Agenda and draft minutes

There were no apologies for absence from Committee Members.  Apologies for absence were received from the Leader, who was engaged in alternative Council business.

There were no declarations of interest made.

There were no declarations of any prohibited party whips

No public questions had been received. 

The Committee received the Non-Submission report in regards to the Treasury Management and Prudential Indicator Report 2023-2024 and noted the explanation and revised submission date of 6^th November 2024.

RESOLVED that the explanation for the non-submission be noted.

The Scrutiny Committee considered its Annual Report which detailed the work undertaken by the Committee during the 2023/24 municipal year. The report had been prepared in accordance with Article 6.2 of the Council’s Constitution and provided an overview of the work programme and key issues addressed, whilst also incorporating any issues referred to, or from, the Cabinet, Task and Finish reviews, development sessions and member attendance.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the report be endorsed.

The Committee considered a report for monitoring purposes, on Quarter 4 / End of Year 2023/24 of the Actions and Measures linked to the Authority’s Corporate Strategy and the Well-Being Objectives.

The following issues and queries were raised on the report:

·         In regard to the off-target performance, it was observed that majority of the off targets were located within theme 5 - Core Business Enablers.  In commenting that it may be attributed to the recruitment freeze and efficiency savings, the reason was sought.  The Assistant Chief Executive (People Management & Performance) stated that reasons were detailed within the report.  It was further commented that reassurance was sought that the ‘Core Business Enablers’, which in the main included administrative and frontline services, were being provided with the same level of support to be enable work to be done towards set targets. The Assistant Chief Executive (People Management & Performance) supported by the Interim Chief Digital Officer made reference to the Digital Strategy which fed into the Transformation Strategy providing cohesive and joined up working.  Further reassurance was provided in that it had been identified that some of the measures within the ‘off targets’ attributed to IT were more relevant to the pre-covid times and therefore no longer reflected the current new ways of working and the services which was being delivered in a more proactive way.  Considering this, it was stated that the measures be reviewed and developed to be more reflective of the current service.

·         Reference was made to the off-target measure relating to ‘The percentage of council tax due for the financial year which was received by the authority’.  Clarification was sought on the HMRC data sharing pilot and how was the Council proactively participating in this.  In recognising that the KPI was slightly off target, the Head of Finance explained that there may be a link to the current cost of living and household finances, however, statistically across Wales, Carmarthenshire Council was within the top quartile being the 5^th highest performing Authority which reflected the broader economic scope, despite having missed the internal target set.  The data matching with HMRC was primarily related to National Fraud Initiative.  It was explained that there was a considerable amount of work being undertaken to support householders to ensure they receive advice to those who were eligible for support. 

The Corporate Policy and Partnership Manager added that in line of the work undertaken by the Tackling Poverty Advisory Panel, leaflets providing information on how access support was being sent out along with Council Tax reminders letters in the hope to help prevent customers getting into arrears with their Council Tax.

·         Reference was made to the measure on the % of management responses received within 15 working days of the draft Internal Audit report being issued.  It was asked what work was being undertaken to improve this?  The Head of Finance explained that whilst responses were being pursued in a timely manner it was acknowledged that other pressing priorities at certain stages of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The Committee considered a report which provided detailed sickness absence data for the cumulative period ending 31^st March 2024 with an overview of the employee wellbeing support provided.

Amongst the issues raised on the report were the following:

·         In response to a number of queries and comments in regard to the wellbeing service being more preventative rather than reactive, collectively the Assistant Chief Executive (People Management & Performance), Employee Wellbeing Manager and the Lead Business Partner – People Management informed Members of the following:-

-   The Employee Wellbeing Team were assiduous in being proactive to enable staff to remain in work.  To support the small team, a number of volunteer Wellbeing Champions were in place to help provide and facilitate peer to peer support groups.  This has proven to be successful with positive feedback.

-   The Employee Wellbeing Team have a close liaison with Human Resources and regular attendance at Departmental Management Team (DMT) meetings provides opportunities to discuss issues and identify underlaying causes.

-   A significant training programme is provided for managers to help identify and act on early intervention.

