School at centre of whistleblower row needs ‘significant improvement’

Elgan Hearn, local democracy reporter

A specialist school at the center of a whistleblowing incident first reported by Nation.Cymru, requires  ‘significant improvement’.

In December 2023, Powys County Council was accused of seeking to cover up irregular purchases made by the headteacher with taxpayers’ money for a barn he was converting into Airbnb accommodation.

A whistleblower who reported the fraudulent use of a council credit card at the North PRU (Pupil Referral Unit) in Newtown was initially told by the authority’s head of legal services there was no evidence of any irregularities, and it was only when they contacted Audit Wales that any action was taken.

The whistleblower was also present when another senior council official instructed an administrative worker in the unit to delete the school’s Amazon account, thus eliminating evidence of the unauthorised purchases.

Unknown to the senior official, another administrator had copied details of the transactions, so the relevant information was retrievable.

Estyn

In May, education watchdog Estyn inspected the Powys Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) which is split between two sites, in Brecon and Newtown.

PRUs are small specialist schools that deal with children who need greater support than mainstream schools can provide.

Pupils attend PRUs for a range of reasons including exclusion from mainstream school due to behavioural and mental health issues and illness.

They cater for those either at risk or permanently excluded from schools in Powys.

Estyn has issued four recommendations for the school to address.

These are:

1- Leaders work with the local authority to establish a strategic vision for the

PRU

2- Stabilise and clarify the roles and responsibilities of leaders at the PRU.

3 – Improve quality assurance procedures, self-evaluation, and improvement

planning across the PRU,

4 – Improve attendance

Strategic vision

Estyn said: “The local authority does not have a clear strategic vision or improvement plan for the PRU.

“As a result, leaders at the PRU are unclear of their roles and contribution within the local authority to support pupils accessing education other than at school.”

“Leadership arrangements differ across the two sites.

“At the Newtown site, there has been considerable change to the senior leadership team for a significant period of time.

“This negatively impacts the ability of leaders to effectively plan for improvement, provide sustained support for staff and establish processes and systems at this site.”

The education watchdog will monitor the PRU’s progress for the next year.

Hot topic

The education setting’s future has been a hot topic following proposals to close a unit in Powys to save £600,000 over two years which are part of this year’s council budget.

Remodelling the PRUs is estimated to save the council £325,555 this year and £251,285 next year.

A Powys County Council spokesman said: “Work has begun on drawing up an action plan and officers in the council’s education service are working at pace to address the recommendations made by Estyn.

“This is to secure the necessary improvements to ensure pupils have the best education possible whilst at the PRU.”

On the potential closure the spokesman added: “A comprehensive business case is being completed and therefore no decision has been made as to what the future of the PRU provision in Powys will look like – a number of options remain under consideration.

“These will be scrutinised before being submitted to cabinet for a decision to be made.”

The whistleblowing complaint followed concerns of misuse of public funds at the Newtown PRU dating back to 2021.

Cllr Elwyn Vaughan

The problem had become known to Plaid Cymru group leader, Cllr Elwyn Vaughan, who raised concerns about the handling of the complaint with the council’s chief executive Emma Palmer and cabinet member for education, Liberal Democrat Cllr Pete Roberts.

After these concerns were made public, Cllr Vaughan was reported to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales over an allegation of bringing the authority into disrepute by disclosing confidential information.

Cllr Vaughan said: “I’ve voiced my concerns about this place many times perhaps someone will start to listen.”

In January, the issues at the Newtown PRU were brought up at a meeting of the council’s Governance and Audit committee.

At that meeting several committee members had wanted to use the whistleblowing affair at the PRU as a case study with “lessons learned” presented back to the committee.

However, this was stopped by the council’s chief executive Emma Palmer who wanted to make it “very clear” that they could have their say on whistleblowing strategy and policy but not individual cases.

A review of the council’s whistleblowing policy is underway.