·
To select appropriate items from the Cabinet agenda for pre-decision
scrutiny (cabinet reports enclosed for Scrutiny Members)
Decision:
Setting Council Tax
Base 2024/25 (Pages 11 - 16)
Following scrutiny, the
recommendation was supported to Cabinet.
Audit Wales Digital
Strategy Review - Organisational Response (Pages 17 - 66)
Following scrutiny, the
recommendation was supported to Cabinet.
Corporate
Plan “Reset, Review, Recover” 2022-2027 Annual Report Period: 1st April 2022 to
31st March 2023 (Pages 67 - 128)
Following scrutiny, the
recommendation was supported to Cabinet.
Minutes:
Setting Council Tax Base 2024/25 (Pages 11 - 16)
Members asked for clarification regarding the setting of Council Tax
Base for 2024/25.
The Chief Finance Officer confirmed that every council in Wales provides
Welsh Government with their Council Tax Base as at 31st October. All houses in
Council Tax bands A-I are counted and converted to a band D equivalent, the
estimated amount of new build properties are added to give a Council Tax Base.
The Welsh Government Standard Spending Assessment (SSA) will evaluate how much
the council needs to spend to provide services, the amount of income that’s
generated by council tax is deducted and a formula is used to work out the
amount of the Revenue Support Grant.
Members asked if changes to the current banding system would affect the
formula.
Officers confirmed that 85% of properties in Neath Port Talbot fall
within bands A-C which decreases the equivalent band D figure. It was noted
that the Welsh Government proposals around changes to the council tax system
would be reported to Cabinet for consideration of the proposed options.
Following scrutiny, the recommendation was supported to Cabinet.
Audit Wales Digital Strategy Review - Organisational Response (Pages 17
- 66)
Members referred to the transformational reserve of £1.2m mentioned in
the report and questioned the absence of a timeline.
The Chief Digital Officer advised that at the time of the Audit Wales
review the accompanying delivery plan to the councils Digital Data and
Technology Strategy was being developed. The review noted the council’s robust
arrangements to deliver the plan. The strategy is now live and there is a full
process around prioritisation of demands to digital services. Once demands are
prioritised through the Digital Transformation Board they are locked into a
digital pipeline and fully monitored and reported back to Corporate Directors
on a quarterly basis and an annual review is taken to Cabinet (Policy &
Resources) Sub Committee.
Members questioned what projects were already in the Pipeline Tracker
and their progress and asked how an assessment can be made to identify what is
achievable with the £1.2m reserve. Members also asked how a long term strategy
for digitalisation can be put in place considering the fast pace of changes in
this field and requested Digital Strategy be added to the Forward Work
Programme.
Officers confirmed that no timeline had been set for the strategy due to
the speed at which digital technology is changing. The strategic statements in
the strategy will be reviewed on an annual basis against the programmes of work
locked into the delivery plan, the overarching objectives in the corporate plan
and directorate priorities. In terms of the transformation fund, work is
already underway to explore how this can support the resourcing of the biggest
transformation projects. Care will be taken to ensure the right projects are
prioritised for the council and that will be reported for full scrutiny and
review.
Members questioned when an update on the timeline would be available and
whether the current economic climate was having an impact on the Digital
Strategy work.
Officers advised members that the delivery plan is available to be
published so can be shared with members. Each of the work programmes within the
digital pipeline are categorised across directorates, with financial
implications being reviewed as part of the transformation board process. There
are around 30/40 different programmes of work in the pipeline, once agreed they
are fully resourced with a start and end date with a benefits realisation
statements against them - this will be shared with members. Officers confirmed
that the financial efficiency savings that these programmes could generate is
under review with the service areas. Digital is a way to transform services and
resources have to be managed carefully to support the transformation in other service
areas. There are areas of focus such as Artificial Intelligence and automation
which have started to make net gains in saving officer time.
Members noted that some investments could provide financial benefits in
the long term.
The Chief Finance Officer confirmed that over the last 3 years, the
Digital Services budget had been increased by £400k to create additional
capacity. Transformation initiatives will be presented to Cabinet in December,
proposing using reserves now to deliver longer term ongoing revenue savings.
Members suggested a Digital seminar to explore projects in more detail.
The Chair agreed a future seminar would be arranged.
Following scrutiny, the recommendation was supported to Cabinet.
Corporate Plan “Reset, Review, Recover”
2022-2027 Annual Report Period: 1st April 2022 to 31st March 2023 (Pages 67 -
128)
Members referred to page 68, item 6 of the report and questioned how
much of the Corporate Plan would be based on the results of the Lets Keep
Talking campaign and whether there was a sufficient number of responses.
The Director for Strategy and Corporate Services advised members that
the Let’s Keep Talking campaign was only one of the factors that will be taken
into consideration when reviewing the Corporate Plan. There will be
opportunities via the Budget consultation which commences in December with
regards to the budget and delivery priorities for 2024/25. The council has
engaged with Opinion Research Services an independent social research company,
who will present the findings of the Lets Keep Talking survey and give an in
depth understanding of the methodology used and the qualitative and
quantitative data captured as part of the survey.
Members were unhappy with the number of responses received to the Lets
Keep Talking survey and questioned how much weighting is applied to the survey
rather than other elements.
The Director for Strategy and Corporate Services confirmed that the
survey is not weighted to any one particular element. It is important to ensure
that views are gathered from residents, members, businesses, 3rd sector and
partners including trade unions. Members
will have opportunities to feed into the discussions around the Corporate Plan
priorities for 2024/25
The Chief Executive stated it was difficult to obtain insight from all
the different sections of the community but gave assurances that it is the full
council who decide the wellbeing objectives and agrees the actions. When
gathering information it is important to understand whose views have been
gathered and that no one data set will provide a perfect set of priorities due
to people’s individual priorities.
Members questioned whether appointing an outside body in the current
financial climate was appropriate. Members noted that there should be more
canvassing of the public and staff to gather data.
The Director for Strategy and Corporate Services confirmed that the
external company was appointed to provide capacity to carry out the work. In future,
capacity is being built into Digital Services to move forward to channel the
information.
Members questioned the cost of the external company and stated that
insufficient exit surveys are carried out.
The Director of Strategy and Corporate Services advised that the cost
was not available at today’s meeting but can be feedback to members. Work will be undertaken to gather Service
User Perspective as the Corporate Plan 2024/25 is developed, this will include
staff feedback.
Members noted that the Chief Executive was proactive in obtaining
resident and staff views but consultation fatigue can be an issue for some
people.
The Chief Executive acknowledged that consultation fatigue can be an
issue but pointed out that the council has a legal duty to consult. Recent
changes in legislation in relation to the Participation Strategy duties brings
a more extensive obligation to consult before proposals are formulated and at
frequent points during the decision making process, which will involve people
in monitoring and evaluation.
Following scrutiny, the recommendation was supported to Cabinet.