Agenda and minutes

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

Councillor P.Richards             Re the Council Representation on Outside Bodies as he is the Councils representative for Neath Port Talbot Care and Repair.

Councillor S.Rahaman           Re the Council Representation on Outside Bodies as he is one of the Councils representatives for Neath Port Talbot Black Minority Ethnic (BME) Community Association and is currently the secretary of the Association.

Councillor S.Reynolds            Re the Tai Tarian Representation Changes as she is the Councils representative on the Tai Tarian voluntary board.

Councillor D.Jones                 Re the Council Representation on Outside Bodies as she is one of the Councils representatives for Neath Port Talbot Black Minority Ethnic (BME) Community Association and sits on the board for Neath Port Talbot Council for Voluntary Service (NPTCVS) in an independent capacity.

Councillor S.Penry                  Re the Council Representation on Outside Bodies as she is one of the Councils representatives for Neath Port Talbot Council for Voluntary Service (NPTCVS).

Councillor L.Jones                  Re the Council Representation on Outside Bodies as she is one of the Councils representatives for Neath Port Talbot Black Minority Ethnic (BME) Community Association.

Councillor N.Hunt                    Re the Council Representation on Outside Bodies as he sits on the board of Port Talbot Business Improvement District (BID) in an independent capacity.

·        To select appropriate items from the Cabinet agenda for pre-decision scrutiny (cabinet reports enclosed for Scrutiny Members)

·        To select appropriate items from the Cabinet (Finance) Sub Committee agenda for pre-decision scrutiny (Cabinet Finance Sub - Committee reports enclosed for Scrutiny Members)

The committee scrutinised the following cabinet items:

Strategic Equality Plan 2020-2024

It was clarified that the Strategic Equality Plan 2020-2024 was being delivered to Members in two parts:

·       Part one – the strategic equality objectives and all the other relevant information that was required to be included within the plan to ensure the Council met all of the equality regulations. It was mentioned that the commission was asking that all strategic equality plans be in place by October.

It was noted that work needed to be completed on the actions that will underpin the delivery of the objectives contained within the circulated report; this work had already started, with discussions taking place within the BME Association and amongst staff, and would form an action plan.

·       Part two – the action plan for achieving the objectives which will be presented to Cabinet Scrutiny Committee towards the end of the year.

Members suggested that going forward when individuals applied for a position within the Council, a number be applied to their application instead of their name to remove any links to gender, ethnicity etc. It was noted that this could be discussed in the second part of the delivery of the strategic equality plan, when the actions would be presented.

Detailed within the circulated report, it quoted ‘as a non-Welsh person living and working in Wales, I already feel discriminated against by Welsh Government policy and practice’. Members asked if the individual had given any more specific details in relation to their concerns. It was noted that no further detail was provided, however Officers would try and determine what else the Council could be doing and further information that could be collected in future consultation exercises.

Following scrutiny, the committee was supportive of the proposals to be considered by cabinet.

Council Representation on Outside Bodies

(Cllr S.Rahaman re-affirmed his interest at this point and withdrew from the meeting)

(Cllr P.Richards re-affirmed his interest at this point and withdrew from the meeting)

(Cllr D.Jones re-affirmed her interest at this point and withdrew from the meeting)

(Cllr N.Hunt re-affirmed his interest at this point and withdrew from the meeting)

The Committee received a report on the Council Representation on Outside Bodies to consider the benefits and drawbacks of

Members being formally part of the voluntary boards of a selection of Organisations. Officers had proposed alternatives to the arrangement to protect Members against the conflicts of interest that would arise in relation to continuing with the current arrangements.

It was highlighted that there was no specific guidance from the WLGA on this matter, and instead it was for individual Councils to make a determination as to what arrangements should be put in place and what role they anticipated their Members to have in the community.

In relation to what other Councils had done, it was noted that there was a number of Councils where Members did not sit on any boards and other Councils where they did, which was managed via the conflict of interest  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.