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The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
AGREED to note the report for information. It was also recommended that a report be presented to the Learning Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee upon any changes and cost to new systems within schools to include the possible change to the SIM system.
AGREED to note the report for information.
AGREED to note the contents of this report in advance of its presentation at the Cabinet meeting on 5th November 2024.
Councillor Eryl Evans, Ceris Jones and Carl Worrall apologised for their inability to attend the meeting. Councillor Euros Davies, Ifan Davies stated that they would be leaving the meeting early due to other Council meetings.
None.
None.
Decision as recorded
AGREED to note the report for information. It was also recommended that a report be presented to the Learning Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee upon any changes and cost to new systems within schools to include the possible change to the SIM system.
Mr Alan Morris, Corporate Lead Officer, Customer Contact presented the report on the Annual SIRO report covering risks R009, R023, R024 - oversight of Corporate Risks. It was reported that the role of the Senior Information Risk Officer (SIRO) was to: • Take the lead on setting and delivering information management and Cyber Resilience strategy. • Provide support where appropriate to the Data Protection Officer in all aspects of information security. • Oversee the information security function within the broader information governance team. • Oversee incident management and risk management of Cyber Resilience and Information governance issues. • Oversee security management and reporting. • Ensure corporate leadership are informed and engaged with security and resilience issues. It is good practice for a SIRO to report annually on this work, the risks, mitigations and plans to improve. Currently 3 of the corporate risks involve information security and management and were discussed within the report. • R009 Information Management (Score 16) • R023 Systems end of life (20) • R024 Cyber Resilience (20) The report was a review of the 23/24 financial year and discusses some of the planned work for this year, he stated that he was pleased with the progress to date. Following questions from the floor, it was AGREED to note the report for information. It was also recommended that a report be presented to the Learning Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee upon any changes and cost to new systems within schools to include the possible change to the SIM system.
Decision as recorded
AGREED to note the report for information.
Councillor Clive Davies, Cabinet Member for Economy and Regeneration provided Members with information regarding the Fire Safety Inspections were carried out by the Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service (MWWFRS) and the subsequent reports were forwarded to the council for action. The reports cover all aspects of Fire Safety and highlight areas of concern or non-compliance which can include building, design and structural compliance issues and general areas of housekeeping. The audit reports were generally carried out annually on Residential Properties (Care Homes), and on an ad-hoc basis to all other properties such as schools and offices. When reports were received, officers from relevant services worked together to put a programme of work in place to address the issues raised. There had been a noticeable shift in the nature of the Audit Reports received by the MWWFRS, specifically in relation to the Fire Risk Assessments, compartmentation and fire door compliance. Historically, the audit reports may have highlighted individual items or areas that needed addressing, however recent reports had generalised these areas of concern and highlighted the need to address all deficiencies or areas of non-compliance. The change in nature of the MWWFRS Audit Reports could be attributed to the following: • Introduction of the Fire Safety Act 2021, which impose additional duties under the Regulatory Reform (Fie Safety) Order 2005. • Introduction of changes to the Building Safety Act 2022. Although yet to be implemented in Wales, was seen as best practice by MAWWFRS and would help ‘future-proof’ the council) • The severe criticism of the Fire and Rescue Service following the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017. Currently, it was acknowledged that a combination of an ageing property portfolio, a stricter implementation of regulations, and budgetary constraints had all contributed to the need to consider matters arising as a Corporate Risk. Other councils and institutions had found themselves in a very similar situation. New arrangements had been put in place so that regular monthly meetings of fire safety groups for schools and for care homes were held. These meetings involved senior staff from the Property team, from Schools or Care Services and the Health & Safety Team. These consider the issues raised, design and implementation a work programme to tackle issues raised and monitor progress of any work. Leadership group had oversight of the work programme and progress through regular monthly monitoring reports. The primary focus of the recent work programme had been to target issues identified with fire door compliance and compartmentation. The level of investment required to deliver this works needs to be identified and then sought within services or through external funding, therefore a risk based, targeted and strategic approach to delivery of the work would be taken. In May 2024, the council commenced work on the delivery of ‘Fire Strategy Drawings’ for all Residential Care Homes and Secondary schools, as these were considered the high-risk properties. The Fire Strategy Drawings contain information such as compartmentation, fire doors, call points, escape doors and extinguisher locations. The Fire Strategy Drawings were used to prioritise which areas of work were targeted within the respective property. The Fire Strategy Drawings would also assist and compliment the ‘Fire Risk Assessments’ that Corporate Health and Safety develop for each property. Prioritisation of work within Care Homes (categorised as a residential dwelling for vulnerable adults requiring assistance to evacuate; therefore higher risk) had focused on improving the resilience of compartmentation, and providing new fire door sets to doors in high-risk areas such as corridor compartmentation, Storerooms, Stairs and Laundry Rooms (Phase 1). To date, fire compartment resilience works and phase 1 of fire door replacement work was outlined in the report. Two care homes had recently undergone Fire Safety Audits by the MWWFRS, and both Audits concluded that there had been positive signs of improvement since the previous visits. The MWWFRS were also reassured that the council were developing a strategy with a risk based, targeted approach for further improvement to fire safety. A further programme of work to replace defective fire doors within Care Homes would be developed in collaboration with the Through Age and Wellbeing team as their long-term strategy for the Property Portfolio was developed and funds become available. A similar programme of works was being implemented to improve compartmentation or replacement of fire doors within secondary schools. This involves a similar strategy drawing being prepared for each secondary school which would help prioritise and target delivery. Funding was a significant constraint, so external support would be required to help address issues arising. In conclusion , it was reported that progress was being made with regards to fire safety within our portfolio of properties, and whilst improvements could be delivered, there was still a significant amount of works to be carried out to bring the ageing corporate estate up to current fire safety standards. This work would require significant investment over many years. By producing the Fire Strategy Drawings and working collaboratively across services, the council continues to develop a strategy to deliver a sustainable, risk based and targeted approach to improving the fire safety of our corporate estate. Following question on the floor in relation to procurement of the fire doors and the responsibility of their replacement together with grants available to assist in their purchase, it was AGREED to note the report for information.
