To receive apologies for absence from Members. 

Cllr P White, Cllr C Smith, Mark Shephard

To receive declarations of personal and prejudicial interest (if any) from Members/Officers in accordance with the provisions of the Members’ Code of Conduct adopted by Council from 1 September 2008.

The Following Declarations were made:

Cllr D Patel declared a personal interest in Item 5 – Mental Health Services in Bridgend, as she is a trustee of Mental Health Matters Wales.

Cllr R Young declared a personal interest in Item 5 – Mental Health Services in Bridgend as he is Chair of Mental Health Matters Wales

To receive for approval the Minutes of 19 11 18

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting of the 19 November 2018 be approved as a true and accurate record.

The Head of Performance and Partnership Services presented a report which updated the Cabinet Equalities Committee on domestic abuse and older people; and the perpetrator intervention (Choices) in Bridgend.

She explained the work of the Assia Suite which showed that in the year 2017-18, they supported a total of 973 female abuse victims and 153 male victims respectively. He stated that there would be no victims without perpetrators and was recognised locally and nationally that to protect and assist victims, a perpetrator programme is paramount.

A Member reiterated the importance of the Assia Suite and the work that they have done. He requested clarification regarding Alzheimer’s sufferers and asked what was considered a consensual relationship and how was this being monitored.

The representative from Calan DVS explained that they were unsure of the statistics relating to this as it was not being monitored at that time but could change with trends that occur. She also stated that Safer Lives may have further information and she would have happy to link in with them and provide any information regarding this.

A Member asked if they have statistics on LGBT relationships as well as relationships involving different genders.

The representative from Calan DVS said that they did have some data regarding this and would be happy to provide what they have.

A Member asked to what extent was dementia an issue and did this change the approach that is taken to deal with sufferers.

The Head of Performance and Partnership Services explained that it was not always a straightforward situation with regard to Dementia and Alzheimer’s sufferers. He gave an example of a situation where a wife was abusing her husband, on further investigation they discovered that it was the wife who was being abused. This changed the way they had to deal with the situation

The Leader was pleased with the evaluation of the project and found it encouraging that 100% of survivors would recommend the project. He believed this showed the effect that the project had on people and how it helped with keeping people safer. He was pleased to hear that the perpetrators saw the impact of the project and the impact it had on their own children.

A Member asked how the project was being monitored and was it robust in all areas, particularly children and victims.

The representative from Calan DVS assured Members that the project was continuously monitored to ensure all aspects of it are looked at and amended or updated when needed. She advised Members that there was currently an evaluation ongoing, which involved a Masters student performing a full analysis as part of their University course.

A Member asked for clarification on section 3.8 of the report which stated that an ‘adult family member’ being the primary perpetrator. She asked if not an adult family member, who else would the perpetrator be. 

The representative from Calan DVS explained that there have been many cases where older people have been living in homes and they  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44.

The Head of Adult Social Care presented a report that provided information to the Committee on the range of services across the County Borough.

She explained to Members the population of people with mental health problems in Bridgend and Wales and provided statistics. She explained that in Wales, 1 in 4 adults will experience some kind of mental health problem or illness within their lifetime and 2 in 100 people will have a severe mental illness such as Schizophrenia or Bipolar Disorder.

She also explained that in Bridgend the population assessment indicated that there will be an increase in the prevalence of dementia. The population of older adults 65+ is predicted to increase by 48% 2030.

She explained the adult mental health service provision and the current model for mental health services in Bridgend. Key components of the current model are included in the report.

She advised Members on the new Approved Mental Health Professional (AMHP) Service in Bridgend. She explained that the AMHPs are professionals who had been approved by the local authority to carry out certain duties under the Mental Health Act.

She also advised Members on the review of the Mental Health Social Work team where they aimed to better utilise resources to focus on key issues like provision of information, advice and assistance, prevention and early intervention and partnership working. She advised that this proposal was currently in the consultation phase.

The Locality Manager for Bridgend Mental Health and Learning Disability Services advised Members of the Local Authority Provision for supporting children and young people with mental health. He explained that the local authority employed seven school-based counsellors, two community counsellors and a play therapist, all of which are British Association of Counsellors Psychotherapists (BACP) registered. He explained that there was a minimum standard that had to be achieved to become qualified and that there are minimum supervision levels and continuous professional development requirements to maintain registration.

He explained the training that was accessible to officers, which included a wide range of organisations. He advised that further training was also rolled out on a wider scale when grant funding was available. He gave the example of Thrive training, which provided key school staff with the skills understanding to manage the emotional development of children and vulnerable children which disruptive/troubling behaviour.

The Representative from ABMU gave Members an update on CAHMS and the performance and strategic direction. She explained that in January 2018, it saw a significant decrease in waiting times and this trend continued for five months. However in May, performance started to reduce, which correlated with staff leaving and the delays that related to advertising and filling these posts. She commented on the ongoing boundary change from ABMU to Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board and said that they were looking to integrate the smaller teams into fewer but bigger teams, however they said they would need to wait until the boundary change is underway before implementing this idea.

A Member asked what training is  ...  view the full minutes text for item 45.

The Communications, Marketing and Engagement Manager presented a report which updated the Cabinet Committee Equalities on the implementation of the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 and the Welsh Language Standards.

