Wrthi'n llwytho
Y penderfyniadau fel y mae cofnodion y cyngor yn eu cofnodi. Bydd crynodeb mewn iaith glir yn dilyn pan fydd wedi'i ysgrifennu.
AGREED: that the Chairperson, on behalf of the Committee, writes to the Cabinet Member conveying the observations and recommendations of the Committee when discussing the way forward.
AGREED: that the Chairperson, on behalf of the Committee, writes to the Cabinet Member conveying the observations and recommendations of the Committee when discussing the way forward.
There were none.
There were none.
Cllr Elsmore noted that she had been in attendance at the previous meeting but that the minutes did not reflect this. With that change in mind, the minutes of the meeting held on 17/07/24 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
AGREED: that the Chairperson, on behalf of the Committee, writes to the Cabinet Member conveying the observations and recommendations of the Committee when discussing the way forward.
The Chair advised that this item sought to support the committee’s pre-decision scrutiny of the Annual Wellbeing Report 2023/24, reviewing the council’s end of year performance assessment prior to its consideration by Cabinet on 19th September 2024. For this item, the Chair welcomed: Cllr Huw Thomas Leader of the Council Cllr Chris Weaver Cabinet Member for Finance, Modernisation and Performance Paul Orders Chief Executive Chris Lee Corporate Director, Resources Sarah McGill Corporate Director, People and Communities Gareth Newell Head of Performance and Partnerships Dylan Owen OM Policy and Improvement The Leader was invited to make an opening statement, in which he described it as a rigorous self-assessment process based on a wide range of performance information. In particular he welcomed the fair and constructive scrutiny from the Scrutiny Performance Panel and the Governance and Audit Committee. The Panel had made ten recommendations, of which nine had been accepted and one partially accepted. He highlighted the progress across the Stronger Fairer Greener programme and the delivery of effective and efficient services across Cardiff, as well as their ambitious regeneration programme in the face of rising and increasingly complex demands. Cabinet had initiated a budget self-assessment process, acknowledging that a business-as-usual approach would not deliver the savings needed. The Chief Executive echoed the Leader’s comments and summarised the key points made by the Governance and Audit Committee. In particular he highlighted the need for an integrated approach to policy development and performance management, assessing progress in the delivery of the council’s agenda with a focus on the challenges faced as an authority. There was a strong framework in place and he felt it was a balanced assessment overall. The Chair invited questions and comments from Members. The Committee probed further into the principles used to measure citizen satisfaction, and heard that the council was considered to have good survey work and satisfaction rates compared to other authorities. Officers stressed the need for these principles to link across the organisation and cascade down to a departmental level, and each departmental delivery plan now had a specific section on citizen satisfaction in order to strengthen the link between the information gathered and what was presented to individuals. Members discussed the importance of addressing controversial issues head on in order to combat disinformation, particularly regarding immigration and refugees. The Leader emphasised that Cardiff remained a proud city of sanctuary which was playing a leading role in accepting those fleeing war and persecution. Their immediate concern was how to streamline the process of seeking asylum and tackle the Home Office backlog, and local authorities were responsible for providing emergency accommodation and delivering clear and concise messaging to push back against disinformation. Members asked whether they were confident that the organisation had the resilience and capacity to deliver the challenges identified in the Annual Wellbeing Report 2023/24, and ensure staff wellbeing in what could be difficult roles. The Leader acknowledged that the pressure on public sector workers had not abated since Covid. Officers added that they had achieved a lot in delivering the council’s agenda in recent years against the backdrop of significant workforce challenges, in particular recruitment and retention, assuring the Committee that a key operational priority was to identify mismatches between the council’s intentions and the capacity to deliver them, and build capacity in these areas. The Committee noted the number of objectives met and the importance of honest reflection when it came to setting future targets. The Leader stressed that they were not ducking away from the financial hurdles faced, and felt that the Governance and Audit Committee had agreed. Setting targets was always a balancing act between ambition and deliverability, and the Committee would have further detail on these when it scrutinised the Corporate Plan in a few months’ time. Members discussed the ongoing service reviews