RESOLVED:   That Councillor CA Green be elected as Chairperson of the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the Municipal Year.

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)

The following Declarations of Interest were made:

Councillor RMI Shaw declared a personal interest in agenda item 6 – Nomination to the Public Service Board Overview and Scrutiny Panel as a member of the South Wales Fire and Rescue Service Authority.

Councillor JC Spanswick declared a personal interest in agenda item 10 – Social Services Annual Report 2017/18 as his wife is employed in the Homecare service.   

To receive for approval the minutes of 21/02/2018, 29/03/2018 and 30/04/2018

RESOLVED:   That the Minutes of the meetings of the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee of 21 February, 29 March and 30 April 2018 be approved as a true and accurate record.

RESOLVED:           That Councillor CA Webster was nominated as the Corporate Parenting Champion to represent the Committee at meetings of the Corporate Parenting Cabinet Committee. 

RESOLVED:           That the following Members were nominated to sit on the Public Service Board Overview and Scrutiny Panel:

Councillor RMI Shaw

Councillor JC Spanswick

Councillor T Thomas

The Scrutiny Officer presented a report which sought to establish a Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the Cardiff Capital Region City Deal (CCRD).  She stated that the CCRD Joint Cabinet at its meeting on 20 November 2017 considered a report which detailed proposals for the establishment of a Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee.  It was subsequently determined that this authority would be the Host Authority. 

The Committee was apprised of the background and information on the proposal together with the draft Terms of Reference.  A report containing details of the proposal would be considered by each of the participating authorities’ appropriate scrutiny committee prior to it being endorsed by Council in accordance with Statutory Guidance, issued under the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011.  

The Committee considered there needs to be proper scrutiny and accountability in place and the Committee was concerned that it had been presented with very little information as to how the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee will operate.  The Committee also questioned the decision making process for the City Deal project and that the decisions made by the Joint Cabinet must stand scrutiny.  The Committee gave support in principle to the establishment of a Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee, but considered that it would like to receive further information on the meeting arrangements and for clarification of its powers to call-in decisions and refer matters back to the Joint Cabinet, prior to nominating a Member to Council to represent the authority on the CCRD Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee.  The Committee also considered that it required information as to whether there would be pre-decision scrutiny and whether the Joint Overview and Scrutiny would be able to examine spending decisions on the project.          

Conclusions

The Committee support in principle the establishment of a JOSC for CCRCD, although request clarification on the following prior to Council on 18 July 2018 where the Committee will be asked to nominate a Member to represent the Authority:

• What powers would the JOSC employ – would the Committee undertake any pre decision items?
• What responsibility would the nominated person hold?

Members also specified that two meetings a year would not allow effective Scrutiny of the CCRCD and relayed their concerns in relation to the report confirming that there would be limited Scrutiny in the first year, as Members are conscious that decisions are already being made.              

The Scrutiny Officer presented the recommendations of this Committee, the Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committees and the Budget Research and Evaluation Panel for 2017-18.  The annual monitoring of all recommendations made by scrutiny will detail the items that have been raised and discussed throughout the year and provide an opportunity for Members to determine which topics they wish to revisit or those which remain a concern to provide a foundation for setting the 2018-19 Forward Work Programme. 

The Committee was requested to review the outcomes and impacts which Scrutiny has made during the previous year.

The Committee requested that in future years each Committee only receives the recommendations relevant to their own Committee.  The Committee was satisfied with the format and timeliness as to how requests for further information are responded to.

The Committee requested that as part of the review of the referrals process that the level of dissatisfaction in the way services are delivered is considered as the Committee wished to see greater visibility in the Corporate Plan to address levels of dissatisfaction in service delivery and whether there are common themes in order to improve service delivery.  The Committee considered that the Service and Performance Update reports which are reported to the Democratic Services Committee could be shared with this Committee. 

The Committee considered that it wished to see the Waste Contract revisited as part of the Forward Work Programme.              

Conclusions

The Committee recommend that when presenting future recommendations and their responses, that they be allocated and portrayed to the relevant Committee and any comments are then collated and fed back to the Corporate Committee.

Following a discussion in relation to Member Referrals, the Committee recommend that a comprehensive evaluation of all referrals be undertaken.  Members confirmed that this would highlight common themes of dissatisfaction and provide key topics that should be considered by Scrutiny.      

The Scrutiny Officer reported on the items to be considered at the next meeting of the Committee on 25 July 2018 and sought confirmation of the information required for the subsequent meeting to be held on 17 September 2018.  The Committee was presented with responses to comments, recommendations and requests for additional information from the previous meeting of the Committee.  The Committee was also presented with a list of potential Forward Work Programme items for prioritisation and allocation to each of the Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committees.   

The Committee determined that for the City Deal item to be considered at the meeting on 27 July 2018 in addition to the Chief Executive being required to attend, Councillor Andrew Morgan, the Chairperson of the Cardiff Capital Region City Deal Joint Cabinet also be invited to attend.  The Committee recognised the importance of making a distinction between this Committee’s role in scrutinising City Deal from a Bridgend perspective with that of what will be the role of the CCRD Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee to scrutinise the project across the region. 