Decision as recorded
AGREED to note the contents of this report in advance of its presentation at the Cabinet meeting on 5th November 2024.
Councillor Bryan Davies, Leader of the Council introduced the report which provided information relating to the Council’s Compliments, Complaints and Freedom of Information activity between 1st April 2023 and 31st March 2024. The report was broken down into the following sections: 1.Introduction – an outline of the work of the Complaints and FOI Team and the Council’s obligations under each of the policies covered by this report. 2.Compliments – details of all compliments passed to the Complaints and FOI Team during this reporting period. 3.Complaints – data regarding the number and type of complaints received, the outcomes of the investigations undertaken, the Council’s performance against prescribed timescales and information relating to the lessons identified. Examples of some of the lessons identified were included at the end of the report. 4.Ombudsman Activity – details of all Ombudsman referrals, their outcomes and information surrounding the Early Resolution and/or Voluntary Settlements that were agreed by the Council during 2023-2024. 5.Freedom of Information (FOI) and Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) – the number of information requests received by the Council during the reporting period, details of the Council’s performance with the statutory timescales and comparative data from previous reports. The Annual Letter from the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales (“the Ombudsman”), dated 9th September 2024, accompanies this report – see Appendix 1. The Ombudsman’s letter gives specific details about all activity relating to Ceredigion, as well as the performance of other local authorities across Wales. Whilst this was the second consecutive year whereby the number of Ombudsman referrals has fallen compared with the previous reporting period; it is acknowledged that the Council continues to have a consistently high rate of Early Resolution/Voluntary Settlement agreements. Challenges remain with regards to managing the complexity of some complaints and there was a marked increase in complaints and FOI/EIR activity compared with what was received during 2022-2023. As a consequence of the difficulties identified within earlier reports about complaints handling and the management of information requests under FOI and EIR, Leadership Group agreed a number of corporate actions that were focused on improving the Council’s ability to effectively deal with these matters in a robust and resilient way. Work was ongoing to complete these actions and was monitored and reviewed on a quarterly basis. Summary •Fewer compliments were recorded during 2023-2024 and although a significant amount of work has been done to improve the way that this activity was managed, the Complaints and FOI Team was currently in the process of raising staff awareness across the Council, to ensure that all messages of appreciation are captured. Part of this work had involved the introduction of an online Compliment Form on the Council’s website, a monthly returns template to be distributed to services (not yet operational), and an internal communications campaign was due to run in the next few weeks to raise awareness of the importance of recording compliments. •The Complaints and FOI Team managed fewer enquiries during this reporting period, mainly by directing these to the relevant services for early resolution prior to initiating the complaints procedures. However, a significant number of enquires continue to be processed and managed by the Complaints and FOI Team, though this was usually when an individual was seeking to make a complaint, but the complaints procedures may not apply, for whatever reason. •It was acknowledged that work was required with managers to prevent the unnecessary escalation of complaints to Stage 2, simply because it was not possible to respond within the prescribed timescale of ten-working-days. Guidance, advice and training was available to all officers in relation to managing complaints effectively. •The Complaints and FOI Team continued to face challenges in meeting the demands of rises in the numbers of complaints and FOI/EIR activity. It was encouraging that there were far fewer Ombudsman interventions during 2023-2024, though it was acknowledged that further work could be done to reduce this in the forthcoming year. •Complaints about the Refuse Collection Service and Planning matters continued to be the service areas in receipt of the highest number of complaints. It should be noted that these services were somewhat predisposed to attracting complaints, by their nature, and the number of complaints received should be taken in context with the level of activity these two service areas manage. •Significant improvements had been made to the Council’s compliance with Freedom of Information (FOI) and Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) timescales. Whilst there was still room for improvement, the Council responded to 80% of all requests within prescribed timescales during 2023-2024. Following questions from the floor, it was AGREED to note the contents of this report in advance of its presentation at the Cabinet meeting on 5th November 2024.
Consideration was given to the Forward Work Programme as presented subject (i) to removing the County Farms Strategy item on the 10 December 2024 agenda as it was now being considered by a Task and Finish Group; (ii) to add Complaints, Compliments and Freedom of Information half-yearly report to the 10 December 2024 meeting; and (iii) to enquire with Officers if they have now capacity in the Procurement service to assist in establishing and supporting a Task and Finish group on Procurement
It was RESOLVED to confirm as a true record the Minutes of the Meeting of the previous meeting.
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