Agenda item

The Committee received a report presented by Councillor C. Campbell (Executive Board Member for Communities and Rural Affairs) providing an update on the Council’s Corporate Strategy for 2018-23, as at April 2021. The report detailed the progress being achieved against the Council’s Well Being objectives adopted in June 2018, as amended to reflect developing priorities and the impact of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, Brexit and climate change. The Committee noted that while it was considered good practice to ensure the Corporate Strategy was up to date and resources allocated to priorities, the Improvement Objectives must be published annually in accordance with both the Local Government (Wales Measure 2009) and The Well-being of Future Generations Act.

Supporting presentations were also made by Executive Board Members Councillors E. Dole (Leader of the Council with responsibility for regeneration) L. Evans (Housing), P. Hughes Griffiths (Culture Sport and Tourism) and G. Davies (Education) in relation to their specific portfolios

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

·       Reference was made to improvement point ‘A’ in Well Being Objective 2 “to increase the range of physical activity opportunities available for children and to target those at greater risk of inactivity”. Clarification was sought on how that might be achieved without separating children from their class cohort.

The Executive Board Member for Education advised that as activities were not suitable for all pupils, the authority was working with schools, and pupils, to identify, develop and increase the range of physical activities available for children. Encouragement would be provided to children, where needed, but no child would be separated from their class cohort.

·       Reference was made to the recent announcement by the U.K. government of additional funding for schools and on whether that could be used to measure activity within schools as identified within the report.

The Executive Board Member for Education advised that while the extra money was welcomed, as with other grant awards recently received, it would be allocated to support children’s wellbeing and education through these difficult times.

·       The Executive Board Member for Education in response to a question on the increased uptake in Free School Meal Provision subsequent to the start of the pandemic, confirmed the cost was being met by the council and no child in need would go without. He also referred to those who had lost their job or placed on furlough due to the pandemic and stressed the importance for parents affected by those, or other circumstances, to contact the authority/school if they required assistance.

·       Reference was made to the estimated 3,000 job losses throughout Carmarthenshire since the start of the pandemic and whether the authority had set any time scale to redress those losses.

The Leader of the Council reminded the Committee that the Authority had developed a recovery plan to help redress the pandemic’s impact on Carmarthenshire (being the first local authority in Wales to prepare such a plan) and made provision within its budget strategy to invest in the recovery and meet the plan’s objectives within as short a timescale as possible. In that regard, he referenced approval for the Pentre Awel development was shortly anticipated from both the U.K. and Welsh Governments which, when fully implemented, would create some 2,000 jobs over a 10year period.

The Head of Regeneration advised that although the plan’s initial time frame sought to achieve a return to pre-pandemic employment levels within two years, the Authority would seek to accelerate the timescale by drawing on additional funding and exploiting all opportunities as they arose. 

·       The Leader in response to a question on support for business during, and beyond, the current pandemic confirmed the Authority was committed to providing that support wherever possible. Funding had been made available within the budget strategy to support existing and start-up businesses and all opportunities would be explored to attract funding from other sources to enhance that provision. In that regard, the Authority would be making representations to the Welsh Government for the continuation of the Arfor Programme for the next two years from which it had been able to provide £500k of grant funding to businesses within the county.

The Head of Regeneration advised that one of the recovery plans main themes revolved around localism by upskilling the local workforce and using the Council’s procurement Strategy to help local businesses

·       Reference was made to the potential impact the U.K.’s departure from the European Union could have on Carmarthenshire’s economy and whether that had been factored into the Council’s Covid recovery plan. The Leader advised that the Authority had established a Brexit Working Group that met fortnightly to consider issues arising from the departure, which may impact on the county

·       Reference was made to the time in which pupils had missed school during the pandemic and the potential impact that could have for children learning Welsh living in non- Welsh speaking homes. The Executive Board Member for Culture, Sport and Tourism confirmed that concern had been raised across Wales. He also referred to the recent announcement by the U.K. government of additional funding to help pupils catch up with their studies and hoped some of that could be utilised to help affected pupils with their Welsh.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the Corporate Strategy 2018/23 Update April 2021 report be received.