and warned that some residents were invariably left behind when services were digitised by default. The Cabinet Member explained the process of service reviews and their guiding principles, noting that the full budget process and consultation were still to come. They were focusing on how to help and support people to access services online while acknowledging this wasn’t possible for everyone, which was in contrast to the online-only approach the previous UK government had taken to Universal Credit. Members asked when the end point of Coed Caerdydd would be, and heard that Cabinet hoped there wouldn’t be one. The work carried out by this programme was part of the larger One Planet Cardiff strategy to increase tree canopy coverage, and there were various organisations involved along with the council. It was intended to be open-ended, with the caveat that they were reliant on grant funding. Members queried why compliance with the child rights training was relatively low, and heard that while the corporate compliance rate was up to 71%, it was more difficult to reach and engage frontline staff. They were working with managers to roll out that training and had a plan in place to drive forward the compliance rate. The Committee discussed the one recommendation from the Scrutiny Performance Panel which had not been fully accepted. The Leader explained that as this related to a specific aspect of housing and homelessness provision, it had not quite fit into what was an overarching strategic assessment of the range and scale of provision. Officers welcomed the work done by scrutiny on this, which had been helpful in informing the strategy of ongoing need, and the Leader welcomed the opportunity to reflect on it further. AGREED: that the Chairperson, on behalf of the Committee, writes to the Cabinet Member conveying the observations and recommendations of the Committee when discussing the way forward.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
AGREED: that the Chairperson, on behalf of the Committee, writes to the Cabinet Member conveying the observations and recommendations of the Committee when discussing the way forward.
The Chair advised that this item provided Members with context and papers to support pre-decision scrutiny of the council’s draft Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Strategy 2024-28, programmed for presentation to Cabinet on 19th September 2024. For this item, the Chair welcomed: Cllr Julie Sangani Cabinet Member for Adult Services and Public Health & Equality Dylan Owen OM Policy & Improvement Babita Parekh Principal Research Officer, Equalities The Cabinet Member was invited to make an opening statement, after which Members were provided with a presentation from officers. The Cabinet Member emphasised that tackling inequality was at the heart of the Stronger Fairer Greener agenda, and as such this was an important document that reflected upon inequalities in Cardiff and captured the work needed to respond to them. All departments and Cabinet Member portfolios had a role to play in closing the inequality gap, and for this strategy they had engaged with a wide range of stakeholders. The six-week public consultation had received a good response, and the online survey had been translated into various different languages and distributed across the city. She was pleased to add that all six recommendations made by this committee at the meeting in March 2024 had been accepted and included. Officers provided further information on the structure of the strategy and the approach to the consultation. They noted that just over one in five people in Cardiff were now from a minority ethnic background, in comparison to 6.1% in 1991, while 18.6% of residents had limiting long-term illnesses. It was important to reflect on what the city looked like in order to respond effectively to the needs of its citizens. The strategy was based around five new objectives: a fairer Cardiff; an accessible Cardiff; an inclusive Cardiff; a council that reflects its communities; and equality, diversity and inclusion at the heart of the organisation. There had been 801 responses to the consultation in total, and in particular they highlighted the increase in responses from traditionally underrepresented groups, with 20% of respondents being disabled and 36% from ethnic minority backgrounds. The Chair invited questions and comments from Members. Members noted that only five councillors had taken advantage of the opportunity to engage with the consultation, and suggested doing an all-councillor workshop next time to increase engagement and draw on Members’ knowledge of their local communities. Members welcomed the amount of data included and the broad picture painted of the city, and asked what had been learned from the 2020-2024 strategy. The Cabinet Member responded that the Covid era had been particularly instructive, and the shift towards digital engagement had widened their reach. Officers added that while the overall pattern of inequality was much the same since 2020, the inequalities themselves had deepened. The pandemic had exposed how different communities were more at risk of ill health