The Committee determined that it wish to scrutinise Waste Services at its meeting on 26 September.

The Committee also determined that an item on Ethical Procurement and Contracts be allocated to Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committee 3 on 17 September 2018 and that Group Manager Legal and Corporate Procurement Manager be invited to attend.  The Committee at that meeting would like clarification of the role the Corporate Procurement Team has in ensuring compliance with contracts and whether this role is devolved to Departments for the monitoring of major contracts and whether financial penalties are imposed for non-performance by contractors. 

The Committee allocated School Standards to Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committee 1 on 4 July 2018 and Plastic Free Bridgend County Borough to Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committee 3 on 23 July 2018.   

Conclusions

 The Committee confirmed the following items for Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee Forward Work Programme:

• Members agreed to receive City Deal on 26 July 2018 and re-add Collaboration with Police to the Forward Work Programme for future consideration
• Members request to receive a report on Procurement and Contracts on 26 September 2018.  The Committee ask that the report include:

-       What monitoring process is in place with contractors to ensure compliance?

-       Who is obligated to guarantee compliance?

-       How can public accountability be assured if information within a contract is restricted to Members?

-       Have any financial penalties been issued as a result of a breach of contract?

-       End dates for all major contracts.

Members requested that following officers be invited to attend the following for the Procurement and Contracts item:

-       Rachel Jones, Corporate Procurement Manager

-       Kelly Watson, Group Manager Legal

-       Representative from Wellbeing Directorate

-       Representative from Communities Directorate

The Committee confirmed the following items for the Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committee Forward Work Programme:

12 July 2018                           SOSC 2          Safeguarding

23 July 2018                       SOSC 3        Plastic Free Bridgend County    Borough

5  ...  view the full minutes text for item 68.

Invitees

Cllr Phil White, Cabinet Member – Social Services and Early Help;

Susan Cooper Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing;

Jacqueline Davies, Head of Adult Social Care;

Laura Kinsey, Head of Children’s Social Care

The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing presented the Director of Social Services’ draft Annual Report for 2017/18 for comment and requested that the Committee note the judgements reached locally about social care services in Bridgend.  The Annual Report is based on the Authority’s self-assessment of the performance and delivery of social care services. 

The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing explained that the Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW) from October 2016, had changed the way they inspect children’s and adult social services and following the implementation of the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act 2014, the CIW had developed a new framework which aims to ensure that authorities are inspected using the wellbeing outcomes of the Act.  The aim of the Annual Report is to provide an overview of social care in the County Borough and is evidence based, with contributions made by staff and includes feedback from service users.  She stated that the template for the report follows the six national quality standards for wellbeing.

The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing informed the Committee that the priorities for improvement reflect the analysis of performance and addresses the challenging context of the Medium Term Financial Strategy with that of increasing demand for those in need.

The Committee requested details of the number of looked after children at present.  The Head of Children’s Social Care informed the Committee that the number of looked after children as at last week was 374 and is constantly changing.  The trend overall shows a downward one which contrasts to the picture nationally where the numbers of looked after children are increasing.  The Committee questioned how this compared with the picture in England and Scotland.  The Head of Children’s Social Care informed the Committee that there are similar issues in England to that experienced with looked after children in Wales with numbers increasing.  She stated that the practice deployed in Scotland to reduce the number of looked after children could be considered. 

The Committee questioned the reasons for the downward trend in the number of looked after children in the County Borough.  The Head of Children’s Social Care informed the Committee that the authority is working proactively with Early Help and families to prevent children from becoming looked after and arrangements for special guardianship orders are also in place.  She stated that the Regulator is satisfied that the authority has the correct thresholds in place to keep children living safely with their families.  The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing confirmed that the most important element of reducing the number of looked after children is to do so safely and there is a whole system approach to do this. 

The Committee questioned whether there are plans to bring looked after children who are in placements in England back so that they cared for closer to home.  The Head of Children’s Social Care informed the Committee that there is a great deal being done to address this issue, namely, the residential remodelling project.  She stated that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 69.

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.

There were no urgent items.

The Minutes relating to the following item is not for publication as it contains exempt information as defined in Paragraph 16 of Part 4, and Paragraph 21 of Part 5 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) (Wales) Order 2007.

If following the application of the public interest test the Committee resolves pursuant to the Act to consider this item in private, the public will be excluded from the meeting during such consideration.

RESOLVED:            That under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) (Wales) Order 2007, the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business as it contains exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 16 Part 4 and Paragraph 21 of Part 5 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) (Wales) Order 2007.

This item was not subject to the public interest test for reasons of legal professional privilege and should therefore be considered in private.  The public interest therefore did not apply in respect of this item

To receive for approval the exempt minutes of 29/03/2018

RESOLVED:   That the exempt Minutes of the meeting of the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee of 29 March 2018 be approved as a true and accurate record.