Agenda and draft minutes

Venue: By Zoom. View directions

Contact: Wyn Richards, Scrutiny Manager and Head of Democratic Services  Email: wyn.richards@powys.gov.uk

Media

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies

To receive apologies for absence.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from County Councillors D Evans and L Corfield.

2.

Disclosures of Interest

To receive any disclosures of interests by Members relating to items to be considered at the meeting.

Minutes:

County Councillor J Pugh declared a personal but non-prejudicial interest in item 4 (Child Poverty in Powys) as one of his businesses related to property letting.

3.

Declaration 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:

The Committee did not receive any 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.

4.

Child Poverty in Powys pdf icon PDF 2 MB

To receive and consider the following:

 

(i)       A report prepared by the Business Analytics and Research Unit in relation to child poverty in Powys.

 

(ii)      A presentation by Ellie Harwood (Child Poverty Action Group).

 

(iii)      The results of a survey commissioned by the Chair of the Committee.

 

 

As background information below is a link to the End Child Poverty Website which reviewed child poverty comparing 2014/15 and 2019/20.

 

Child poverty in your area 2014/15 – 2019/20 – End Child Poverty

 

The interactive map at the end of this page will show the position for Powys.

 

In addition, below is a link to the Frequently Asked Questions which explains the information used for the research.

 

FAQ on local child poverty research – End Child Poverty

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Documents Considered:

·         Poverty – Children and Young People in Powys – Report by the business Analytics and Research Unit.

·         Presentation – Addressing Child Poverty in Powys – Ellie Harwood, Child Poverty Action Group.

·         Child Poverty in Powys – Council Survey conducted between 12 to 30 August 2021.

 

Issues Discussed:

·         Latest version of the Corporate Improvement Plan (CIP) endorsed by Council and covers all the services delivered by the Council. The Council is delivering on all sections of the plan, but the Committee may consider that elements could be delivered faster and to a greater extent.

·         There is evidence from the UK Coalition to end child poverty that once housing costs taken into account there is increasing child poverty in Powys. There are measures in the Corporate Improvement Plan and the question for scrutiny is whether the Council is doing enough or could be doing something differently.

·         There are other determinants of poverty which link to other agencies which the Council works with through the Public Service Board.

 

Presentation - Ellie Harwood – Child Poverty Action Group.

·     The Group is the leading charity campaigning to end child poverty in the UK. The Group is also part of the UK Coalition, which is committed to ending child poverty.

·     The presentation is around defining and measuring Poverty, causes of poverty and how people can get out of poverty, child poverty trends and forecasting, and best practice examples.

·     The standard technical definition for poverty used by governments is based on the distribution of all incomes across the UK, and identifying the median (half way point) of all incomes. The poverty line (after housing costs) is 60% below the median line. This means that 14m people in the UK live in households below the poverty line. For Wales this is 23% of the Welsh population, that is 700,000 people of which 195,000 are children.

·     A minimum income standard is also used which identifies the minimum amount of money each type of household needs to participate in society, each a healthy diet, afford to heat homes properly, travel to work and basic costs of living. When a minimum income standard is used it sets a slightly higher line than the technical poverty line.

·     Whichever method is used there are a significant number of people in Wales living below the poverty line and children are the group in the Welsh population that are most at risk. The poverty line also moves depending on the type of household as differing compositions of households require a different level of minimum income to achieve a standard of living.

·     Child Poverty is relative, dynamic, scarring, often hidden, and possible to solve. It is also not static as in a given year one third of people leave poverty and another third enter into poverty. The nature of poverty and approaches to solving it have also changed over the last ten years.

·     Mitigating policy decisions for elderly people has meant that lesser numbers of older people are now living in poverty.

·     Common events  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.

Leadership and Apprenticeships pdf icon PDF 463 KB

To receive and consider a presentation by Paul Bradshaw (Head of Service) and Lynne Griffin, Workforce and Organisational Development.

 

Minutes:

Documents Considered:

·                 Presentation.

 

Issues Discussed:

·                 A large range of Apprenticeships and Leadership opportunities are offered by the Council.

·                 Existing members of staff can undertake apprenticeships.

·                 Apprenticeships are at no cost to the learner or the Council, with funding provided to the Council for the cost of the training provided for the apprentice.

·                 Since January 2020, 18 apprenticeship positions were advertised with 6 in the past month. There are currently 15 apprentices and 15 career graded apprentices in post. 162 staff care currently undertaking apprenticeship training programmes to allow upskilling and personal development.

·                 Kickstart placements have not progressed as much as hoped at present. This is a new government initiative specifically for people on universal credit and between the ages of 16 and 24. The Council is working with other bodies such as the Health Board to provide more opportunities. The Council has 19 places available and currently only had one referral from the DWP (Department for Work and Pensions).

