·
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:
Strategic Equality Plan
2020-2024
The Strategic Equality
Plan 2020-2024 was presented to the Committee with the actions to meet the
equality objectives.
Members asked how many staff
had the Council employed who were on zero hour contracts and the reasoning
behind why they were on this type of contract. In terms of the reason, it was
noted that the individuals had elected themselves to take up casual contracts
for work, for example in the Survey Team within the Environment Directorate;
there was a relatively small number of staff who had specific reasons for being
on that type of contract and these individuals make themselves available and
can turn work down if it suits them; there was no specific pattern of work that
could be planned in advance for them. It was confirmed that Officers would
circulate the exact number of staff on zero hour contracts to the Committee
following the meeting.
Detailed in the
circulated report, it stated that no feedback was received from an event which
was held with the Community of Practice for Engagement and Involvement in order
to obtain an insight into what was important to the groups they regularly
engage with; it was asked who was involved in the event and why wasn’t any
feedback received. It was explained that the Participation Officers that the
Council had across different service areas within the Council (including those
who support the youth council, the looked after children version of the youth
council and the community veterans) were asked to feed in any views, opinions
or evidence that could support the development of the Strategic Equality Plan;
whilst the equality objectives were being drafted, these Officers were asked to
give some thought as to whether or not the right objectives had been selected,
however due to the timing of the pandemic, the engagement work with these
network of Officers was disrupted. The importance of their input and the need
to pick up this work as part of the implementation was highlighted.
It was asked if the work
to improve physical access to the committee facilities in both Neath and Port
Talbot Civic Centres was still doable and if so, when it would be done; it was
still very much the plan to improve the access arrangements for Members,
especially in Port Talbot Civic Centre as there was some difficulties in terms
of access particularly within the Council Chamber. It was noted that a lot of
work was being undertaken prior to the pandemic, and one of the main pieces of
work being looked at was clearing out the old kitchen area which wasn’t being
utilised anymore and turning it into a meeting room as it was a very accessible
space; having a meeting room downstairs would be beneficial as one of the
issues with having meetings on the upper floors was that someone within that
meeting would have to be responsible for evacuation procedures and be trained
to do so, if there was a fire for example.
In relation to the
development of a Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Equality and
Diversity Action Plan, Members queried whether the Council would be anonymising
factors such as age, sex, designation, names and ages so that when applications
for positions were received there was no unconscious bias and if it will be adopted,
what would the timescale be for implementing it. Officers confirmed that the
Head of Human Resources (Sheenagh Rees) had previously identified work that
needed to be actioned on the Council application forms as part of the gender
equality work and a discussion had started with trade unions and workforce
around the BAME aspect of this as well; many of the measures that the Council
would be looking to introduce as part of gender equality, would also assist in
terms of trying to get people into a position where they haven’t got
unconscious bias at that point in the selection process. It was added that
Officers were also looking to develop an ongoing discussion with the workforce
around the BAME agenda and that there were a number of staff who were very interested
in helping with this thinking. In regards to the timescale, it was noted that
the work had already been actioned planned and Officers would inform Members of
the planned dates around implementation.
A discussion took place
around the delivery of the Strategic Equality Plan, the monitoring arrangements
and priorities. Officers explained that the Council had a legal responsibility
to produce a Strategic Equality Plan and had to work around a particular
timescale for it; earlier in the year the Equality and Human Rights Commission
gave a period of grace in terms of timescale for the referral of plans, however
they had been insistent that the plans needed to be published at the end of the
calendar year. It was highlighted that the equality objectives had previously
been presented to Cabinet Scrutiny Committee, as one of the specific legal
duties that the Council had, and now Members were being presented with the
actions to implement those objectives which would then need to be reported to
full Council to endorse the action plan. In terms of relevance and priorities
within the action plan, it was noted that these would need to be under
continuous review due to the speed at which circumstances change, for example
if there were to be more job losses within the community this may cause a
change in the emphasis around some of the actions; there were a number of
actions that were rolling forward from the old plan and there were also new
areas of work, including that around the BAME community, which needed to be prioritised.