She explained that since August 2018, work on meeting relevant standards and updating documentation continued. A draft action plan was being progressed to factor in any outstanding work as well as to address any issues that arose from the Welsh Language Commissioner’s best practice workshops at the end of 2018. She advised that the action plan would be scheduled in for the next meeting of Cabinet Committee Equalities in July 2019.

She explained that while at the Welsh Language Commissioner’s best practice workshop in December; many councils raised issues on what was not working well for them which she found very informative. It was also noted that all councils needed to work on their 5-year strategy and the measurements and development of it as well as the policy-making standards. She explained that officers were looking to strengthen the Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) as well as re-setting up quarterly meetings of the internal Welsh Language Board with the first meeting scheduled for 30^th April.

She provided Members with an update on the formal complaints that had been received / dealt with since the last meeting. The council has received three new complaints since the last meeting. Of the three previous complaints, one of them is still ongoing with one having been concluded. The third compliant is being upheld against the council and there is a six-month deadline to implement and communicate an action plan to mitigate against this happening again.

A Member asked if the council had made arrangements for simultaneous translations.

The Communications, Marketing and Engagement Manager explained that all staff have access to the provision of simultaneous translations, for example for public events. She explained that regarding one of the complaints, part of the event was organised by the council and part by the school, this may have caused miscommunication and therefore led to the error. The Communications, Marketing and Engagement Manager would provide the Committee with details surrounding the complaint regarding a road sign.  

The Member responded if it would be easier to have Welsh and English on the same document and there should be a checklist procedure to ensure that the Welsh language is being implemented correctly.

The Communications, Marketing and Engagement Manager explained that it could be done for the smaller documents and often was. However with the larger documents it became a challenge due to their size. She explained with regard to a checklist, there is one available for staff to use in the consultation toolkit that is provided online.

RESOLVED: That the Cabinet Equalities Committee received and considered the report.

The Communications, Marketing and Engagement Manager presented a report which provided Members with an update on work completed within the Strategic Equality Plan (SEP) 2016-2020 for the period 2017 to 2018.

She explained that the SEP annual report enables the council to perform key tasks such as:

• Monitor and review progress against its strategic equality objectives;
• review its objectives and processes in light of any new legislation and other new developments;
• engage with relevant stakeholders around equality objectives, providing transparency;
• include relevant updates on equality impact assessments, procurement arrangements and training.

The SEP report also set out:

• The steps taken to identify and collect relevant information;
• Any reasons for not collecting relevant information;
• Where appropriate, employment information, including information on training and pay.

The Communications, Marketing and Engagement Manager notified Members of an error in the statistics on page 10 of the report and said that the number of male applicants should have been 1032, not 2554 as listed.

The Chairperson requested that that the definition on anti-Semitism that was adopted last year be added to the report, which the Communications, Marketing and Engagement Manager confirmed she would add this to the next SEP and action plan that covers the relevant period of 18/19.  

The Leader referred to the new changing places facility at the railway station and that it was open to all members of the public.

The Committee requested that the changing places facility be advertised more so that the public are aware of it.  

RESOLVED: That the Cabinet Committee Equalities noted the progressed made and approved the Strategic Equality Plan Annual Report 2017/18.

The Communications, Marketing and Engagement Manager presented a report which provided Members with an annual update on the Council’s requirement to undertake Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs), an overview of the council’s approach to EIAs and an outline of EIAs undertaken in Bridgend County Borough Council (BCBC) service areas in 2018/19.

She explained that the Equality Act 2010 sets out a general duty that BCBC is required to have due regard in its decision making processes (including financial decisions) to three factors:

·                To eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation;

·                To advance equality of opportunity and;

·                To foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.

She explained that EIA training is available to employees which provides an overview of EIA’s, their role in improving services and a guide to conducting them.

She advised Members of the improved database which kept track of the EIA’s that had been completed. This would provide a centralised approach to the information and hoped that service areas would feed in to this, the information could then be used to improve the EIA’s even further.

The Leader suggested that while the EIA’s often say no negative impact, it would be beneficial if they showed the positive impacts. The Communications, Marketing and Engagement Manager said that this could be looked into for the future as more improvements are made.

The Communications, Marketing and Engagement Manager provided Members with an update on the EIA’s undertaken in 2017/18. She explained that between February 2018 and January 2019, six full EIA’s undertaken and accompanied cabinet reports.

RESOLVED: That the Cabinet Committee Equalities noted the progress made in the completion of Equality Impact Assessments, the progress made with training and the review of the administration processes to support service areas.

The Communications, Marketing and Engagement Manager presented a report which sought Cabinet Committee Equalities approval for a proposed Forward Work Programme for 2019-2020.

She referred the Committee to the proposal for regular items of business items and key equality issues that were to be considered.

She advised Members that the report of the recently conducted Staff Survey has been scheduled for the July meeting, at which a member of staff from HR will be in attendance.

She explained that the schedule for the EIA report has now changed and it will now be in line with the financial year. She advised that the next EIA report has been scheduled for July 2020 as opposed to March 2020.

The Chair asked Members if there were any more items they wanted to see on the Forward Work Programme over the next financial year to let her know any time so it could be looked at the be scheduled in.

RESOLVED: That the Cabinet Committee Equalities approved the proposed Forward Work Programme 2019-20.

To consider any other item(s) of business in respect of which notice has been given in accordance with Rule 4 of the Council Procedure Rules and which the person presiding at the meeting is of the opinion should by reason of special circumstances be transacted at the meeting as a matter of urgency.

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