1. A-Z of Services
  2. A
  3. B
  4. C
  5. D
  6. E
  7. F
  8. G
  9. H
  10. I
  11. J
  12. K
  13. L
  14. M
  15. N
  16. O
  17. P
  18. Q
  19. R
  20. S
  21. T
  22. U
  23. V
  24. W
  25. X
  26. Y
  27. Z

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 1 - Civic Centre. View directions

Contact: Daniel Cooke  Scrutiny Adviser

Items
No. Item

1.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

None received

 

2.

Minutes of the Meeting held on 12/07/2019 pdf icon PDF 91 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The minutes were recorded as a true and accurate record

 

Matters arising

 

Action Sheet:

 

§  Point 1: It was noted that the VAWDASV mandatory training monitoring information was out of date. The data was made available every November, the training was carried out as a rolling programme and therefore needed to be monitored.

 

The Head of Corporate Safeguarding would be contacted for further information.

 

§  Point 5: FOI to ensure webpage to be expanded for citizens – completed information negated.

 

 

3.

Corporate Plan Annual Report 2018 /19 pdf icon PDF 101 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

 Attendee:

-           Debbie Wilcox, Leader

-           Will Godfrey, Chief Executive

-           James Harris, Strategic Director – People

-           Beverly Owen, Strategic Director – Place

 

The Leader of the Council thanked the Committee for having the opportunity to present the plan before standing down as Leader of the Council.

 

This was the second Annual Report on the Corporate Plan, which set out the administration’s objectives.  The Plan was a snapshot of what the council had delivered however, the Leader advised that it was important for members to understand that more detailed information would be made available if required by the Committee.

 

§  The Leader referred to the financial challenges faced by the Council.  The budget was discussed a recent Finance Sub-Committee with the Corporate Director – People and it was hoped that funding from the Welsh Government would be passed down to the Local Authority. 

 

§  There was a rising demand in key front line services such as Social Services and Education, however, it was becoming difficult to put additional funding into these areas. 

 

§  By comparison with the 22 Councils in Wales, Newport City Council’s Performance indicators, nine out of 18 were above the Welsh National Average Wales and nine out of 18 were below.  NEETS and Housing were showing an impressive improvement.  Areas that were underperforming were being monitored by the Senior Leadership Team and Corporate Management Team.

 

§  The Four Wellbeing Objectives Themes within the in Corporate Plan were being developed.

 

§  The Young Person’s Promise was delivered, which could lead onto an apprenticeship programme and graduate programme.  Safeguarding children was still a challenge. Rose Cottage, which opened in January 2019 helped to reduce the impact of out of county placements, making savings from relocating.  A second property within Newport was due to be purchased.

 

§  The Leader recently opened Oaklands with the Mayor and mentioned the wonderful work achieved by staff for those in respite care. 

 

§  Feedback from the recent Estyn inspection was positive, A-Level results were at 53% and GCSE A*-C grades at 58%.

 

§  The Regeneration portfolio was improving the city centre along with the newly opened International Conference Centre at the Celtic Manor, the Post office building and the Undergraduate and Postgraduate departments within the Information Station.

 

§  Recycling had increased beyond the expected predictions.

 

§  Civil Parking Enforcement Officers from 1 July reduced illegal parking and had a positive result on the environment.

 

§  Ringland Neighbourhood hub was almost completed.

 

The Chair thanked the Leader for her presentation and the committee took the opportunity to congratulate the Leader and Chief Executive on their new endeavours.

 

The Committee asked the following questions:

 

§  A Member asked why was the software academy and IQE were included in the plan, as these were the City’s achievement not the Council’s achievement.  It was explained that although the detailed work that sat behind these companies were not under the Council’s control, the IQE, a high-tech facility in Newport and the National Software Academy (NSA) were used as  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

4.

Draft Economic Regeneration Strategy Update pdf icon PDF 119 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Attendee:

-           Beverly Owen, Strategic Director – Place

-           Keir Duffin, Head of Regeneration Investment and Housing

-           Tracey Brooks, Development & Regeneration Manager

 

The Head of Regeneration and Housing gave a presentation to the Committee on the draft Economic Growth Strategy Update for 2020.

 

The Committee asked the following questions:

 

The Chair thanked the Head of Regeneration and Housing for an interesting and informative presentation and felt that the document was pitched at the right level and that the information was relevant and right.  It was a very good document with the right balance of graphics.  There was also enough for scrutiny to measure.

 

A member of the Committee did mention that the arrows were slightly confusing. It was noted however that the arrows were meant as to indicate the direction of travel and not the targets.

 

The Committee asked why was the Newport Hub under aspirational people, should this be under wellbeing.  This was in relation to visitors to city, information was being collected to find out why people are coming to the city as it was important to know what was attracting visitors.  An example given was the Newport Ship, who was attending, was there potential and should the council build on this as number were increasing to over 100 thousand.

 

The Committee asked was data being collected on self-employed people as they were a major contributors to the Newport economy the Development and Regeneration Manager would find out if there were performance indicators in relation to self-employed people.

 

The Committee referred to the Citizens Panel and the Newport Economic Network, as key leaders were brought together in Newport by these groups it was felt that more of an explanation was required.

 

The Committee liked SWOT analysis layout however, it was felt that more evidence could be provided.

 

With regard to Property Maintenance 19% of landlords were classed as rogue landlords. The Committee would like to see this moved into the ‘Challenges’ category and negligent landlords added to the ‘Threats’ category.

 

There was no mention of the impact the of M4 corridor had on businesses and although it was a national problem it had an important role to play in the consultative process.

 

A member of the Committee referred to the whole time equivalent gross earnings, as there were highly paid jobs however, poorly paid jobs were growing.  It was felt that if we did not have ‘drivers’ coming to Newport the city would be left behind and we should therefore aspire to drive up earnings.  There was also a need for students from the university to stay in the city.  A high level of students attending Cardiff Met University stay in Cardiff and help to regenerate the city. If we could retain a small percentage of the cohort that would be an achievement, therefore could the figures be presented in a more attractive way.

 

A member of the committee mentioned that the document was greatly improved with a reduction of approximately 10 pages of repetition.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.

Scrutiny Adviser Reports pdf icon PDF 88 KB

a)      Forward Work Programme Update (Appendix 1)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Scrutiny Adviser Reports – Forward Work Plan

 

The Committee discussed the forward work plan ad referred to the Downstream side of waste and Non-registered waste, which could be picked up as a service plan.

 

Date of Next Meeting

 

1st November 2019

            Agenda Items to include;

·         Director of Social Services Annual Report 2018/2019

·         Performance Management Strategy – Recommendations Monitoring

·         Local Toilet Strategy

 

24th January 2020

            Agenda Items to include;

·         Draft Budget Proposals and MTFP 2020/21