Agenda and minutes

None.

The minutes were approved as a true and accurate record.

Improvement Plan Objective 5 – Supporting Young People into Education, Employment or training

Invitees:

·        Head of Regeneration, Investment and Housing

·        Strategic Director - Place

·        Cabinet Member for Education and Skills

Members requested that the agenda be printed in colour for future meetings, as the performance information was difficult to read in black and white due to the colour coding.

The Head of Regeneration, Investment and Housing gave an overview of Improvement objective 5 – Supporting young people into education, employment or training, and updated the Committee in progress being made in achieving the objective. It was explained that many of the targets were annual, and as such, there was no data for these within the report, such as those that related to NEETs. Progress had been made over the last three years to bring these figures down; the last indication was a figure of 1.7% which was low for this indicator. Newport was currently the 7^th in Wales for this indicator. 

Members were advised that the KPI relating to NEETS included those individuals in Prison, and as such there would always be a small percentage of this figure that would be hard to reach. Members queried whether a breakdown of the figure of 1.7% was available to determine the proportion of this figure that related to those in prison. The Committee were advised that this figure was not broken down to reflect individual groups.

The Committee commended the Council in its development in this area over the last few years, noted the complexity of the cases within the Communities in Newport, and the level of multi-agency support that it had taken to get to 1.7%. 

The Cabinet Member for Education and Skills outlined the progress being made towards this objective, specific mention was made to the work being done to address at risk 16-18 year olds, building on positive relationships with Careers Wales, the EU funding for inspire to work, communities for work and traineeships.

Members queried whether the impact of BREXIT on the European Funding and grants process was known at this stage. The Head of Regeneration, Investment and Housing advised that the current funding programme were agreed up until the end of 2020, very few grant funding were committed past 3 years. Concerns were raised on the impact of any reduction of EU funding on the performance of the service, and the provision it would be able to offer.

Conclusion

The Committee noted the good progress being made in relation towards this objective, particularly the progress in relation to NEETs.

Members discussed the risk of the potential reduction in EU funding in the future as a result of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. Assurances were given that the current funding schemes were in place until 2020 and as such the short to medium term impact of this was being managed. Members wished to highlight this as an area of concern and risk in the longer term, and the potential impact this would have to the provision  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

The Head of Finance introduced the report and provided the Committee with a summary of the overall financial position following Quarter 1. Members were advised that there were 4 significant areas of overspend:

·        Out of area placements within Children’s Services;

·        Out of county placements for Education;

·        Community Care services within Adult Services;

·        Undelivered savings within the Streetscene budget.

Of these, the undelivered savings within the Streetscene budget was within the remit of the Committee for consideration. It was also highlighted that the use of the contingency budget to cover these overspends was significant. The Corporate Areas, which included Finance and People and Business change, were slightly underspent .

Members queried what processes and checks were in place to ensure that future savings were achieved. The Head of Finance could not comment on savings for this year, as the proposals were being developed for the Cabinet in due course.

Streetscene and City Services Budget

Invitees:

·        Strategic Director – Place

·        Senior Strategy Manager

·        Cabinet Member – Streetscene

The Cabinet Member provided an overview of the current situation within the Streetscene and City Services budget. It was outlined that there were a number of underlying issues within Streetscene services which needed to be addressed, and the budget needed to be reviewed and unpicked to establish an appropriate baseline for the future.  There had been an issue with sickness levels, which had an impact on the budget, particularly in light of the nature of the services being provided within this area.

The Strategic Director – Place explained that this work was ongoing, and several steps had been taken to address underlying issues, including addressing the complex recharging that was taking place between the services within Streetscene.  Further work was needed to unpick the budget and to fully address the cause of the budget pressures.  Members were advised of the absence of a long term Head of Service for this area over the previous years, which impacted upon the rate of the necessary changes.

Members’ questioned when the review of the budget would be completed, and whether this would continue to be an issue for the next financial year. Members were advised that this would be completed before the end of the financial year. 

The Cabinet Member advised the Committee that mitigations were being looked at, including looking are more effective ways of working and utilising income streams, such as car parking. 

Conclusion – Comments to the Cabinet

The Committee noted the overspend within the Streetscene budget and raised concerns of the need for this to be addressed, so as not to accumulate to an unmanageable level within the next quarters.

