Agenda item

Derbyn diweddariad yngl?n â'r cynnydd a wnaed wrth hyrwyddo cyfrifoldebau portffolio'r Aelod o'r Cabinet ar faterion Cymunedau, Diwylliant a'r Gymraeg.

 

The Cabinet Member Communities, Culture & the Welsh Language provided a presentation to Members that informed them of the current portfolio of duties.

 

He explained that within his portfolio included the following service areas:

 

•      Prosperity & Regeneration (including WG/ESF employment programmes)

•      Theatres & Arts Development

•      Public Health & Protection

•      Licensing & Registrars

•      Cemeteries & Crematoria

•      Community Support & Well-being (including Communities First)

•      RCT Together & Support for the Voluntary Sector

•      Affordable & Supported Housing

•      Community Safety

•      Family Support Service

 

Members were informed of the key themes within the portfolio which included the Cwm Taf Public Service Board, Our Valleys, Our Future Delivery Plan and the Welsh Government’s Children’s First initiative and ACES

 

The Cabinet Member Communities, Culture & the Welsh Language also advised members of the following services that fall within his portfolio and provided them with an update on the work undertaken to date. 

 

• WAO Report Environmental Services
• EU Settlement scheme
• Food Hygiene
• PSPO
• Supporting People/Homelessness
• Community Safety
• Agile working

 

The Cabinet Member also provided information in relation to the following services that he is responsible for:

 

Community Hubs

 

• Two new Community Hubs were opened – including Canolfan Pennar and Yr Hwb at Ferndale.  These facilities include a range of community services, including a library, access to employment support, community rooms, and a community cafe at Canolfan Pennar and childcare provision at Yr Hwb.
• Both facilities have been embraced by their local communities. Canolfan Pennar has had 85,217 visitors to the end of December 2019, In Ferndale, visitors to the library have increased by approximately 30%.
• Work has commenced on Porth Plaza to reconfigure the building into a Community Hub and the Hub at Llys Cadwyn in Pontypridd will open in March 2020.
• The priorities going forward for Community Developmentwill be the completion of the next three Community Hubs (Porth, Llys Cadwyn and Treorchy) and work with Awen Cultural Trust to implement a plan of the reopening and restoration of the Muni Arts Centre in Pontypridd.

 

RCT Together

 

• Since commencing in 2015, “RCT Together” has received 258 enquiries about community asset transfers; 165 expressions of interest and 64 business plans. These have led to 18 leases being granted and 12 licences/tenancies at will being made for a range of community assets. It is estimated that this has levered in approximately £9million of investment by the third sector.
• The Council has a comprehensive employment programme and employment pathway to support people into work.  Communities for Work Plus is funded by the Welsh Government and the programme is the best performing in Wales both in respect of the number of engagements and job entries.

 

Libraries

 

• The recent Welsh Public Library Assessment for 2018/19 confirms that the library service meets all twelve core entitlements specified in the Welsh Public Library Standards.
• In 2018/19 the libraries received 727,922 visits and issued 439,094 library materials. The trend in visit numbers since 2013/14 has been downwards, however recent investment in several libraries such as Tonypandy, Rhydyfelin and Llantrisant and the developments at the Community Hubs in Ferndale and Mountain Ash may capture this trend.
• Our priorities going forward for Libraries– increase visitor numbers at static libraries and usage of the new mobile library service.

 

Arts & Creative Industries

 

• Attendance at targeted events has increased at both theatres with nearly 10,000 attendances at the Coliseum and nearly 6,000 at the Park & Dare during 2018/19.

 

• RCT theatres are one of only three local authority run theatres in Wales recognised as an Arts Council of Wales Portfolio client and receive funding as a venue and production house.

 

• The Arts service is also commissioned to provide a range of project to support creative learning and vulnerable children and young people, for example through the Arts & Creative Industries team Youth Arts and SONIG Youth Music Industry programmes.

 

• Our priorities going forward for Arts –strengthen our public value offer following completion of our participation in the designing public value programme with Arts Council for Wales, piloting an inter-generational project in Treorchy. Develop a vision for the new Studio at the Park & Dare Theatre.  Develop a business plan for the next 5 years.

 

The Cabinet Member concluded his presentation with an update on resilient families’ service.   In 2019, the commissioning team went out to tender for the provision of an RCT wide independent school based counselling service for children and young people aged between 7-25. The contract was reconfigured to close a gap in provision for children aged 7 to 10 years who had experienced a loss or trauma.

