Agenda, decisions and minutes

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest received.

There were no declarations of interest received.

·       7 November 2024

The minutes of the meeting held on 7 November 2024 were approved as an accurate record of proceedings.

The minutes of the meeting held on 7 November 2024 were approved as an accurate record of proceedings.

Members considered items from the Cabinet Forward Work Programme.

Members considered items from the Cabinet Forward Work Programme.

Following scrutiny, the report was noted.

The Head of Children and Young People Services advised members that the report was pleasing, and the Looked after Children service in Neath Port Talbot had been described by inspectors as sector leading.

Officers provided members with an overview of the report contained within the agenda pack. The report highlighted that the service was meeting the needs of all looked after children, there were no action or non-compliance points and showed the strength of the support given to carers. The Quality of Care Report is produced six monthly; going forward, information will be included in the annual report instead of separate reports. A media campaign will be run with the aim of recruiting additional foster carers.

The Chair commented that feedback is received from young people through the Corporate Parenting Group detailing the ongoing good work in this area.

Following scrutiny, the report was noted.

Following scrutiny, the report was noted.

Officers advised members that the report was a summary of progress made on the delivery of the councils four Wellbeing Objectives, which were approved by Council in March 2022 as part of the 2022-2027 Corporate Plan. A full breakdown of progress against aims and measures was contained within the report.

Members commented that the document was useful in looking at performance across directorates. Members referred to the amber measures and questioned whether there was adequate work being undertaken at service level and whether grants paid to various organisations were scrutinised. Members asked for more information on how the measures were selected.

Officers confirmed that the Corporate Plan was for a five year period, some of the amber measures were on track to be delivered by 2027. The 2024-2027 Corporate Plan contained a number of measures around transformation and invest to save projects. It was noted that further work is needed around increased involvement and focusing on service needs taking into account budget priorities, in addition to further work in relation to monitoring and performance. Other scrutiny committees have provided feedback on the need for stronger monitoring; comments will be considered for the next quarterly performance monitoring report in the new year. There is a need for more involvement for members and officers to ensure the right performance measures are included in the Corporate Plan. The Corporate Plan is underpinned by Service Delivery Plans, which can be brought to scrutiny to understand the operational detail.

The Cabinet Member for Housing and Community Safety commented, that whilst the Annual Report is retrospective, there has been a change in the formation of the new plan, due to the amount of contact between the corporate team and service areas to identify what is included in the plan. It was hoped that there will be a relevance in monitoring due to the input from services to form the plan before publication.

Members stated that some performance measures may not be relevant to the public. Going forward, there is a need for more service results and more challenges to be made where appropriate and links between directorates.

Following scrutiny, the report was noted.

Members considered items from the Scrutiny Committee Forward Work Programme

Members considered items from the Scrutiny Committee Forward Work Programme

Following scrutiny, the report was noted.

The Head of Adult Services advised members that the report contained within the agenda pack, provided an update on the work of the Prevention and Early Intervention Team. The report included a summary of the overall service activity for 2023/24 and an update on the detail of the first six months of 2024/25.

The Chair thanked officers for the straightforward report and asked for a committee visit to the Assistive Technology facility, to aid understanding. The Chair requested an update on the problems encountered during the transfer between analogue and digital.

Officers advised members that issues had been raised with colleagues within the Digital Infrastructure Team to identify black spots within the county; with the aim of working to strengthen these blackspots. Work has been undertaken with telephone providers, to identify areas where it is not possible to transfer to digital and for prioritisation until the infrastructure quality is improved.

Members commented on the good work carried out by the Local Area Coordinator team.

Following scrutiny, the report was noted.

Members considered Performance Monitoring items from the Scrutiny Committee Forward Work Programme.

Members considered Performance Monitoring items from the Scrutiny Committee Forward Work Programme.

Following scrutiny, the report was noted.

The Head of Adult Services provided an overview of the report contained within the agenda pack.

Members referred to point 2.9 in the report ‘Carers not routinely being offered an assessment of their needs’ and noted that this has been a challenge for a number of years; members requested an update on the current position.

The Head of Service advised members that a decision was made to bring the carers assessments back in house and this was trialled in the Neath Network. Inspectors were informed that should the trial be successful; this would be rolled out in the other networks. Following the success of the trial, a roll-out took place in all three areas. However, the inspection reported the assessments as inconsistent due to the trial period. This was not challenged with the inspectors, but reassurance was given to members that assessments are in the 90% range in the three areas and is an improvement to the amount achieved whilst outsourced.