or unemployment, and there were still lingering impacts, for example in the number of people returning to school. The Committee asked about the strategy’s feasibility. The Cabinet Member acknowledged the challenging context but was confident that they could tackle their ambitious agenda with a strategic approach, with steps already woven into all parts of the council’s policy framework and supported within the budgetary envelope. The agenda itself was not new, but rather the product of various corporate plans. Members asked whether the data on long-term illness included mental health issues, and if so what proportion this made up compared to physical issues. Officers explained that this would be based on the DWP definition but would come back to them with more specific data. Every individual had different needs, and it was important to focus on wellbeing in schools and workplaces, building on existing initiatives like the neurodiversity inclusion plan and working with the Welsh government to roll out the whole school approach to physical and mental wellbeing, while focusing on prevention and identifying areas of future demand. The Committee discussed how to engage with harder-to-reach individuals who might be less inclined to opt into surveys or attend meetings. The Cabinet Member suggested that there was always more they could do to reach out to all communities and hear their voices, and this had to be done at a grassroots level, overcoming potential barriers and community gatekeepers. The consultation had received responses from more than half of the 94 stakeholder groups representing protected characteristics, but hoped to hear from all of them in the future. Members commended the accessibility of the document and the way that key concepts were linked in throughout, noting that the focus on gender sensitive urban planning would contribute to the council’s CEDAW commitments, and queried some unclear figures in the section about unpaid carers. The officers would review the data on this point and get back to them. Members also noted that the section on anti-racism did not reference the Criminal Justice Anti-Racism Action Plan for Wales, which might contain a number of relevant actions. Members noted that there had only been four responses to the consultation from within the Pentyrch and St Fagans ward, and asked whether this meant people might not understand what the strategy entailed and how it affected them. Officers were keen to ensure an equal distribution across the city, and tended to map out how they deployed often scarce resources. The issues in the strategy affected everyone in the city, but surveys were just one way of gaining people’s views. AGREED: that the Chairperson, on behalf of the Committee, writes to the Cabinet Member conveying the observations and recommendations of the Committee when discussing the way forward.
The Chair advised that this item sought to consider options and seek Members’ approval for the committee’s planned programme of work in 2024/25. The Scrutiny Officer explained that it was a lengthy list and a large part of the work programme was taken up already. There was likely to be more involvement in the outcomes of service reviews this year so they would need to remain flexible. A number of potential areas for deeper dives could tie into this, especially the capital programme and budget consultation. She added that the social procurement policy (i.e. how the council supported small to medium enterprises) had been identified as an area of interest, both for this committee and for the Economy & Culture Scrutiny Committee, with a possibility of joint scrutiny. Members discussed the timing of this possible joint scrutiny. The Scrutiny Officer indicated that this would depend on the method of approach, and the next stage was for both Chairs to meet and discuss further. The timeframe would also be closely tied to the Cabinet work programme. The Chair agreed with the key priorities and added that the joint task and finish group on the replacement Local Plan would likely recommence, opening up a further work stream. One Member identified cybersecurity as an area to keep a close eye on, as well as the move towards digitisation as part of the service reviews. Members suggested a presentation giving more detail on what had changed in the last year, which the Scrutiny Officer would request.
There were none.
The Chair noted that an additional meeting on 24th September had previously been added to the diary so that the Committee could undertake pre-decision scrutiny of the Core Office proposals, but this was no longer needed as Cabinet had deferred this report to October. The date of the next meeting was 9th October at 4:30pm.
Rhaid i gynghorwyr ddweud pan fydd ganddyn nhw gysylltiad personol â rhywbeth sy'n cael ei drafod, fel swydd, eiddo neu aelod o'r teulu. Mae buddiant sy'n rhagfarnu yn ddigon cryf i'r cynghorydd adael yr ystafell fel arfer a pheidio â chymryd rhan.
Caiff datganiadau eu darllen o'r cofnodion unwaith y byddan nhw wedi'u cyhoeddi.
Yn rhestru cynghorwyr presennol y cyngor yn unig. Nid yw aelodau cyfetholedig, swyddogion a chyn-gynghorwyr yn cael eu dangos.