Complaints 09/10/17, 06/11/17 and 22/11/17 regarding Ken Skates breaking Ministerial Code

copies   Welsh MPs at Westminster,  Welsh Assembly Members and

Ceredigion Council members

DEAR CARWYN JONES,

am providing this email to James Hamilton to illustrate that the Welsh Government Ministerial Code is not being applied at any level whether it be First Minister, Transport Minister ,Government Advisor or officials

On 25/01/2018 I sent a request to Ken Skates   with a copy to yourself

titled “Ken Skates and Breach of the Ministerial Code” with a request to release certain communications (written and email) between

01/11/2017 and 25/01/2018 made by the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport (Ken Skates).  The request of 25/01/2018 was related to the letter of 22/11/2017 to yourself and Ken Skates in which I complained of a further breach of the Ministerial Code,  in addition to those breaches I had forwarded to you in outline on  09/10/2017 and in detail on

06/11/2017 .   On 31/01/2018 I received a reply from the Trawscymru

Network Manager (David Hall) ,  titled “T2 and T3 service changes”

which was a reply to my request of 25/01/2018 to Ken Skates,  titled

“Ken Skates and Breach of the Ministerial Code”.   Since my request

of 25/01/2018 to Ken Skates was related to a complaint of breach of the Ministerial Code by the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport , I do not think it is appropriate that the release of the Minister’s communications is dealt with by an official from the Minister’s own department,  least of all an official who has continually lied and provided incorrect statements to the Minister.  In acknowledging the “”Freedom of Information Request”” of  25/01/2018, David Hall amended the text of my  request to insert AM (Assembly Member) after Ken Skates name and also removed his own name (David Hall) from the text.

There were a few other tweaks as well and this is normal behaviour for

David Hall   He likes to amend the questions to allow him to give the

answer he wants to give,  rather than reply to a question that has been

asked.   In this case,  I believe he is thinking that he cannot annoy

the Information Commissioner any further by not answering a request for information and therefore has to remove his name and provide a reason

for not answering.   Inserting AM after Ken Skates  name may be a way of

providing a reason for not answering – perhaps “”Assembly members can only deal with matters on behalf of their own constituents “”?

My  letter of 22/11/2017  covered lies and incorrect facts featured in a

statement made by Ken Skates on 17/11/2017  saying ._ “”I HAVE ALSO BEEN REASSURED BY OFFICIALS THAT DR WINCKLERS SUGGESTION THAT CONSIDERATION SHOULD BE GIVEN TO ROUTING SOME TRAWSCYMRU T3 JOURNEYS BETWEEN ABERYSTWYTH AND WREXHAM AS WELL AS BETWEEN BARMOUTH TO WREXHAM WAS DISCUSSED IN 2014 WHEN GWYNEDD COUNCIL WAS PREPARING THE TENDER FOR THE T3 SERVICE . A DECISION WAS TAKEN AT THE TIME TO NOT PURSUE THIS OPTION””._

In  my  letter of 22/11/2017  I posed 11 questions to Ken Skates regarding the lies and incorrect facts in his statement of 17/11/2017  .

As First Minister you should have instigated an investigation into the complaint of a breach of the Ministerial Code and examined the 11

questions that I asked.   Instead of carrying out an investigation, the

First Minister allowed Ken Skates to treat my letter of 22/11/2017 as a Freedom of Information Request and pass the letter to an official within his own department (the Trawscymru Network Manager – David Hall).

Considering that David Hall is probably the same “reassuring”

official who provided Ken Skates with the lies and incorrect statement of 17/11/2017 , he was highly unlikely to carry out a thorough

investigation of the lies and incorrect statement.   This proved to be

the case .   Receipt of the 11 questions was acknowledged on 27/11/2017

by David Hall , but  I have still not received a reply to those 11

questions (after 51  working days when the FOIA allows 20 days).    The

Information Commissioner has investigated this case (FS50719028) and has written to the Welsh Government on  2nd February 2018  giving the Welsh Government 10 days to reply . If a reply is not received within 10 days (16th February 2018) a decision notice will be issued by the Information Commissioner to the Welsh Government.

Ken Skates refusal to provide replies to those 11 questions is also a breach of the Ministerial Code which says Ministers should adhere to the

“Seven Principles of Public Life” .    The 7 Principles include

“4. Accountability. Holders of public office are accountable to the public for their decisions and actions and must submit themselves to the scrutiny necessary to ensure this.” and “5. Openness. Holders of public office should act and take decisions in an open and transparent manner. Information should not be withheld from the public unless there are clear and lawful reasons for so doing.”

I would ask that the First Minister carries out an investigation of a breach of the  Ministerial Code  in the statement made by Ken Skates on

17/11/2017  as outlined in my letter of 22/11/2017  , and that the First Minister nvestigates the breach of the Ministerial Code by Ken Skates in not providing replies to the 11 questions put to him on 22/11/2017 .

I also look forward to you carrying out an investigation of breaches of the Ministerial Code by Ken Skates as described in my correspondence of 06/11/2017.  The reply that you gave on 21/12/2017 is inadequate and

illustrates that an investigation has not been carried out.   Your reply

of  21/12/2017 does not address the complaints and uses statements provided by Simon Jones (a  Director from within Ken Skates Department) . Those statements by Simon Jones were made 3 weeks prior to the detailed complaints which I forwarded to you on 06/11/2017 .

I would also ask that the First Minister provides a reply to this letter and does not ignore it , as he did with my letter of 06/11/2017

regarding breaches of the Ministerial Code.   I would also ask that the

First Minister ascertains from Ken Skates why he has not (after 10 working days) acknowledged receipt of the questions I asked on

22/01/2018 regarding the changes to the T2 service introduced on

15/01/2018 and regarding routing the T3 from Wrexham to Aberystwyth. .

Perhaps this is the next technique to be used in avoiding answering embarrassing questions –  by refusing to acknowledge their receipt.

Yours Sincerely

Dr John McTighe