Minutes:
Two
question from Members with Notice under Rule 9.2 of the Council’s Procedure
Rules were received.
Question
1:
Cllr
Stephanie Grimshaw asked the following:
“Plan
International UK has released a report highlighting the state of girls’ rights across
the UK, with Neath Port Talbot alarmingly identified as the most challenging
place in Wales to live as a girl. What specific measures are the Council taking
to address the barriers that women and girls face in the borough? Additionally,
will the council develop an action plan based on the issues raised in the
report?”
Cllr Simon
Knoyle, Cabinet Member for Finance, Performance and Social Justice provided the
following response:
Can I thank my colleague
cabinet member Cllr Sian Harris and the Director of Social Services, Housing
and Community Safety for enabling local young people supported by our HOPE
service to contribute to this research.
It is good to see that as well as ensuring young people are shaping the
way we are responding to the issues facing women and girls at a local level, we
are also helping our young people to shape research like this which has the
potential to bring about policy change at Government level.
I note that the
recommendations set out in the report are aimed at Government, however, I have
asked officers to undertake a detailed review of the report and its findings. I
have also asked for advice on any additional action that we can consider beyond
those initiatives that we have already identified in our Strategic Equality Plan
and associated policies. I look forward to having further discussion with
members once that advice is to hand.
I note
that Cllr Grimshaw’s question draws attention to the
scoring that researchers have applied across all areas in the UK and the
relative position of NPT in that index.
Having read the report, I can see that whilst the researchers have
attempted to identify those areas where women and young people may face the
greatest challenges, the report urges caution in using the results for individual
areas. I quote:
‘The goal is not to single out
individual local authorities, but to show the scale of structural challenges
faced both by girls and young women as they navigate through life, and also the
difficulties facing local leaders in delivering services to communities in need
of support. Each local authority will be facing different, and sometimes more
extreme, challenges in terms of delivering services. Communities with greater
needs for services, in order to give girls the best possible start in life,
will inherently need to spend more in delivering public services – but this has
become increasingly challenging. We have detailed earlier in this report the
pressures facing local government finance generally – councils are now dealing
with a 27% real terms cut in core spending power since 2010 against a backdrop
of increasing costs to delivery services and increasing demand from a growing
population’
The report authors also conclude
that:
‘There are challenges across the
country – not one place varies outside 69.07 to 79.74 out of 100 on our Index.
This shows that every community has room to improve, and robust support and
investment from central governments is necessary to improve the lives of girls
and young women in the UK.’
That advice is clearly very
important in ensuring that the report findings are used in a constructive and
productive manner and not used inappropriately.
I am sure you will agree with that.
Whilst waiting for the
analysis I have commissioned to be available, I would like to take the
opportunity today to underline our ongoing commitment to addressing gender
inequality. It must be of concern to all of us that despite a range of policy
initiatives over an extended period of time, women and girls from all
backgrounds across the United Kingdom continue to experience significant
challenges and inequality.
Of course, NPT Council has
been working hard to address inequality since its inception - an issue which
has been supported across all political groups. I pay tribute to those cabinet
members that have come before me who have championed equality of opportunity
for everyone. I am committed to continuing to build on their achievements so we
can make further progress.
Just as a brief reminder to
members of council of some of the important work in progress:
The Cabinet continues to meet
with the Youth Council to hear directly from young people and we have been very
pleased to support our current youth mayor in her work to champion better
sexual health and relationship service for young people;
We continue to give priority
to ensuring all children and young people are aware of their rights and are
confident to exercise those rights. We are particularly proud of the work
undertaken by our Youth Service who have been externally recognised for the
significant difference they are making with young people, particularly those
facing the greatest disadvantage and the work done through the HOPE project by
Children’s Social Services;
The Council continues to
provide leadership across local partnership agencies to reduce violence against
women and girls, sexual abuse and domestic violence and has protected the
budgets that enable this important work to take place;
As an employer, we have made
very good progress in addressing equal pay. Chwarae Teg formally recognised the work done by the Council to
support women experiencing the menopause and to enable women on lower pay to
progress within our organisation; women are better represented at senior level
across the organisation now, which includes the appointment of the current
chief executive Mrs Karen Jones to the most senior professional role in the
Council;
These are a just few of the
changes we have introduced that are making a difference. Details of the wider
work being delivered across the Council will be provided in the fuller update
report that I referenced earlier in my response.
Mr Mayor, this is my initial
response to the question posed by Cllr Grimshaw this afternoon. Clearly, the approval
of the Council’s Equality Policy and Plan is the responsibility of the whole
Council so I look forward to continuing the dialogue on this important issues
once the analysis I have commissioned is available.
Cllr Sian Harris also explained
the purpose of the HOPE charity.
Cllr Grimshaw highlighted the data
in the report in relation to Neath Port Talbot and that it needs a whole system
approach when decisions are being taken.
Question 2:
Cllr Rob Jones
asked the following:
This council resolved over
two years ago to bring Celtic Leisure in house. Can the Cabinet Member for
leisure report to council on the progress made by the Coalition to fulfil that
decision and bring it back in house”?
The Cabinet Member for
Nature, Tourism and Wellbeing responded
The
future of the Indoor Leisure contract, currently with Celtic Leisure, is
something that has been under careful consideration since the decision to
insource was made, and Members will be aware that the arrangements in terms of
Celtic Leisure in respect of financial year 2024/25 were incorporated into the
Council budget setting process, which was communicated and properly scrutinised.
In
preparation for insourcing, as previously intended in April 2023 and April
2024, officers from departments across the Council together with senior Celtic
Leisure staff have worked closely to make the preparations necessary for such a
change.
In
doing so they have been monitoring and regularly updating the costs of
insourcing, and whilst there are positives to insourcing, the substantial
additional costs of circa £1.4m a year is certainly not one of them.
As
members will know the council has been having to make some difficult decisions
as we see the government settlement flatline and
inflation surging over the past couple of years. As adding an extra £1.4m
pressure to those cuts was not very desirable, we have been working with the
Trade Unions to identify the best possible way forward.
Council
officers have worked closely with the Celtic Leisure board to improve the
quality of strategic leadership within the company, which has resulted this
year in a £460k reduction in the management fee, achieved through boosting
income, which was very helpful in helping to reduce the level of cuts needed
across the rest of the Council services.
The
Celtic Leisure contract expires at the end of March 2025, so a final decision
will now have to be made soon, and you will note there is an item on the
forward plan for October, where we will be bringing forward a report on the
options now available.
Cllr Jones followed up by referring
to the £1.3m budget pressure that exists from bringing Celtic Leisure in house.
He asked for the Cabinet Member to give an undertaking to deliver on the
promise to safeguard leisure provision.
Cllr Cen Phillips stated that
no decision has been taken and discussions with the Celtic Board, Trade Unions and
staff are ongoing to review all options. An evidence based decision will be
taken, prioritising the protection of jobs and services