Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed all those present to this meeting of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee. He extended a particular welcome to Vicky Poole, North Wales Area Director CSSIW and Marc Roberts, Lead Inspector CSSIW and also to representatives of Ysgol Beaumaris and Beaumaris Town Council who were present to address the meeting with regard to item 4 on the agenda.

To receive any declaration of interest by any Member or Officer in respect of any item of business.

Councillor Lewis Davies (not a member of the Committee) declared a personal interest with regard to item 4 on the agenda as Chair of Ysgol Llangoed Board of Governors. Councillor Davies said he had taken legal advice and had been advised that the interest is not prejudicial.

Councillor Carwyn Jones (not a member of the Committee) declared a personal interest with regard to item 4 on the agenda as Chair of Ysgol Llandegfan Board of Governors. Councillor Jones also declared a further prejudicial interest with regard to this matter on the basis of his first cousin’s employment in Ysgol Beaumaris and the attendance at Ysgol Llandegfan of his cousin’s son. Councillor Jones said that following an application to the Standards Committee, he had been granted a dispensation on 18 July, 2017 to participate fully throughout the school’s modernisation process in the Seiriol area but not to vote on the matter.

Councillor Alun Roberts declared a personal interest with regard to item 4 on the agenda as a member of Ysgol Beaumaris Board of Governors. Councillor Roberts said that he had taken legal advice and had been advised that the interest is not prejudicial and that he was able to participate and to vote on the matter.

·        To receive a presentation by CSSIW

·        To present the response of the Statutory Director of Social Services.

The performance review letter of the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW) in relation to the Isle of Anglesey County Council’s Social Services was presented for the Committee’s consideration along with the Authority’s responsive Action Plan. The letter summarised the outcome of the Inspectorate’s inspection, engagement and performance review activity with regard to Anglesey’s Social Services during 2016/17.

Vicky Poole, North Wales Area Director for CSSIW reported on the main points of the letter as follows –

•           The Local Authority has made sustained progress in implementing the Social Services and Well-being Act (SSWBA) with particular focus having been given to developing preventative services that promote independence and community resources.

•           The Adults’ Services transformation programme emphasises supporting people to live independent and fulfilled lives. The single point of access in adult’s services is well established.

•           The Inspectorate noted that there were positive examples of the development of alternative models of delivery in line with the SSWBA which looked at new ways of providing services for people.

•           The Inspectorate noted that partnership working with the BCUHB is ongoing and that positive progress has been made specifically with regard to developing residential services to support people who have dementia and complex needs. Strategic partnership working with BCUHB continues to be a challenge which the local authorities in the region need to address collectively.

•           The Inspectorate also noted that the Authority has plans to recommission domiciliary care on a patch basis and has advised caution in this approach.

•           The local authority is an outlier in its reported performance with respect to the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards and is looking at its data collection processes to better understand the reasons for this. This is an area that CSSIW will be following up in 2017/18.

•           There has been insufficient progress in modernising services for adults with learning disabilities, although it has been noted that more progress has been made in this area this year.

•           Advocacy and access to advocacy is an important part of the SSWBA. Advocacy has been identified by the local authority as an area for development in adults’ services. Children’s Services were seen to make effective use of informal advocacy.

•           During 2016/17, the Inspectorate’s engagement activities across all authorities in Wales focused on two main themes viz.

•           Safeguarding for adults – the Inspectorate was satisfied with how safeguarding arrangements for adults at risk were working in Anglesey and found this to be an area of strength for the local authority

•           Carers – the Inspectorate recognised that there are established third sector services to support carers commissioned by the local authority. The elected member who is the designated carers’ champion is well informed about carers’ needs which is also a strength. However, there is a waiting list for the established young carers’ service – this has been discussed with Children’s Services. Support for carers of people with mental health and substance misuse problems is also an issue across all authorities in Wales.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.

To present the Annual Performance Report for 2016/17.

The report of the Corporate Head of Transformation incorporating the Annual Performance Report for 2016/17 was presented for the Committee’s consideration. The report looks back at the performance of the Council for 2016/17 and specifically the progress made against the improvement objectives set out in the 7 key areas in the 2015/16 Annual Delivery Document.

The Portfolio Member for Corporate Services reported that the Annual Performance Report conveys a positive message about the Council’s performance in 2016/17. The Authority succeeded in continuing to deliver on many of its commitments in a number of priority areas in the preceding year including Adults’ Services, Education, Economic and Community Development and Housing; these successes are expanded on in the narrative of the report. Over 64% of the Council’s Performance Indicators (PIs) improved during the year and whilst some PIs declined in performance, the percentage of those is also down from 45% in 2015/16 to 24% in 2016/17. The Portfolio Member for Corporate Services said that he was very gratified to be able to report that the Isle of Anglesey County Council is for the first time ever within the top four local authorities in Wales as regards overall PI performance and seventh out of the 22 local authorities as regards PIs in the top quartile performance. This is undoubtedly a significant and commendable achievement particularly in the context of the changes that have occurred at the Council in recent years as well the increasingly challenging financial climate.

The Leader said that the previous Council had worked committedly over the course of its term to take the Council forwards; in so doing it has set a challenge to the new Council to maintain the momentum of progress. She noted that thanks are due to all who have contributed to the success to which the Performance Report is testimony.

