Cllr Janet Finch-Saunders AM today called on the Minister for Local Government and Communities comment on recent developments at Ynys Mon County Council, following the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales’ report into the contact of Councillor Elwyn Schofield, the summary of which was published last week.

The summary of the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales’ report concluded that:

‘The evidence obtained did not conclusively support the allegations in the complaint or completely exonerate Councillor Schofield of the allegations against him. The evidence in the main was contradictory and largely uncorroborated. In these circumstances the Ombudsman found that a referral to the Standards Committee or Adjudication Panel for Wales was not appropriate.’

“The report of the Auditor General for Wales in March 2011 stated that ‘the Terms of Engagement [that the alliance within the Council was based on]…were controversial,’ yet had ‘the strong support of the Interim Managing Director’, the most well-paid public servant in Wales at the time, costing taxpayers £275,000 a year, and who was appointed without an open recruitment process but with ‘Ministerial backing as a result of the 2009 intervention’.”

“The people of Ynys Mon deserve to know how the Welsh Government justifies its support of the Terms of Engagement in light of the Ombudsman’s report.”