Council

4.1 Council confirmed the minutes of the Council meeting held on 5 December 2023 as an accurate record.

5.1 Council noted the action sheet.

6.1 There were no petitions.

7.1 There were no public questions.

8.1 The Leader: · Thanked Council for observing a minutes silence and paid tribute to former councillor Lewis Jones; · Commented around the hard work undertaken by members and the importance of member welfare, wellbeing, security and protection. He assured members that he was working with the Police and officers to ensure that members are protected and he reminded members that he is always available to discuss any issues that members may be experiencing. · Welcomed the Head Boy of Abersychan Comprehensive school to speak about his roles and responsibilities within school and some of the activities he had undertaken within the local community. · Informed Council of school assemblies being held across the borough in recognition of Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD). He spoke of the importance of remembering HMD and encouraged Members to attend any events taking place. He invited the Deputy Head Girl of Abersychan Comprehensive School to read a poem. A short video of the experiences of Holocaust survivor Harry Spiro and his daughter Tracy Moses was played. · Informed members of the conclusion of the Estyn monitoring visit. He invited Councillor Richard Clark, Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Children, Families and Education to provide council with an update on the feedback received. The Deputy Leader explained that following his update to Council, he would circulate a full copy of the feedback to all members. In summary he commented as follows: - Progress was considered against Recommendation 1 which focused on improved outcomes for learners, particularly in secondary schools. - The following is an extract included in the letter ‘The Director of Education has secured and shared a clear vision for school and service improvement. This vision is underpinned by high expectations and increased levels of accountability. This has helped to define the roles and responsibilities of officers, schools and the EAS in securing better outcomes for pupils’. - Estyn had recognised the culture of trust and openness, and also the benefits of partnership working. - Signs of improvement were clear, however, due to policies being new and there currently being no measure, demonstration of real improvement would take time. - One of the outcomes highlighted was attendance, schemes and policies were in place and there was a continued drive for improvement in this area. - Progress had been made at Cwmbran High School which was being run by a full governing body as well as the Headteacher, it was hoped that progress would continue with improved outcomes. The Leader felt encouraged by the report and he thanked the Deputy Leader and officers for their openness and for the work undertaken. He also thanked education scrutiny members for their work.

9.1 The Deputy Chief Executive outlined the report which recommended approval of the Council Tax Reduction Scheme (CTRS) for 2024/25. 9.2 Council unanimously agreed to: · Continue to note the making of the Council Tax Reduction Scheme and Prescribed Requirements (Wales) Regulations ("the Prescribed Requirements Regulations") 2013 by the Welsh Government on 26 November 2013. · Adopt the provisions within the Prescribed Requirements Regulations above together with the Amendment Regulations in 3.4 – 3.6 in respect of its Scheme for the financial year 2024/25. · Approve the discretionary elements in 5.2 as the Council’s local scheme from 1 st April 2024. · Affirm that should there be any further uprating amendments during the year these will be carried out without a requirement to adopt the whole Council Tax Reduction Scheme.

10.1 The Strategic Director Children and Family Services outlined the report advising Members of the content of the report of the Statutory Director of Social Services (Changing Lives), which provided a summary of developments throughout 2022/23 and included future developments and aspirations which are aligned to the County Plan and Annual Delivery Programme. 10.2 In response to questions asked by Members, the following main points were made: · The reduction in the children looked after (CLA) population was significant. With an aspiration in the Couty Plan to reduce the percentage of CLA by 15% each year, this was well on target for the coming year. · Within adult social care, the local authority had an ability to respond to continued demand in terms of delivery of domiciliary care packages. · It was important to focus on early intervention and prevention, as this reduced demand within the service area and enabled the service to target resources more effectively for those at the greatest level of need. The County Plan and some of the changes in the directorates over the past 12 months was enabling development of early intervention and development activities. · Many children in residential provision were currently placed out of area. There was not currently any in-house residential provision, however, consideration was being given as to how this could be developed. On occasions there was a need for children to be placed out of the local authority area due to safeguarding risks, however, the drive going forward was to bring those children back in. There is a significantly high proportion of in-house foster carers in Torfaen. Members commended the work of officers and the positive report. 10.3 Council unanimously agreed to note and approve the content of the report of the Statutory Director of Social Services (Changing Lives) which was attached as Appendix one to the report.

11.1 The Elections Manager outlined the report seeking Council approval to amend the current polling districts and polling places in response to the polling districts and places review carried out by the Elections Team. 11.2 Council unanimously agreed to approve the specific changes proposed as a result of the review.

12.1 There were no motions on notice.

13.1 Member questions with replies are set out in Appendix A to these minutes.

14.1 The next meeting was scheduled for Tuesday 27 February 2024 at 10.00am.