Agenda item

Forward Work Programme Update

Meeting of Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committee 1, Tuesday, 4th July, 2017 15:30 (Item 3.)

Minutes:

The Scrutiny Officer presented a report to Members on the Forward Work Programme which detailed the potential items for comment and prioritisation. She also asked Members to identify further items using the pre-determined criteria form which was attached at Appendix A to the report

She explained to Members that at the beginning of the municipal year, each Overview and Scrutiny Committee will be asked to identify issues for consideration during the year using the pre-determined criteria form which emphasised the need to consider issues such as impact, risk, performance, budget and community perception when identifying topics for investigation.

On the 28 June 2017, a report was presented to Council where it provided details of the new Scrutiny Committee structure, the terms of reference and its processes. As agreed at the meeting of Council there will be 8 scheduled meetings during the year for each Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committee. This gave each of them the opportunity to consider up to 8 items in detail. She encouraged Members to identify and put forward items that linked into the Corporate priorities that they wished to see on the Forward Work Programme by completing the criteria form that was attached to the report. She added that the more information that Members were able to put forward in their request, the easier this would make it for the Corporate Committee to prioritise those items.

The Scrutiny Officer advised members that the Forward Work Programme would remain flexible and would be revisited at each meeting so Members could reprioritise items as they deemed necessary.

In response to a query from Members the Scrutiny Officer confirmed that the Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committee 1 was Education themed, however Members were able to put forward topics outside of this area for consideration on the Forward Work Programme and likewise, this Committee could also receive items for consideration that sat outside of the education remit should the Corporate Committee decide that an item other than education is a priority.

There was concern from Members that there were a lot of topics included on the draft Forward Work Programme Members questioned whether they should focus on just education items. Members also felt that they did not have the knowledge at this time or sufficient detail to be able to know what items are priorities for the Authority.

The Scrutiny Officer responded that she was asking Members to prioritise up to 6 items from the draft Forward Work Programme that they considered were a priority. This could be education themed topics or otherwise. The Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee would then consider what items were of a priority and cascade the items to each Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committee for consideration. She stated that Education would be the primary focus for this Committee due to the registered representatives but would not be the sole focus, therefore they would receive items in the future outside of the education remit if these took priority over an education item. The Scrutiny Officer added that for the first few scrutiny meetings, members would be able to determine priority items by using their knowledge from their training and inductions and by using the information provided to them by Officers such as the suggested timescales and information to be requested in the report. She further added that Scrutiny was a Member led process so ultimately it was a member decision to prioritise items they wanted to see taken to Scrutiny.

Members were concerned that with the new Scrutiny Structure there would be no accountability and that items may slip through the net and go unscrutinised. Members stated that they did not want to be held responsible for not scrutinising priority items. The Scrutiny Officer stated that if Members were concerned about the structure they could feed this back to the monitoring officer and the Leader and there was also a planned review of the structure at the end of the year. She stated that members from each of the Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committees that sat on the Corporate Committee so they would be able to feedback concerns from each individual Committee and ensure that there were no gaps in the FWP.

Conclusions

When considering the Draft Forward Work Programme, Members suggested the following additional items that they determined should be considered by Scrutiny as matter of urgency.

Coety Primary School
- Standard of building
- Lessons learned
- Funding for the school
- Welfare and safeguarding of staff and pupils during and after the school move
Waste
- To address the current issues with the new waste services contract
- Why the contract wasn’t rolled out over a number of months
- What is being done to address the dignity issues around the AHP collections
- How are residential homes complying with the new waste rules and how are they being supported
- How are homes being reached with roads that are too narrow for the vehicles to access

Members also suggested prioritising the following items from the draft FWP to be sent to the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee for formal prioritisation.

Schools Strategic Review
Residential Remodelling
Advocacy Services for Children and Adults
ALN Reform
POST 16 Education

Members also asked for the following to be put forward as items for Scrutiny to enable them to consider further down the line

Prevention and Wellbeing and Local Community Coordination
Performance standards in schools
CAMHS - Mental Health in young people –What the Authority are doing to tackle the issues around Mental Health in young people. Are the Authority going into schools to discuss the issues? What transitional and care services are in place for adults
Town Centre Regeneration to include Civil Parking Service and the inconsiderate parking in the Borough, particularly outside schools. Car Parking review for residential parking in the Borough. Disabled access and facilities in Town Centres and public toilets.
Performance standards of schools
The Economic Prosperity of Bridgend County Borough to include information relating to City Deal
Schools strategy review – post 16 education
Schools standards Report 2017/18
Prevention and wellbeing and LCC
Safeguarding in the County Borough
Dementia Care

The Committee agreed to further scope out the following additional items using the criteria forms and put forward at their next meeting for more detailed discussion and possible prioritisation.

Housing – Derelict and abandoned sites that could be refurbished to create housing
Unpaid Carers

The items below have been highlighted by the Committee as priorities for the first set of meetings to be presented to the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee for formal prioritisation.

