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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

2.

Minutes of the Meeting held on 26/09/2019 pdf icon PDF 116 KB

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 26 September 2019 was approved as a true and accurate record.

3.

Draft Director of Social Services Report 2018 - 2019 pdf icon PDF 138 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Attendee:

-       James Harris, Strategic Director – People

-       Jenny Jenkins, Service Manager - Adult & Community Services

 

The Strategic Director – People presented a brief overview to the Committee and highlighted the key areas for consideration.

2018/19 was another demanding year characterised by the maintenance of quality and standards of service delivery. The task of embedding the 2014 Social Services and Well Being Act continued and had helped positively in the re-shaping of Early Intervention and Preventative Services. This had assisted in the ongoing work to manage demand. The well-being objectives wind through all social services operations and tie closely to the Newport City Council (NCC) Corporate Plan, notably:

 

-           To improve skills, educational outcomes and employment opportunities.

-           To enable people to be healthy, independent & resilient.

-           To build cohesive & sustainable communities.

 

Each year financial constraints become more significant when available budgets are set against rising costs and increasing demand. There was a continuous striving to minimise costs and identify savings. In Children Services efforts have continued to concentrate on addressing the shortage of placement options and the associated costs as well as appropriately minimising the numbers of looked after children. Work in Adults Services had included the managing of demand and the building of capacity through the integration of health and social care, the Integrated Care Fund and the Transformation Fund being key enablers. As usual, there had also been a drive to minimise delayed transfers of care and these were kept at manageable levels, although there remains scope to improve. The Care in Wales inspection reports and performance indicators demonstrate however, that the service delivered to children and adults was being maintained, a significant achievement. In addition to legislative change and financial challenges, the use and application of the Welsh Community Care and Information System (WCCIS) had been developed during the year. Partnership working had developed further with the other South East Wales Local Authorities with numerous joint initiatives maintained and developed. The integrated partnership with Barnardo’s has also remained a strength with a retendering for the strategic partnership delivered by Barnardo’s recently completed. The Regional Partnership Board at which the third sector, Aneurin Bevan University Health Board and South East Wales Local Authorities are represented continues to be an important route for the transformation of health and social care and Newport City Council engages fully in this process. 2019/20 will prove no less challenging but social services in Newport City Council were lean, efficient and well-placed to respond.

 

Members asked the following:

 

·                A Member asked for clarification on staff turnover and the movement of Social Workers within the authority. The Strategic Director for People replied explaining that it had been a challenge in the past, but turnover of staff in recent years had been low, and that all post are currently filled. Feedback received from Social Workers was positive, saying that working in Newport holds more of a challenge, which could be an attraction to some people. Pay was less inferior than in previous years to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

4.

Performance Management Strategy - Recommendations Monitoring pdf icon PDF 107 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Attendee:

-       Tracy McKim - Policy Partnership & Involvement Manager

-       Howard Mason -  Senior HR & OD Business Partner

 

The Policy Partnership & Involvement Manager presented a brief overview to the Committee and highlighted they key areas for consideration. The Performance Management Strategy (The Strategy) has been developed by the Business Improvement and Development Team to ‘embed’ a strong performance culture where everyone wasaware of their contribution to the council’s vision. This was the first Strategy of its kind in the Council and works to the overall mission statement. The Strategy uses ‘The Golden Thread’ strategic map to explain the process of how the Public Service Board’s Wellbeing Plan influences everything between the Council’s Corporate Plan and the work done by frontline staff. The Strategy claims to be relevant to two groups of people;

 

-           All employees of the Council who each contribute to delivering the Council’s vision through their day-to-day activities.

-           All Members and managers who are responsible for assessing the Council’s progress against planned objectives.

 

Members asked the following:

 

·                A Member drew attention to the Clear Review (Individual Performance Management System) section of the report, asking for clarification of the percentage of constructive anonymous feedback given.  The Officer confirmed that the constructive feedback is continuing to improve, however the wording around the 4% would be amended to reflect.

 

·                Members of the Committee enquired about the Clear Review, asking if setting meetings every four weeks was too frequent, who defined the demand for four weekly reviews and not quarterly. Does the system cover everybody in the Authority? Officers explained that for the most part the system was very robust and worked very well for full time staff, meetings generally would take between 20 minutes and 2 hours dependant to how regularly staff interact with their managers. Officers confirmed that for the Leader, Chief Executive and schools the system was slightly different.

