Gwynedd Council has released an update on the latest steps taken as part of the plan to investigate and respond to crimes committed by convicted paedophile headteacher, Neil Foden.

The council say positive progress has been made in several areas, including responding immediately to the recommendations of a specialist safeguarding barrister.

Other positive steps they have taken include making arrangements for investigating safeguarding concerns and improvements to record keeping.

The council say it has strengthened its whistleblowing arrangements for staff across the organisation, and arrangements are now in place to ensure all staff in each department receive relevant safeguarding training. They also say steps have been taken to strengthen the procedures that school staff should follow in challenging safeguarding cases, including when to share information with governing bodies.

These developments come in the wake of the Response Plan, adopted by the council’s Cabinet in January. The aim of this plan is to set out the range of procedures and arrangements that the council will be implementing internally to establish all the facts of the case and to learn lessons, improve all aspects of the council's work, and do everything possible to ensure that no one ever suffers in the same way again.

One of the tasks within the plan was to commission an independent barrister who specialises in safeguarding investigations to carry out an investigation into the specific incidents in 2019 highlighted during Neil Foden’s criminal trial. This detailed work is now complete.

The full report has been sent immediately to the independent investigators of the statutory Child Practice Review, which is being carried out by the North Wales Safeguarding Board. The content of the report will feed into the conclusions and recommendations of the Review.

Council leader Nia Jeffreys said: “Neil Foden's horrific crimes continue to have a far-reaching impact on the people and communities of Gwynedd. The victims and their families remain in our thoughts as we investigate what went wrong and what more we can do to ensure children are safe in our schools.

“While we cannot undo the effects of Neil Foden's horrific crimes, as a council we are determined to use this serious case to identify and learn lessons and use them to strengthen our arrangements. Our aim is to ensure that we have the best possible safeguarding arrangements to protect the young people of Gwynedd and which can also be of use to other councils across Wales.

“Creating the Response Plan back in December was the beginning of the journey. Since then, we have made progress in a short space of time with all the work streams, but we are fully aware that there is more hard work ahead especially when we receive the recommendations of the statutory Child Practice Review in the autumn.”

Members of the public who have new information relating to possible child abuse are urged to report the matter directly to the Police or contact the Social Services Department of their local council.