It was added that there were concerns around inequalities before the pandemic,
however over the past nine months this had widened and some groups within the
community, the BAME community in particular, were being disproportionately
affected by the pandemic which confirmed that priorities needed to be adjusted
to target this issue. In regards to monitoring, the Chief Executive (Karen
Jones) stated that the committee arrangements would be reviewed in January 2021
and would include discussions around the length of the meeting agendas, staff
workload and democratic oversight. It was mentioned that the Cabinet Scrutiny
Committee could include the Strategic Equality Plan on their Forward Work
Programme regularly for monitoring.
Officers made a note of
a typing error within the report which was identified by Members.
Following scrutiny, the
committee was supportive of the proposals to be considered by cabinet.
Comments, Compliments
and Complaints Annual Report 2019/2020
The circulated report
provided Members with an overview of the complaints, compliments and comments
received during the period 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020.
Concerns were raised
around the violent and aggressive behaviour that staff were being subject to on
occasion; Officers were asked to provide more detail on this. Members were
informed that the references detailed within the report were specifically
around individual cases throughout the year, where the Council had some very
difficult behaviours to deal with from a very small number of residents; this
caused a re-think around the way in which the Council manages contact with
those individuals. It was mentioned that one of those incidents involved a
member of the public assaulting the Leader of the Council in Port Talbot Civic
Centre. It was noted that fortunately most of the people that are in contact
with the Council were polite and those contacts were handled with no issues;
however, the Council was in a position where measure needed to be introduced to
protect staff and in some very small number of incidents, have had to take
action to limit the way in which certain members of the public could have
contact with the council. Officers added that there had been individuals who
were very verbally aggressive, individuals who sent persistent number of emails
which is very time consuming to deal with, and in some exceptional
circumstances have had individuals turn up and be physically aggressive and
violent within the offices in which Police involvement was required. Although
there was a small number of incidents, it was highlighted to have had a massive
impact on staff, therefore Officers were ensuring those staff got support and
policies and procedures were strengthened.
Following scrutiny, the
committee noted the report.
Substance Misuse
Counselling Service - Western Bay Area Planning Board
The Committee received a
report in relation to the Substance Misuse Counselling Service of the Western
Bay Area Planning Board.
Members expressed the
importance of funding for this particular area of work, as it could help
towards preventing drug related deaths; Officers were asked to provide further
details on the money being received, including the Substance Misuse Action Fund
(SMAF). Officers explained that the SMAF was a grant that was provided to the
region from Welsh Government; the Area Planning Board was a partnership that
Welsh Government required that the Council and its partners have in place and
it was the job of that partnership to determine how that grant was used. It was
noted within the region there was a pattern of services that support substance
misuse which had been there for quite some time; through the improvement work
being completed, it had been identified that there was a need for work to be
developed to join up the services for the purposes of the service users who
would need to access them. Officers stated that there currently was too much
fragmentation with people being passed from different parts of system, as well
as a backlog in some places where there were waiting lists which was an issue
as staff needed to be able to respond to those service users in a timely way;
the Strategic Manager for Partnerships and Community Cohesion (Claire Jones)
would be supporting an exercise next year to recommission the services in the
region to ensure they become better fit for purpose, however it would take
between 18 months and two years to make its way through the entire system.
Members were informed that in the meantime, Officers had been looking more
critically at what the money was doing within the current services, and within
this particular case with counselling services, the report showed that too much
money was going in for amount of need that the service was currently
supporting; the Area Planning Board were asking for some of the money, that
wasn’t needed in the particular service, to be re-directed to help staff
provide more timely access to those people who needed support. It was added
that the plan was to put the spare money into the low threshold prescribing
services. Officers explained that one deficient in the current model was that
there was not enough support in primary care for people who were addicted to
substances, resulting in people staying too long in the secondary care service
(hospital base services) which meant that these services were full and could
not take on any new service users; more capacity was needed in the primary care
part of the system for those who were stable or could have their needs met this
way, which would then result in more capacity within secondary care for the
more complex cases to be dealt with in a timely way.
