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RESOLVED That the Social Services 2022/23 Performance Report for Quarter 2 be approved.
RESOLVED That the Quality Assurance Framework Working Group awaits the outcome of the regional quality assurance framework development before consideration of any further work to be undertaken.
RESOLVED That the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 as it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 14 Part 4 of Schedule 12A to the Act; and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. The Committee then proceeded in private session and the webcast was paused. The Committee discussed the potential savings in all categories with the Director of Resources clarifying again that some of the figures would change. The Committee resumed in public session where the Chair clarified that the Committee was being asked for their considerations on the level of Council Tax increase for 2023-24 and for 24-25 and 25-26. Councillors Cameron and James advised that the Committee could not advise on the level of Council Tax increase prior to the budget seminar. Councillors Maureen Bowen and Steve Alderman were concerned on the impact on services to the residents and the increase in Council Tax and Councillor Mike James clarified that this would need to be discussed with the residents prior to giving any opinion due to the impact of reducing the enhancing Pembrokeshire fund on his ward. Councillor David Bryan then Moved a proposal to the effect of whether the Committee should discuss the level of Council Tax increase and make a recommendation to Cabinet; Seconded by Councillor Steve Alderman Councillor Delme Harries noted that their opinion within the Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee would focus on the provision of Social Services particularly as this service was county wide. Councillor Alderman raised concerns on the impact of both the service provision and the cost of living increase and expressed support for a 7.5% increase on Council Tax. The vote, undertaken by way of a roll-call, was lost. The votes were recorded as follows: For the Motion: Councillors Steve Alderman and Maureen Bowen[2] Against the Motion: Councillors David Bryan, Alistair Cameron, Nicola Gwynn, Delme Harries, Mike James, Mel Phillips, Vanessa Thomas and Danny Young[8]. There were no abstentions. The Committee thanked the Director of Resources and his team together with the Cabinet Member for Corporate Finance for the work that had taken place. Councillor Cameron clarified that all of the identified amber savings were regarded as a priority and wished them to remain. Having noted the report, the Chair confirmed that the decision on Council Tax levels would be made at full Council following the Budget seminar.
RESOLVED That the Forward Work Programme be approved Subject to the above new items being included.
There were no declarations of interest received.
Moved by Councillor David Bryan; Seconded by Councillor Steve Alderman The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Minutes of the meeting held on 10 November 2022 be approved as a correct record. The Chair made reference to the resolution from the last meeting to write to Welsh Government raising the concerns regarding Elective Home Education (EHE) as discussed in the meeting of 10 November 2022. He confirmed that the letter had been drafted between the Chair, the Head of Children’s Services and a key Member from Education and sent to Welsh Government and that a response had now been received. The Chair invited the Interim Director of Social Care and Housing to present the response to Members. The Interim Director clarified that the database referred to in the response, that was being developed by Welsh Government, due for launch in Autumn 2023, would not change the current position. As with all Local Authorities, Pembrokeshire County Council already had a database but that this did not ensure oversight of all EHE children. The Interim Director further discussed the mentioned draft guidance for implementation in April noting that they had not had sight of the draft guidance. Key leads across Wales would usually have received the draft guidance in advance for consultation and that this had not taken place. He therefore urged caution on the planned April implementation noting the timescales with two events planned by Welsh Government for February and March. Additionally, the Interim Director clarified that this would be guidance and not legislation so would not afford the Authority any powers to ensure that all EHE children were registered with the Authority. Parents/Carers were able to decide what, if any, information was held by the Authority and that the information could be removed from the database if requested. He further noted that there had been a noticeable change in how they communicated with the Authority, preferring email only rather than face to face or online. Whilst this is entirely their right, the Cabinet Member for Social Care and Safeguarding raised concerns that this had resulted in children potentially being under the radar of Social Services which raised concerns. The Cabinet Member agreed that the response from Welsh Government had demonstrated good intentions, but without legislation, the situation remained unchanged. It was recognised by the Chair that the response from Welsh Government had not addressed the concerns raised by the Committee and the Interim Director advised that a response was warranted and that the Children’s Commissioner for Wales would be copied in. The Cabinet Member agreed and requested that a robust response be sent. Councillor Steve Alderman raised concerns on the rise in EHE children noting that the majority were evidencing excellent provision of EHE. However, it remained a concern that some parents/carers were able to remove the visibility of the child to the Local Authority. In response to a request from Councillors Alistair Cameron, Steve Alderman and Mike James, the Chair agreed that local Members of Senedd, Members of Parliament, the Welsh Local Government Association and other local Authorities be included. The Interim Director highlighted that a group of parents had brought a judicial review following the recent legislation to make relationship education mandatory in schools in Wales. This review had failed but it was anticipated that the Authority would see an increase in the number of EHE children, particularly younger children. Moved by Councillor David Bryan; Seconded by Councillor Steve Alderman The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Interim Director of Social Care and Housing and the Chair respond to the letter received from Welsh Government in response to the Committee’s concerns regarding Elective Home Education and that the Welsh Local Government Association, Members of Senedd, Members of Parliament, Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee Members, the Children’s Commissioner for Wales and the Leaders of the Councils for both Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire be included.
