To provide an opportunity to pose questions to Cabinet Members in line with Standing Orders.
Process:
No more than 10 minutes will be allocated at the Council meeting for questions to each Cabinet Member.
Members must submit their proposed questions in writing in advance in accordance with Standing Orders. If members are unable to ask their question orally within the allocated time, remaining questions will be answered in writing. The question and response will be appended to the minutes.
The question must be addressed through the Mayor or the person presiding at the meeting and not directly to the person being questioned.
Questions will be posed to Cabinet Members in the following order:
i. Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Assets and Member Development
ii. Cabinet Member for Education and Skills
iii. Cabinet Member for Social Services
iv. Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Housing
v. Cabinet Member for Community and Resources
vi. Cabinet Member for Streetscene
vii. Cabinet Member for Licensing and Regulation
viii. Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure
For information: A digest of recent decision schedules issued by Cabinet, Cabinet Members and Minutes of recent meetings of Committees has been circulated electronically to all Members of the Council.
Minutes:
The following questions were submitted and answered.
Cabinet Member for Social Services / Cabinet Member for Education and Skills
Councillor Joan Watkins asked:
A recent question at any time on the cost issue of the Out of area placements for children in Newport revealed that the figure involved now stands at £4,683,192. Would the Cabinet Member agree that this is an enormous figure giving rise to serious concern. I understand children are being placed as far afield as Scotland, such distances will increase the cost to the Authority in terms of social workers time and travel etc. Additionally placing a child so far away from family and friends may have a detrimental effect on that child. What measures does he have in place to address this issue and as a matter of urgency?
What is the time scale for providing the SEBD Special school which has been mentioned and what other measures are in place to reduce this cost by making provision in Newport?
The Cabinet Member for Social Services responded:
The Cabinet Member expressed surprise that this question had been submitted when details had already been shared at the last two scrutiny meetings, at the Corporate Parenting Forum, and at Cabinet, however the question was welcomed to record what was being done to tackle this issue.
It was confirmed that Children’s Services recognise the need to maintain our most vulnerable children close to Newport and have dedicated an ‘invest to save’ project to reduce the number of Out of County placements.
Children’s services currently have 10 residential children’s beds across Cambridge House and Forest Lodge. These homes have been at full capacity for the majority of this year. In addition, Oaklands home offers respite to children with disabilities which has proved to support many families in caring for their children at home and reduce possible admissions to local authority care.
At present, 27 children were accommodated in Out of County residential placements. Most placement decisions were made through the courts, and therefore had to be followed – and this was a pressure faced by Councils nation-wide.
Of the 27 children accommodated Out of County:
· 4 would turn 18 this year and therefore would move on from residential care or will transfer to an adult service.
· 5 have disabilities and are placed in a specialist residential setting, within 20 minutes’ drive of Newport.
£1.5 million has been agreed for the development of 3 new children’s homes which will increase capacity by 12 beds.
The first home, Rose Cottage, is due to open at the end of this year and will allow for 4 children to return to Newport.
The project team have identified ideal criteria for homes and continue to search for further, suitable properties from which we can offer quality residential provision to the children of Newport.
In conclusion, there is a body of work taking place nationally and regionally to address the dearth of suitable placements for children in care. In Newport as well as playing a full role in the wider work we are also focussing on developing Newport solutions for Newport children. As well as the work to grow our residential options we are also exploring wider support for children in foster care and increased recruitment of foster placements.
The Cabinet Member for Education and Skills responded:
I have asked officers to complete a scoping exercise to establish a SEBD school in our City so that we can provide local pupils with a local provision. We are also working with other local authorities which have successful SEBD schools so that we can share best practice at this early stage. I believe that establishing a SEBD school in Newport will provide improved value for money.
I am unable to provide you with an exact timeframe of when we can establish a SEBD school but I can assure you that we are assessing our capital assets to find a suitable venue. I would expect this exercise to conclude by October 2018.
I should point out that we have a previous track record of success in establishing local provision for complex needs. Ysgol Bryn Derw was the first ASD School to open in the region in September 2017. This local provision allowed us to bring back Out of County pupils in to a local Special School and prevent further pupils having to access Out of County provision.
The Out of Area spend for Newport is large, however only a few weeks ago I answered a Question at Any Time from Cllr Watkins which responded in saying that there is no national data collected across Wales to be able to benchmark this figure and provide a meaningful comparison with other local authorities. The Leader and I have raised our concerns to the Cabinet Secretary through the WLGA. There is strong agreement on the need for a national review of Out of County Educational places so that we can collectively understand and address the issue.
When I consider Newport’s Out of County spend, I am on one hand glad that pupils who have identified complex needs have been provided with the right learning provision. This is vitally important I am sure you will agree, but as Cabinet Member for Education and Skills I am concerned about the high costs of Out of County places which private, independent providers charge local authorities. An example of such cost is £85,000 for one pupil place in a SEBD School (Social Emotional Behaviour Disorder).
Nonetheless, when a child requires an ‘educational’ Out of County placement, we are able to work within a relatively small radius. Pupils are largely placed in Cardiff, Caerphilly and Monmouthshire (all neighbouring local authorities).
Finally I will add that it would be very unlikely that any local authority would have all pupils with complex needs educated within their locality. Some pupils with the highest level of complex needs require such specialist support (frequent medical attention) that their needs can only be met by a specialist provider. This is right and just.
Supplementary question:
In response to Councillor Watkins supplementary question to Councillor Cockeram, some additional details were provided around the purchase of Rose Cottage.
