Agenda, decisions and minutes

To receive disclosures of personal interest from Members in accordance with

the Code of Conduct

Note:

1. Members are requested to identify the item number and subject matter

that their interest relates to and signify the nature of the personal

interest: and

2. Where Members withdraw from a meeting as a consequence of the

disclosure of a prejudicial interest they must notify the Chairman when

they leave.

In accordance with the code of conduct the following declarations were made pertaining to the agenda:

Cllr Sera Evans personal interest in Item 5 “My employer is named in the report”.

Cllr Ros Davis personal interest in item 6 “My partner works in the voluntary sector and has been involved in discussions regarding Community Asset Transfer”.

Councillor G Hughes – personal interest in item 5 “My wife works as a teaching assistant for the local authority”.

To receive for approval the minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on the 22^nd July 2024

RESOLVED:

To approve the minutes of the 22^nd July 2024 as a true and accurate record of the meeting

Information is provided in respect of relevant consultations for consideration by the Committee.

The Service Director Democratic Services and Communications reminded Members of the open consultations and advised Members to contact the Scrutiny Team if further information was required.

He also referred Members to the Cabinet Work Programme to identify matters for pre-scrutiny which was also published on the Council’s website.

To provide Overview and Scrutiny the opportunity to challenge and scrutinise the Cabinet Member for Cabinet Member for Corporate Services, Youth Participation and Climate Change

The Service Director Democratic Services and Communications presented the report to Members to allow them the opportunity to scrutinise the decisions undertaken by the Cabinet Member for Corporate Services, Youth Participation and Climate Change within the period set out in the report and to ensure the appropriate mechanisms are in place to effectively scrutinise the Executive.

A Member referred to the Council Tax Premiums report and welcomed the decision to increase the premiums on long term empty properties. He asked the Cabinet Member if she anticipated progress in bringing back into use longer term empty properties, those empty for over five years. He also asked how many properties she anticipated being brought back into use through the Compulsory Purchase Order Scheme.

The Cabinet Member Corporate Services, Youth Participation and Climate Change advised that evidence and data does show that the previous decision to introduce a Council Tax premium made a positive contribution to reducing the number of empty properties albeit slower than the Council would like, and was due to a number of factors that included communications issues with absent landlords.  She advised Members that Compulsory Purchase Orders were the last resort for the Council and was not something that would be done lightly.

A Member referred to a meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee where the Youth Participation team and representatives attended to give their views.  She asked the Cabinet Member what improvements could we glean from any new survey and how are the Council addressing some of the issues that were raised from the survey last year. The Member was also interested to hear how the Council will be engaging young people in the democratic process.

The Cabinet Member stated that the YEPS team have been brilliant in reaching out to young people and have taken a Mobile Youth Van around the communities including youth clubs, community drop-ins and street based sessions as the Council recognise that not all young people engage in the same way – by attending traditional meetings, forums, completing surveys, the Council has applied an approach to go to the young people to hear their views. In engaging young people in the democratic process, the Cabinet Member stated that we have to make the voting process interesting and engaging to them.  She advised that the YEPS team visited schools and colleges to talk about the voting process and undertook a vote on issues that mattered to them such as mental health.  The young people were very engaged and interested in the process and now the team are having further discussions as to how this can be transferred into the political voting process, which they recognise is not an easy task.

A Member asked about the rollout of the EV Charging across the County Borough. The Cabinet Member replied that significant progress has been made on the rollout of publically accessible EV chargers with chargers available at 56 different sites across the Borough.  She advised that the Council is also reviewing which charging sites  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30.

To provide Overview and Scrutiny with an overview of the Council’s performance, both from a financial and operational perspective

The Service Director – Finance and Improvement Services presented the report to Members on the Quarter 1 Performance Report to 30^th June 2024 for revenue and capital budget performance; Treasury Management prudential indicators; Organisational Health information including staff turnover, sickness and Council strategic risks; and Corporate Plan well-being objective action plans (including performance indicators and investment). Following conclusion of the presentation of the report, the Chair opened for Members comments and questions.

The Chair thanked the Service Director for the presentation of the report and also for the work in reshaping the documents to ensure an easier read for Members.

