Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber - Port Talbot Civic Centre. View directions

Items
No. Item

1.

Declarations of Interests

Minutes:

The following Member made a declaration of interest at the commencement of the meeting:-

 

Councillor A.R.Lockyer   -     Re: Report of the Assistant Chief Executive and Chief Digital Officer and the Head of Legal Services on the Reduction in the number of elected member representatives to the board of Tai Tarian Limited following changes introduced by the Regulation of Registered Social Landlords (Wales) Act 2018 as he is a sitting board member of Tai Tarian Limited.

 

2.

Pre-Scrutiny

Minutes:

The Committee chose to scrutinise the following Cabinet items:

 

Cabinet Proposals

 

5.1    Reduction in the number of elected member representatives to the board of Tai Tarian Limited following changes introduced by the Regulation of Registered Social Landlords (Wales) Act 2018

 

Members were provided with information to confirm the number of Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council nominees to the board of Tai Tarian Limited in light of amendments which are required by the Regulation of Registered Social Landlords (Wales) Act 2018 which places a cap on the number of local authority appointed nominees who can sit on boards of Registered Social Landlords, as detailed in the circulated report.

 

The Head of Legal services informed members of the following amendments to the report:-

 

·        That Cllr. Reynolds name was spelt incorrectly on page 8 of the report.

·        On paragraph 7, page 8 of the report it states that ‘it has been determined that the following members shall remain the council’s representatives’ It was noted that it had not yet been determined.

 

Members highlighted their concern in relation to the change of members whether they will eventually become a private sector. Officers explained that there are no changes and they are still classified as public sector with such a change being for accounting purposes only.

 

Members asked whether a different model could have been adopted. Officers explained that as a result of the legislation and given the number of board members currently present with Tai Tarian the Council would only be entitled to two members. The only way the model could change is if Tai Tarian were to increase or decrease the number of board members they were to have. If they want to do this they will have to seek the consent of the Authority as per the terms of the Transfer Agreement and not pre-empting any decision that would be made it would be feasible that a caveat of that would be that the Authority’s representatives increase with it, so that they remain caught with the percentages allowed as per the legislation but that will be for Members to make the determination on at the appropriate time. Members raised concerns over the scrutiny arrangements of RSL’s as it was felt that there needs to be a robust scrutiny. Therefore, Members asked that the scrutiny arrangements of RSL’s be looked at.

 

Members commented that even though they don’t have control over the situation, it wouldn’t have been their choice to make these changes.

 

Members raised that residents were able to join and attend the Tai Tarian Annual meeting for £1. It was noted that the new act will change the reporting and asked Officers to gather work on whether Tai Tarian are in compliance with legislation. Officers confirmed that they would liaise with the Social Services department.

 

Members highlighted to Officers that they had not yet seen a consultation on these changes. Officers explained that it wasn’t a public consultation to which the Authority were invited to make representations, that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.

3.

Forward Work Programme 18/19 pdf icon PDF 48 KB

Minutes:

The Committee noted the Forward Work Programme, subject to the following.

 

Members highlighted that at a previous meeting of Cabinet Scrutiny, a question was asked on the Annual Report Part 2, Appendix 3 - Public Accountability Measures All Wales Comparisons 2017-18. Members had asked what the actual figures were for the Performance Indicator on ‘Percentage of households threatened with homelessness successfully prevented from becoming homeless’. Officers were unable to answer the query at the meeting and therefore provided a response outside of the meeting. It was noted that the figures suggest that 156 households who contacted the Council for support potentially could have ended up being made homeless. Therefore members requested that the Chair and Vice Chair of Social Care Health and Wellbeing ask the Social Care, Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee to consider this and include on their Forward Work programme for discussion.

 

Members queried where the Wales Audit recommendations would be scrutinised. Officers highlighted that they would be scrutinised at the relevant scrutiny Committee’s and the Audit Committee.