Cabinet Member for Community and Resources
Councillor Tom Suller asked:
Between January – July 2017 the council received a total of 170,371 calls, however 39,254 callers hung up the phone because of lengthy call wait times.
I am still hearing reports from the public of waiting times of over 20 minutes at certain times through the week.
Do the council think it was acceptable to make a cut to services of £20,00k in the current budget, when there is an argument the service should be improved? It is also true that the council are looking to see up to 80% of all public queries completed on-line over the next 2-3 years
The Cabinet Member responded:
The savings referred to are part of the Council’s effort to address the reduction in funding from the Government under the MTFP (Medium Term Financial Plan). The savings were agreed by full Council as part of the overall budget in February 2018.
The City Contact Centre answered 243,886 calls in 2017/2018 and the average speed of answer was under 5 minutes however there may be times such as Monday morning or after a bank holiday when the lines are busier than usual and wait times can be longer. Calls about Social Services were, on average, answered within 79 seconds. Customers are informed of the wait time when they ring so they can either choose to wait to speak to someone or call at a quieter time.
Over 60% of transactions are already carried out online by customers at and it is anticipated that this will increase over time as increasingly residents expect to carry out transactions quickly and easily 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Office for National Statistics recently published a report on internet use in the UK which found that 88.9% of residents in Wales had used the internet in the last 3 months. Under the Council’s Digital Strategy Customer Services aim is to deliver better online services and continue to support those who may be digitally excluded.
Supplementary question:
In response to Councillor Suller’s supplementary question about digital exclusion, the Cabinet Member cited the courses being offered in numerous community venues to help people get online.
Cabinet Member for Licensing and Regulation
Councillor Joan Watkins asked:
“The key issue raised through the Consultation process is that it is inappropriate to progress with the SPG until Air Quality Action Plans for each Air Quality Management Areas {AQMA’s} have been produced and adopted by the Council, or the Review of the Planning Policy has been undertaken. It is felt that without the action plans it will be challenging for a Developer to produce a mitigation plan and the mitigation proposed would be piecemeal and inconsistent.”
Further to the above
Caerleon has one of the worst areas of air pollution in Wales and has an AQMA in pace along its high Street. Can the council please give an update on why the Air Quality Action Plans are taking so long to be finalised? and stemming from the plans will the council give a guarantee that future updates to the LDP will include guidance for housing Developers that they should avoid areas where Air Quality Management Zones are in place?
The Cabinet Member responded:
The Council’s Supplementary Planning Guidance for air quality was adopted in February 2018 and provides clear guidance on developments within or near Air Quality Management Areas. No other Welsh Authority has such strict planning guidance on air quality. The SPG prevents any development proposals which are expected to have an unacceptable impact on human health because of air pollution.
This policy is already included in the current LDP, and the controls will be updated to reflect any changes in national policies and guidance.
During consultation on the Air Quality SPG, a comment was made that it would be challenging for a developer to produce air quality mitigation measures without an AQMA Action Plan for Caerleon. However, the purpose of the SPG was not to solve the existing air quality problems, but to deal with the impact of future developments.
An Action Plan for air quality is much more than just dealing with the levels of air pollution; it is in fact a sustainable travel plan that will impact every mode of transport across the city. From buses, electric vehicles, charging points, active travel - cycling and walking. The Action Plan will be a significant policy for the city that will have implications for all of us. Due to this reason it has taken time to formulate our approach. Now that the revised AQMAs are in place (as of 1st July 2018), full public consultation on the draft Action Plan will begin shortly.
I would also point out that, whilst the draft Action Plan is being prepared, work has already begun on a number of other environmental initiatives, for example, funding for a fuel economy scheme for fleet operators, funding for the integrated cycle network, a bid for electric buses to run through Caerleon, and a number of detailed studies on traffic flows and emissions monitoring in Caerleon. In addition, the Public Service Board is actively progressing with the development of a Sustainable Travel Plan.
Therefore, this Administration is committed to improving air quality in Newport and the Council’s performance is comparable with other large urban areas in Wales.
Councillor David Fouweather asked:
The cabinet member will be aware that there is a problem with dog fouling throughout the city. In 2017 just five fixed penalties were issued .Is he confident that this issue is being dealt with properly by his department and what plans does he have in place to ensure that residents who allow their dogs to foul are given fixed penalty notices?
The Cabinet Member responded:
Due to austerity measures and the reduction of resources over recent years, the size of the Community Safety Warden team has been reduced by a third since 2010. The team has also taken on additional statutory duties in order to ensure that regulatory functions continue to be delivered following reductions in resources elsewhere in the Licensing & Regulation portfolio, such as noise complaints and stray dog collection. It is also true that this is a challenging area of enforcement, as offenders are well aware of the law and often ensure that their dogs do not foul when Council officers are in the vicinity. Therefore, the numbers of fixed penalty notices for dog fouling has always been low, compared with other offences such as littering, because it is extremely difficult to catch offenders. However, we would encourage members of the public to report offenders, where they witness dog fouling taking place.
The Community Safety Warden Service will continue to deliver enforcement activity in this area, balanced with their other statutory regulatory duties such a noise nuisance and anti-social behaviour, both of which are high priorities for the Council and partner organisations.
Supplementary question:
In response to Councillor Fouweather’s supplementary question about the need to tackle this issue, the Cabinet Member explained the need to evidence offences in order to successfully tackle the problem, but urged the public to continue reporting these issues so that staff can respond.