There were no public submissions or items of correspondence received.
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RESOLVED That the Social Services 2022/23 Performance Report for Quarter 2 be approved.
The Committee considered a report by the Interim Director of Social Care and Housing on the Social Services 2022/23 Performance Report Quarter 2 and the Chair invited the Cabinet Member with responsibility for Social Care and Safeguarding to present the report. The Cabinet Member highlighted the rise in requirement and the number of vacancies within Social Care. The Committee then debated the contents of the report and the key points were highlighted as follows: · The number of children that were included on the Child Protection Register had decreased. · The pressures on the NHS as a whole was very evident and the emergency response level had now been increased to the highest level possible. · This allowed the emergency planning response protocol to be initiated and the Interim Director of Social Care and Housing was chairing the Gold Level meetings to respond to the crisis. · Options available to the Authority were under review, noting the high level of unallocated assessments for the assessment of medically fit patients within hospital settings that were not fit enough to go home for discharge, this had been increased through redeployment. · Social Care staff had been redeployed to assist in the short term but emphasised the long term resource implications this created. · All directorates had been asked to divert resources where possible with the support of the Chief Executive. · Eluned Morgan MS and Albert Heaney CBE, Chief Social Care Officer for Wales would attend County Hall to review the support from Welsh Government. · The Interim Director for Social Care and Housing advised that this was a fast moving situation and that there were direct lines of communication with Welsh Government. · The Cabinet Member for Social Care and Safeguarding and the Interim Director made a commitment to keep Committee Members fully updated on progress with the Welsh Government, the Health Board and third sector partners. The Chair highlighted that this was not a local problem but a UK wide problem and that all Members of the Committee were encouraged to hear the level of commitment that was being given and gave their full support to the Social Care team. In response to a question from Councillor James, the Interim Director advised that the approach to redeployment of staff from across the Authority was not entirely dependent on the level of funding from Welsh Government but that by raising the response level, had provided a whole Authority response and not a single directorate. He further advised that he was not aware of any other Authorities elevating to the same emergency response but that their response was following a similar path of diverting resources and redeploying staff. He further advised that all options were being reviewed. The Chair and the Committee affirmed their full support to the Interim Director. In response to a concern from Councillor Nicola Gwynn regarding the loss of a private care provider in the County, the Cabinet Member for Social Care and Safeguarding advised that there were political ambitions to continue to grow the in house domiciliary care team. Moved by Councillor David Bryan; Seconded by Councillor Michael James The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Social Services 2022/23 Performance Report for Quarter 2 be approved.
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RESOLVED That the Quality Assurance Framework Working Group awaits the outcome of the regional quality assurance framework development before consideration of any further work to be undertaken.
