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 (including whipping declarations)

Councillor Maxine Lewis declared a personal interest in Agenda item 3 as she runs a youth club from a Halo Leisure Centre.

Invitees

Councillor Jane Gebbie - Deputy Leader of Council and Cabinet Member for Social Services and Health

Councillor Neelo Farr - Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Wellbeing

Claire Marchant - Corporate Director - Social Services and Wellbeing

Andrew Thomas - Group Manager - Sports and Physical Activity

Sophie Moore - Wellbeing Manager - Healthy Living

Sarah Rossington Harris -Wellbeing Manger- Connected Communities

Karen Winch - Wellbeing Manager - Active Young People

Halo Leisure

Scott Rolfe - Chief Executive

Simon Gwynne - Partnership Manager

Awen

Richard Hughes - Chief Executive

BAVO

Kay Baker - Operations and Partnership Manager 

The Corporate Director, Social Services and Wellbeing presented the report, the purpose of which was to provide the Committee with information on how services and opportunities being delivered in partnership with Halo Leisure and Awen are supporting individual and community wellbeing and contributing to the Council’s wellbeing objectives, and to provide information on the partnership working being developed with BAVO and the broader third sector to support people within their communities and to develop healthy and happy communities.

The Invitees from partner organisations, Halo Leisure, Awen and Bridgend Association of Voluntary Organisations (BAVO) introduced themselves and provided brief summaries of their organisation’s association with the Council. 

The Chairperson thanked the Corporate Director, Social Services and Wellbeing and Invitees and Members discussed the following:

·         The importance of leisure and cultural facilities within communities, how libraries could be better promoted and the available resources at local libraries including books, DVDs, historical and archive information and ICT facilities.

·         The areas covered by the ‘Books on Wheels’ mobile library service and a possible Member’s visit to the facility.

·         The health and financial benefits of providing non-statutory leisure and cultural services, the extent to which prevention and wellbeing services prevent escalation to statutory services and Welsh Government’s appreciation of the early intervention programme.

·         Importance of sustainability and localisation of services, social return on investment and understanding of and misinformation around the 15-minute agenda.

·         Pre- and post-pandemic visitor levels to leisure facilities and community hubs, the benefits of free and concessionary memberships available and aspirations to grow participation.

·         Ensuring accessibility, particularly given the cost-of-living crisis, the pressures of increased energy costs and inflation, and ensuring that valued services are underpinned by grant funding and investment, including investment to ensure energy efficiency. 

·         Reports of closure of particular centres and how often customer satisfaction is measured.

·         The Levelling Up Funding to secure the future of the Grand Pavilion and extent of the proposed refurbishment.

·         Benefits and effective advertisement of referral schemes and specific programmes such as Active Bridgend Young People, Healthy Living Partnership, Super Agers, Ascent and Family Active Zone.

·         The importance of groups and services provided by charitable and volunteer organisations, supporting communities to do more for themselves and the roles of BAVO and Local Community Coordinators.

·         Long term sustainability and resources and the importance of successful collaborative and partnership working in contributing to person-centred objectives and corporate parenting responsibilities.

·         The recently launched Summer Reading Challenge and other initiatives to encourage and support literacy.

·         Lessons learned from warm hubs.

The Chairperson advised that there were no further questions for the Invitees, thanked the Invitees for their attendance and, advised that if they were not required for the next Item, they may leave the meeting.

RESOLVED:            Following detailed consideration and discussions with Officers and Cabinet Members, the Committee requested:

1.    That a visit be arranged for Members of the Committee to the Books on Wheels mobile library service to provide them with an understanding of the areas it covers and what is currently available.

2.    A breakdown  ...  view the full minutes text for item 38.

Invitees

Councillor Jane Gebbie - Deputy Leader of Council and Cabinet Member for Social Services and Health

Claire Marchant - Corporate Director - Social Services and Wellbeing

Laura Kinsey - Head of Children’s Social Care

David Wright – Deputy Head of Children’s Social Care

The Corporate Director, Social Services and Wellbeing presented the report, the purpose of which was to present the Committee with the 3-year plan to improve outcomes for children and families in Bridgend and which was intended to be subject to consultation and engagement over the summer period prior to submission to Cabinet in the Autumn for approval, highlighting how the plan had been developed and its aims.

