Agenda item

The minutes of the previous meeting of the Liaison Committee held on 17^th January, 2014 to be submitted for confirmation.

The minutes of the previous meeting of the Liaison Committee held on 17 January, 2014 were presented and confirmed as correct.

Arising thereon –

•           The Director of Community informed the Committee that training arrangements in connection with child protection and the Volunteering Policy had been confirmed for the end of April and beginning of May.

•           In response to a question by the Chair regarding initiating the 2015/16 Budget consultation process as soon as possible, Councillor Ieuan Williams explained that the Chief Executive and Deputy Chief Executive had met with Service Heads the previous week in relation to commencing the process and that a meeting between officers and Portfolio Members is scheduled for the 24th of the month to discuss the process of formulating the budget with a view to seeking an alternative approach to that whereby an uniform  percentage cut is apportioned across all services. Councillor Williams said that it is felt the Authority has reached an end point in terms of budget reductions but that it is seeking to be creative in the manner it addresses the financial situation.

•           In response to question about the extent to which joint commissioning with Health is taking place, the Director of Community explained that there are ongoing discussions where there is overlap and that there is also a regional programme for joint-commissioning which is looking  at making it happen in a more structured and strategic way. Joint commissioning is not always straightforward as the drivers are different. Previous guidance and the new Social Services and Wellbeing Act are steering developments towards strengthening community support so that the focus moves away from hospital based care. In Anglesey there have been efforts to take matters one step further by seeking to promote integrated management arrangements. The Officer said the objective is that decisions should be made jointly on the basis of information held jointly in accordance with Anglesey’s priorities. The difficulty arises in establishing common priorities across the six North Wales authorities when each authority works within slightly different financial arrangements and when the population profiles and priorities are different. However, the will to move forward with on this is strong and there are ongoing discussions with regard to getting systems to work together. There will be an expectation that this occurs in a more planned and purposeful way.

•           A representative of the voluntary sector requested that a schedule of scrutiny items be made available to the Third Sector’s representatives. The Chief Officer of Medrwn Môn said that he would forward to them a list of scrutiny priorities as made available to him. The Interim Head of Democratic Services said that he would also pursue that matter.

Action Arising: Interim Head of Democratic Services and/or Chief Officer of Medrwn Môn to arrange for the schedule of scrutiny items and priorities to be made available to the Committee’s Third Sector representatives.

•           The Interim Head of Democratic Services confirmed that a briefing session on the scrutiny process for the Liaison Committee’s voluntary sector representatives is still planned.

•           The Chief Officer of Medrwn Môn said that detailed guidance by the Welsh Government regarding local compacts in Wales had not been issued thus far and that once the guidance is available he would report thereon to the Liaison Committee.