Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors F. Akhtar, D.C. Evans and C. Jones.

No public questions had been received.

The Committee considered the Quarterly Treasury Management and Prudential Indicator Report for the period 1^st April 2018- 30^th June 2018 which listed the treasury management activities which had occurred during the first quarter of the year in line with the Treasury Management Policy and Strategy 2018-2019 adopted by Council on the 21^st February 2018.

The Head of Financial Services agreed to ascertain for how much longer the administration of Kaupthing Singer & Freidlander was likely to continue and also whether Carmarthenshire County Council had ever borrowed money from any other local authorities.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED to endorse the report.

The Committee considered the monitoring report that outlined the budgetary position for the 2018/19 financial year as at the 30^th June 2018. The report included:

·      Authority Corporate Budget Monitoring Report (Appendix A);

·      The Chief Executive’s and Corporate Services Revenue budget (Appendix B);

·      Corporate Capital Programme Monitoring 2017/18 (Appendix C);

·      Corporate Capital Programme Monitoring 2017/18 – main Variances (Appendix D);

·      The Chief Executive’s and Corporate Services Schemes 2017/18 (Appendix E).

The following issues were raised during consideration of the report:

·         The Head of Financial Services, in response to a question, agreed to ascertain the full extent of the Environment Department’s reserves;

·         Concern was expressed that the Local Health Board’s contribution towards the tripartite funding of the Garreglwyd Residential Unit, had yet to be received. The Head of Financial Services responded that the contribution, and a number of other contributions due from the LHB, was being vigorously pursued;

·         The issue of ‘unfunded posts’ was again raised and the Assistant Chief Executive [People Management Performance] responded that within the Chief Executive’s Department it related to the fact that at the end of a fixed term contract post the individual had been kept on. He added that there would be no overspend as the money would be recouped via a service level agreement;

·         The Economic Development Manager, in response to a question, stated that the overspend with regard to the Beacon was not due to additional cleaning costs as indicated in the report and agreed to ascertain the actual reason.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED

5.1 to note the report;

5.2  that those Scrutiny Committees which have projects/schemes within their remit which rely on Local Health Board contributions be urged to ensure that any outstanding contributions due from the Board are received;

The Committee considered a report which provided an overview of progress against actions and measures in the New Corporate Strategy 2018-2023 to deliver the 2018/19 Well-being Objectives as at 30th June 2018 and broken down by Scrutiny.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED to note the report.

The Committee considered a report detailing progress against the actions and measures in the New Corporate Strategy 2018 -2023 to deliver the 2018/19 Well-being Objectives relevant to the Committee’s remit, as at 30^th June 2018.

The following issues/observations were raised on the report:-

·         The Economic Development Manager agreed to circulate statistics demonstrating Llanelli Hwb’s contribution to tackling poverty;

·         It was noted that whilst  the number of days lost to sickness absence per employee was off target for Qtr.1 the result was an improvement over the same period for last year and officers had engaged with other local authorities to ascertain best practice;   

·         The Assistant Chief Executive [People Management Performance] agreed to ascertain from the Director of Environment the implications of a single strategic site for the delivery of depot provision;

·         The Assistant Chief Executive [People Management Performance] agreed to ascertain whether the Authority had panels of the type used on Grenfell Tower on any of its buildings;

·         In response to a question the Corporate Policy and Partnership Officer advised that Councillors would be provided with information on where residents requiring assistance could be referred to for help following the introduction of universal credit.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED

7.1 that the report be received;

7.2 that update reports on asset transfer and agile working be included in the Committee’s forward work programme.

The Committee considered a proposed Information Security Policy incorporating key elements of the Access Control Policy and Copyright Designs and Patents Act Policy the Authority previously had in place. The new policy would enable information to be shared whilst ensuring the protection of information and hardware assets. It also clearly defined the roles and responsibilities expected of staff members, line managers and Heads of Service with regards to information security, and the role ICT Services would play in assisting with this.

RESOLVED that the Information Security Policy be endorsed. 

The Committee considered the Council’s Annual Complaints and Compliments report for the period 2017/18 which detailed.

·         the numbers of complaints investigated and responded to between April 2017 – March 2018 by department;

·         statistics on communications received by the Complaints Team and redirected. These related to enquiries and requests for assistance which, once presented, offered the opportunity to try and rectify difficulties before complaints arose;

·         complaints with any equalities or Welsh language issues;

·         complaints determined by the Ombudsman;

·         analysis of complaints and compliments by department.

The following issues were raised on the report:-

·      the Corporate Policy and Partnership Officer agreed to ascertain if there was a policy with regard to anonymous complaints and whether the Authority was charged for each complaint referred to the Ombudsman or whether the Authority paid an annual fee. She also agreed to provide information on the number of serial complainants;

·      it was clarified that the report did not include what could be perceived as ‘complaints’ received via the members’ enquiries system though this was being looked at for future reports;

·      the Corporate Policy and Partnership Officer agreed to convey to the Contact Centre Manager concerns with regard to longer call-response times being experienced by some callers as the issue had been drawn to the attention of some Councillors who had had the same experience. The Head of IT reminded members that the public could also contact the authority via social media and it’s website;

·      the Corporate Policy and Partnership Officer agreed to explore the possibility of including, within the Annual report, complaints and compliments to ‘providers’ of services on behalf of the Authority, for example within the social care sector.

RESOLVED that the Complaints and Compliments Annual Report 2017/18 be received.

The Committee considered the minutes of the meeting of the Carmarthenshire Public Services Board [PSB] held on the 2^nd May 2018 and the 12^th July 2018.The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 required that a designated local government scrutiny committee was appointed to scrutinise the work of the PSB. In Carmarthenshire, the Council’s Policy & Resources Scrutiny Committee had been designated as the relevant scrutiny committee.

The Corporate Policy and Partnership Officer agreed to convey to the PSB a concern regarding the lack of detail provided by the Health Board with regard to the proposed hubs model for the delivery of health, social care and voluntary services.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the minutes of the PSB meetings held on the 2^nd May 2018 and the 12^th July 2018 be received.

The Committee considered the Policy and Resources Scrutiny Committee Annual Report for the 2017/18 municipal year which provided an overview of the work of the Committee including:-

·         Overview of the Scrutiny Work Programmes

·         Key issues considered

·         Issues referred to or from Executive Board/Other Scrutiny Committees

·         Member attendance at meetings

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED to endorse the report.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the list of forthcoming items to be considered at the next scheduled meeting to be held on the  5^th December 2018 be received.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on the 19^th July 2018 be signed as a correct record.