Council

4.1 Council confirmed the minutes of the Council meeting held on 23 July 2024 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 8.2 8.3 8.4 The Leader: · Shared his respects on the recent passing of Mr Alun Williams who was a Co-opted Member on Cleaner Overview & Scrutiny Committee for many years and brought a wealth of knowledge and experience to the process. He also sat on the board of TLT for some time before he retired. He conveyed condolences and best wishes to Alun’s family and friends. · Welcomed pupils and staff from Llantarnam community primary school who were attending Council today to receive their Healthy Schools National Quality Award (NQA) from Cllr Clark. Councillor Clark congratulated Llantarnam Community Primary School. He explained that schools that had achieved the NQA were implementing health and wellbeing initiatives at the very highest level. This prestigious award could only be awarded by Welsh Government after a school had demonstrated meeting all the criteria of the NQA. These criteria are set out against 7 health topics, which are: • Food and Fitness (nutrition and physical activity) • Mental and Emotional Health and Wellbeing (including staff wellbeing) • Personal Development and Relationships (Relationships and Sexuality Education - RSE) • Substance Use and Misuse (including alcohol, smoking and drug use and misuse (legal, illegal, and prescription) • Environment (including eco-initiatives and improving the school and wider environment) • Safety (including a variety of topics such as child protection, sun safety, internet safety, and first aid) • Hygiene (including infection prevention and control) He explained that students were actively involved in this through various committees and the school was commended on this where the assessors noted “The care and support for the wellbeing of everyone at Llantarnam CP school is to be highly commended and it is clear that the wellbeing of the school community is at the core of the school’s ethos and organisation.” Council commended pupils and staff on achieving the NQA. 8.5 The Chief Executive introduced and welcomed Andrew Lovegrove to first council meeting, new Strategic Director Resources and will replace Nigel as section 151 officer in the future.

9.1 Mr Rhodri Guest, Chair of Ethics and Standards Committee presented the annual report as set out in Appendix 1 to the report. 9.2 9.3 The Chair of Ethics and Standards Committee explained that an earlier draft of the committee’s annual report had been attached to the agenda, however, a final draft, which had been published within the Committee’s agenda papers for when they met on 5 March 2024, would be published online as part of the Council meeting papers for today. He presented an overview of his final report available via the following link: FINAL Annual Report of Ethics and Standards Committee The Leader thanked the Chair of Ethics and Standards Committee and members of the committee for their service, and also group leaders for their work together over the course of the year, which he felt had greatly improved over the last couple of years. He commented around his duty as group leader stating that, as well as maintaining standards of conduct of members, he also felt the responsibility as Leader to safeguard the wellbeing and the personal safety of members. He referred in particular to social media which he felt could too easily lead to abuse. He welcomed increased guidance in supporting these matters, and further discussions around fulfilling a duty of care to fellow members as well as to the public during the course of the year. 9.4 Council unanimously agreed to note the Annual Report of the Ethics and Standards Committee, noting that the report attached to Appendix 1 was an earlier version, and that the final version would be uploaded as a supplementary paper to the Council agenda for this meeting (17 September 2024).

10.1 The Business and Democratic Support Services Manager (B&DSSM) presented to Council the Annual Scrutiny Report for the 2023-24 municipal year. He thanked the Scrutiny Team who had overseen the development of the report and had been instrumental in shaping scrutiny. 10.2 10.3 Scrutiny chairs thanked officers for their support and thanked those who had attended meetings and contributed towards the work of scrutiny over the past year. They provided an overview of the key items considered by individual committees over the past year and the key items for development due to be considered over the coming year. Concerns were expressed around the drop in member attendance whereby it was felt that members should do their best to attend and if members were unable to attend, they should give their apologies and offer contributions. In response to these concerns, comments were made around the need to recognise member’s vast diary commitments and substantial workloads which sometimes resulted in clashes for some members. The Leader thanked scrutiny chairs and other members who served on scrutiny committees. He commended the scrutiny process which he felt had improved decision making and outcomes and he referred in particular to the budget process which he felt provided members with an opportunity to contribute at the earliest opportunity. He thanked all for their engagement. 10.4 Council agreed, with majority voting in favour, to note the content of the 2023-24 Annual Scrutiny Report.

