·
To select appropriate items from the Cabinet agenda for pre-decision
scrutiny (cabinet reports enclosed for Scrutiny Members)
Minutes:
The committee
scrutinised the following cabinet items:
Welsh Language Standards
Annual Report 2019-2020
The Committee welcomed
the Welsh Language Standards Annual Report for 2019-2020.
Members were pleased to
learn, from looking at the stats, that the number of staff who signed up for
Welsh learning had increased.
It was asked whether the
effects of COVID 19, in particular the redeployment of staff, would have an
overall impact on the work that the Welsh Language Officer Group had planned
for next year. Officers confirmed that the pandemic did have an effect on the
work of the Group; meetings of the Group were cancelled and some of the
Officers involved were redeployed. However, it was noted that some Officers had
started to return to their substantive posts and plans were in place for a
meeting in September in which the Group would be discussing the outcomes from
the review of the mystery shopper exercise, the evaluations of the training
that accountable managers received in March 2020 and the re-prioritised
programme of work for the rest of the year.
Detailed in the
circulated report it stated that the outbreak of COVID 19, meant that
considerable changes were made to the way in which the council operated and due
to the limited internal linguistic skills, the council’s ability to provide
communications in Welsh and English was impacted for a period of time. It was
highlighted that progress had since been made and the council were now
simultaneously publishing English and Welsh versions of press releases and had
resumed English and Welsh social media accounts; when a post would be shared
from a third party, which was only available in English, staff would be adding
appropriate comments in Welsh on the Welsh social media accounts. Officers also
mentioned that the NPT Buy Local Welcome Back to Pontardawe
video included both English and Welsh shop owners and provided subtitles for
both languages. It was also confirmed that the Welsh language accounts were
being monitored for messages and where a response was required, it would be
provided in Welsh. Members were informed that the next key piece of work would
be looking at the COVID 19 pages on the council’s website, in which an audit
had already started to remove information that was not relevant; following this
translation of the information that needs to remain on the website would begin.
Following scrutiny, the
report was noted.
NPT Safe and Well –
Humanitarian Assistance Provided by the Council in response to the Covid-19
Pandemic
A discussion took place
in relation to those who were eligible for support from the Safe and Well
Service, following Members concern that the eligibility list did not include
mental health patients, in particular the patents who did not receive a
shielding letter from the NHS. It was noted that as individuals were being
transitioned who currently received support from the Safe and Well Service and
whom staff had concerns, social services were involved to ensure appropriate
support was in place. Members were asked to refer any individuals they were
concerned about, to their community leads. Officers added that in the autumn,
and the prospect of there being a need for further support to be provided,
staff would be looking at their contingency planning; therefore, if Members
thought that groups of people had been missed off the criteria, Officers would
be happy to take their feedback on board and fit it into the contingency
planning.
Members asked if
Officers could expand on the matter of recruiting a volunteer coordinator. It
was stated that the volunteer coordinator is not intended to replace the
community leads, instead the volunteer coordinator will relieve the youth
service manager from the support that he had been providing to the volunteers
recruited over recent months. Members were informed that there were 200 active
volunteers working within the service and there was a need for someone to
continue the role of volunteer coordinator in October when the youth service
manager returned to their normal duties as the role would ensure that the
volunteers still received support. Officers highlighted that between now and
October, they would be looking to develop proposals on the ongoing role of
volunteers within the Council and that Members would receive these proposals in
due course for consideration. In relation to the community leads, it was
mentioned that some had returned to their substantive posts, but staff had been
trying to maintain the cover in the communities while the transition was taking
place. It was confirmed that Officers would be spending time to discuss the
options around the replacement of the community leads and would be putting a
plan in place in which Members would be consulted on, as Officers had taken on
board the feedback that was obtained from the Member survey in relation to the
welcoming of coordination at community level. It was added that the Member
Panel Coronavirus Recovery Phase had set up a workshop in September with the
hopes to establish clear recommendations.