Item	Detail for Report	Rationale for Prioritisation	Proposed Date
Schools Strategic Review	Post 16 – Proposals being consulted upon. To include update on FE Sector – How FE Sector operates, what are the strategic plans of the college, what is its relationship with secondary schools and the CSC	Scrutiny to act as a consultee – vital to have Scrutiny input into any consultation and ensure pre-decision when necessary if any changes proposed for schools	November 2017
Waste	New Waste Scheme Why scheme was not rolled out over a number of months AHP Bags – What is being done to address the dignity issue Road Sizes – What is being done about streets and residences that the waste trucks aren’t able to access Residential Homes – What assistance and advice have they been given under the new scheme?	Council agreed that Waste would be looked at by Scrutiny as a priority due to issues being experienced under the new scheme.	October 2017
Coety Primary School	Standard of buildings Budget Issues with staff at the school Strains on teaching staff How are the issues being dealt with now to ensure children’s safety at the school What lessons can be learned from future new builds	Members regarded this as urgent due to the issues that are occurring now and that reassurance needs to be provided to the public	September 2017
ALN Reform	Inform Members on the ALN reform and developments – Status of Bull and how as a Local Authority and a Consortia are we preparing for its introduction What is being done to address the fact that only 7% of pupils with an ALN continue on to a career?
Advocacy Services for Children and Adults	To include information on: The outcome from the Advocacy Pilot Scheme The current system Social Services and Wellbeing Act Regional Childrens Services advocacy Adult Services – Golden Thread Project
Residential Remodelling	Appraisal of the options and proposed new model for childrens residential provision and use of therapeutic interventions (pre decision item)	Pre decision Scrutiny item – October 2017 prior to going to Cabinet

It was also agreed that the following items were important and needed to be prioritised for later in the forward work programme

Item	Detail for Report	Rationale for future prioritisation	Proposed timing
School Standards Report 17-18	Annual school performance report from CSC	Annual school performance results form the basis of monitoring of schools which is a primary responsibility of scrutiny	Proposed to receive late January/early February once the school results have been formally published
Prevention and Wellbeing and Local Community Coordination	To include information about the number of different initiatives that are available within the community as an alternative to statutory services (LCC projects referenced under a heading for each area – Ogmore, Llynfi and Garw Valleys – to ensure ease of reference to what projects are being carried out where)		February 2018
The Economic Prosperity of Bridgend County Borough	To include areas such as City Deal, Economic Development, Worklessness Programmes, EU Funding for skills		Members proposed waiting until the detail of the Revenue Support Grant are known before this item is considered
Town Centre Regeneration	To provide Members with information on the following responsibilities of the Council and how these are managed and can be developed with reduced resources Car parking review Residents parking Inconsiderate parking in the Borough Parking outside schools Pedestrianisation Business Rates Empty Properties Strategic Building Investment Public Toilets Disabled facilities		End of 2017/beginning of 2018
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS)	Monitoring the training being undertaken by professionals and volunteers to support and identify children and young people with mental health issues Links with the Youth offending Service – where these have ceased due to staffing issues, how there is a continued communication and joint working between CAMHS and the YOS Links to transitional services and Adult Mental Health. Looking at how services were working together in cases where there is a direct impact from Adult Mental Health on Children, such as parental alcohol or substance misuse or domestic abuse where children are involved
Safeguarding	To include Safeguarding activity in both children and adult services. To also cover: Regional Safeguarding Boards Bridgend Corporate Safeguarding Policy CSE DOLS In relation to Western Bay Safeguarding, the Committee have requested any future report provides statistical data in relation to service demands and evidence how quickly and effectively the services are acting to those needs.	Members stressed that this subject must be considered by Scrutiny on their FWP as is a huge responsibility of the Authority and Scrutiny must ensure the work being undertaken to protect some of the most vulnerable people is effective and achieving outcomes
Dementia Care	Include accurate and up to date figures on the people diagnosed with dementia in Bridgend County Borough in comparison with the number of people predicted to be living with dementia Provide Members with the information which can be found on the local GP Dementia register which highlights the prevalence of dementia by area throughout the borough and type of dementia. The Panel recommend that these statistics are presented on a map diagram for ease of reference. If possible, Members wish that this data be elaborated upon to include age, and whether the numbers show if diagnosis was received prior to moving into the borough Provide an update on the review of joint intentions with health and the third sector and include information regarding the production of a dementia strategy and delivery plan – stating milestones, target dates and responsible officers Provide an update on existing discussions with nursing care providers in relation to the development of nursing residential care places for people with dementia; Include facts and figures on people with dementia living in Cardiff as well as Neath Port Talbot and Swansea for comparison to Bridgend.	Members proposed that this be considered after Members have received Dementia Care Training in September/October

The following are additional items that the Committee agreed to further scope using the criteria forms and put forward at their next meeting for more detailed discussion and possible prioritisation.

Housing	Derelict and abandoned sites that could be refurbished to create more housing
Support for Unpaid Carers

Supporting documents: