Agenda and minutes

The Chair stated that a request has been received that this Committee should in future commence at 2.00 p.m., to bring in line with the start time of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee and to facilitate attendance of Members who are working.

Apologies noted as above.

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

No declaration of interest received.

To submit, for confirmation, the minutes of the meeting held on 17 June, 2013.

The minutes of the meeting held on 17 June, 2013 were confirmed.

It was noted that Item 4 and 5 has approved by The Executive at its meeting held on 15 July, 2013 following the recommendations of this Committee.

To submit a report by the Senior Partnership Manager.

(Councillor D.R. Hughes stated that he is employed by Medrwm Môn but considered that he was able to contribute to the meeting).

Submitted – a report and presentation by Mr. Trystan Pritchard, Senior Partnerships Manager in respect of the work of the newly established Anglesey and Gwynedd Partnership Unit. 

Mr. Pritchard stated that the Partnership Unit is set up to deal with the following :-

·                Unite the Children and Young People, Health and Social Care, Community Safety and Community strategies and work towards a single integrated plan for Gwynedd and Anglesey;

·                Process planned, driven and monitored by the establishment of a Joint Local Service Board for Gwynedd and Anglesey;

·                The Joint Local Service Board will be the statutory partnership for all areas within its remit.

He gave a background of the structure, aims and priorities of the Partnership Unit to the Committee.

Issues raised by Members and requested further information to this Scrutiny Committee in November :-

·                The staffing structure, grant allocation received and the contribution from Anglesey Council to the Partnership Unit;

·                Information in respect of the structure of the Joint Local Services Board and the Delivery Board;

·                Members referred to the wider priorities referred to during the presentation which included the Welsh Language, Poverty and Transport.  It was noted that due to the rural environment of both Anglesey and Gwynedd, transport links needs to be a priority within rural local communities;

·                Issues raised regarding Domestic Violence figures which was previously reported to the Community Safety Partnership Committee.  The Partnership Manager responded that he would prepare a report for this Scrutiny Committee highlighting all the relevant information in November.

·                Members wished it to be noted that the priority of this Scrutiny Committee is to encourage collaborative working, challenge and collection of data to enable them to discuss in depth issues of importance to this Council.

The Director of Community noted that it is important for the Partnership to engage with services in order to received data and information across all services of the Council.

RESOLVED to accept the report and presentation.

ACTION : To request the Partnership Manager to attend the meeting of this Scrutiny Committee in November and to report on the issues raised as noted above.

To submit a report by the Head of Service (Adult’s Services).

Submitted – a report by the Head of Service (Adult’s Services) in respect of the above.

The Head of Service (Adult’s Services) reported that the Ageing Well in Wales Programme, of which local authorities are key strategic partners, is linking with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and European Networks to ensure that Wales has the opportunity to participate and collaborate at both local and national levels. 

Under the auspices of the Irish Presidency of the European Union, senior political representatives of European cities, municipalities, communities and regions gathered together at a Summit on ‘Age friendly communities’ during June 2013 in Dublin.  Wales has been invited to join a public declaration of signing up to a common set of principles and actions that will be known as the Dublin Declaration. 

The WLGA has made an offer to all Local Authorities in Wales comprising one day’s free support or development training on demographic change and/or creating age friendly communities; this will support the Council in its Transformation Programme of Older People’s Services.

The Officer further reported that the Council has recently confirmed the appointment of Councillor R.Ll. Jones as the Older People’s Champion.  She outlined the role of the Older People’s Champion to the Committee. 

It was noted that the report will be forwarded to The Executive to be held on 9 September, 2013 following the comments of this Committee.

Members of the Committee wholeheartedly supported the report and it was RESOLVED to accept the report and the recommendations contained therein be forwarded to The Executive.

ACTION : To recommend to The Executive as follows :-

·                     consider the merits of engaging in a Wales and European wide network of excellence and innovation to create Age Friendly Communities by 2020;

·                     support the agreement to make a public declaration of intent as set out by the proposed Dublin Declaration (with the WLGA to co-ordinate representation through remote arrangements);

·                     support the agreement to participate within the thematic network on creating Age Friendly Communities co-ordinated by the Ageing Well in Wales Programme (hosted by the Office of the Commissioner for Older People);

·                     support further dialogue through the WLGA and the WHO, for Wales to contribute to adapting WHO’s guidelines for communities by using Welsh communities as pilot sites;

·                     support accepting the WLGA’s offer, comprising of a one day’s free support/development training which will be negotiated by the Council’s newly appointed Older People’s Champion.

To submit a report by the Scrutiny Officer.

Submitted – a draft Work Programme by the Scrutiny Officer.

The Scrutiny Officer reported that the purpose of the work programme is to identify the Committee’s priorities in the current municipal year.  The Work Programme will be reported to each meeting of the Committee to assure that the work programme is kept update and is publicly available as required by the Welsh Government.  The Terms of Reference of the Committee was also incorporated into the report.  It was noted that the draft Work Programme is a document that can be revised/amended as deemed appropriate during the Municipal Year.

The Director of Community stated that this Scrutiny Committee should scrutinise Regional Partnerships to view how these partnership are working. 

The Chair noted that it would be advantages for the Committee to visit these partnerships i.e. regeneration partnerships, waste disposal partnerships, health partnerships etc.

The Vice-Chair raised that he would like to scrutinise how the WLGA fund training for Members and suggested that a representative from the WLGA be invited to attend this Committee.

Members further raised the need to invite representatives from the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board to this Committee to allow them to raise questions in relation to the recent problems at the Health Board.  The Director of Community responded that a briefing session with Members would be advantageous before submission of questions to the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board.  She noted that staff from her department could be made available to facilitate Members to prepare for the meeting with representatives from the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board. 

RESOLVED to note the report.

ACTION :

(1)     That the Partnership and Regeneration Scrutiny Committees Draft Work Programme be published on the Council’s web-site.

(2)     To incorporate this Committees suggestions as items for discussion, as noted above, into the Draft Work Programme.

To receive a verbal report by the Committee Chair, Vice-Chair and the Corporate Programme Manager.

The Scrutiny Officer informed the Committee that the WLGA has arranged 6 workshops (two of which have already taken place) for Chairs and Vice-Chairs of the Scrutiny Committees.  The Officer gave the details of the workshops and who would represent the Council at each session. 

The Vice-Chair gave a brief report on the workshop he attended on 1^st July, 2013 which incorporated housing problems and in particular homelessness.

The Chair welcomed Mrs. Danielle Edwards, Corporate Programme Manager to the meeting to give an insight to the recently established 3 Programme Boards.

The Corporate Programme Manager referred to the Transformation Plan for the Council and the aims of the Council to drive forward the Plan throughout the services of the Council.   The role for the Scrutiny Committees is to add value either within the Transformation Programme Boards, or through the Scrutiny process.  The appointed Members from the 2 Scrutiny Committees are able to voice the issues raised at the Committees they represent.   She also noted that the Transformation Boards are able to recommend issues to the Senior Leadership Team and thereafter to The Executive.

It was further reported that external partnerships are key in the work of the Transformation Plan which will add value to the authority to achieve projects.

RESOLVED to accept the report and to thank the Corporate Programme Manager for her presentation.

ACTION : That an update report on the work of the 3 Project Boards be submitted to a future meeting of this Committee.

To note that the next meeting of this Committee is to be held on Wednesday, 25 September, 2013 at 1.00 p.m.

It was noted that the next meeting of this Committee is to be held on Wednesday, 25 September, 2013 at 2.00 p.m.

The Chair and Vice-Chair wished to record their disappointment to the attendance at today’s meeting.