Following scrutiny, the
committee was supportive of the proposals to be considered by cabinet.
Syrian Resettlement
Programme: Support Service
Members received a
report on the Syrian Resettlement Programme (Support Service); detailed within
the report it stated that one family had declined support and two families had
left the programme, Members asked if the reasons for this could be explained.
It was noted that there were different, legitimate reasons families had moved
away for example, job opportunities or because they wanted to be within a
different community.
Following scrutiny, the
committee was supportive of the proposals to be considered by cabinet.
NPT Air Quality Progress
Report 2020
The NPT Air Quality
Progress Report for 2020 was presented to the Committee and Officers
highlighted that the Council was in a positive position in meeting the air
quality objectives; the report captured the 2019 calendar year, therefore the
impact of the Covid 19 restrictions weren’t necessarily included within the
detail.
Concerns were expressed
in relation to the evidence of non-compliance with nickel levels at Tawe
Terrace and it was asked if the Vale Inco works in Clydach also impacted on the
levels as well as the main source, Wall Colmonoy works; Members also asked for
more detail around this issue as the Councils aim was to minimise the
emissions. Officers confirmed that Wall Colmonoy was the issue causing the
non-compliance; monitoring of the Vale Inco metal plant was commenced by the
old Lliw Valley Borough Council, but monitoring did continue following Local
Government re-organisation. Officers added that it had been required to
relocate the sampler from where it was in Trebanos to Pontardawe due to the
fact that the Trebanos sewage works was upgraded; however, the measurements at
Pontardawe leisure centre do continue to monitor the impact of nickel emersions
from the Vale Inco plant and it was displaying low levels. In relation to how
the issue is dealt with on a day to day basis, it was noted that it was the
Council’s responsibility to regulate this particular operator and Officers
would be looking at enhanced regulation in terms of maintenance procedures and
Best Available Techniques (BAT); these conversations and issues were ongoing,
however the Head of Planning and Public Protection (Ceri Morris) would liaise
with the relevant Officer to gather more detail for Members outside of the
meeting.
Members were informed
that this particular industrial operation was the most heavily regulated within
Neath Port Talbot and the situation in relation to Wall Colmonoy was being
taken very seriously; Officers, with other colleagues from other organisations,
meet regularly to ensure the Council were securing improvement, to which has
been progressing over the years however there was still further work to do. It
was added that Officers were putting a lot of pressure on the company, who have
since improved their maintenance and management systems.
It was queried how long
this issue had been ongoing, to which Officers stated that they would have to
confirm what the levels had been over the various years prior to 2019 and
provide this information to Members following the meeting, however the levels
were known to change year on year. It was mentioned that this issue had been
reported on an annual basis to the Regeneration and Sustainable Development
Scrutiny Committee; it was not a new situation, however it was improving which
demonstrated the work that had been undertaken with Officers at securing some
form of success.
Detailed within the
circulated report it stated that nuisance dust related to activities at Tata
Steel Works did not have an impact on health in the same way as other
pollutants; Members asked what measurements were used to determine this and how
could Officers be sure that it was not having a growing impact on people’s
health. It was agreed that Officers would provide this information outside of
the meeting and at a future meeting of the Cabinet Scrutiny Committee.
Members asked if
Officers could take into consideration the fact that Rhondda Cynon Taf County
Borough Council were in the process of approving a 90 metre stack close to
Glynneath and stressed the importance of having this area regularly monitored
once it had been approved.
It was queried as to
whether there was some degree of doubt around the accuracy of the monitoring
process itself due to the fallout levels in Prince Street and Port Talbot Fire
Station being very different even though the sites were quite close together. It
was noted that there were no current concerns in relation to the accuracy of
the monitoring process as even though the two sites were close together, it
wouldn’t necessarily be expected that the results be identical and tally all of
the time; the polluting impact of the Steel Works seems to be mainly felt in
the vicinity of the Prince Street Site and the extent as to how each site would
be impacted was dependent upon some variables including, which sources in the
vicinity the blast furnaces were producing the pollution and which direction
the wind is blowing at any given time.
Following scrutiny, the
committee noted the report.