought Justice report. 

 

Given that these concerns were raised in 2021 — two years before the arrest of Neil Foden — what actions were taken at the time to improve trust and to develop a working culture that empowers healthy and constructive challenge?

 

Response from the Cabinet Member for Corporate Services, Councillor Llio Elenid Owen 

 

Ffordd Gwynedd is the term used to refer to our way of working here in Gwynedd. It forms nine work streams which are part of the Organisational Development Plan. There is an emphasis on putting the people of Gwynedd at the centre of everything we do and looking at the service that is provided through the eyes of the citizen.

 

A piece of work was designed in collaboration with Audit Wales to look at how the culture had embedded by 2020. The output of that work was a letter summarising the situation.

 

Audit Wales’s main finding in the letter was that:

 

"Ffordd Gwynedd is well rooted and driving cultural change, however, there are some common barriers and misconceptions that are slowing down the progress of Ffordd Gwynedd".

 

The work carried out by Audit Wales was based on interviews with every Head of Department and Director at the time. Among several constructive findings and recommendations, destructive challenge was identified as one barrier:

 

“... to feel empowered, you need to be able to trust those around you. They need to be supportive and positive, even when challenging. A safe environment is key, which is a safe space to experiment and explore ideas. A place where it is safe to fail and learn, seeking support and input from colleagues. Clearly, at a higher level in any organisation there is an inherent need to accept and respond to challenge, it is part of the job. However, it must be done in a constructive, supportive way or, otherwise it can be counterproductive. At present, in the Council, there are examples where this relationship of trust and constructive challenge does not exist; challenge is often described by some people and perceived by others as destructive."

 

In response to the Audit Office's letter, as a direct result of these comments, specific steps were taken by Council officers during 2021 to strengthen trust, and to further develop culture.

 

Following the appointment of a new Chief Executive in May 2021, one of the first steps he took was to try to ensure that each challenge was constructive in nature. The ethos of the Departmental Performance Challenge meetings was changed to one where there was a culture and emphasis of "Challenge and Support". This change supported two basic principles:

1.      Healthy and constructive challenge, based on clear evidence and leadership; and

2.      Supporting performance by strengthening management skills, ensuring consistency, and fostering an approach that is focused on development rather than criticism.

 

Since then, the new arrangements have become part of the Council's governance arrangements.

 

In addition:

1.     The training pack for Managers has been reviewed ensuring that it includes promoting the culture of constructive challenge. (Similar training was given to Elected Members following the May 2022 election.)

2.     The Audit Wales letter was submitted to the Governance and Audit Committee in July 2021 and a Task and Finish Group of Committee Members was established to work with the Chief Executive and Corporate Director to undertake an in-depth Review of how the way of working was developing throughout.

3.     The Review included an assessment by each Departmental Management Team of how their department was implementing the way of working.

4.     The conclusions of the Review were reported to the Education and Economy Scrutiny Committee in October 2022 with a number of recommendations on how to continue to develop the way of working.

 

The findings of this Review were discussed at the January 2023 meeting of the Council's Leadership Team and again when adopting a new version of the Ffordd Gwynedd Plan for 2023-28 at the Cabinet meeting in March 2023.

 

Several comments were made by the Cabinet Members at the time about different elements of Ffordd Gwynedd including equality, working with external partners and the importance of looking at the Council's services through the eyes of users.

 

We are now halfway through the plan that was adopted in 2023, and it is the Chief Executive's intention to undertake a further review of progress over the coming months. Reviewing and checking organisational culture is something that should happen continually, especially following the publication of the Our Bravery Brought Justice report.

 

The Our Bravery Brought Justice report has shaken the whole Council and is very relevant in the review of Ffordd Gwynedd. It will be essential to secure Members' input into this Review, and we will be seeking input from Audit Wales this time as well.

 

As always, when discussing this important topic, it is the victims who are at the forefront of our minds. I reiterate this Council's apologies to the victims and all those who were affected by the crimes. Through the Plan and the Response Board, actions are taking place to ensure that change happens, including change to the Council's culture; this is the greatest tribute we can pay to the courage of the victims.

 

Supplementary Question from Councillor Beca Brown

 

Considering that the Audit Wales 2021 letter raises concerns about organisational culture that are relevant to the issues explored in the Our Bravery Brought Justice report, and that this document does not appear to have been shared with the child practice review, can you explain what evidence there is that the actions you have stated, such as training and changes to performance challenge meetings, have improved trust and people's ability to raise concerns safely.

 

Response from the Cabinet Member for Corporate Services, Councillor Llio Elenid Owen

 

Cyngor Gwynedd complied and co-operated fully with the child practice review, detailed and thorough chronologies were prepared and hundreds of documents were shared with them. Background information was also shared in response to further requests as the review progressed. We accept all recommendations put forward by Our Bravery Brought Justice and are determined to act on all of these through the Response Plan. Trust is something extremely difficult to measure as has been mentioned in the answer. A review of Ffordd Gwynedd is in the pipeline following Our Bravery Brought Justice, and members will have the opportunity to be part of that review.