Region at a glance
Find a council or topic
Search the council boxes below or use the quick filters.
All 22 Welsh principal councils
Use each official site to locate democracy, finance, service and information-rights records.
Blaenau Gwent
Official starting points for council decisions, public spending, planning, housing, education, ALN, social care, complaints and information rights.
Democracy and governance
Money and transparency
Services and rights
Bridgend
Official starting points for council decisions, public spending, planning, housing, education, ALN, social care, complaints and information rights.
Democracy and governance
Money and transparency
Services and rights
Caerphilly
Official starting points for council decisions, public spending, planning, housing, education, ALN, social care, complaints and information rights.
Democracy and governance
Money and transparency
Services and rights
Cardiff
Official starting points for council decisions, public spending, planning, housing, education, ALN, social care, complaints and information rights.
Democracy and governance
Money and transparency
Services and rights
Carmarthenshire
Official starting points for council decisions, public spending, planning, housing, education, ALN, social care, complaints and information rights.
Democracy and governance
Money and transparency
Services and rights
Ceredigion
Official starting points for council decisions, public spending, planning, housing, education, ALN, social care, complaints and information rights.
Democracy and governance
Money and transparency
Services and rights
Conwy
Official starting points for council decisions, public spending, planning, housing, education, ALN, social care, complaints and information rights.
Democracy and governance
Money and transparency
Services and rights
Denbighshire
Official starting points for council decisions, public spending, planning, housing, education, ALN, social care, complaints and information rights.
Democracy and governance
Money and transparency
Services and rights
Flintshire
Official starting points for council decisions, public spending, planning, housing, education, ALN, social care, complaints and information rights.
Democracy and governance
Money and transparency
Services and rights
Gwynedd
Official starting points for council decisions, public spending, planning, housing, education, ALN, social care, complaints and information rights.
Democracy and governance
Money and transparency
Services and rights
Isle of Anglesey
Official starting points for council decisions, public spending, planning, housing, education, ALN, social care, complaints and information rights.
Democracy and governance
Money and transparency
Services and rights
Merthyr Tydfil
Official starting points for council decisions, public spending, planning, housing, education, ALN, social care, complaints and information rights.
Democracy and governance
Money and transparency
Services and rights
Monmouthshire
Official starting points for council decisions, public spending, planning, housing, education, ALN, social care, complaints and information rights.
Democracy and governance
Money and transparency
Services and rights
Neath Port Talbot
Official starting points for council decisions, public spending, planning, housing, education, ALN, social care, complaints and information rights.
Democracy and governance
Money and transparency
Services and rights
Newport
Official starting points for council decisions, public spending, planning, housing, education, ALN, social care, complaints and information rights.
Democracy and governance
Money and transparency
Services and rights
Pembrokeshire
Official starting points for council decisions, public spending, planning, housing, education, ALN, social care, complaints and information rights.
Democracy and governance
Money and transparency
Services and rights
Powys
Official starting points for council decisions, public spending, planning, housing, education, ALN, social care, complaints and information rights.
Democracy and governance
Money and transparency
Services and rights
Rhondda Cynon Taf
Official starting points for council decisions, public spending, planning, housing, education, ALN, social care, complaints and information rights.
Democracy and governance
Money and transparency
Services and rights
Swansea
Official starting points for council decisions, public spending, planning, housing, education, ALN, social care, complaints and information rights.
Democracy and governance
Money and transparency
Services and rights
Torfaen
Official starting points for council decisions, public spending, planning, housing, education, ALN, social care, complaints and information rights.
Democracy and governance
Money and transparency
Services and rights
Vale of Glamorgan
Official starting points for council decisions, public spending, planning, housing, education, ALN, social care, complaints and information rights.
Democracy and governance
Money and transparency
Services and rights
Wrexham
Official starting points for council decisions, public spending, planning, housing, education, ALN, social care, complaints and information rights.
Democracy and governance
Money and transparency
Services and rights
Welsh institutions and regional governance
National law, policy, scrutiny, local-government support and regional collaboration.
