The Head of Partnerships presented a report, the purpose of which was to update the Governance and Audit Committee on actions taken to progress improvements to the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) service and provide information on the position to date. 

He confirmed that, previous reports to Audit Committee, Cabinet and Cabinet / Corporate Management Board (CCMB) have outlined the critical need to re-shape and improve the delivery of the DFG service within Bridgend.

A further audit report undertaken by the Regional Internal Audit Service in 2019/20 had concluded that there was Limited Assurance in relation to the service at that time. This report had also made some recommendations required in order to improve the service and these were detailed at paragraph 3.4 of the report.

At a subsequent meeting of Cabinet, a report was considered that reflected some proposals and actions that needed to be pursued, in order to take forward and improve the DFG service. Paragraph 4.1 of the report, confirmed that these had been acted upon and also outlined progress to date on these. The Head of Partnerships gave a resume of these for the benefit of Members.

The Head of Partnerships confirmed that in parallel to the activity outlined in the report were the actions that respond to the recommendations of the Wales Audit Office report. These actions met the Council objectives at paragraph 2.1 of the report, as well as supporting the 5 ways of working under the Well-being Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 and the Social Services and Well-Being (Wales) Act 2014.

A project team had been established which will be responsible for the development, implementation and monitoring of the pilot. Discussions were currently taking place with colleagues from Social Services, to strengthen the role of the Social Services Occupational Therapist service and its role in children’s cases and initiating adult DFG referrals to the housing team.  This will ensure that medium and large DFG works are processed in a standardised and consistent manner across the Council and will ensure the pathway to a DFG and related Social Services support is clear.

To ensure compliance with Council processes and procurement, a Framework Agreement was being developed under which contractors shall be appointed to carry out the works on DFG applications in line with the CPRs.  

The steps being put in place to streamline the service and the collaborative working with Neath Port Talbot Council, would allow BCBC to develop new processes and procedures.  Monitoring, review and evaluation processes would be established, to ensure the Council has appropriate controls in place, he added.   

Performance improvements were also being targeted, further added the Head of Partnerships. Targets for improvement here were itemised in the report, in order to ensure that BCBC’s performance improves to meet an All Wales average. Though he stressed that the internalisation changes and moving to a new operational model may delay these improvements being implemented, particularly for reasons of staff recruitment of suitable experienced and qualified staff to take on, in order to undertake the work that would, in turn, give rise to improvements required being made.

The benefits of a new operating model, were outlined in paragraph 4.14 of the report.

Finally, the Head of Partnerships referred to the report’s financial implications, which he advised were cost neutral.

A Member noticed that the report included data that had been collated for the Year 2018/19, average number of days taken to deliver a Disabled Facilities Grant, and she understood why there may be no data available for 2020/21, due to the Covid-19 outbreak. She asked however, why there was no data included in the report for 2019/20.

The Group Manager – Housing and Community Regeneration confirmed that she would look into this outside of the meeting and advise the Committee accordingly of her findings.

The Chairperson then asked how long would it take to conclude the recruitment of extra staff to support DFG work under the new arrangement and if the Collaborative Agreement with Neath Port Talbot CBC, was going to plan.

The Interim Chief Officer - Finance, Performance and Change confirmed that in terms of the Collaboration Agreement, this was progressing well, with just a few loose ends to tie up in respect of the tendering process and the Framework Agreement. When this was concluded, a further update report would be presented to Committee.

The Head of Partnerships added that when this Agreement was in place additional staff would be recruited as was proposed. He added that recruitment was a risk as identified in the report, on the basis that this would involve the recruitment of Surveyor posts which was a fairly specialised profession, both in terms of recruitment and retention. However, trainee posts were also proposed and a training programme would be put in place for these new staff, in conjunction with support from Neath Port Talbot CBC.

RESOLVED:                That the Committee noted progress to date, in order to improve the DFG service and the current position.