Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber - County Hall. View directions

Contact: Wyn Richards  Email: wyn.richards@powys.gov.uk

Note: 01597 826375` 

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies

To receive apologies for absence.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from County Councillors S C Davies, D E Davies, J Gibson-Watt, H Hulme, S Lewis, MC Mackenzie and G Morgan

 

County Councillors R Powell (Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services) and S Hayes (Portfolio Holder for Adult Services)

 

Officers: A Bulman (Director of Social Services) and D Johnstone (Head of Children’s Services)

2.

Declarations of Interest

To receive declarations of interest from Members.

Minutes:

No declarations of interest were received.

3.

Declarations 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 declarations of Party Whips were received.

4.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 92 KB

To authorise the Chair to sign the minutes of the last meeting as a correct record.

Minutes:

The Chair was authorised to sign the minutes of the meeting held on the 1st August 2018.

 

It was confirmed that the process regarding the two items considered at that meeting (Integrated Family Support Service and Integrated Youth Support and Emotional Wellbeing) was due to be taken to Cabinet where the Chair would have an opportunity to present the scrutiny observations and bring to the attention of Cabinet any areas of concern that remain.

5.

Children's Services Performance Report pdf icon PDF 851 KB

To consider the Children’s Services Performance Report for June 2018.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Documents:

 

·         Children’s Services Performance Report July 2018

 

Discussion:

·         Performance in % of assessments for children within statutory timescales has declined in June and July.  There had been an increase in referrals during May which can take up to 42 days to compete.  This increase led to capacity issues together with sickness in the assessment team in north Powys, and the failure to meet the timescales is showing in the June and July figures.  August figures are expected to see an improvement but there may be an increase in demand when children go back to school and there may also be an increase after the next CIW Inspection

·         18 of the 30 overdue assessments were in the north and of these 17 were assessments were completed less than a week out of time.  The service need to consider a staffing structure that allows for staff to be moved to support areas experiencing pressure

·         There is a national problem recruiting and retaining staff which is particularly acute in Powys.  Demand is being met by using agency staff but retaining staff is a constant challenge.

·         At present the staffing structure is over establishment in response to the inspection.  A new staffing structure will be implemented when the new Head of Service is in post and work is being undertaken to assess what the correct staffing complement should be

·         With a high number of agency staff the workforce will be vulnerable to change as staff get better offers elsewhere.  It is not just money which will keep staff in post.  Social work staff appreciate working in a safe environment with supportive managers, have appropriate caseloads and get good supervision

·         There is an authority wide concern that the county is suffering from a dramatic depopulation of the working age population.  It is difficult for all sectors including agencies to recruit

·         The recruitment package offered to social workers is the same offered to all staff across Powys.  A relocation package is offered to staff who have to move to take up the post.  The lease car scheme is cost neutral to the local authority.  The package on offer is fairly standard across Welsh authorities

·         Members outlined how they had undertaken visits to local teams and suggested closer working with colleges to encourage retention of local students

·         A local Councillor drew to the attention of Members a local issue regarding how different departments work together

·         The reporting of visits to Looked After Children needs to be amended to reflect that these visits are undertaken initially on a six weekly basis and after 12 months on a three monthly basis.  This will record the number of visits to LAC undertaken against the number of visits that were due.  It is also essential that the visits are timely, happen more frequently if required and are of good quality

·         Consideration should be given to prevent the situation where reported information for one month changes subsequently to allow full confidence in the data presented

·         The costs of placements has remained broadly  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

Adult Services Performance Report pdf icon PDF 824 KB

To consider the Adult Services Performance Report for June 2018

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Documents:

·         Adult Services Performance reports June and July 2018

 

Discussion:

·         The Committee was pleased to note that there were five social work trainees within the service with another one to start training this year

·         Discussions are ongoing with universities regarding training for Occupational Therapists and funds are available for one trainee OT post

·         The Cabinet had previously considered the additional costs of providing a service in a rural area and officers were asked if further work was being undertaken in this regard.  Costs are not always clear.  Care workers have been brought in from across the border and accommodation costs are met for those staff.

·         Powys People Direct (PPD) was continuing to receive inappropriate referrals and these figures were reflected within the performance report.  The service is improving slowly but it is to be redesigned and launched early in the new year.  Discussions with libraries and leisure centres are ongoing regarding improving accessibility to Information, Advice and Assistance (IAA).  If IAA is to be provided within communities, PPD, or its successor, can deliver a more specialised service.  IAA is a requirement of the Social Services and Wellbeing Act to support people to make their own decisions.  Additional resource will be provided as will training for library and leisure services staff.

·         PAVO and the Council provide the Info Engine service which has been very successful with more hits than any other local authority.  Information Engine and Dewis had not been able to share information but the Authority have funded research and programming and now each programme includes all of the information of each site.  Members noted the difficulties of parking at some locations and asked whether some sites could be reserved for those wishing to access IAA – the Head of Transformation agreed to discuss the matter with the Head of Leisure and Recreation.

·         Dewis had been launched at the Royal Welsh Agricultural Show. Info Engine was run and promoted by PAVO.  Members suggested greater publicity for these services and asked whether they could be included within the Powys County Council website.  This already happens with Children’s Services and Adults Services are looking to do the same

·         Sickness absence is recorded within the Adults Performance report but not in the Children’s Services report – consistency of reporting across the service as a whole was needed

·         There had been significant improvements since the CIW Inspection although it was acknowledged that further work was needed

·         There remained concerns regarding the Active Officer (providing an assessment in Welsh where possible).  This is a new statistic and the figures reported were not correct – discussions with Business Intelligence regarding this measure will show an improvement in the performance data for August.  It was confirmed that the Active Offer only applies to the Welsh language. Records regarding the linguistic ability of staff have increased from 65% to 95%.  Members were aware that there was a Welsh Language Champion and asked who that person was.  It was confirmed that the Welsh Language Champion was Dylan Owen, Head  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.

Access to Information

The Monitoring Officer has determined that category 3 of the Access to Information Procedure Rules applies to the following items. His view on the public interest test (having taken account of the provisions of Rule 14.8 of the Council's Access to Information Rules) was that to make this information public would disclose information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).

These factors in his view outweigh the public interest in disclosing this information.

 

Members are asked to consider these factors when determining the public interest test, which they must decide when considering excluding the public from this part of the meeting.

 

Minutes:

RESOLVED to exclude the public for the following item of business on the grounds that there would be disclosure to them of exempt information under category 3 of The Local Authorities (Access to Information) (Variation) (Wales) Order 2007).

8.

Improvement and Assurance Board

To receive the notes of the Improvement and Assurance Board of 27 June 2018.

Minutes:

Documents:

·         Notes of the Improvement and Assurance Board, 27 June 2018

 

Discussion:

·         Members expressed concern that the notes were now out of date

·         Consideration should be given to an oral update to scrutiny meetings to ensure that the most up to date information was available

9.

Work Programme pdf icon PDF 93 KB

To consider the scrutiny work programme.

Minutes:

Documents:

·         Scrutiny Work Programme as at 4 September 2018

 

Discussion:

·         It was noted that the Joint Chairs and Vice Chairs Steering Committee had agreed items for inclusion on the work programme at their meeting on 11 September 2018 – the work programme would be revised and uploaded to the intranet.

 

Outcome:

·         The work programme was noted

10.

Correspondence

To consider any items of correspondence which, in the opinion of the Chair, are of sufficient urgency to warrant consideration.

Minutes:

There were no items of correspondence.