Agenda, decisions and minutes

www.swansea.gov.uk/disclosuresofinterests

In accordance with the Code of Conduct adopted by the City and County of Swansea, the following interest were declared:

Councillor Matthew Jones – Personal – Minute No. 15  – Scrutiny of Cabinet Member Portfolio Responsibilities: Fly Tipping – Councillor Cyril Anderson, Cabinet Member for Community (Services).

In accordance with the Local Government (Wales) Measure 2011, no declarations of Whipped Votes or Party Whips were declared.

To approve and sign the Minutes of the previous meeting(s) as a correct record.  

Resolved that the minutes of the Scrutiny Programme Committee held on 18 October, 2022, be signed and approved as a correct record.

Questions can be submitted in writing to Democratic Services democracy@swansea.gov.uk up until noon on the working day prior to the meeting. Written questions take precedence. Public may attend and ask questions in person if time allows.  Questions must relate to items on the open part of the agenda and will be dealt within a 10 minute period.

There were no public questions.

The Cabinet Member for Community (Services) introduced his report and asked the Head of Service for Waste, Parks and Cleansing to provide an overview of the Council’s duties and current procedures to deal with Fly Tipping .

The Head of Service Waste, Parks and Cleansing, accompanied by the Waste Enforcement Team Leader and Group Leader Parks and Cleansing provided background regarding legal responsibilities, and details regarding activities and action taken. He referred to monitoring, clearance, and preventative measures (the 3 E’s, Education, Engagement and Enforcement) and enforcement data.  He detailed the number of Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN’s) issued last year and Committee Members noted that there had been a further 20 FPN’s issued during that period.

Committee questioning and discussion focussed on the following:

·         Consistency around the approach to the management of Fly Tipping across the City and County over the last 12 months. 

·         Proposed changes to current Fly Tipping legislation/procedure creating a ‘lighter touch’ for managing indiscretions, as an alternative to prosecution.

·         The success of the preventative work resulting in a low level of Fly Tipping prosecutions.

·         The nature and levels of prosecutions in the last year.

·         Numbers of Officers with delegated powers to issue FPN’s.

·         Challenges associated with monitoring complaints associated with dog fouling/littering.

·         Fly Tipping hot spots/differences in the nature of Fly Tipping in urban and rural areas.

·         Costs/Income associated with the management of Fly Tipping and disposal of commercial waste.

·         Whether incidences of Fly Tipping can be linked to  the proximity of existing civic amenity sites where, e.g., the local site does not take certain waste/recycling materials.

·         The success of the booking system at the Llansamlet Bailing Plant.

·         Work with traders / businesses around waste collection processes to avoid fly tipping issues; Preventative measures and multi-agency working in the City Centre and surrounding areas.

·         Roles and responsibilities of the Cleansing Ward Operative Team/Fly Tipping Teams.

·         The use of other agencies for the specialist removal of Fly Tipping.

·         Development of ICT to provide meaningful monitoring information to Members following requests for service.

·         The challenges associated issuing FPN’s in relation to dog fouling.

·         Covert/overt surveillance costs / benefits and associated issues.

The Chair thanked the Cabinet Member for Community (Services) and Officers for their input.

Resolved that the Chair write to the Cabinet Member for Community (Services) reflecting discussion and sharing the views of the Committee.

The Cabinet Member for Care Services, accompanied by the Director of Social Services and Social Services Strategy & Performance Improvement Officer attended to present the report.

The Cabinet Member for Care Services referred to the latest Annual Report (Corporate Safeguarding 2021/22) and highlighted the role of the Corporate Safeguarding Group which leads on development of corporate safeguarding policy and monitoring of policy implementation, and developments and achievements against the 7 key areas of activity. She referred to:

·         Covid response

·         Corporate Safeguarding Policy

·         A positive internal audit report on corporate safeguarding 2022/23 and feedback from Estyn review on Council’s Education Services

·         The Self-Assessment exercise/work programme,

·         Issues arising from previous year (which included mandatory training compliance, disclosure and barring service, contracting and procurement, safeguarding leadership), and

·         The work programme for the year ahead.

Committee questioning and discussion focussed on the following:

·         Progress and monitoring in respect of contractors and suppliers’ compliance with Swansea Council Corporate Safeguarding Policy. 

·         The challenges associated with reporting mandatory training compliance by staff. However, it was noted that the introduction of Oracle Fusion would alleviate these issues.

·         Issues in relation to the processing of DBS checks and clarity around requirement criteria.

·         Improvements to the Council’s advocacy offer to vulnerable children, adults and their families. The Committee noted difficulties in developing an Adult Advocacy Service and the potential opportunities provided by co-production.

The Chair thanked the Cabinet Member for Care Services and Officers.

Resolved that the Chair write to the Cabinet Member for Care Services reflecting discussion and sharing the views of the Committee.

The Head of HR and Service Centre provided an update on workforce matters since the last meeting of the Scrutiny Working Group – Workforce in February 2022.  She referred to key developments including recent agreement by Cabinet of a Post Pandemic Working Model (and 7 agreed principles), and Workforce Strategy 2022-27. The latest position was also provided on wellbeing and sickness absence, agency workers, HR and Service Centre operations, Headcount/FTE and Occupational Health Data.

Committee questioning and discussion focussed on the following:

·         Procedures in relation to wellbeing and staff sickness, for example phased return to work for those coming off long term sickness.

·         Mental health support / management of issues and the availability of training.

·         The benefits of the introduction of the Oracle Fusion system in providing ‘live’ HR & OD reporting on a day to day basis.

The Chair thanked the Head of HR and Service Centre for her informative report, following up on the Scrutiny Working Group.

Resolved that the Chair write to the Cabinet Member for Corporate Services and Performance reflecting the discussion and outlining the views of the Committee.

Further to written report, some changes were verbally reported for agreement:

·         Service Improvement & Finance Panel – Add Cllrs Rebecca Fogarty, Dai Jenkins, and Matthew Jones.

The Committee noted that the Adult Services Performance Panel has agreed to renew its co-option of Mr. Tony Beddow.

Resolved that the membership of the Panels and Working Groups as reported, be agreed.

Discussion on:

a) Committee Work Plan.

b) Opportunities for Pre-Decision Scrutiny.

c) Progress with Scrutiny Panels and Working Groups.

The Chair presented the agreed Scrutiny Work Programme for 2022/23 which the Committee is responsible for monitoring.

As per Committee work plan, the main items scheduled for the next meeting on 13 December is:

-       Homelessness (Cabinet Member for Service Transformation)

-       Delivery of Corporate Priority – Tackling Poverty (Leader and Cabinet Member for Wellbeing)

It was also noted that a Cabinet decision on the Procurement Scrutiny Inquiry final report was made on 20 October, agreeing all 14 Panel recommendations. The Panel will reconvene in 9-12 months to follow up on the implementation of their recommendation and assess the impact of the inquiry.

The Chair presented a report on ‘Scrutiny Letters’ for information. It was highlighted from the Scrutiny Letter relating to the Committee’s Pre-Decision Scrutiny on the Oracle system that a further report was expected following implementation of the system (after April 2023) to provide the Committee with clarity on total project cost.

The Chair referred to the date and time of upcoming Scrutiny Panel/Working Group Meetings, for information.