Part of 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Local Government and Public Services – in the Senedd at 3:36 pm on 7 November 2018.
Thank you. Two months ago, a councillor in Flintshire said he would name and shame officers who did not reply to calls and e-mails if further action wasn't taken, stating that, after he'd previously raised this in 2017, new guidance was introduced, but it hadn't had the desired effect. Councillors voted to take action over these concerns, subsequent to which the chief executive pledged to tackle the issue by speaking to chief officers. However, in my experience on behalf of constituents, such delays are commonplace—I've had to refer them to the ombudsman in the past. I have one case with the chief executive himself, where an autistic adult had to go to the ombudsman to get the action after this non-response was escalated to stage 1 and stage 2 complaints, which were never responded to either, despite judicial review proceedings in May finding the council had failed to assess and meet the needs of a different autistic person, in terms of the care and support they needed. In these circumstances, and the further ombudsman's case last month, where a complaint was upheld against the council, having removed and destroyed a vehicle without notice, and it was recommended the council should review and amend procedures to ensure appropriate records are created, something we've heard repeatedly, with the internal audit manager whistleblower scandal, the housing maintenance scandal, the AD Waste scandal, and on it goes, when is somebody going to get a grip of these circumstances, and ensure that this culture no longer continues?