The Committee considered the report and noted the progress made in fulfilling the objectives which the Council had set in 2016/17 which also marked the end of the period of the 2013/17 Corporate Plan. The Committee further noted that whilst one of the Council’s stated aspirations was to “drive community regeneration through developing holistic town and community plans for the Island’s main settlements prioritising Holyhead, Llangefni and Amlwch”, there was no mention made of the plans for Amlwch as one of the named priority settlements and neither was it linked to the schemes referred to in the list of achievements. Additionally, the Committee noted that there was no reference to community regeneration plans for Beaumaris as the primary town in the south-east corner of the Island which it believed should also be included in any renewal programme.

The Committee noted that the period which the Performance Report covers pertains to the previous Administration at the Council prior to the May 2017 local government election and asked that this be clarified within the report.

Having considered the report the Committee resolved that it agreed that a final version of the 2016/17 Performance Report be published by  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

To present the report of the Head of Learning.

The report of the Head of Learning incorporating the outcome of the non-statutory consultation on the modernisation of schools in the Seiriol area was presented for the Committee’s consideration. The report set out the following elements of the process –

•           The context including the main change drivers for modernising primary education provision on Anglesey that underscores the schools’ modernisation programme as a whole and will influence the decision regarding the best provision for the Seiriol area (section 2)

•           The consultation process which ran from 19 June, 2017 to 30 July, 2017

•           The observations and responses received from the staff, governors and parents of pupils during consultation meetings at the schools affected - Ysgol Beaumaris, Ysgol Llandegfan, and Ysgol Llangoed (section 4)

•           The other stakeholders to whom the consultation document was circulated (section 5)

•           The extended list of drivers for change against which the options were scored out of 10 (section 9)

•           A detailed analysis of 9 options encompassing those that were included in the consultation document as well as others that emerged during the consultation exercise and their scores (section 9).

•           A cost analysis of the options and summary of the scores in tabular form (section 10)                                                 

•           A recommendation on the way forward as regards the preferred option(s) on which to base a next step statutory consultation process (section 11)             

The Portfolio Member for Education reported that the consultation on the provision of primary school education in the Seiriol area is the latest phase of the Schools’ Modernisation Programme on Anglesey and follows on from the decision taken by the Executive on 21 July, 2016, to authorise Education Officers to proceed with an informal or non-statutory consultation on the primary school education provision in the area and to prepare options with which to proceed. A number of options have been considered and have been scored with 2 options jointly scoring highest (79), namely –

To close Ysgol Beaumaris and give parents a choice to send their children to the two other schools, to renovate both and to perhaps federalise (option 2), and

To close Ysgol Beaumaris and give the parents a choice to send their children to the two other schools and to review the catchments (option 3)

The Portfolio Member said that he had attended the consultation meetings at the three schools and had spent time reflecting on all the material considerations and had come to the unavoidable conclusion that most of the options which score highly against the drivers for change involve the closure of Ysgol Beaumaris. Although consideration has been given to ways of avoiding putting forward this option, the combination of factors and the resulting scores produce the same end result, namely that closing Ysgol Beaumaris features prominently in the options that most closely meet the criteria for change. The Portfolio Member for Education added that notwithstanding he remained open to listening to feasible alternative options.

In response to a request for clarification by the Chair regarding  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

To present the report of the Head of Adults’ Services.

The report of the Head of Adults’ Services setting out a proposal to engage with the community of Seiriol on the development of extra care housing in the area was presented for the Committee’s consideration.

The Portfolio Member for Social Services reported that a key element of the Transformation Programme for Adults is reconfiguring accommodation provision and moving away from the traditional residential care setting towards an Extra Care housing model. In October, 2015, a commitment was made to give consideration to appropriate site options within the South of Anglesey for the development of extra care housing, and the Seiriol area was identified as the preferred location should sites be available within that vicinity. During 2016 a survey of possible sites was commissioned through the Council’s Property Services which considered the factors listed in the report. Those factors have influenced the site selection process the report on which is attached at Appendix A. The report identified the preferred option as being to develop Extra Care Housing on the site of the current primary school either to be co-located with the school thereby ensuring the effective use of land, or alternatively to be the sole tenant. Two locations within the site were assessed, the one being the location of the now vacant day centre and the other to the rear of the school. The latter provides for better use of the area potentially supporting the maintenance of a build design consistent with the listed status of the school and potentially allows for sharing catering facilities with the school.

Councillor Lewis Davies speaking as a Local Member said that the site would be better suited to social housing which is in short supply in Beaumaris. The proposed development of an Extra Care facility on this site serves to increase the older people demographic of Beaumaris and together with the possible closure of the primary school, reinforces the impression of the town as primarily a place for older people. Councillor Davies emphasised the importance of having a corporate plan for the area to address this and other considerations relevant to the area’s future and its economic prosperity and viability.

The Chair clarified that opportunities to comment on the proposals in detail will arise during the engagement period. He requested that the outcome of the engagement with the local area be reported back to this Committee ahead of the presentation of the feedback to the Executive.

It was resolved that the Committee supports holding a period of engagement locally within the Seiriol area during November, 2017 with regard to the following matters:

•           Developing Extra Care housing provision in the Seiriol area to provide a minimum of 39 self-contained flats in accordance with nationally approved models of provision

•           That the preferred site for this development is the site of the current Ysgol Beaumaris either co-located with an adapted school or as the prime use for this land

•           That the Council pursues options to fund the development through the Housing revenue Account so  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.