Agenda and minutes

The following Member made declarations of interest at the commencement of the meeting.

 

Councillor S.Reynolds	Re: Report of the Head of Children and Young People Services re: Neath Port Talbot’s Plan  for Children and Young People Services 2019 – 2022 as she is a trustee of Canolfan Maerdy.
Councillor S. Reynolds	Re: Report of the Head of Adult Services re:Neath Port Talbot’s Plan for Adult Services 2019 – 2022 as she is a trustee of Canolfan Maerdy.

 

That the minutes of the previous meeting held on the 4 April 2019 be approved.

The Committee noted the Forward Work Programme for 2018/19.

Reports of the Director of Social Services, Health and Housing

Members received a briefing on the Youth Offending Service post inspection action plan which was requested by Social Services, Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee at the last meeting.

 

It was explained that HM Inspectors had agreed that the regional action plan to mitigate the issues identified in the inspection would now form individual local plans for each Council who were previously part of the Western Bay Youth Justice and Early Intervention Service.

 

Members were pleased that Hertfordshire and Carmarthenshire County Councils had been assisting with the improvement plan for the Youth Offending Service as they had previously been in a similar position.

 

Reassurance was given that the Head of Participation was a member of the newly formed youth offending management board to ensure that schools were contributing to the action plan and that information was shared.

 

Concern was expressed at the lack of participation by Swansea Bay University Health Board in the Western Bay Management Board as identified in the inspection report.  Members received reassurance that Swansea Bay University Health Board had given a commitment to be involved in the future and had received instructions from Welsh Government confirming their involvement in the Neath Port Talbot Youth Offending Management Board.  In addition, regular update reports would be submitted to the Social Care, Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee which would include the lists of attendees at the management board meetings.  Update reports would be submitted to Committee on a quarterly basis for Members’ consideration.

 

Members noted the report, subject to the update reports being submitted on a quarterly basis.

 

 

 

Report of the Head of Adult Services

The Committee received an overview of the Lay Assessor (Elected Members) visits to residential and nursing care homes in Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council, as detailed in the circulated report.

 

Discussion took place on previous rota visits and the need for the lay assessors (Elected Members) to receive feedback on issues raised during those visits.  Officers explained that all issues raised were actioned but in future feedback would be given to the lay assessors on the outcome of the concerns raised.

 

Concern was expressed at the proposal to reduce the number of rota visits undertaken by lay assessors (Elected Members) and Members asked what the reason was for the reduction in these visits.  It was explained that due to the delay in commencing the visits and the number of statutory inspections that were taking place, the timescale for the visits had reduced from 20 to 10 per year. 

 

Members identified the need to ensure consistency takes place with the rota visits, and asked that the same lay assessor (Elected Member) visits the same residential home/nursing home as previously.

 

Members approved the recommendation that the Lay Assessor care home visit programme from 2019 and onwards would consist of 10 visits per year to residential and nursing care homes within Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council.

 

 

 

 

 

The Committee scrutinised the following matters:

 

Neath Port Talbot’s Plan for Children and Young People Services 2019 – 2022

 

Members received an update on the outcome of the public consultation on Neath Port Talbot’s Plan for Children and Young People Services 2019 – 2022 as detailed in the circulated report.

 

Members were pleased that work was on-going in regard to developing the easy read version of the plan as currently it seemed to be a shorten version of the plan rather than a user friendly version.

 

It was also highlighted that during the consultation it was recognised that in future more time needed to be set aside for consultation with service users.

 

The committee also asked Officers to highlight the difficulty being experienced in accessing the consultation on the Neath Port Talbot website and the need to raise with the relevant section.

 

Members were pleased in the way that Social Services, Health and Housing worked with the third sector especially in the current economic climate with limited resources available.

 

Following scrutiny, the Committee was supportive of the proposals to be considered by the Cabinet Board.

 

Neath Port Talbot’s Plan for Adult Social Care 2019 – 2022

 

Members received an update on the outcome of the public consultation on the Neath Port Talbot’s Plan for Adult Social Care 2019 – 2022, as detailed in the circulated report.

 

Similar, to the previous item the easy read version needed to be user friendly rather than a shorten version of the plan.

 

Discussion took place on the Equality Impact Assessment (EIAs) and what the criteria was for selecting the protected characteristics contained within the assessment.   It was explained that the assessment was based on officer judgement but that Officers would take into account the discussion this afternoon when doing EIAs in future.  In addition, officers would consider whether a working group could be established to look at EIA’s.

 

The Committee asked that consideration be given to ensuring that people who were unable to read were able to access alternative methods of communication or assistance from one of the voluntary organisations to ensure everyone had an opportunity to contribute to the consultation process.

 

Following scrutiny, the Committee was supportive of the proposals being considered by Cabinet Board.

 

Access to Meetings

 

RESOLVED:

That pursuant to Section 100A (4) and (5) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded for the following items of business which involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 14 of Part 4 of Schedule 12A to the above Act.

Pre-Scrutiny

 

The Committee scrutinised the following private Cabinet Board item:

 

Private Cabinet Board Proposals

 

Hillside – The Regulated Service (Service Providers and Responsible Individuals) (Wales) Regulations 2017

 

The Committee received an overview of the Regulated Service (Wales) Regulations 2017, as detailed in the circulated report.  The regulations required a monthly visit to Hillside Secure Centre by a member of staff who was not directly concerned with the conduct of the Secure Children’s Home.

 

Following scrutiny, the report  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.