Wrthi'n llwytho
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RESOLVED that the explanation for the non-submission be noted.
RESOLVED that the report be endorsed.
RESOLVED that the report be received.
RESOLVED that:- 7.1 the report be received 7.2 a development session on the Occupational Health Service be added to the Committees Forward Work Plan.
RESOLVED that the report be received.
RESOLVED that the minutes of the PSB meeting held on the 19th March, 2024 be received.
RESOLVED that the list of forthcoming items to be considered at the next scheduled meeting be received.
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.
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RESOLVED that the explanation for the non-submission be noted.
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 6th November 2024. RESOLVED that the explanation for the non-submission be noted.
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RESOLVED that the report be endorsed.
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.
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RESOLVED that the report be received.
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 5th 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 year cause targets to be missed. It was highlighted that Q4 seemed to be the main area of concern. Discussions were taking place with internal clients to plan the timing of specific so that the field work could take place during a time that worked for the service. Officers took on board the comments raised. · Reference was made to the measure relating to the Annual Engagement Survey. It was highlighting the work that had been done in remedial action following the poor response rate, it was asked what more could be done to encourage a higher response rate and what were the reasons for the low response rate? In acknowledging that the low response rate, the Media and Marketing Manager explained that a considerable amount of Comms and media work had been undertaken including posters, in person events in depots, newsletters and reminders on screensavers in a bid to encourage staff to respond. Should the response rate remain low following the current survey a review would take place to understand the reasons why staff are not engaging with the survey. Members provided suggestions including incentives to encourage engagement. It was commented that perhaps staff refrained from engaging as there were doubts in regard to the anonymity of the survey. In addition, it was asked if staff were provided with the feedback of the results of the survey in a ‘What you said and What we did’ manner? In response, Members were informed that work had been undertaken to make it clear and to reassure staff that the survey was completely anonymous. The method of the capturing the responses through SnapSurveys provided complete anonymity and that work had been undertaken to ensure that no individual could be identified through the questions provided. In terms of the staff receiving feedback, the Marketing and Media Officer explained that all feedback was provided to staff by way of the intranet and within staff newsletters. It was asked if the Committee could receive a copy of the feedback provided? The Assistant Chief Executive (People Management & Performance) stated that the feedback would be circulated to Committee Members by e-mail following the closure and determination of the responses of the survey. · It was highlighted that the % of e-learning training on Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse, Sexual Violence (VAWDASV) completed by staff, remained very low. It was asked how this could be improved? The Assistant Chief Executive (People Management & Performance), in acknowledging that the progress to date was not as good as it should have been, it was explained that since the new platform named ‘Thinqi’ had been introduced, the way in which e-learning was delivered had been transformed. The platform Thinqi generates automatic e-mails to managers informing them of any outstanding modules that staff needed to complete, it was hoped that this would improve the % of all the 11 mandatory modules staff are required to complete. · Reference was made to the action related to the Recruitment Strategy. Given the importance of recruitment and the acknowledging the challenges within the workforce, disappointment was expressed that this action remained off target considering the many innovative ways via social media and other opportunities to reach potential candidates. The Lead Business Partner – People Management reassured Members that work was ongoing in terms of the Recruitment Strategy particularly to address the multi-generational workforce and attraction of candidates from a diverse range of individuals. It was further asked if there was any joined up working with public sector partners, specifically with Health and Social Care? The Lead Business Partner – People Management explained that the team were part of a Workforce Planning Network and work closely with other Local Government colleagues as well as Welsh Government and Local Authority networks. In addition, the team is part of a Local Government Association Skills Hub which considers particular areas of recruitment difficulties. Many opportunities to share and collect best practice. UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the report be received.
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RESOLVED that:- 7.1 the report be received 7.2 a development session on the Occupational Health Service be added to the Committees Forward Work Plan.
The Committee considered a report which provided detailed sickness absence data for the cumulative period ending 31st 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 discussions taken place and the information received regarding the work of the Occupational Health services, it was proposed that the Committee have a development session as an opportunity to have an insight and learn more about the services provided. This was duly seconded. It was highlighted that the report had not provided a breakdown of the causes of stress, it was asked if this data was collected and if not, how could improvements be made? The Lead Business Partner – People Management stated that the data was collected by managers as part of a stress risk assessment, which helps to inform the causes of stress and determine what measures need to be put in place to reduce sickness. The question was asked as to whether there was additional data available which highlights the stress/mental health related sickness absences in accordance with the level of the role in the organisation. E.g. was stress more prominent in managers? The Lead Business Partner agreed to look into this to determine whether this was something that could be included going forward. UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that:- 7.1 the report be received 7.2 a development session on the Occupational Health Service be added to the Committees Forward Work Plan.
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RESOLVED that the report be received.
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 of Finance added that he was a member of the School Budget Forum and this matter was on the agenda at every meeting, he was also attending a workshop on ALN funding. Members were reassured that discussions were due to place to ascertain the most equitable way distribute monies around the system to best support the needs. · It was raised if there was a mechanism in place to enable staff to provide ideas and suggestions? The TIC Programme Manager stated that this was an area that was being considered over the course of this year. Corporately roadshows have been held across the frontline services, leisure centres and care homes over the past year where staff were encouraged to provide ideas. Furthermore, discussions were taking place with Unions on how best to engage frontline services and Unions. UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the report be received.
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RESOLVED that the minutes of the PSB meeting held on the 19th March, 2024 be received.
The Committee received the minutes of the meeting of the Carmarthenshire Public Services Board [PSB] held on the 19th 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 19th March, 2024 be received.
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RESOLVED that the list of forthcoming items to be considered at the next scheduled meeting be received.
The Committee was advised that the date of the next scheduled meeting, 6th 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 29th May, 2024 be signed as a correct record.
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