Agenda item

CORPORATE STRATEGY 2018/23 - UPDATE APRIL 2021

Minutes:

Members considered sections of the updated Corporate Strategy 2018-23 relevant to the remit of the Social Care & Health Scrutiny Committee.

 

The revised Corporate Strategy (adopted in June 2018) reflected the developing priorities and the impact of COVID-19, Brexit and climate change.

 

It was noted that previously there was 15 Wellbeing Objectives and that these had now been reduced to 13.

 

The Deputy Leader highlighted the sixteen key challenges facing the Council. 

 

A number of questions/observations were raised on the report.  The main matters were as follows:

 

·         Concern was raised that only half of Carmarthenshire residents felt they lived in cohesive communities.  Carmarthenshire was 5th in Wales but is now 14th out of the 22 local authorities.  The Deputy Leader advised that the figures were the result of the National Survey of Wales 2018/19.  The Committee was advised that significant work had been done in engaging with communities including the work with Community Connectors and it was hoped that the more recent survey results would reflect this.

·         It was asked how would residents be empowered - Encourage communities to be empowered to improve their circumstances”.  It was felt that this step to improve community cohesion was vague.  The Deputy Leader advised that it was key that residents had the knowledge and understanding to enable them to work with the Authority.  It was suggested that the wording be changed to “Encourage communities to improve their circumstances by providing constant encouragement and support.”  The Committee was reminded that this was a strategy document and that the business plans would contain more detail.

·         With reference to Wellbeing Objective 9, it was noted that current projections suggested that the population of people over 65 living in Carmarthenshire was growing and that by 2030 this would increase by 60%. It was asked what the actual figures were (not %) and what were the obvious factors that contributed to these figures.  The Head of Integrated Services advised that figures would be available from Daffodil (population prediction tool).  Due to advances in medical science, there is an aging population, however this would result in the increased demand for managing chronic conditions including dementia.

·         With reference to Wellbeing Objective 7, concern was raised regarding the impact of covid on mental health, alcohol dependency and substance misuse.  The Executive Board Member for Health and Social Care advised that the Authority was concerned about the impact on mental health and increase in service demand.  The budget setting preparations would account for this demand.  The Head of Integrated Services confirmed that joint arrangements were in place with the Health Board and that there was a dedicated team in place to manage, raise awareness and undertake preventative work.

·         It was asked how the Authority was progressing with the need to continue to integrate health and social care.  The Head of Integrated Services confirmed that her post and the Head of Social Care post were very much integrated with the work of the Health Board.  It was stated that while both organisations were committed to working in an integrated way it was acknowledged that there were still areas for improvement.

 

RESOLVED to recommend to the Executive Board that the Corporate Strategy 2018-23 update April 2021 be endorsed.

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