 

·                Members of the Committee asked for an explanation on how the reporting was monitored, asking was there a RAG Status being used, and if the system had given two-way recognition.  Officers confirmed that feedback and comments were recorded. Objectives set by staff in Clear Review were linked to the service plan objectives. Tasks and actions were set between the Line Manager and the Officer, these were monitored between both Officers.

 

·                A Member enquired if the Authority were allowing enough time in the working day to collate information, asking if it was counterproductive. The Officer responded by explaining that other forms of communication took place for staff including corridor conversations, co setting of KPI’s or more formal coaching. It remained a two-way conversation between line managers and their staff. Officers confirmed that the system was paperless. The drawbacks to the system included how conversations outside of the 1-1 environment were not captured, however there was an emphasis on coaching, additional support and training, and for exceptional performance.

 

The Chair thanked the officers for attending.

 

 

Conclusion - Comments to the Cabinet

 

The Committee noted the Performance Management Strategy  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.

Local Toilet Strategy pdf icon PDF 83 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Attendee:

·           Jonathan Keen - Regulatory Services Manager Environment and Community

 

The Regulatory Services Manager Environment and Community presented a brief overview to the Committee and highlighted the key areas for consideration.

The Council are required to produce a Local Toilet Strategy by Part 8 of the Public Health (Wales) Act 2017: Provision of Toilets. This came into force on the 31 May 2018. The overall aim of this Strategy was to review where public toilets are currently provided in Newport and establish an action plan to ensure adequate toilet facilities are available in the future to meet the needs of the public.

 

Members asked the following:

 

·                Members of the Committee expressed an interest and welcomed the strategy, stating that they would like to see a commitment from the strategy, so that residents and visitors to Newport know about the facilities and the Council commit to keeping them open and available.

 

·                A Member of the Committee commented on the list of toilet facilities recorded in the report, advising that there were more toilets to be added to the list mentioning Newport Centre as one of them. The Officers replied to the Committee confirming that a list of additional public toilets in Newport would be welcomed to add to the draft strategy. The Officer confirmed that Newport Centre was not happy to open all of their toilet facilities to the public.

 

·                A Member asked the Officer to confirm timescales for the Toilet Strategy. The Officer replied explaining that strategy needed to be added to the forward work plan by the summer, going back out to public consultation before heading back to Cabinet in 2020.

 

·                A Member of the Committee spoke about Welsh Government recognising the issues with public toilets and offering funding for private owned toilets, stating that it might be an idea for Newport to take on board. The Officer confirmed that money from the funding for that was no longer separated out, but may look at a Neutral Gender facility to save space.

 

·                Members commented on the key points raised by Newport Access Group, agreeing that some of the points raised needed to be taken into consideration as modern electrical wheelchairs are very wide and would possibly need a double width toilet for disabled residents and visitors to the area.  

 

·                A Member expressed concerns regarding the need for a range of the following toilet facilities in the City Centre; 24-hour toilets, temporary toilets and attended toilets. It was also mentioned that a contribution could be sought from nightclubs and pubs for providing the facility.

 

The Chair thanked the officers for attending.

 

Conclusion - Comments to the Cabinet

 

The Committee noted the Draft Toilet Strategy and agreed to forward the minutes to the Cabinet Member as a summary of the issues raised.

 

The Committee wished to make the following comments to the Cabinet Member:

 

1.    Updated ActionPlan to be circulated to the Committee

2.    The Committee requested that the final report be added to the forward work programme for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

Scrutiny Adviser Reports pdf icon PDF 89 KB

a)      Forward Work Programme Update (Appendix 1)

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Attendees:

·                Daniel Cooke (Scrutiny Adviser)

 

a)         Forward Work Programme Update

 

The Scrutiny Adviser presented the Forward Work Programme, and informed the Committee of the topics due to be discussed at the next two committee meetings:

 

24 January 2020, the agenda items;

·               Draft Budget and MTFP 2020/21

 

19 March 2020, the agenda item;

·               Annual Corporate Safeguarding Report

·               Civil Parking Enforcement Implementation Monitoring