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The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
AGREED – That Item 6 – Impact of Budget Mitigations – be brought forward and taken at this time.
AGREED – That the report be noted.
AGREED – (i) Officers bring examples of how the PSB had influenced system change across partner bodies which contribute to wider outcomes in the next PSB Annual Report. (ii) The Vice Chair of the joint PSB raise awareness of their work taking place in communities with the relevant Community Councils. (iii) The evaluation report of the Children’s University to be circulated to Members of the Committee. (iv) The Chair of the Committee send a letter to the PSB outlining the comments from the meeting, to be reported to the next meeting of the PSB.
AGREED – That the work programme as attached at Appendix 1 to the report COGC/85/24 be agreed, subject to the aforementioned changes.
Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Councillors Pete Howell and Alison Tynan.
AGREED – To sign as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 19 September 2024.
Decision as recorded
AGREED – That Item 6 – Impact of Budget Mitigations – be brought forward and taken at this time.
AGREED – That Item 6 – Impact of Budget Mitigations – be brought forward and taken at this time.
Decision as recorded
AGREED – That the report be noted.
The Lead Member Finance and Performance submitted a report COFI/36/24 which allowed Members to further consider impact of the budget mitigations applied in 2023/24 and address the forecast in-year budget pressure on the Council Plan performance framework, following the report presented to the Committee in July. In introducing his report the Leader thanked the Chief Executive, Officers, Lead Members and Elected Members for all the work they had undertaken so far in terms of managing budget mitigation. He advised that, following a review by all Chief Officers, the majority of EIA mitigation had been in line with expectations. Actions that had been taken so far had led to a small in-year surplus of £532k. During the debate the following issues were highlighted in particular: · Vacancy management would form a significant part of budget mitigation. · The Head of Service Human Resources provided more detail around the vacancy management process which included a vacancy Panel which met on a weekly basis. This was not a permanent solution and use of agency staff and good will of employees were considerations. · Statutory services would remain the priority for the Local Authority. · It was recognised that service users may be required to wait longer for non statutory services in the future. · The pressures currently faced were not unique to Wrexham and were being experienced by surrounding Local Authorities. · The Chief Officer Finance and ICT provided an explanation of the actions taken in the last year to address forecasted pressure. It was noted that not all vacancy holds had become permanent budget savings. These were assessed on the basis of permanent change rather than the in year budget saving process. · Processes were in place to reinforce importance around the clarity required around assessment impact assessments and appropriate consultation going forward. AGREED – That the report be noted.
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Decision as recorded
AGREED – (i) Officers bring examples of how the PSB had influenced system change across partner bodies which contribute to wider outcomes in the next PSB Annual Report. (ii) The Vice Chair of the joint PSB raise awareness of their work taking place in communities with the relevant Community Councils. (iii) The evaluation report of the Children’s University to be circulated to Members of the Committee. (iv) The Chair of the Committee send a letter to the PSB outlining the comments from the meeting, to be reported to the next meeting of the PSB.
The Deputy Chair of the Flintshire and Wrexham Public Services Board (PSB) submitted a report COGC/68/24 which allowed Members to consider the first Annual Report of the Flintshire and Wrexham Public Services Board Well-being Plan 2023-2028 attached at Appendix 1. The Vice Chair of the Flintshire and Wrexham Public Services Board (PSB) introduced the report. He responded to questions accordingly thereafter with input from the Lead Member Partnerships and the Senior Performance, Improvement and Partnerships Officer. During the ensuing debate the following issues were noted, in particular: · Legislation placed a statutory duty on statutory partners to meet terms of the Well-being of Future Generations Act (2015). Well-being assessment, plans and annual reports are submitted to Welsh Government, Audit Wales and the Future Generations Commissioner. on progress against plan · The PSB worked at a strategic level and is developing a way of working to allow the organisation to ‘bend’ work towards common priorities that were important to a particular area. · The partnership was based on good will and leadership and sustained focus was important. · The merger of PSBs was important in terms of getting the most out of regional sharing between Flintshire and Wrexham and maximisation of delivery on the ground. · Improved working between partners came through improved joint working so that future leaders could progress. · Three PSB Outcome Boards are responsible for making progress against the Well-being Plan. · The statutory partners had ultimate delivery responsibility and the need to redesign services at a practical level to reduce demand was noted. · The PSB could not deliver by itself. A change theory had been produced to examine what to do to ensure the greatest impact on the rest of the system. The partnership could then evaluate the process against actions and measurements. · The PSB is working on climate change and this was an issue for the region which needs to be addressed at a local level. · Two of the joint PSB priorities included ‘improving community wellbeing’ and a focus on improving health. These are at the heart of Wrexham Council priorities and so real synergy could be evidenced between local priorities and those of the PSB. · There had been an improvement in terms of delivery of Wrexham priorities · Both Local Authorities work closely with partners and there was a high priority on preventative approaches for children and young people. · Public health were currently promoting a health programme within schools. · The 100 stories programme, led by BCUHB has focused on gathering stories from families and individuals facing issues when transitioning from child to adult services. There had been an increase in the number of complex mental health cases. · A close working relationship between health and social care was critical, particularly around mental health and the transition from child to adult. · Additional learning needs required changes in education and a focus placed on Local Authorities. · Fostering was a key priority and it was important to ensure that all partners were foster friendly. · The need to consider the demographic of young people engaging with the Children’s University was discussed. · In terms of the statutory need to consider the role of Community Councils, The Senior Performance, Improvement and Partnerships Officer advised that the PSB had liaised with Community Councils in the past, continued to share best practice and that there was an open invitation within Wrexham for ongoing training and development. · The Vice Chair of the PSB agreed to take a reminder back to the joint PSB to make a connection with community councils. AGREED – (i) Officers bring examples of how the PSB had influenced system change across partner bodies which contribute to wider outcomes in the next PSB Annual Report. (ii) The Vice Chair of the joint PSB raise awareness of their work taking place in communities with the relevant Community Councils. (iii) The evaluation report of the Children’s University to be circulated to Members of the Committee. (iv) The Chair of the Committee send a letter to the PSB outlining the comments from the meeting, to be reported to the next meeting of the PSB.
Decision as recorded
AGREED – That the work programme as attached at Appendix 1 to the report COGC/85/24 be agreed, subject to the aforementioned changes.
The Chief Officer Governance and Customer submitted a report COGC/84/24 which allowed Members to consider the work programme of the Customers, Performance, Resources & Governance Scrutiny Committee attached at Appendix 1. The Scrutiny Facilitator referred the Committee to the changes that had been made to the work programme since the last meeting. The following proposals were put forward and subsequently agreed: · Q2 Council Plan Performance Report – deferred from December to January 2025 meeting and to include the Year 2 Performance Targets. · Provisional Local Government Settlement and in-year savings monitoring – deferred from December to January 2025 meeting. · Change Programme – provisional item to be placed on work programme for every meeting up to January 2025 to consider any change programme proposals identified from Executive Board reports. · Workforce Monitoring Report – deferred from December to February 2025 meeting and to include information on staff sickness/absence prior to consideration by the Executive Board · Customer Service Review – Phase 2 of the Contact Wrexham Project – deferred from January 2005 meeting to a later date, timescale to be confirmed. AGREED – That the work programme as attached at Appendix 1 to the report COGC/85/24 be agreed, subject to the aforementioned changes.
AGREED - That the press and public be excluded from the Meeting during consideration of the following item as it is likely that, if they were present, there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 15 of Part 4 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).