Agenda item

Attendees:

-              James Harris (Strategic Director - People)

-              Phil Diamond (Regional Partnership Board Regional Team)

The Regional Partnership Board Team Representative presented a brief overview to the Committee and highlighted they key areas for consideration.

Members asked the following:

·      A Member referred to the Core Themes listed on page 42 of the report, which were similar issues faced across the region and asked did the Partners engage and is there balance found between each Authority. 

Members were advised that for the partners to succeed they needed to see value in working together and engage. The priorities highlighted on page 43 were nationwide and were key areas for partners. The Strategic Director advised that it was surprising how common these issues were in Gwent.  The activities identified for the most part were all common issues. If a map was provided for those in need, such as Young Carers and Dementia, there would be hot spots across the region, but Newport is getting a fair share, and had the same profile broadly speaking.

·      A Member praised the service provided and acknowledged it was a challenging providing support in 28 days, but asked could the time be improved upon.

Members were advised that the 28 days was a timescale set by Welsh Government, however, this region is above the Welsh average for responding. Members then asked if there was scope in the service should someone’s issues get worse then the team could react faster. It was advised that there is a Mental Health practitioner in the Police Centre so if there was a serious case then they could take the necessary steps.

·      A Member asked what lessons had been learned from various panels over the year.

The Regional Officer advised that there is a regional citizens’ panel which feeds back and scrutinises the Regional Partnership Board at each meeting. There were also meetings in the 50+ and Youth Forums. In terms of every report highlighting progress, the board needed to make sure that the citizens’ voice is there from each forum.

·      A Member referred to the positive outcomes listed in the progress section, but felt there was a lack of objectiveness and asked how the Partnership was evaluating progress.

Members were advised that in terms of progress, the Partnership Board had set out equal challenges and there was a reporting mechanism to the Regional Partnership Board, with action plans evaluated at each meeting. There would be progress against each priority but also challenges highlighted in each report.
 

The Strategic Director advised that priorities were largely funded through the Integrated Care Fund projects, which required there to be detailed evaluation, rigorously evaluated from the Strategic Partnership Group. This took up an enormous amount of time. Each year there was an evaluation whether the project proceeds or not. Some had fallen by the wayside. 

The Scrutiny Adviser reminded the Committee that this would be the subject of a future report included on the Committee’s Forward Work Programme in October.

·      A Member asked what were the main challenges faced by the collective.

The Strategic Director advised that at times partnership work could be really challenging.  For a number of years the Partnership had been at a storming stage, with the large number of representatives sitting on the partnership board, but was now at the point where they could be very open and appropriately challenge the partners. However, it had not always been easy and there had been difficult meetings.

The Regional Officer advised that another challenge had been learning how to work with partners and the Health Board, as the landscape changed. Local Authorities had shared the Regional funding to help them all get to the same standard. Gwent is a more diverse regional area than others due to having five Local Authorities within the Health Board Region to form the Regional Partnership.

·      A Member enquired about turnover / retention of staff and asked whether the partnership worked with ex-servicemen.

The Strategic Director advised that the turnover varied in different areas, and in the staff working specifically to support the Regional Partnership Board turnover was low. The turnover within social care in Newport was slowing down, as was turnover of staff in Children’s Social Services. Adult Social Services were experiencing slower turnover than it had been, so it was not causing Newport any difficulties. Beyond Council services, turnover of staff in Domestic Care across the region was faster, but it was difficult to recruit in the first place.

The Regional Officer then advised the Committee that the partners had developed a storybook for schools with the ethos to help people get into employment in social care. Coleg Gwent had advised that 70% of pupils did not pursue a career. The book suggests that carers and nurses are superheroes and is part of planning how recruitment to health and social care careers needs to look in the future and ex-servicemen is very much linked into this.

The Strategic Director advised that he attended a mental health board meeting, which held a presentation about armed forces, the support they need and how services across the region should work together to support. While there was a lot to be done, there was a focus on this.

·      A Member asked whether the My Mate initiative could be included in the regional partnership work.

The Regional Officer advised that this would be fed back to the Mental Health Partnership and advised that the presentation shown was very powerful and promoted self-worth and employment, as its number one priority.

·      A Member asked given the partnership relationship had matured and improved, what were are the challenges going forward.

The Regional Officer advised there were a number of challenges, which included the mental health of younger people and an ageing and increasing population.  The Regional Partnership would highlight what can be done to look after people.

The Strategic Director advised that the partnership had been delivering services and functions with Integrated Care Fund funding to areas identified nationally or by the Partnership. There was Potential for impact and change by joint working opportunities e.g. Ringland Hub.  People would become more aware and want services faster in the future. The need for prioritisation would become more important and would be challenging in the coming years.

The Chair thanked the Invitees for attending.

Conclusions

The Committee noted the Regional Partnership Board Annual Report 2018-19 and agreed to forward the Minute to the Regional Partnership Board and the Cabinet Member as a summary of the issues raised and in particular, the following comments:

·      The Committee acknowledged that Welsh government had not required an Action Plan to be included in the statutory report provided, however concluded that without the data and information referred to by Officers from Action Plans and Dashboards used in their reports to the Partnership Board in their verbal responses to Members questions, it would have been difficult to establish the level of overall progress being made.

·      The Committee recognised the challenge and the priorities across the region and welcomed the professional and mature relationship developing between partners and the balancing of best interest and benefits of joint working being embraced and taken forward e.g. the Hub. There appeared to be a maturity of collectiveness moving forward with an expectation of mutual trust and respect among partners, which the Committee welcomed.