11.1 The Strategic Director, Children and Family Services outlined the report which provided a response to the e-petition submitted to the Council requesting that Tafarn Newydd be kept open. 11.2 Council unanimously agreed to acknowledge the unavoidable cessation of services of Tafarn Newydd via Action for Children, and the development of in-house provision to meet assessed need.

12.1 The Director Corporate Services & Head of Democratic Services outlined the report informing members of revisions to the political balance of the Council as a result of the changes listed in the body of the report and seeking agreement to the updated political balance until AGM in May 2025 or until further changes are required. 12.2 12.3 12.4 Comments were made regarding the Leader of the newly formed Reform UK Wales Group being involved in recent discussions about the possibility of rejoining the Labour Group and confusion was expressed over the timing and sudden formation of the Reform Wales UK Group. Political affiliation changes taken by the Leader of the newly formed Reform UK Group since 2017 were also set out. It was felt that in the interest of residents who voted for a particular political party or group, policies and procedures should be reviewed to prevent members from being able to frequently switch between different political groups. Concerns were also expressed that members of the Reform UK Wales Group had chosen to join a political party at a time when questions were being asked about its Leadership and what part it may have played in stoking recent riots through the use of anti-immigration sentiment and rhetoric. It was hoped that all members would continue to ensure that they came together to create an inclusive Torfaen. In response to comments around working together moving forward, Councillor Malson was assured that she would always be welcomed by Llantarnam Ward Members, particularly in her role as Member Champion, and they were disappointed that previous comments during visits to the Llantarnam Ward had been taken out of context. Cllr David Thomas apologised for not being able to attend the Council meeting in person explaining that he was away on holiday 12.5 Council unanimously agreed: • the change in political balance and adopted the political balance calculations attached at Appendix A to the report; and • appointed members to serve on the committees affected by these changes as shown in the updated version of Appendix B to the report which had been circulated to Members and would be uploaded as a supplementary paper to the Council agenda for this meeting (17 September 2024).

13.1 Councillors Janet Jones and Nick Horler proposed the following motion: ‘The decision made by central government to only give winter fuel payments to those pensioners on pension credit is disastrous and dangerous to the wellbeing of so many of our residents who will have to decide whether to heat their homes or put food on the table this winter. Either decision would potentially cause serious health issues which in turn could put more pressure on the already over stretched health board. Therefore, we ask that this authority send a request to the government in London asking that this decision is revoked.’ 13.2 The motion was seconded. 13.3 Councillor David Daniels proposed an amendment to the motion as follows: ‘We note the decision made by central government to only give winter fuel payments to those pensioners on pension credit. This Council resolves to write to the Chancellor, to seek reassurances that those pensioners whose income fall close to the threshold for pension credit, but are not eligible, will receive support as needed through the coming winter period; This Council welcomes the retention of the triple lock on pensions, which will see the basic state pension rise by £900 this year, and £460 next year. This Council also recognises that Pension Credit is an underclaimed benefit, and calls for all levels of Government to undertake a national campaign to encourage uptake of Pension Credit, and that we commit to a local effort to encourage Torfaen residents to apply for the benefit.’ 13.4 The amendment to the motion was seconded. 13.5 Councillor Janet Jones thanked Cllr Daniels for his support and cooperation. 13.6 The Leader was pleased to see that councillors were committed to encouraging the uptake of Pension Credit. He provided details of the Pension Credit Claim Line – 0800 991 234, and explained that the council would provide information to assist those wishing to claim Pension Credit. 13.7 Council agreed, with the majority voting in favour, to support the amended motion.

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

15.1 Council unanimously agreed to note the Cabinet Decisions.

16.1 The next meeting was scheduled for Tuesday 22 October at 10.00am.