The reported highlighted
that the food delivery service that was being paused on 16 August 2020, to
which Members asked if it would be resumed and was the Council planning for
this to happen. It was confirmed that the Chief Medical Officer had stated that
the infection rates at the moment were low enough to give him confidence that
some of the restrictions, that shielding individuals had been asked to comply
with, could be eased in August; however, in certain areas in England there had
been rises in infection which meant that certain individuals who were
previously shielding were asked to reintroduce some of the restrictions. It was
mentioned that Welsh Government had used the word ‘paused’ instead of ‘stop’ as
we are still in the middle of the pandemic and infection rates could
potentially rise again. In terms of the food service, it was noted that the
Government had no current plans to re-introduce the free national food delivery
service, therefore there was a need for the Council to make concrete local
plans to support people who may be asked to put themselves under further
restrictions, if there was a small or large outbreak going into the autumn.
Officers confirmed that they had already started considering this and had hopes
to have contingency plans of different scenarios in place at the end of August;
it was added that local shops were now in a different position, since the
beginning of the pandemic in March, to provide support.
Members referred to
Appendix 4, the lessons learned table, contained within the circulated report
and asked whether the removal of the command and control approach was going to
be actioned, as the removal of this, due to the pandemic, had empowered staff
and encouraged more creative thinking. It was noted that Officers would be
providing a more detailed action plan against all of the elements contained
within the lessons learned table and that they were still obtaining feedback
which would be built into the forward planning for the autumn. It was added
that the elements fell into two broad categories:
1. Actions that would
need to be completed immediately due to the need to inform plans for the autumn
and the prospect that there could be a rise in infections.
2. Longer term changes
to take forward, in particular how the culture of the Council would be
developed
Officers were asked if a
decision had been made, based on the lessons learned, in relation to how the
Local Area Coordinators (LACS) were going to be deployed. It was highlighted
that feedback had been received from most Members that having the coordination
at the local area level had been really important; there had been brief
discussions on the role of the LACS in the Member Panel Coronavirus Recovery
Phase and Officers had met to identify what the proposals may look like going
forward. Officers added that further discussion was planned in the Member Panel
and the Member Workshop, to look at the role of the LACS and where the wider
Councils effort would be around community development, taking into
consideration the feedback from lessons learned from the Safe and Well Service
and what Members had expressed.
Compliments were given
to the area coordinators for their hard work, the effectiveness of the Safe and
Well Service, the work of RADAR and how well Age Cymru
West Glamorgan and Age Connect worked together prior to the Safe and Well
Service being set up and during that time.
The Committee briefly
discussed the phone calls that were carried out to those who were shielding and
had not made contact through the Safe and Well Service, to which it was noted
that the majority of the individuals who were contacted confirmed they had
support in place which meant there was only a small number of individuals who
were referred as a result of the phone calls. Officers highlighted that it was
evident how welcomed the calls had been and staff had mentioned that it took a
long time to work through the call list due to the length of time that they
were on the phone; this was something that would need to be considered,
potentially how communities would be able to support people in this position.
Following scrutiny, the
committee was supportive of the proposals to be considered by cabinet
Recovery Strategy
Members expressed their
appreciation to the work that went into preparing the Recovery Strategy and the
hard work, commitment and flexibility of the Councils workforce.
Future working was
discussed, in particular the need to achieve balance between remote working and
attending council offices, being mindful of economic and environmental factors,
the importance of communities and value of local government. Officers stated
that in terms of process, the Member Panel was established to provide this type
of advice to Cabinet, as the Council worked out the longer term recovery plans
and the Panel could be used to start ways of thinking in relation to the
broader discussions. It was noted that the circulated report captured the
stabilisation period, where Council services were being re-started and ensuring
that the Test, Trace and Protect arrangements locally and regional were fit for
purpose. Members were informed that the report provides a picture of what had
happened so far and the current position of the Council and that further
recovery planning will need to take place moving forward.
It was noted that there
was not enough emphasis within the report on the work of the community
champions, originations, community councils and other partners and that going
forward these groups will be crucial. Officers stated that the report didn’t
seek to evaluate the community response as this was a piece of work that the
Member Panel had agreed to undertake; an external researcher had been
commissioned to learn from the community and how they felt the response had
been mobilised. It was highlighted that the Council was interested to understand
how this could be encourage to continue.
Councillor Woolcock drew
attention to the membership of the Panel and the considerable overlap with
membership of the Cabinet Scrutiny Committee. It was agreed that officers would
provide advice to the Leader of Council in relation to this matter
Following scrutiny, the
committee was supportive of the proposals to be considered by cabinet.