LO1/2: Having indenftifed the problem with the rig I asked Nadia to retopolgies the ankles and legs to improve the painting of weights. while the new model worked well this model had new UVs so when transferring weights it resulted in the mess below.
LO2: Having done some research I found that the way to avoid this would have been to reference the model while rigging so that changes can be made in the referenced file without having to change the rig in retrospect.
LO2: Given the fact that the rig needs a new model to work well (with the new UVs) and that the leg rig structure needs to be remade I have decided to redo the rig. I will use the bone structure form the first rig- re edit it and follow another set of tutorial which are better suited for my character.