 

He explained that the priorities for the service included:

·          Further building a presence of all Community Well-being and Resilience services within the Community Hubs to raise awareness of service on offer for and deliver support to activities within localities.

·          Review commissioning activities in light of the further developments around the CCG and funding flexibilities/alignment.

·         Secure ministerial approval for the Early Years transformation proposals and the implementation of a universal needs based approach for Early Years services across RCT.

 

The Cabinet Member concluded that as part of his portfolio he had also been appointed the Climate Change Champion and was a member of the Police and Crime Panel that holds the Police and Crime Commissioner to account. 

 

The Chairman thanked the Cabinet Member for the comprehensive presentation of his portfolio and invited questions from the Committee 

 

A Member asked if the Cabinet Member could expand upon the resilient families’ service and explain a little more what it was about.

 

The Cabinet Member explained that the service was very much an early intervention approach to prevent the matter escalating further where we may have had to intervene on a statutory nature.  Families are offered an intensive 6 week support package to support them with many various complex issues.  Families are provided with a brokerage of support services and could be signposted to various support that is available to them, support can be offered for up to 12 weeks where required and families could also self-refer into the system and can access a number of support services ranging from housing, mental health, financial debt support.

 

The Chairman stated he thought it was an excellent service to vulnerable families, and with this support enable them to come through difficult and complex issues that they may face to allow them to flourish.  It helps to prevent future problems and influence positive manner to families.

 

A member referred to recent negative posts on social media in relation to a food business in RCT and asked if the officer was able to provide comment on the case.

 

The Service Director Public Protection advised that she was aware of posts on social media and the service had responded in writing to the business in question.  She explained that a routine food hygiene inspection was undertaken, which most businesses welcome but this particular business did not.  She added that they had been invited in for discussions with officers about the process and their recent inspection.  She further added that legal advice had now been sought following their actions during and after the inspection which the Authority believes constituted obstruction.  She reiterated that the Authority’s role was to protect the public, and the officers involved were undertaking a statutory duty and where businesses do not comply the Council is left with no choice but to consider initiating legal proceedings.

 

A Member queried the homelessness issue around the shops in Llantrisant (later clarified by the Member as being Talbot Green and not Llantrisant).

The Cabinet Member stated that homelessness was a complex issue and had many contributory factors and there was also no clear perception of what homelessness is.  He stated there were issues such as “Invisible homelessness” which included sofa surfing which was not visible and therefore not easy to remedy. He added that homelessness was a continually changing picture which is requiring more resource due to the number of people presenting themselves as homeless. He advised members that there was also work undertaken with people who are also at risk of becoming homeless so it doesn’t escalate further.

 

The Service Director Public Protection added that the Committee would be receiving a report on homelessness in February where Members would be advised how the Authority is implementing the Homelessness Strategy.  She advised that they would also receive a report on Housing First which was an alternative model that was being piloted as currently, traditional housing options may not be suitable for clients with complex needs. 

 

A Member asked if the Committee could receive within the report, how the Authority works with housing associations.  She was concerned that empty properties were being converted but housing associations were showing no interest in using them for social housing in RCT as they felt the demand was not there.

 

The Service Director Public Protection advised that strategic housing functions sat within the Regeneration Department and a housing needs assessment was key to the Council and Housing Association.  She stated that the housing needs assessment would be re-done next year.  She suggested that the Scrutiny Committee could ask Strategic Housing Team to come to scrutiny to discuss the findings with members.

 

A Member stated that the Library’s in RCT provided a fantastic service.  He also added that officers from the Public Health team do a fantastic job in their work with the food hygiene assessments and they should be congratulated.  He asked officers how the hygiene rating of food outlets was assessed and what criteria were taken into account. 

 

The Service Director Public Protection advised the Committee that the score reflects the officer’s judgement of competence in management of the premises, practices and systems, and structural factors in premises in deriving the overall score.  She advised that in RCT 94% of our food businesses achieve a score of 3 and above indicating they are broadly compliant with food law.  Anything lower than a three has intensive intervention from officers to support improvement to scores.  She added that the outlet can pay a fee, which at £180 was a nationally set fee to have their premises re-inspected and their score would be reassessed to reflect any improvements made. Otherwise, the outlet would have to wait until their next inspection was due to be re-scored.  She further added that that RCT has over 2000 premises to inspect.  

 

RESOLVED: Members noted the presentation and update from the Cabinet Member