The Committee considered a report by the Interim Director of Social Care and Housing on whether to continue with the Quality Assurance Framework Working Group. The Chair welcomed the Head of Strategic Joint Commissioning who presented the report noting that the Membership of the Committee had changed since the Quality Assurance Framework Task and Finish Group had been established and delivered a brief overview of the remit of the working group. In considering the report, the Committee noted the following: · The Committee had commissioned a report on Commissioned Care Homes on 19 November 2019 to set out the policy background and approach to quality assurance. · The Terms of Reference were agreed and the last meeting held on 4 March 2020. · In March 2020, the Working group was suspended due to the Pandemic. · The current situation remains that the greatest impact of Covid was on care homes, particularly care homes with elderly people with the comprehensive vaccination programme and infection and control measures required. The Head of Strategic Joint Commissioning clarified that, whilst the risks had significantly reduced, there were a number of care homes that remained under incident protocol due to Covid and Flu. Since November 2019, work had progressed across the West Wales Regional Partnership through the Regional Commissioning Group in the development of a single quality assurance framework on sharing intelligence. The Head of Strategic Joint Commissioning advised that this had gone out to tender and was now being evaluated. She stated that a level of concern did remain and risks and liabilities in infection prevention and control and care homes and that the Working Group would be re-established following the outcome of this framework. Moved by Councillor David Bryan; Seconded by Councillor Delme Harries The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Quality Assurance Framework Working Group awaits the outcome of the regional quality assurance framework development before consideration of any further work to be undertaken.
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RESOLVED That the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 as it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 14 Part 4 of Schedule 12A to the Act; and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. The Committee then proceeded in private session and the webcast was paused. The Committee discussed the potential savings in all categories with the Director of Resources clarifying again that some of the figures would change. The Committee resumed in public session where the Chair clarified that the Committee was being asked for their considerations on the level of Council Tax increase for 2023-24 and for 24-25 and 25-26. Councillors Cameron and James advised that the Committee could not advise on the level of Council Tax increase prior to the budget seminar. Councillors Maureen Bowen and Steve Alderman were concerned on the impact on services to the residents and the increase in Council Tax and Councillor Mike James clarified that this would need to be discussed with the residents prior to giving any opinion due to the impact of reducing the enhancing Pembrokeshire fund on his ward. Councillor David Bryan then Moved a proposal to the effect of whether the Committee should discuss the level of Council Tax increase and make a recommendation to Cabinet; Seconded by Councillor Steve Alderman Councillor Delme Harries noted that their opinion within the Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee would focus on the provision of Social Services particularly as this service was county wide. Councillor Alderman raised concerns on the impact of both the service provision and the cost of living increase and expressed support for a 7.5% increase on Council Tax. The vote, undertaken by way of a roll-call, was lost. The votes were recorded as follows: For the Motion: Councillors Steve Alderman and Maureen Bowen[2] Against the Motion: Councillors David Bryan, Alistair Cameron, Nicola Gwynn, Delme Harries, Mike James, Mel Phillips, Vanessa Thomas and Danny Young[8]. There were no abstentions. The Committee thanked the Director of Resources and his team together with the Cabinet Member for Corporate Finance for the work that had taken place. Councillor Cameron clarified that all of the identified amber savings were regarded as a priority and wished them to remain. Having noted the report, the Chair confirmed that the decision on Council Tax levels would be made at full Council following the Budget seminar.
The Committee considered a report by the Director of Resources on the Outline Draft County Council Budget for 2023-24 and Outline Draft Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) for 2023-24 to 2026-27. The Chair welcomed the Director and the Cabinet Member for Corporate Finance to the meeting noting that, were appendices B – County Council Budget 2022-23 or C – Summary Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) discussed then the Committee would move to private session. The Cabinet Member for Corporate Finance presented the report and highlighted the key points therein, namely: · The provisional Welsh Government settlement was as good as could be hoped and guaranteed the need to fill a funding gap of £18.6m. · This was an unprecedented challenge, never faced before. · The budget savings that were listed in the restricted appendices were currently being updated and would be circulated prior to the budget seminar. · It was anticipated that a high level discussion could take place to inform the public of the decisions that were being considered. · In order to fill the funding gap by Council Tax alone would require a 27% increase. · By budget savings alone, would require all green, all amber and most of the red savings identified. · It was noted that red rated savings would have the most impact, amber, reduced impact and green, little or no impact on staffing. · He highlighted the difficulties and the impact of implementing the budget savings at all levels. The Cabinet Member advised that the Cabinet decision