Welsh Government
National policy, legislation, funding, guidance, statistics and ministerial decisions for devolved public services in Wales.
Senedd Cymru
Legislation, committee scrutiny, plenary debates, petitions, Members of the Senedd and public accountability.
Welsh Local Government Association
Representative body for Welsh councils, supporting improvement, policy development and collaboration.
Corporate Joint Committees
Regional bodies with functions that can include strategic development planning, regional transport planning and economic well-being.
Additional Learning Needs and Individual Development Plans
Wales uses the ALN and IDP framework rather than the English EHCP system.
Core statutory framework
Identifying needs and preparing an IDP
- Record when possible ALN was first brought to the school or council’s attention.
- Request a formal decision on whether the child or young person has ALN.
- Gather education, health, therapy, psychology and social-care evidence.
- Ensure the IDP clearly describes the ALN and specifies the additional learning provision.
- Check who is legally responsible for maintaining the IDP and delivering each provision.
- Retain all notices, meeting records, decisions and review documents.
Disagreement resolution and appeals
Education evidence and inspection
Public finance, procurement, audit and grants
Track money from national allocation and council approval through procurement, payment, delivery and audit.
Records to compare
- Annual revenue budget and medium-term financial strategy.
- Capital programme and project business cases.
- Budget-monitoring, savings and transformation reports.
- Statement of accounts and annual governance statement.
- Payments to suppliers, purchasing cards and senior remuneration.
- Contract registers, tender notices and award notices.
- External-audit reports, recommendations and management responses.
Welsh contracts and grants
Audit Wales
Welsh public data
Planning, housing, environment and regeneration
Use local application records alongside Welsh planning policy, environmental regulation and housing oversight.
Planning evidence checklist
- Application form, site plans, drawings and supporting statements.
- Public consultation responses and statutory-consultee advice.
- Officer report, delegated decision or planning committee minutes.
- Decision notice, conditions and reasons.
- Section 106 obligations and community infrastructure information.
- Enforcement history, amendments and appeal decisions.
Planning policy and appeals
Environment and natural resources
Housing and homelessness
NHS Wales, social care, police and emergency services
National and regional routes for service information, inspection, concerns and scrutiny.
National health services
Seven Local Health Boards
Health and care regulators
Emergency-service accountability
Complaints, information rights and independent scrutiny
Choose the correct route according to the information, decision or remedy required.
Recorded public information
Your personal data
Public Services Ombudsman for Wales
Rights and equality bodies
Public transparency checklist
- Identify whether the decision belongs to a council, Welsh Government, NHS body, police force, fire authority or another organisation.
- Search agendas, minutes, forward work programmes, delegated decisions and registers before making an FOI request.
- Record the report title, meeting date, agenda item, decision-maker, vote, declared interests and legal advice recorded publicly.
- Compare the approved budget or business case with later monitoring reports, final expenditure and measured outcomes.
- Search the council contract register, Sell2Wales and Find a Tender.
- For planning matters, retain the application, consultation responses, officer report, decision notice, obligations and appeal records.
- Use FOI for recorded public information, EIR for environmental information and SAR for your own personal information.
- Ask for an internal review where an FOI or EIR response is incomplete, delayed or inadequately reasoned.
- Complete the organisation’s complaint procedure before escalating to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales, unless another statutory appeal route applies.
- Keep dated copies of pages and documents because online content may later change.
ALN and IDP accountability checklist
- Record when the school, further-education institution or council became aware of possible ALN.
- Request the formal ALN decision and the reasons in writing.
- Obtain all professional evidence considered in reaching the decision.
- Check that the IDP fully describes the learner’s ALN.
- Ensure additional learning provision is clear, specific and capable of being monitored.
- Record who must deliver each element, how often, by whom and with what specialist input.
- Keep evidence of missed or reduced provision.
- Use person-centred reviews to update needs, outcomes and provision.
- Use local disagreement-resolution arrangements and the Education Tribunal for Wales where appropriate.
- Use complaints procedures for delay, poor administration or failure to follow the correct process.