Agenda and minutes

None.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 6 March 2019 were approved as a true and accurate record.

 Attendees:

-       Matt Lewis – Chief Officer (Shared Resource Service)

-       Kath Beavan-Seymour – Assistant Director (Shared Resource Service)

-       Mike Doverman – User Support Manager (Shared Resource Service)

-       Rhys Cornwall – Head of People and Business Change (Newport City Council)

-       Mark Bleazard – Digital Services Manager (Newport City Council)

-       Dominic Gibbons – Digital Projects Manager (Newport City Council)

The Head of People and Business Change presented a brief overview of the report to the Committee and highlighted the key areas for consideration. The Committee were advised that the deadlines associated with the Investment Objectives (IO) were out of date and had been updated since the report had been published. An updated report with the new deadline would be circulated for information.

Members asked the following:

·                Members commented that they would like more detailed information included in the IO updates, and that the two line updates did not provide sufficient information. Members were advised that most of the IO were linked to others, for instance, IO 8 had strong links to IO 2 and to avoid repetition the information was not included twice.

The SRS Officers accepted that this was not clear in the report and in the future they would look to group IOs together that shared similar information for clarity.

·                Members noted that the IO update information included was similar to the information included in last year’s report. The User Support Manager used the IO 2 update as an example in their response. The Disaster Recovery solutions, was completed in two phases, the first of the phases had been completed. The second of the phases had been given a two-year plan to be completed in 2021. SRS included information on both phases in the update to show that progress had been made in completing the first phase, and when SRS expected Phase Two to be completed.

·                The Committee queried why the IO deadlines had been extended. The Chief Officer advised that Phase Two had a number of priorities, which required assessment prior to work continuing. For example, iTrent was hosted by the Council and would be migrated to SRS shortly. Prior to the migration, preparations had to take place to scope this was timely and went smoothly. Newport had 21 systems, this meant that there was a lot of work that needed to be completed to prepare for each migration and in some cases, a transition to another system which could provide the same or better service at less cost. The initial deadline in 2017 had been indicative only, and the purpose of Phase Twos was to migrate all services to Blaenavon. The Head of People and Business Change outlined the significant capital investment that was required for completion of IO 2.

·                Members queried how SRS kept focus on core targets. The SRS concept was to focusing on the needs of the organisation, while maintaining low costs and looking to invest for the future. The change to Microsoft Office 360 was a very  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Attendee:

-       Phil Diamond – Regional Partnership Board Regional Team

-       Roxanne Green – Regional Partnership Board Regional Team

-       James Harris – Strategic Director - People

The Strategic Director – People advised the Committee that the Head of Children & Young People Services and the Head of Adult and Community Services had sent their apologies for the meeting. The Director continued to present a brief overview to the Committee and highlighted they key areas for consideration. The Director explained that the Regional Partnership Board was very significant for Newport and the region, and was a partnership that not only delivered services, but also drove change and improvement for the all parties involved.

Members asked the following:

·                Members were pleased to see the budget on page 79 of the report. It was asked how the budget was shared out, and if there was a summary for Newport. The Officer advised that Newport had been given a £1,300,000 investment. The funds for the emerging financial year had not yet been fully committed, so the report was not a full picture of what each area had. It was also noted there were various funding streams, such as Dementia Friends funding.

The Strategic Director explained that the challenge for Newport was making sure that Newport was appropriate proportion of services, which he believed it was. The Regional Area Team took a holistic view and approach to how care was delivered across Gwent. Newport in some instances got less than a proportional share and others get more, but this was determined on the needs of the area. There was a give and take by all of the regions in Gwent, although Newport did get a fair share.

·                The Committee discussed the number of people who had received the Attachment Training, and Members asked if they could be given details on the number of people in Newport who have received the training. The Officer advised that a quarter of staff had reported for training. The details were available to be seen by the public across Gwent, as such include all of Gwent, but the Officer instructed the Members that a report just for Newport could be provided.

Member enquired about the procurement of the training provided by the Regional Area Team. The Officer explained that the Attachment training, in particular, had been funded through the ICF. This might not have been brought into Newport had it not been for partnership working. The training had been in high demand, as there were only 20 places per training session. The Regional Area Team would have liked to have been able to deliver the training to every Social Work Team and health partner, but due to funding restraints, this was difficult. After the training, what normally followed was a ‘Train the Trainer’ session. The Regional Area Team hoped that the ‘Train the Trainer’ would allow every team to have some access to the training through Team Members who were able to pass on their knowledge.

The Strategic Director informed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

a)       Forward Work Programme Update (Appendix 1)

b)       Action Sheet (Appendix 2)

c)       Information Report

d)       Scrutiny Letters / Public Services Board 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 committee meeting:

Wednesday 5 June 2019, the agenda items;

·               EAS Contribution – Financial Year 2018-19

·               Value for Money Model for Commissioning Arrangements

·               Draft Annual Forward Programme

b)        Action Arising

The Scrutiny Adviser advised the Committee of the actions that have been completed and that he would chase up information on the school categorisation matrix from the EAS Business Plan 2019-20.

c)         Information Reports

                   None       

d)        Scrutiny Letters

None