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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Virtual Meeting

Contact: Neil Barnett  Scrutiny Adviser

Items
No. Item

1.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

None.

2.

Minutes of the previous meeting held on 24 February 2021 pdf icon PDF 136 KB

Minutes:

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 24 February 2021 were accepted and approved as an accurate record, with the following amendment:

 

A Member of the Committee requested a mention of the use of greening which is useful information to be included within the minutes. It was agreed for this to be added in retrospectively about the point from social and housing; where private residential homes were given seed packs to motivate them in becoming more green which the committee felt important to note and follow it up locally.

 

3.

Formation of a Regional PSB pdf icon PDF 122 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Invitees:

-          Rhys Cornwall – Head of People and Business Change

-          Tracy McKim – Policy, Partnership and Involvement Manager

-          Nicola Dance – Senior Policy and Partnership Officer

 

The Policy, Partnership and Involvement Manager gave apologies for the Head of People and Business Change, and then gave a brief overview of the formation of the Regional Public Services Board (PSB), to help explain to the Committee what could entail for the Council as a result. The Officer referred to page 21 of the pack which states that the same has been received by all Local Authorities within Gwent, therefore deemed relevant for every scrutiny committee to have sight of this. The report took Members through the formation of the Regional Gwent Services Board and the Regional Public Services Board in every area in Newport, such as One Newport which was established by the Wellbeing Future Generations Act.

 

Members were advised that there has been discussion across Gwent and in the G10 Partnership, amongst all leads from the Gwent PSBs to acknowledge the work that Newport City Council does is in common with other areas, and the challenges that they all face are in common also. Therefore it has been deciphered whether they would be better working as one Public Service Board. The team’s main work has been producing a well-being assessment. The officer explained that they have one assessment for Newport with a Ward Assessment and one for the well-being plan for Gwent, as a regional body that will arrange a range of partnerships on a Gwent Level, the report outlines these with further detail.

 

The Officer informed Members that there has been lots of dialogue over a period of time about a Gwent Public Service Board and what that could mean for local partnerships, as they will no longer be covered by the act as a Public Services Board but both would support the regional body, but this can be moulded to what the council needs it to be. The changes to the council are something that the council has to take a view on especially with the well-being plan and well-being assessment as they legally form what the council is and what it does affect in terms of reference for the council and committee. The Partnership Committee came into action at the same time as the PSB, and looks at a range of partnerships including the PSB and within that remit, Community Safety.

 

The change that the Committee would see right away would be that they review and comment on the Well-being Plan. It was stressed that will still happen as it is scheduled into the programme and is an important activity for the council to undertake. The Committee would also have responsibility to call in any community safety items, so if there is something the Members may wish to bring forward in the future, they can.

 

As the new plan develops, it will be developed on the Gwent footprint with local scrutiny committees to scrutinise the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

4.

Scrutiny Adviser Reports pdf icon PDF 123 KB

a)      Forward Work Programme Update (Appendix 1)

b)      Actions Plan (Appendix 2)

c)      Information Reports

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Invitees;

- Neil Barnett – Scrutiny Adviser

 

The Scrutiny Adviser presented the forward work programme, and informed the Committee

of the topics due to be discussed at the next two meetings:

 

6 October 2021

-  Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children

-  One Newport PSB Well-being Plan Annual Report

 

3 November 2021

-  Norse Joint Venture Partnership – Strategy and Performance Review

-  Education Achievement Service – Value for Money 2020-21

 

Members asked the following:

 

·       Discussion ensued and the Committee requested to have the Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children agenda item to be conducted as an individual meeting on due to its importance, and it is the first report the Committee will have received relating to this. The Scrutiny Adviser advised the Committee that he would discuss this with the Head of Children and Young People Services to see if the report can come to separate meeting.

 

·       The committee queried whether they could invite other parties to attend the Norse Partnership agenda item, such as Newport Association School Governors and any other parties where they can share their thoughts on how the partnership is working. Members stated is an important meeting as it is the first full report that the Committee has had from them to scrutinise. It was agreed that the Scrutiny Adviser would discuss this with the Acting Head of Regeneration to see if this would be appropriate.

 

 

Members then asked if it would be appropriate for them to use their own examples when putting forward constructive criticism to Norse in the November meeting. Scrutiny Advisor responded by confirming they are more than welcome to if they have got some evidence from schools that they work with. Members were reminded that they could always request information and email it to the committee if they cannot get an answer within the meeting.

 

It was appreciated that every school governor will have different concerns about Newport Norse, so if a governor has questions to ask then that is the motive of scrutiny.

 

b) Actions Plan

The Scrutiny Adviser advised the Committee that since February; they have actioned the comments and sent them to Cabinet for the Public Services Board Well-being Plan 2020-21 Q2 Performance and also the comments to EAS for the Education Achievement Service (EAS) Business Plan 2021 – 2022.

 

c) Information Reports

There were no Information Reports to bring to the Committee’s attention.