Agenda and minutes

None.

The Minutes of the Meeting held on 3 April 2019 were approved as a true and accurate record.

Attendees:

- Will Godfrey, PSB Intervention Lead for The Newport Offer (Chief Executive NCC);

- Supt Ian Roberts, PSB Intervention Lead for Strong Resilient Communities

 (Gwent Police);

- Gary Handley, PSB Intervention Lead for Right Skills (Coleg Gwent);

- Ceri Davies, PSB Intervention Lead for Green and Safe Spaces (Natural Resources Wales);

- Ceri Doyle, PSB Intervention Lead for Sustainable Travel (RSLs)

The Chief Executive presented an overview of Chapters’ one and two of the annual report and explained that the mid-year Well-being Plan had been reported to the Committee in January. The Well-being Plan was the most physical outcome of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act, and was created with partners and adopted formally in May 2018.  It was coming to the end of the first year, and the annual report aimed to unpack the activity around the interventions. He also took the time to remind the Committee that while this report looked at the first year performance of the Wellbeing Plan, some interventions were working at different speeds and some had definitive outcomes that could be completed in a short space of time, whereas others had more long-term goals.

The report presented an overall picture of the performance for each of the interventions, each of which would be presented by the Lead Officer for the related intervention.

The Newport Offer

The Intervention Lead for The Newport Offer, the Chief Executive of Newport City Council explained that the intervention was aimed at attracting and retaining businesses to the City. Of the six steps outlined in the report, the first was the most defined. The vision of the city was being pursued with the creation of an Investment Brochure that would be published in a number of weeks, the City Centre Masterplan and a new website for the City. A working group had been created to implement actions within this intervention. The convention centre and chartist tower hotel were highlighted as key projects, both due for completion in September.  Throughout the five interventions, case studies were included which highlighted cases of best practice.

Members asked the following questions:

·        Performance Measure - ‘% people saying Newport is a good place to live’. Members asked how the target was set and would that target be used long term?

The Committee were informed that the target would move over time, the target was based on surveys conducted over previous years. The public’s perception of the City peaked in 2015, corresponding with the opening of the Friars Walk, and it was hoped that with future investment the figure would improve. It was explained that that they would look to increase the target to more aspirational levels each year, they were only nine months into a five year programme and perceptions of the city needed to change to enable these performance measures to improve.

·        Members stated that it was difficult for them to see the finished product when reading the Annual Report, but conceded that this might have been due to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

The Scrutiny Adviser introduced the Draft 2019-20 Annual Forward Work Programme to the Committee and presented an overview of the suggested topics included for the Committee’s consideration, the proposed Information reports and Briefing Sessions.  The discussion ensured that the Committee was happy with the role of the Committee in scrutinising each topic and the reasons for their prioritisation for consideration. The Committee also confirmed that the proposed timescale for receiving the reports were acceptable. The Scrutiny Adviser clarified that if the Committee wished to add, remove or accept a report for information only in future they could do so at any Committee meeting.  The Committee agreed that the topics proposed in the Draft Annual Forward Work Programme 2019 - 2020 were acceptable.

Conclusions:

1.     The Committee approved the Annual Forward Work Programme for 2019-20.

2.     The Committee agreed the 5pm start time for Committee meetings and approved the proposed schedule of meetings for 2019-20.