had not been available at this meeting to provide any guidance on the Council Tax increase, as was the case previously, due to timescales and therefore he delivered a personal opinion. He was advised by Officers that it would be legal for full Council to consider reallocating the monies raised from empty homes and second homes surcharges to offset budget savings where the delivery of the Council service is significantly impacted by second homes within the county. This was worth potentially £5m per year and he felt that, for the remainder of the Council term, this should be utilised for that purpose. Together with a 7.5% increase then only half of the total budget savings would be necessary. The Director of Resources reiterated that it was a better settlement than anticipated but a large funding gap remained. The projected medium term funding gap had reduced from £60m to just over £50m but that full modelling would increase this further. He further clarified that every percentage of increase in Council Tax for this Authority generated less income than other Authorities in Wales due to having the lowest rate of Council Tax in Wales. In response to a question from the Chair, the Cabinet Member for Corporate Finance advised that the second home surcharge was currently split 25% to enhancing Pembrokeshire fund and 75% to affordable housing in the county. Were 100% reallocated, he advised the Authority could manage on a 7.5% Council Tax Increase. If 75%, then a Council Tax increase of 10% would be required. Councillor Alistair Cameron raised concerns on leaving discussion to the budget Seminar noting the number of Councillors involved and being able to scrutinise in detail. The Chair then moved that the meeting went in to private session; Seconded by Councillor Alistair Cameron. In response to a concern from Councillor Steve Alderman, the Director of Resources noted that whilst some numbers on savings may change, the fundamental position would be unchanged. Councillor Mike James advised that enhancing Pembrokeshire was vital to his ward, as it was too many and requested the opportunity to discuss with the residents of his ward before any options were considered. The Vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 as it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 14 Part 4 of Schedule 12A to the Act; and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. The Committee then proceeded in private session and the webcast was paused. The Committee discussed the potential savings in all categories with the Director of Resources clarifying again that some of the figures would change. The Committee resumed in public session where the Chair clarified that the Committee was being asked for their considerations on the level of Council Tax increase for 2023-24 and for 24-25 and 25-26. Councillors Cameron and James advised that the Committee could not advise on the level of Council Tax increase prior to the budget seminar. Councillors Maureen Bowen and Steve Alderman were concerned on the impact on services to the residents and the increase in Council Tax and Councillor Mike James clarified that this would need to be discussed with the residents prior to giving any opinion due to the impact of reducing the enhancing Pembrokeshire fund on his ward. Councillor David Bryan then Moved a proposal to the effect of whether the Committee should discuss the level of Council Tax increase and make a recommendation to Cabinet; Seconded by Councillor Steve Alderman Councillor Delme Harries noted that their opinion within the Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee would focus on the provision of Social Services particularly as this service was county wide. Councillor Alderman raised concerns on the impact of both the service provision and the cost of living increase and expressed support for a 7.5% increase on Council Tax. The vote, undertaken by way of a roll-call, was lost. The votes were recorded as follows: For the Motion: Councillors Steve Alderman and Maureen Bowen[2] Against the Motion: Councillors David Bryan, Alistair Cameron, Nicola Gwynn, Delme Harries, Mike James, Mel Phillips, Vanessa Thomas and Danny Young[8]. There were no abstentions. The Committee thanked the Director of Resources and his team together with the Cabinet Member for Corporate Finance for the work that had taken place. Councillor Cameron clarified that all of the identified amber savings were regarded as a priority and wished them to remain. Having noted the report, the Chair confirmed that the decision on Council Tax levels would be made at full Council following the Budget seminar.
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RESOLVED That the Forward Work Programme be approved Subject to the above new items being included.
The Chair presented the Forward Work Programme to Members. The Chair advised that the Pembrokeshire Community Health Council (CHC) would be undergoing a change of Constitution and he suggested that the new body be invited to deliver a presentation to the Committee in November to outline their new remit. The Committee accepted the suggestion. The Committee then debated the contents of the Forward Work Programme and the key points were highlighted as follows: · That key visits to third sector provisions be arranged for the near future to view the vital work and support they provide to the community. · An update on progress of the Elective Home Education database and correspondence be presented. · That an update on progress of the emergency planning response between the Cabinet Member for Social Care and Safeguarding, the Interim Director of Social Care and Housing and the Health Board. · That a representative from the Health Board be invited to the September meeting to present the current situation faced by the Health Board. Moved by Councillor David Bryan; Seconded by Councillor Steve Alderman The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands was carried. RESOLVED That the Forward Work Programme be approved Subject to the above new items being included.
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