Officers advised members that in preparation for the inspection, an audit of decision making in adult safeguarding had been undertaken, therefore some of the issues flagged by the inspection had already been identified and were being addressed. The inspectorate looked at six cases, but thirty cases were audited by the team. Some issues were identified around timeliness but there was a context to some of the cases moving outside timescales; some cases were delayed due to police investigations, and some were related to difficulties in engaging with individuals who lacked capacity. Assurance was given that performance data would be brought back to the committee throughout the year.

Following scrutiny, the report was noted.

Following scrutiny, the report was noted.

Officers advised members that the report contained an overview of the progress made between April and September 2024. The Strategic priorities and performance measures are set out in the revised corporate plan for 2024 – 2027 which was adopted by full council in July 2024. The report has been presented to Cabinet and other scrutiny committees and suggestions have been put forward around the performance measure targets; improvements have been suggested in relation to the report presentation. Officers advised members that performance was on track to deliver the majority of strategic priorities by 2027. Officers referred to page 181-184 of the report and the Home to School Transport measure which is off track. An update will be provided to the Education Skills and Wellbeing scrutiny committee in the new year.

Following scrutiny, the report was noted.

Following scrutiny, members supported the recommendation outlined in the Scrutiny report.

The Director of Social Services, Health & Housing referred to the list of performance measures contained within the agenda pack and noted the importance of the right performance data being scrutinised, to provide reassurance of the directorate’s performance. The trends in the performance management reports will indicate where services are performing well or experiencing difficulties. Scrutiny members will need to consider the quality of the work that underpins the data, in addition to service user and staff feedback around service delivery. It is important that the performance data is accurate and timely. Scrutiny members can select appropriate data timeframes to enable performance comparisons to be made over time.

The Director provided members with report examples from the three service areas to familiarise the committee on the type of information that can be collated. Members were asked to consider what performance data would be required on a regular basis. The Director stated that the committee may wish to consider task groups with officers in relation to gaining a fuller understanding of the performance in some areas.

Members acknowledged that data could be useful in highlighting problems but asked whether the data could be backed up with an explanation of any changes.

The Director confirmed that a narrative could accompany the data, and staff analyse the data on a regular basis. The committee could request information as separate reports or develop Task & Finish Groups to work with officers to fully understand issues. Anonymised data can be provided for other local authorities in Wales to enable comparisons with Neath Port Talbot. The Director suggested that the committee may wish to focus on up to twelve performance indicators initially, and Heads of Service could advise of areas for consideration, if required.

Members enquired whether data could be broken down further into ward areas, particularly for homelessness data.

The Head of Housing and Communities confirmed that homelessness data was not available per ward. However, officers confirmed that most of the adult and children performance data could be produced by ward, if required or where appropriate.

The Chair requested that certain data should be seen by the committee on a regular routine basis, in particular around Single Point of Contact (SPOC), domiciliary care, child protection and safeguarding. The Chair asked if performance data could be linked to reports on the Forward Work Programme and requested Heads of Service provide a list of suitable performance data for the committee. The Director confirmed that if performance data were available in relation to reports being brought to committee, this would be included in the report.

Following scrutiny, members supported the recommendation outlined in the Scrutiny report.

·       Cabinet Forward Work Programme

·       Scrutiny Committee Forward Work Programme

Members noted the Forward Work Programme.

Officers advised members of new items that had been added to the Cabinet Forward Work Programme and changes to the Scrutiny Committee Forward Work Programme; members were given the opportunity to request further items for consideration.

Members noted the Forward Work Programme.

Any urgent items at the discretion of the Chairperson pursuant to Section 100BA(6)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

There were no urgent items.

Access to Meetings to resolve to exclude the public for the following item(s) pursuant to Section 100A(4) and (5) of the Local Government Act 1972 and the relevant exempt paragraphs of Part 4 of Schedule 12A to the above Act.

Resolved: to exclude the public for the following item(s) pursuant to Section 100A(4) and (5) of the Local Government Act 1972 and the relevant exempt paragraphs of Part 4 of Schedule 12A to the above Act.

Resolved: to exclude the public for the following item(s) pursuant to Section 100A(4) and (5) of the Local Government Act 1972 and the relevant exempt paragraphs of Part 4 of Schedule 12A to the above Act.

Members considered the private item from the Cabinet Forward Work Programme.

Members considered the private item from the Cabinet Forward Work Programme.

Following scrutiny, the recommendation was supported to Cabinet.

Following scrutiny, the recommendation was supported to Cabinet.