Agenda item

The Chair stated that following consultation with Members the report contained the emerging draft programme for the year ahead.

The draft work programme takes into account last years’ programme, work already committed and feedback from the recent Work Planning Conference which included input on Council priorities and strategic challenges, and public issues.

He highlighted the key considerations for the Committee to think about before agreeing the programme, and took Members through the detail.

Firstly, he presented the Committee’s own draft work plan which included specific issues of concern for focussed discussion at Committee meetings. He mentioned that the Committee would also coordinate any pre-decision scrutiny activity. There was some discussion around Committee activity on Crime & Disorder / Safer Swansea Partnership scrutiny. The desire of the Committee to do more than the single Committee session on the work and performance of the Safer Swansea Community Safety Partnership (SSP) was noted. The Chair stated that the inquiry into Anti-Social Behaviour would touch on the work of the SSP, and that the Partnership also reports to the Public Services Board (PSB), and therefore relevant for any PSB Scrutiny Session, for example the Strong Communities PSB well-being objective encompasses the work / contribution of the SSP to achieving this objective and is covered in the PSB Annual Report, which would be discussed at October’s Committee meeting. He emphasised that any additional Committee session should have a clear and specific purpose / focus, for example, any aspect the Committee wants to drill down into. Looking back at the February 2022 session (letter included in the Committee agenda), he pointed out that Committee members were keen to engage with the development of new SSP Strategy and pick up progress in relation to improvements following the Mayhill riot. The Chair also reminded the Committee that scrutiny was about the partnership, and that there were other arrangements for specifically holding the Police to account.

He referred to the proposal to set up an Inquiry Panel to look at Anti-Social Behaviour. Whilst there were some ideas about the work the Panel could examine, the Panel itself would develop terms of reference and identify the key question for the Inquiry following an initial briefing session on the topic.

He stated that Performance Panels make up the majority of scrutiny activity, as these represented ongoing monitoring and challenge of key services, holding cabinet members to account, with ongoing conversation to share their views and recommendations. It was proposed that the previously established Performance Panels continue but with a renaming of the Natural Environment Panel to ‘Climate Change & Nature’, reflecting recent change in corporate priorities.

In order to provide continuity for this first year of the new Council term, it was proposed that the Councillors previously acting as conveners, who wish to continue, be re-appointed in that role, namely:

·         Councillor Chris Holley as Service Improvement & Finance convener

·         Councillor Lyndon Jones as Education convener

·         Councillor Sue Jones as Adult Services convener; and

·         Councillor Paxton Hood-Williams as Child & Family Services convener

With regard to the Development & Regeneration and Climate Change & Nature Panels, expressions of interest were invited, initially from Councillors that have been previously involved in this work. Based on feedback the Committee was asked to agree:

· Councillor Chris Holley as Development & Regeneration convener; and

· Councillor Hannah Lawson as Climate Change & Nature convener

He reported that for a more light-touch approach, a small number of Working Group topics have been identified with a focus on the Road Safety, Co-production, Swansea as a Healthy City, and Customer Contact. 

Members also noted the arrangements for regional scrutiny, as referred to in para. 4.7 of the report.

He reiterated that the work programme will be subject to requests for scrutiny throughout the year. Furthermore, the work programme would be kept under constant review by the Committee, with changes made as necessary. The Committee would always retain the flexibility to adapt and re-prioritise the work of scrutiny, to ensure the continued relevance of the programme.

He referred to the next Committee meeting scheduled for 16 August.  He stated that the Cabinet Member for Equalities & Culture, Cllr Elliott King, will attend to report on, and take questions on, his responsibilities relating to the Archives Service and developments around the new Community Hub, which will house the Service. The Committee will need to consider questions for that session.

Resolved that:

1)    the Scrutiny Work Programme for 2022/23 (shown in appendix 3), including Inquiry topics, Performance Panel and Working Group topic priorities be agreed.

2)    the appointment of the Performance Panel Convenors (shown in 4.5) be agreed.

3)    the proposed Committee work plan (shown in appendix 4) be agreed.