Agenda item

To submit the minutes of the previous meeting of the Liaison Committee held on 11^th July, 2013.

The minutes of the previous meeting of the Liaison Committee held on 11 July, 2013 were presented and confirmed as correct.

Arising thereon –

•           With reference to the Third Sector’s participation in the Authority’s Scrutiny process the Head of Service (Policy) confirmed that the Scrutiny Section had been in contact with the Chief Officer of Medrwn Môn to take the matter forward. The Officer explained that the Executive updates its work programme via its monthly meetings which in turn feeds into and informs the priorities of the Scrutiny Work Programme. As has been agreed a work programme jointly with the Third Sector based upon the outputs of the Liaison Committee is in the early stages of development and this will facilitate the Third Sector’s involvement in the Council’s democratic arrangements, including scrutiny.

The Chief Officer of Medrwn Môn confirmed that he had discussed the matter with the Scrutiny Manager and that  he would like to receive assurance that definite progress will be made. However, potential Third sector participants need to be appropriately trained to ensure that they bring a broad breadth of experience and expertise to scrutiny proceedings and that they are not just present as representatives of their individual organisation. The Third Sector however does have pool of individuals who have an understanding of what it means to act as representatives and to work in partnership. The Chief Officer of Medrwn Môn said that whilst he was conscious that this matter has been on-going for some time, it does involve more than simply selecting individuals to undertake the role and is a matter of making sure that ultimately there is available a group of trained people who are able to act effectively.

The Council Leader concurred with the analysis made and he reminded the Committee that scrutiny committees are a-political and are meant to utilise the experience and expertise of their membership to inform better decision making.

The Chief Officer of Medrwn Môn said that he would co-ordinate the process of selecting suitable scrutiny representatives when it is timely to do.

Position noted. No further action arising.

•           With reference to the Compact Agreement and Volunteering Policy the Head of Service (Policy) informed the Committee that he had had discussions with the Chief Officer of Medrwn Môn regarding the formal launch of the Compact Agreement which has been set for 7 November. The Chief Officer of Medrwn Môn confirmed that the Leader of the Council had been invited to be part of the launch which will serve to emphasise the partnership character of the Compact as a tripartite agreement. The Director of Community updated  Members with regard to putting the Volunteering Policy into effect and she said that the priority remains to raise Service Heads’ awareness of the policy and to identify those volunteers who are currently active in the system and to ensure that appropriate arrangements are in place to support that group and thereafter to identify opportunities.

•           With reference to the Funding Code, the Chief Officer of Medrwn Môn said that he had met with the Head of Service (Policy) and the Head of Function (Resources) to discuss updating the Funding Code which sets out arrangements for engaging with the Third Sector in terms of funding and financial matters. He said that a review of the Funding Code is timely given that the financial climate has changed with increased emphasis being placed on funding on the basis of Service Level Agreements and through a commissioning process rather than the traditional method of grants allocation and that this change should be reflected in the Funding Code.

The Chair said that it was important that the Third Sector is informed of the level of funding it is likely to receive at the earliest opportunity to assist the sector with its planning process.

The Leader of the Council informed Members that the budget process has commenced much earlier this year with initial dialogue taking place in July. The Welsh Government’s Finance Minister has corresponded with the local authorities in Wales at the beginning of September and the early indications are that the financial position will be very challenging in the forthcoming year with projected cuts in the region of 5% or £7.5m.

•           With reference to the Commission on Governance and Public Service Delivery in Wales, the Director of Community confirmed that the Commission’s work is on-going and that the Authority has submitted a response as part of the consultation. The Leader of the Council referred to a meeting of the WLGA which Sir Paul Williams, the Commission’s Chair had addressed and he said that there are indications that in the long term there may be fewer public service establishments in Wales. The Head of Service (Policy) said that the recommendations of the Commission are expected to be published early in the New Year.

•           With reference to the Listen Community Voice Project, Ms Lyndsey Williams, Project Manager updated the Committee on activities. She referred to the circulation of questionnaires to obtain baseline information about how much understanding communities have of public services and to the staging of a host of consultation events to gather further supporting information for the baseline. The Officer also mentioned developments with regard to the community visioning process focussed initially on the Seiriol ward and activities in relation to the official launch which will bring members of the different sectors together to get a better understanding of what the project is trying to achieve. An evaluation exercise of the project will be undertaken with invitations to tender for the delivery of the evaluation having been issued and interviews carried out. With reference to the Authority’s Making a Difference Consultation, she said that a number of issues with regard to the method and timescale of the consultation had been identified.

The Leader of the Council said that the Authority’s Policy Section is in the process of collating the responses to the Making a Difference questionnaire which totalled 900. The Head of Service (Policy) added that issues in respect of the methods used to carry out the consultation and the time limitations imposed on the process will be reviewed with the objective of making improvements. The Committee discussed the lessons to be taken from the Making a Difference Consultation in terms of reaching a wider audience and utilising social media to obtain the opinions of younger people. It was acknowledged that the Making a Difference Consultation had been successful as regards generating a higher number of responses. The Director of Community referred to ways of co-ordinating engagement with the third sector which matter has been the subject of previous discussions and to the fact that that process is now maturing.

•           With reference to the Work Programme and workshop, the Head of Service (Policy) said that the intention is to use the Executive Work Programme to inform the Liaison Committee’s work programme and to plan on that basis.