The Chairperson thanked the Corporate Director, Social Services and Wellbeing and Members discussed the following:

·         An overview of the staffing arrangements in Children’s Social Care, employment of agency staff to cover vacancies and resourcing teams above establishment to meet statutory responsibilities.

·         Practitioners’ caseload levels, differing levels of intensity and the need to work efficiently, safely and sustainably.

·         The strategic theme, ‘better intelligence and information systems’, the ICT systems used by various agencies, the project to improve WCCIS and an update on the implementation of the Signs of Safety model of practice including its role in improving the practice of information recording to ensure meaningful and timely information sharing.

·         The cost of implementation of the Plan, the detail of which would be submitted to Cabinet, spending through earmarked reserves and overspend and demographic impact on applications for grant funding.

·         Ensuring access to pre-statutory support for children and families and the range of factors contributing to the substantial increase in demand in children’s statutory social care including publicity of recent local tragedies, impact of the pandemic and professional awareness.

·         Seamless partnership working being fundamental to implementation of the Plan.

·         Streamlining the contact arrangements to avoid confusion over services and who to contact.

·         Whether the seven strategic themes set out in the Plan were the correct ones and all worked together.

·         The format of the ‘Three-year key actions by year’ table, possible inclusion of additional measures and how the Plan will be monitored.

The Chairperson advised that there were no further questions for the Invitees, thanked the Invitees for their attendance and, advised that they may leave the meeting.

RESOLVED:            Following detailed consideration and discussions with Officers and Cabinet Members, the Committee made the following Recommendation:

1. That an additional column be added to the Plan to include in a table, what actions demonstrate success and how those successes are measured.

and the Committee requested:

2.    That the Committee receive a quarterly update on the implementation of the Plan.

Clarification as to how the demographic, age profile, deprivation and any other factors affect the formula for applications for grant funding.

TheScrutiny Officer presented the report which requested the Committee to nominate one Member as its Corporate Parenting Champion to represent the Committee as an invitee to meetings of the Cabinet Committee Corporate Parenting.

The Chairperson invited nominations, following which it was

RESOLVED:                        That Councillor Maxine Lewis be nominated to

represent Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committee 2 as an Invitee to meetings of the Cabinet Committee Corporate Parenting.

The Scrutiny Officer presented the report, the purpose which was to present the Committee with the Cabinet response to the Recommendations made by the Committee on the Call-In of the Decision of Cabinet of 18 October 2022, in relation to the report on Porthcawl Waterfront Regeneration: Appropriation of Land at Griffin Park and Sandy Bay, submitted to Cabinet on 17 January 2023.

RESOLVED:   That the Committee noted the Cabinet response attached as Appendix A to the report.

The Scrutiny Officer presented the Committee with the Forward Work Programme (FWP) in Appendix A for discussion and consideration, requested any specific information the Committee identified to be included in the items for the next two meetings, including invitees they wished to attend, requested the Committee to identify any further items for consideration on the FWP having regard to the selection criteria in paragraph 3.6 and the SSWB Performance Dashboard in Appendix 3, asked the Committee to note the Recommendations Monitoring Action Sheet to track responses to the Committee’s recommendations made at previous meetings in Appendix B and asked the Committee to note that the FWP for the Committee would be reported to the next meeting of Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

There were no further items identified for consideration on the FWP having regard to the selection criteria in paragraph 3.6, and this could be revisited at the next meeting.

There were no requests to include specific information in the item for the next meeting.

RESOLVED:   That the Committee approved the FWP in Appendix A,

                                 , noted the Recommendations Monitoring Action Sheet  

                                 in Appendix B and noted that the FWP,

                                 Recommendations Monitoring Action Sheet and any 

                                 updates from the Committee would be reported to the

                                 next meeting of COSC.

To consider any item(s) of business in respect of which notice has been given in

accordance with Part 4 (paragraph 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.

None.