To be accompanied by a presentation from Lyn Cadwallader, Chief Executive, One Voice Wales and Yuan Shen, Group Manager, Corporate Performance, Partnerships and Transformation, Bridgend County Borough Council. 

The Forum received a presentation by the Group Manager Corporate Performance, Partnerships and Transformation on the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015. 

The Act introduced four pillars of wellbeing, namely, Social, Economic, Cultural and Environmental and the aim of the Act is to improve the wellbeing, social, economic, cultural and environmental wellbeing of Wales.

To be able to improve wellbeing, the connectivity between the four pillars must be recognised and there was a need to focus activities on all four pillars to improve wellbeing.  She stated that historically, social services have addressed only the social needs of clients, which had led to an unstainable model of service delivery, spiralling costs, and interventions that are likely to fail.

The Group Manager Corporate Performance, Partnerships and Transformation highlighted the seven wellbeing goals.  She stated that the Act puts in place a ‘sustainable development principle’ which means that public bodies must act in a manner which seeks to ensure that the needs of the present are met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.  The principle is made up of five ways of working that public bodies are required to take into account when applying sustainable development.  The Welsh Government has put in place the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act as the latest step in the journey to embed sustainable development in the public sector in Wales which has been recognised by the United Nations as a ground-breaking piece of legislation. The Group Manager Corporate Performance, Partnerships and Transformation highlighted the key parts of the wellbeing duty for public bodies and public services boards together with the key dates. 

The Group Manager Corporate Performance, Partnerships and Transformation informed the Forum that the Act requires Public Services Boardsto publish first Local Wellbeing Plans by May 2018.  Town and Community Councils with income / expenditure of £200,000 must take all reasonable steps towards meeting the local objectives in the local Wellbeing plan for the area.  She stated that the Act requires Public Services Boards to involve all Town and Community Councils in the process of improving the well-being of the area. 

The Forum received a presentation from Lyn Cadwallader, Chief Executive of One Voice Wales on the Future Generations and Wellbeing Act and the impact of the Act on Town and Community Councils.  He highlighted the work and influence of One Voice Wales in the sector.  

He informed the Forum that Section 40 of the Act placed duties on certain Town and Community Councils to all reasonable steps towards meeting local objectives in the local well-being plan that has effect in their areas and must publish a report for each relevant financial year detailing progress against local objectives.  He stated that Town and Community Councils would need to integrate into their existing mechanisms for planning, monitoring and reporting on what they do.  He also stated that PSB’s must consult Town and Community Councils on local well-being plan by providing draft copy.  Town and Community Councils can respond including making representations and should consider local well-being plans alongside their own plans for the year ahead.  He stated that Town and Community Councils need to consider funding implications; engage with the community and agreeing next steps and implementing and monitoring progress.  Town and Community Councils for which the duty applies are able to seek the advice of the Future Generations Commissioner.

The Chief Executive of One Voice Wales outlined the current sector developments for local councils which would see Town and Community Councils having extended responsibilities requiring greater capability and capacity.  This would be achieved over 3 phases, with phase 1commencing in 2016/17, phase 2 taking place between 2018/19 and 2019/20 and ending with phase 3 taking place between 2020/2023.  He informed the Forum of the support of the Cabinet Secretary for Town and Community Councils. 

The Forum noted that the Act will bring considerable additional duties for larger Town and Community Councils. 

The Forum raised the issue of potential double taxation in the event of some Town and Community Councils taking over responsibilities undertaken by County Borough Councils.  The Chief Executive of One Voice Wales informed the Forum that if a Unitary Authority stopped delivering a service and which was then delivered by a Town and Community Council would not be double taxation.  However if a Unitary Authority continued to provide a service and it was funded by a Town and Community Council it could be deemed to be double taxation.  One Voice Wales had taken the line that if Unitary Authorities could not afford to run some services, they could be run by Town and Community Councils.  He stated that Town and Community Councils could also work with housing organisations and local businesses. 

A member of the Forum questioned whether the Welsh Government could assume responsibility for education and social services which would allow local authorities to concentrate on the delivery of more local services.  The Leader commented that most services run by local authorities are invisible to the public and that the Welsh Government already runs a key service, that being the health service.  He did not believe that the Welsh Government running education and social services would benefit those services.  He stated that the Council needed to look at its role in working more closely with Town and Community Councils. 

The Chief Executive of One Voice Wales informed the Forum that One Voice Wales had been critical of the previous proposals for local government re-organisation.  He stated that services run by Unitary Authorities were being stretched and therefore needed to work with Town and Community Councils to deliver services.  He also stated that the Act would see significant changes to the way in which Town and Community Councils operate.  The Act makes it harder to dissolve Town and Community Councils but makes it easier to establish Town and Community Councils.    

RESOLVED:             That the Forum noted the report.