Toggle mobile menu visibility

Bank holiday information - Easter

Bank holiday information for our services, including opening times and emergency contacts. All recycling collections will take place on the usual days.

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 2 - Civic Centre, Swansea. View directions

Contact: Scrutiny 636292 

Items
No. Item

1.

Disclosure of Personal and Prejudicial Interests.

Minutes:

·         None

2.

Minutes. pdf icon PDF 119 KB

To approve & sign the Notes of the previous meeting(s) as a correct record.

Minutes:

·         Approved

3.

Public Questions

·         Questions must relate to matters on the open part of the Agenda of the meeting, and will be dealt with in a 10 minute period

 

Minutes:

·         None

4.

Quarter 1 2018/19 Performance Monitoring Report pdf icon PDF 150 KB

·         Richard Rowlands - Corporate Performance Manager

Additional documents:

Minutes:

·         The Corporate Performance Manager attended to deliver the Q1 performance Monitoring Report

·         The majority of indicators have improved compared to Quarter 1 last year.

·         Safeguarding

·         AS9 DoLS assessments still missing target but anticipated improvement with new team in place

·         CFS18 4% increase in the number of looked after children compared to Q1 last year

·         CFS19 small drop in the number of children on the child protection register

·         CFS20 a 21% fall in the number of children in need of care and support compared to the same period last year.

·         AS11 and CFS14 (amongst others) show a drop in volume of work as measured by these indicators compared to the same period last year.

·         There are some areas of continued high levels of demand but some indicators are showing a drop in the volume of work – will follow up with Head of Service

·         Education and Skills

·         BBMA4 most apprenticeships will start at the end of Q2 to coincide with the start of the academic year

·         POV07 the number of training and employment weeks created by BBM is expected to be met by the end of the year, start dates vary with projects

·         Economy and Infrastructure

·         WMT009B municipal waste collected included biowastes for composting covering the Q4 period missed target – due to seasonal fluctuations and weather impact

·         EC5 commercial floor space created has no data as a new PI but are expecting it in later quarters

·         Poverty

·         HBCT01a/b data is currently unavailable due to a change in DWP systems.

·         HBCT02b average speed of processing Counil Tax changes of circumstances is still within target but the total number of days taken is increasing – follow up with Head of Service

·         POV05 securing benefit entitlements has declined, this is due to the number of cases being postponed/adjourned

·         Transformation and Future Council

·         CHR002 number of days lost to sickness meeting target but the target has increased (low is good) since last year

·         FINA6 forecast general fund revenue savings shows an improvement on last year but this is far from fully assured there are still ongoing risks and issues

·         Targets need to be set in line with what the indicator is trying to measure. There is little point setting stretch targets if there is no plan in place to achieve them. In some cases, a range target or a ceiling / floor target would be more appropriate.

·         The 6th well-being corporate objective is going through the process of approval and due to Council in October for final decision

 

5.

Equality Review Report 2017/18 pdf icon PDF 111 KB

·         Councillor Mary Sherwood – Cabinet Member for Better Communities (People)

·         Richard Rowlands – Corporate Performance Manager

Additional documents:

Minutes:

·         The Corporate Performance Manager attended with the Cabinet Member for Better Communities (People) to present the Equality Review Report 17/18

·         The current plan is in place until 2020 and then there is an intention to create a new one

·         Aim to streamline the objectives

·         Currently the approach to equality is ‘patchy’

·         Looking to create a smaller number of strategic aims with a consistent thread running throughout

·         Poor availability of baseline data currently

·         Staff don’t have to provide data on protected characteristics so it becomes difficult for HR to gather

·         More diverse groups of policy and decision makers leads to better decision making

·         Broader and differing life experience contributes to this too

·         There has been progress on the objectives, notably the appointment of Councillor champions – hoping for a consistent approach

·         Must grapple with gender stereotyping

·         Boys and girls are being limited by this stereo typing

·         Currently looking at developing guidance for schools

·         This also contributes to gender pay gaps

·         There are still active forums for those with protected characteristics e.g. Disability Liaison Group and these groups contribute to planning, consultation access etc – this is an important way for the Council to hear of any barriers

·         There is a scope to narrow objectives and make it strategic

·         How people with protected characteristics are engaged will help shape the objectives

·         PJ – Excellent report, very comprehensive but there are no numbers or data and therefore no success measures. We need the figures

·         PHW – Is there a role for positive discrimination to achieve the goal?

·         MS – We call it positive action, you need well qualified teams with a range of experience, backgrounds and perspectives. You have to fill the gaps with positive recruitment to make a team more diverse

·         PHW – How do we train managers to have relevant skills?

·         RR – Managers undertake diversity training but general management training is a financial restriction

·         JJ – There is no target figure for achievement yet?

·         There is still work to be done to establish the targets

·         Training has been cut over the years and eventually you can see the impact

·         Quality of training is important, the report needs to be streamlined and a decision about whether the aims will be cross Council or service specific

·         The 3rd sector need to have an input, it is important how others see our approach to these issues

·         Have recently responded to WLGA but we need to know how easy it is for people to access the front door (physical/social/language barriers)

·         Need to look at corporate plan and well-being plan to embed equalities

·         There may be specific projects, for example, consultation which is patchy and inconsistent

·         Developing the new plan will be cross organisation conversation and will involve staff

·         PJ – (p75 Highways and Transportation – Safer Routes) what does ‘safer’ mean? This should include air pollution as this is a major concern for physical development of young people

·         This is linked in with poverty – being on a low income is not a protected characteristic, but the well-being plan does reference this issue

·         A piece of work has been done so equalities work should consider low income and health expectancy

·         The new equality plan will reference any new corporate priority and the well-being plan and will reference health and finance inequality e.g. living in urban areas with air pollution

·         There has been a n improvement in the lower Swansea Valley but road pollution is still an issue

6.

Work Plan 2018/19 pdf icon PDF 66 KB

Minutes:

·         Some of the meetings may be longer as there are added items in the work plan overall

·         There may be additional items coming to the Panel -  Wales Audit Office reports

·         The Commissioning Review item will be scheduled after the general overview has been to the SPC. CH to advise on what the report should focus on

Letter to Cabinet Member pdf icon PDF 183 KB

Response from Cabinet Member pdf icon PDF 462 KB