·         Reference was made to Table 5 of the report, specifically Children Services which cited a Year Difference of 17.6%.  It was asked if there was earlier intervention could have reduced the sickness level?  The Assistant Chief Executive (People Management & Performance) explained that ongoing work was taking place to consider the detail of the data in terms of children services.  It was highlighted that it was known that the recent significant restructuring was a concern for staff and therefore may in turn have caused an increase in the level of sickness.

·         It was asked how homeworking and hybrid working was managed in terms of identifying support and managing sickness.  The Employee Wellbeing Manager explained that Managers were provided with significant level of appropriate training to enable them to manage a hybrid team.  Sensitive conversations were encouraged to be undertaken face-to-face rather than virtually, this enabled a more personal approach and often assisted in identifying and resolving issues prior to any potential escalation through the absence management system.

·         Reference was made to the pie charts provided under Occupational Health.  It was asked if there were targets in place for the percentage of staff being referred to Occupational Health once they are on sick, not just when they reach a later stage of the absence management process?  The Employee Wellbeing Manager stated that as each person’s absence and sickness differ on a case by case basis it would not be possible to put a target in place.  The pie chart was encouraging in that it depicts that half the number of staff referred to Occupational Health remain in work.  Interventions were in place to provide advice and support before sick leave occurs helping individuals to remain in work whilst receiving the agreed support.  In addition, in terms of the absence management process, Occupational Health was raised at every stage both in the informal and formal stages.

·         In light of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

The Committee considered a report reviewing the Authority’s approach to transformation and ensure that the programme is aligned with the aims and objectives of the new Corporate Strategy.  The Transformation strategy was reported to Cabinet in February 2023.  The following are the 8 thematic priorities contained within the Transformation Strategy :

·       Efficiencies and Value for Money

·       Income and Commercialisation 

·       Service Design & Improvement 

·       Workforce

·       Workplace

·       Customers and Digital

·       Decarbonisation 

·       Schools

Amongst the issues raised on the report were the following:

·         Reference was made to Efficiencies and Value for Money.  An update was sought on the piece of work with the Residential Care services to review agency spend?  The TIC Programme Manager explained that this was a project lead by one of the Future Leaders as part of a development programme.  Following the initial research, a pilot commenced early April 2024 on residential homes in the Llanelli area.  It was reported that the pilot was going well and predicted by the end of June a saving of 400 hours which would have been used by an agency.  The benefits of this were some financial savings but the largest benefit would be on the continuity and resilience of the workforce.

·         In regard to the Commercialisation Strategy, it was asked how this would be rolled out?  The TIC Programme Manager explained that the governance arrangements were currently being formalised.

·         Reference was made to the Member Enquiries System/process.  It was raised that since the Hwb has gone live it, from personal experience, it had been difficult and challenging to use and therefore had no other option than to revert back to the old method of e-mailing Democratic Services Unit. Feedback from other Members had been in a similar vein in regard to reporting of planning enforcement. The Chief Digital Officer stated that the feedback is important and would be taken on board with further discussion outside of the Committee to work on improving the system.

·         A general question was asked about how work in terms of Schools is progressing.  The TIC Programme Manager explained that the work over the last 12months had been focussed on undertaking in-depth discussions with schools in order to ascertain areas such as budget challenges identifying potential cost efficiencies in the back-office support including areas of procurement.  It was identified as an important piece of work as more and more schools fall into a deficit.  The provision of benchmarking data and systems enables the team to support the schools in making efficiencies whilst being able to undertake the same quality services. 

Concern was expressed regarding the increase of IDP children and the reduction of funding to support this area, it was asked if this was an area that could be focussed on?  The TIC Programme Manager stated that it was a timely suggestion in that he was due to attend meeting which was about the priorities for the schools workstreams for next year and that this was down to be discussed for inclusion within the remit of the workstream.  The Head  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

The Committee received the minutes of the meeting of the Carmarthenshire Public Services Board [PSB] held on the 19^th March, 2024.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.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the minutes of the PSB meeting held on the 19^th March, 2024 be received.

The Committee was advised that the date of the next scheduled meeting, 6^th November, 2024, might have to be brought forward.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the list of forthcoming items to be considered at the next scheduled meeting be received.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on the 29^th May, 2024 be signed as a correct record.