Agenda item

The Leader introduced the first item on the agenda today, which was the Gwent Regional Partnership Board (RPB) Annual Report as required in the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act 2014.

The Strategic Director, as the designated Director for Social Services, had a statutory duty under the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act 2014 (SSWB) and as amended by the Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016 to produce an annual report.

The Gwent RPB Annual Report set out duties for the Council to complete an Area Plan and Annual Report.

The Welsh Government set out the statutory framework for the development of our regional Area (action) Plan to include how joint health and social care priorities would be delivered in partnership across the region.

The RPB fully adopt the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2105 (WFG) principles and were aligned to the SSWB Act principles.

The progress on the delivery of our Area Plan was set out in the RPB Annual Report. The format and nature of the report was determined by Welsh Government with a requirement for the report to be submitted to the Welsh Government and statutory partners.

The report highlighted that in Children’s Services, the correlation between accessing care and support and poverty was well documented in research. In adult social care the role of unpaid care givers created particular socio-economic challenges for those with high levels of vulnerability.

During 2022 -2023, the impact of the cost-of-living challenge can be clearly seen in the referrals and requests for support to Social Services and the increasing demand for Prevention and Inclusion Services. This impact was reflected throughout this report.

The Leader was pleased to note that there was a good discussion with Members when the report was presented to the Council’s Performance Scrutiny Committee (PSC) for Partnerships on Tuesday 10 October.  The Leader thanked the Chair of PSC for their contribution.

The Leader invited the Cabinet Member for Social Services (Adult Services) to say a few words.

The report set out the Council’s responsibilities focussing on working with partnership organisations to create synergy across the services. Councillor Hughes attended a recent in-house staff conference with his Cabinet Member colleague Councillor Marshall, which showed how the Council came together.  Taking pressure off the NHS was crucial as well as decreasing the number of babies, children and young people entering care. Health and social care services were under immense pressure and support for young families, keeping young people out of care as well as looking after an increasingly aging population was a financial challenge. Working to strengthen partnerships was making a real difference as there was an increased focus on community care and integrated pathways of care in Newport and the Council was leading the way. Councillor Hughes thanked members of the Performance and Scrutiny Committee - Partnerships for their contribution.

Comments of Cabinet Members:

§  Councillor Davies welcomed the latest action plan, which adopted the Marmot principle with a focus on mental health. Councillor Davies looked forward to seeing future reports with their progress documented.

Decision:

Cabinet

1.      Considered the joint regional commitments within the Area Plan.

2.      Reviewed the RPB Annual Report and progress made against the objectives; and provided any feedback/comments.