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The minutes are published. No summary has been written yet.
1.1 No apologies were received.
2.1 There were no declarations of interest.
3.1 The minutes of the meeting held on 30th June 2021 were confirmed as an accurate record.
4.1 The Committee noted the action sheet.
5.1 The Chair welcomed the HoPSSU, HoRP, E&SM, PP&EM and DR&GM to the meeting. 5.2 The HoPSSU gave a brief introduction to the report and provided a presentation regarding the Well-being Assessment. The HoRP then provided a presentation on the Population Needs Assessment and officers assured members of the Committee that collaborative working around both assessments had eliminated the scope for duplication. 5.3 Following Members’ questions and comments, the officers referred to in paragraph 5.1 of the minutes made the following main points: • The figures regarding the number of pupils from ethnic minority backgrounds had been included in order to highlight the benefits of cultural diversity, not regarding school attainment. • The current Public Services Board (PSB) objectives were to be delivered until May 2023 and this was the consultation phase in order to set the new objectives. • The objectives, progress against delivering them and the impacts on specific topics could be reflected at a local level. • Within the assessment Torfaen had been divided into Blaenavon, Pontypool and Cwmbran as these were super output areas and they related to the settlements as a whole, not just the town centres. • As this was the consultation phase of the Well-being Assessment, a conclusion had yet to be developed. This would occur during the next phase and would be included within a future report to the Committee. • The engagement approach had been largely digital due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and more face-to-face opportunities would have been preferable. The survey was shared via the Council’s website, social media channels, schools, youth forums and residents’ groups; however officers could not guarantee that every section of society had been reached. It was hoped that officers could engage with the public in town centres and supermarkets during the next phase. • Return rates for each local authority in Gwent were listed and it was believed that Monmouthshire had the highest return rate as they were able to capture many views in person at the popular Usk Show event. • As a lot of common information was drawn out of the engagement process it was believed that the survey was representative enough in order to draw conclusions as to the well-being of Gwent and each local area. • The survey attempted to gauge the strengths and issues in local areas and ascertain whether the current PSB objectives were still relevant. • The PSB acknowledged that it needed to build a brand and an Engagement Plan was being considered at its next meeting; however the Committee’s concerns around engagement would be fed back. • The PSB objectives would need to be aligned to the Council’s corporate priorities, which would be decided within the next Corporate Plan. • Local authorities had received larger budgetary cuts than health authorities in recent years; however the Regional Partnership Board was in place in help support the delivery of core services. • The Future Trends report had been published by Welsh Government (WG) in December 2021 and officers were in the process of liaising with statutory consultees in order to link its contents to the Well-being Assessment. • WG’s Locked Out report would sit within the ‘Social’ theme of the Well-being Assessment. This theme was written by colleagues from another Gwent local authority, and officers would feed back to them in order to ensure that the report was included. • There was no specific section regarding equality; however equality was the key thread throughout the report and the Well-being Assessment. • Officers would appreciate it if members of the Committee highlighted any issues they found where graphs did not correspond with the text, which affected readability and the flow of the document. • Officers agreed with members of the Committee that it was important to gauge Free School Meal (FSM) take-up, not only FSM eligibility. This would be fed back to the Education section’s authors. It was suggested that FSM eligibility was something that the PSB could help to promote. • Officers agreed to feedback members of the Committee’s concerns around the lack of information around the Sensory and Communication Support Service (SenCom) and those individuals not in employment, education, or training (NEETS) within the Well-being Assessment. The HoRP confirmed that the Population Needs Assessment included comments around guide dogs and that it was a statutory requirement to assess needs around sight loss. • It was too early to draw conclusions around housing needs as this would form part of the response stage of the Well-being Assessment process. However, regionally and locally this area of work was also addressed by strategic housing teams, local development plans and the Cardiff Capital Region. • With regards to transport, issues around inter-county and inter-valley connectivity had been raised multiple times by members of the community and would form part of the final plan. • The PSB was unable to make demands around transport issues; however it was able to influence and was stronger as a partnership than as individual local authorities. In addition to this, members of the Committee were urged to highlight any gaps that they felt that the Well-being Assessment had around accessibility issues related to transport. • Officers thanked members of the Committee for highlighting the error in the graph around immunisation of children, on page 134 of the agenda, and confirmed that it would be amended. The text had stated that Torfaen was constantly lower than the Welsh average, but the graph stated that it was Newport. • COVID-19 immunisation data would be available within the subsequent year’s data; however up-to-date information around vaccination did feed into the Population Needs Assessment. • The Well-being Assessment relied on data from various bodies and the most up-to-date data that was available was used; however officers admitted that due to conflicting priorities caused by the pandemic some of this data was not as recent as they would usually expect. • The Climate and Nature Emergency action plan would be presented to Cabinet on 8 February 2022 for approval, prior to moving on to the delivery phase. It was confirmed that the action plan would link in with the Well-being Assessment. • Officers appreciated members of the Committee’s concerns around naming only one activity or project per authority regarding community strengths; and agreed to explore the possibility of generalising the statement within the Well-being Assessment. 5.4 Councillor Jones confirmed that the Cleaner Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee would be considering air quality issues at its next meeting; and he suggested that officers liaised with colleagues responsible for that area, in order for it to link with the Well-being Assessment. 5.5 The HoPSSU thanked his colleagues who had contributed towards the Well-being Assessment thus far and he also thanked members of the Committee for their input to the consultation phase. 5.6 The Chair thanked the officers referred to in paragraph 5.1 of the minutes for their contributions to the meeting and they left the meeting. 5.7 On completion of their scrutiny activity, the Committee concluded by offering the following comments and recommendations for consideration: Recommendation 1 – In future the survey/public participation work should test knowledge and understanding relating to who the PSB/RPB are, the work undertaken and the relationship with each other. Where lack of understanding is identified steps should be taken to address this. Recommendation 2 – Ensure there is a formal documented process in place to better align the Gwent PSB Objectives to Torfaen County Borough Council Objectives and Service Planning Framework ensuring opportunities are not missed. Recommendation 3 – Further work to the Well-being Assessment is undertaken to reflect the information contained in the Welsh Government Future Trends report published in December 2021 and the findings of the ‘Locked Out Report’, published July 2021. Recommendation 4 – Investigate the data sets available for accurate reporting and analysing of Free School Meal Eligibility, Take Up and Transitional Protection given the pending changes to the Primary Free School Meal Provision by Welsh Government (free school meals to be provided to all primary aged school pupils). Recommendation 5 – Better referencing within the assessment stating data source and where there is trend/historical data not available so that the reader is aware of the reason for the chosen datasets. Recommendation 6 – The inclusion of Covid vaccination data within the health section for completeness and data relating to NEETS at both Gwent and local levels to facilitate analysis of trends within the Education section. Recommendation 7 – Interconnectivity needs to be reflected in the transport section of the final assessment, in relation to routes, timing of services to facilitate cross route travel, aligning bus and train services, infrastructure accessibility and alignment with the Transport for Wales Act. Recommendation 8 – The Committee felt the Community section was weak and would benefit from a broader statement relating to Community strength and activeness rather than singling out one organisation per locality as this may offend other groups within the wider community/volunteer group community. Recommendation 9 – The assessment would benefit from review by an independent proof-reading group to identify errors and readability issues.
6.1 The SCI&SO confirmed that the meeting scheduled for 2 March 2022 had been cancelled and that the date of the next meeting would be circulated in due course. 6.2 The meeting ended at 12.45pm.
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