Members noted the explanations given by the Cabinet Member and the lead officer for the overspend, and acknowledged the actions being taken by the service area to reduce risk and impact of any further overspends.

The Committee suggested that should the budget position at quarter 2 remain overspent, that further written explanation is provided within the report on how this this being managed,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Head of People and Business Change introduced the report outlining the purpose of the report in presenting an annual national dataset to assess how the Council is improving. It was also outlined how this information could contextualise the information the Committee had previously considered on the Budget.

Under the new Scrutiny Committee structure, Cabinet had agreed to a change in the way that performance information is reported. This information was now to be presented to Scrutiny first, to allow for comments and recommendations to be presented to Cabinet from Scrutiny prior to a decision on the report being taken.

Members raised questions about this new process, and the importance of scrutiny having an opportunity to provide feedback to the Cabinet prior it a decision was highlighted.  The process within Scrutiny with the introduction of the new structures was discussed. The Cabinet Members spoke in support of the reform of scrutiny within the new arrangements and noted the significance of the changes in addressing concerns previously raised that Scrutiny of performance was an area for development and improvement.

The Chair reiterated the comments of the Cabinet and spoke in support of the focus on performance as an important function to provide an effective challenge on the performance of the Council.

Members asked whether the number of business start-ups could be included within the performance measures. The Committee were advised that the measures were those determined by the Local Government data unit that were selected as a snapshot of performance across welsh authorise. As such the Council did not have any control or input into what measures were considered.

Members discussed the ranking of Newport as 22 out of 22 Authorities. Members noted that the information contained within the report was minimal, due to it being a snapshot of overall performance. It was agreed that the detail behind the performance would need to be considered in more detail to fully consider the impact of the comparatively low performance in many areas. The importance of Scrutiny in drilling down into the service areas performance at future meetings was discussed.

Conclusion – Comments to the Cabinet

Members were concerned about the overall performance of the authority compared with the other Welsh Authorities. Members felt that there was limited detail in the report to be able to assess the underlying reasons for dips in performance, acknowledging that this report was a snapshot of overall performance.  The Committee agreed that areas where performance had been identified for improvement, that this would be considered in more detail when the Committee considers the service area performance update at its next meeting.

The Senior Overview and Scrutiny presented the report to Members and outlined the purpose of the report in seeking the Committees approval for items on its work programme for the next two meetings.

The Committee were advised that currently scheduled for its meeting in December was a detailed performance update on the relevant service areas. However, at the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee on 28 September, the Head of Finance advised the Committee that the may be a change to the way in which the budget proposals were released. They were advised that this could be done in two stages this year, with the first group of proposals released for consultation following the Cabinet Meeting in November, and a second group of proposals released at the December Cabinet Meeting. As such, if this change was confirmed, the work programme for December and January for this Committee would be altered to consider the budget proposals at both meetings.

Members discussed the paperwork that had been included within the agenda for todays meeting. Members commended the officers in streamlining the paperwork presented to the Committee today, however it was queried whether it would be better to present the items for each service area together, rather than segmented into budget, improvement plan and performance.

Members were advised that this had been discussed with the Chairperson, however as the Committee were receiving the Cabinet reports under the new Committee structure, it was constrained to the way in which Cabinet received the information.  The Officer suggested that should the Committee be of the opinion that the information should be presented differently, that it could make that recommendation to the Cabinet for consideration.

Members discussed Senior Officers attendance at Committee meetings, and number of Cabinet Member and Senior officers required to attend due to the remit of the Committee extending over a number of portfolios. The Chair reiterated the importance of the Scrutiny function in holding the executive and senior officers to account for performance, which could not be achieved without their continued involvement and attendance, as had been the case today.

Members discussed the use of the pre meeting, and considered whether in future meetings it would be helpful to have the Head of Finance (for budget related items) and the Head of People and Business Change (for performance related items) to attend the pre meeting. The purpose of this would be to provide appropriate context to the report and to assist the Committee in understanding of detailed information. Members agreed to consider this where appropriate for future meetings through the Chairperson.

The Committee approved the draft forward work programme for the next two meetings, noting the potential change due to the release of the Cabinet Draft Budget Proposals.