Venue: Committee Room A - County Hall, Llandrindod Wells, Powys. View directions
Contact: Elizabeth Patterson Email: elizabeth.patterson@powys.gov.uk
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Election of Vice-Chair To elect a Vice-Chair for the following year. Minutes: RESOLVED that County Councillor David Jones be elected as Vice-Chair for the ensuing year. |
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Apologies To receive apologies for absence. Minutes: Apologies for absence were received from County Councillors A Jenner and M Mackenzie and from Portfolio Holder R Powell. |
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Declarations of Interest To receive declarations of interest from Members. Minutes: No declarations of interest were received. |
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Disclosure of Party Whips To receive disclosures of prohibited party whips which a Member has been given in relation to the meeting in accordance with Section 78(3) of the Local Government Measure 2011.
(NB: Members are reminded that under Section 78 Members having been given a prohibited party whip cannot vote on a matter before the Committee.)
Minutes: No disclosures of Party Whips was received. |
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Introductory Briefings To receive introductory briefings from the Heads of Service of the areas covered by Scrutiny Committee B:
· Stuart Mackintosh – Culture, Leisure, Countryside and Youth Services · Shelley Davies – Children’s Services · Marianne Evans – Education · Bedwyr Fychan – Welsh Language Minutes: Culture, Leisure, Countryside and Youth Services
The Portfolio Holder for Property and Waste introduced himself explaining that his portfolio included archives and sustainability which was covered by Scrutiny Committee B. He confirmed that he wished to work with scrutiny on common areas of interest.
The Head of Leisure and Recreation gave an overview of his service which covers the following areas:
Libraries Over the last year the service have been in discussion regarding branch libraries and potential joint arrangements. The service had been given an efficiency target to meet and had been given a further year to negotiate with communities before the savings were required. Scrutiny may wish to consider the work done with communities which has been progressive and attracted the interest of the Minister.
The Library service is much more than a book lending service and in some locations provides a face to face opportunity for the public to access Powys services known as Library Plus.
The Library Service also produce an Annual Report on Standards which has previously been considered by scrutiny and Cabinet prior to forwarding on to the Welsh Government.
Sports Development This team is largely grant funded from Sports Wales (approx. £500k Grant) and includes of a team based in schools. The focus for sports development is moving beyond grassroots and elite sports towards an active population.
Leisure and Sports Centres The Council are 2 years into a 15 year contract with Freedom Leisure. There are very substantial contractual obligations on both sides. The Scrutiny Chair is invited to attend quarterly meetings with Freedom Leisure as a Scrutiny observer. In addition there are monthly meetings at a service level between officers and Freedom Leisure. The service are encouraging Freedom Leisure to work closely with Powys Teaching Health Board and the Children’s and Young Peoples Partnership.
There is currently a review of provision at Llanfair Caereinion and Staylitte which will be brought back to Cabinet in the autumn.
Arts Service This service consists of one officer whose role includes the management of a Service Level agreement contract with Powys’ Theatres and Powys Dance. There is a small level of support for music development and the officer sources and disseminates grants.
Outdoor Recreation Some Powys towns have substantial areas of open recreational land (eg Newtown, Brecon and Llandrindod Wells), there are approximately 60 play areas, plus rugby and football pitches that the Council are responsible for. This is another area where community development is being explored, with bowling greens and cricket pitches having been transferred to community groups.
Countryside Service This area covers registration of common land and village greens, plus management of the public rights of way network (including a service level agreement with Brecon Beacons National Park) with, at 6,500 miles of path, the highest mileage of any UK authority and access land with the largest area in England and Wales. Access land in Powys covers about a third of all access land in Wales.
Museums, Archives and Modern Records The archive service ... view the full minutes text for item SCB5 |
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ACRF - Director of Social Services Annual Report PDF 57 KB To consider the draft Director of Social Services Annual Report into Children’s Services. Additional documents: Minutes: The Strategic Commissioning and Project Manager introduced the Directors Report explaining the process which was outlined in the papers. The Directors Report goes through a series of challenges and having being considered at Scrutiny Committee A and B would be going to Cabinet then Council.
In previous years scrutiny and audit members have had an opportunity to consider the evidence for the report at a Challenge Day. This was not held this year. What will the process be in future years? It was felt that the Challenge Day was a useful process when the service did not have such robust governance processes. It was felt that the evidence grids replicated the Service Improvement Plan which had already been subject to scrutiny at Project and Programme boards. The Challenge Day was not a formal requirement of the process and it was decided to share the Heads of Services statements with scrutiny. Unfortunately this coincided with the election and it was not possible for Members to look at these in detail this year.
The comments regarding Powys People Direct do not seem to accurately reflect the position as observed by scrutiny. The abandoned call rates are mentioned but there is no figures relating to their improvement.
The service acknowledge that whilst improvements have been made there is still some way to go with PPD. The abandoned call rates will be included.
Whilst percentage rates are included for many of the figures it is not clear what size of cohort they relate to and therefore the scale or otherwise of an issue. Can these be included?
The service confirmed that the percentage figures come from a national survey of all the children who had be involved with Children’s Services for three months or more. This is the first time this survey has been undertaken and will now be undertaken annually. From next year it will be possible to compare Powys’ performance with other authorities and look at trends within the authority.
When the Heads of Service statements were sent to Members a query was raised asking why there was no mention of the Strategic Review of the Bannau/Camlas residential units which was noted as an Improvement Objective is last year’s report. This should be included in this year’s report.
The service are still examining how to generate income from the respite centres at Bannau/Camlas and will reference this work in the Directors Report.
The new format means it is difficult to work out which part of the report relates to Children’s and which to Adults. Can further thought be given to how this can be made easier at the early stages.
This will be looked at for the report next year. The report will now go to Cabinet on 11th July and County Council on 13th July. It will then be published by the end of July. |
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Appointment to Working Groups PDF 60 KB To consider appointing Members to working groups. Minutes: The Chair invited all Members to express an interest for the working groups and include their interests and experience. These would be collated and membership confirmed in due course.
Meeting closed 14.45 |