The Chair noted the pressure on Adult Services which states is driven by external residential nursing placements but an earlier report stated that it was due to under achievement of income due to low occupancy, and requested clarity.  The Chair also referred to Children’s Services and the projected overspend within Early Intervention Services and asked for the reasons for this position.

The Service Director – Finance Services (Community and Children’s Services) explained that the projected under-achievement of income was due to lower occupancy within the Council’s home for the elderly establishments and the projected overspend on external residential placements was in respect of services commissioned from the independent sector and included the provision of specialist placements including nursing care for dementia which the Council’s in-house care homes do not provide. In relation to Children’s Services, the Service Director advised that budget pressures are in respect of employee related costs, including agency workers, linked to service demand, with opportunity being taken to partly off-set these costs through the use of external grant funding.

A Member stated that in her role as Chair of the Education and Inclusion Scrutiny Committee she has visited several schools which have benefitted from the Sustainable Learning for Communities grant to understand what has gone well and stated that the positive benefits the grant has had on pupil and staff wellbeing was clear and commented that it has been a fantastic investment into our schools and would like to see this continue.  The Service Director fed back that the Council is looking to continue its ambitious programme of investing in schools and a new Strategic Outline Plan has been submitted to Welsh Government setting out a proposed long-term and, subject to approval, agreed projects will be incorporated into the Council’s Capital Programme.

A Member referred to the People and Communities well-being objective and the action to ensure schools have detailed knowledge of the progress in pupil literacy, numeracy, Welsh and digital skills and targeted training is developed and support provided for schools where there is specific concern in relation to skills development. The Member sought clarity on the reason for this action not being on target for completion by March 2025. The Service Director - Finance and Improvement Services fed back that there is on-going engagement between the Council and Central South Consortium in this area, and a further update will be requested on the timescale  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.

To provide Members with the opportunity to undertake pre-scrutiny on the Corporate Asset Management Plan 2024-2030

The Service Director Democratic Services and Communications advised that Members were invited to undertake pre-scrutiny on the Cabinet report which set out recommendations on the new draft Corporate Asset Management Plan 2024-2030. Members were advised that the draft Plan provides a vision for the strategic management of the Council’s property assets and sets out draft objectives and priorities for the next 6 years.

Members queried whether any further rationalisation could be considered through a review of the office accommodation strategy and the hybrid working model approach adopted across the Council. This comment was made by Members having recently considered the Medium-Term Financial Plan of the Council. Members were pleased to hear of the ‘challenge process’ used when reviewing the office accommodation strategy and consideration of lived experiences to inform the way forward.

Members recognised the benefits brought through the Community Asset Transfer process and welcomed its continuation.  However, Members had concerns regarding the process itself, which could often be a challenge for local volunteers and sought assurance that where possible further support and training would be provided to such volunteers.

Members welcomed objective 2 of the Plan in respect of Maximising Community resilience and spoke of good examples and positive experiences witnessed with the Llys Cadwyn building in Pontypridd.  Members promoted the need to replicate any learning across other town centres in the County Borough. The Head of Legal – Property and Estates advised that the Council will continue to look for properties suitable to support Town Centre Regeneration which is part of the action plan.

Members of the Committee spoke of the Council’s greatest ‘asset’, its staff, and sought assurance that the needs of staff were always at the front when setting the vision for any hybrid approach to working or office accommodation review. The Head of Legal – Property and Estates advised Members that the impacts on staff are taken into account which is covered in the Council’s Office Accommodation Strategy and Asset Management Plan.  Service areas are consulted annually on the suitability of their office accommodation to ensure they have suitable space to deliver fit for purpose services.  Members were also reassured to hear that should staff wish to attend offices to work, accommodation will be provided for them, and there is no requirement for staff to work from home if they prefer to attend their offices. 

Members queried whether the plan incorporated sites for those presented as homeless and welcomed news of the work being undertaken through a feasibility study in this area.

Members were concerned that the plan did not have robust data against the KPIs referenced within the plan.  Officers explained that this was the starting point and such information would be available going forward.

Members highlighted the stakeholders engaged and queried whether sufficient representation from schools was proportionate, considering the number of school assets involved. Members were reassured that the 21st Century Team as a property portfolio holding Service Area would be represented at the Corporate Asset Management Board when a surplus school  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32.

To consider any items, which the Chairman, by reason of special circumstances, is of the opinion should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency.

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