·                 The majority of fixed term apprenticeships do lead to permanent appointments with the Council.

·                 The target is that by March 2024 the Council will have appointed an additional 27 apprentices as part of a new programme commencing in 2021-22. The 2021-22 target is ten and the Quarter 1 target is 2.5. Six new apprentices have been appointed in Quarter 1.

·                 The Council is aiming to encourage 40 learners to start the programmes this year. The annual target is 40 learners. The progress in Quarter 1 is 3 learners.

 

·                 Questions:

 

Upskilling existing staff is not an apprenticeship, its about training new people. When we require contractors to establish apprenticeship schemes, who monitors these to ensure that they are delivered.

 

Can we have details of what apprentices are being appointed for various contracts.

The Welsh Government schemes provide funding for apprentices which are for new people, but also provides funding for upskilling staff which are also referred to as apprenticeships. The Council gets significant funding for this.

 

The Council has to contract with Welsh Government approved training providers. Once an apprentice has been appointed and signed up to a programme there is a meeting between the line manager, the training provider and apprentice every 60 to 90 days so there is monitoring of the process. The Council also monitors the delivery of the training and if there are issues they are raised with the provider.

 

Welsh Government definition of local is Wales, so if a construction company comes into Powys as part of the procurement process, and they bring apprentices with them then they tick the box.

 

The Procurement Service can be asked to provide information on what is included in contracts and how many apprentices should be employed for Powys contracts.

 

The Council does differentiate between those people appointed as apprentices and staff who are following apprenticeship programmes but are upskilling. Because the Council pays the apprenticeship levy it shows what the Council can claim back what it paid out in the levy.

 

The Council does report 15 apprentices each on two  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

Recycling pdf icon PDF 943 KB

To receive and consider a presentation from Ashley Collins, Senior Manager – Waste and Recycling Services.

Minutes:

Documents Considered:

·                 Presentation

 

Issues Discussed:

·                 The presentation shows the data collected to monitor progress towards achieving the statutory Welsh Government recycling targets. When data is compiled, projections are made on a worst case scenario so that the Council does not become complacent in term of target rates. The monthly recycling rate can fluctuate considerably due to the levels of recycling which the Council has collected during a month.

·                 The recycling statistics are reported to Natural Resources Wales. There was a reporting error in 2019/20 which meant that the Council did not achieve its target of 64% but procedures are now in place to ensure that such an error does not occur again.

 

·                 Questions:

 

The Council has been successful with getting the recycling rate to where it is so far. Where do we go from here, and how do we increase recycling rates. Are the team looking at other ways of increasing recycling rates. Of particular concern are communal sites for recycling on estates which are not suitable for the purpose.

 

Although the Council needs to work positively with people the system which has been designed does not work well in some areas such as on estates. There is a need to look at better solutions.

The Council does have bigger challenges ahead to get to a 70% recycling rate by 2024 / 25. The Council is looking at taking more out of residual waste such as plastics, tetra packs, AHPs and moving gradually towards the 70%.

In terms of estates, there will also need to be more awareness raising and enforcement and working with housing, other housing associations and community groups to improve recycling rates.

 

Recycling is always an issue on housing estates. There are communal bins in flats but it is hard to monitor what goes into these. The Council does have an active awareness enforcement team which does work with communities on estates to find solutions.

Does the Service work with planning when developing new estates to incorporate recycling facilities, and if not should we be. What about the fire risk at transfer stations as there was a recent incident in another county. What is the Council doing about this. What happens to medical waste, does it go to landfill or otherwise dealt with.

There have been several fires reported recently at waste sites. However, these are larger facilities that we have with a greater concentration of materials stored there. In relation to the Abermule site, prior to receiving an NRW permit, the Council has been required to submit a fire risk management plan which details how the Council would prevent and deal with a fire.

 

With regard to clinical waste, infectious waste is the responsibility of the Health Board and they provide collections for this. Sharps i.e. needles, there is a take back scheme where these can be taken to local pharmacies which are then collected and sent for incineration. Non infectious materials can be collected by the Council as part of non residual waste. The Council  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.

Scrutiny Work Programme

To note that future meetings of the Committee are scheduled as follows:

 

18-10-21

 

14.00 - 16.00

Teams Live

·     Performance Q2 + Risk

·     Finance Q2 + budget efficiency savings

29-11-21

 

10.00 - 12.00

Teams Live

·           Crime and Disorder / Community Safety Review / Community Safety Partnership

 

Minutes:

The Committee noted the dates of forthcoming meetings and that a separate meeting was to be held to consider future work programming.