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The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
Resolved that the Committee: i) considered and commented on the performance and statistical update for April 2025 to March 2026; and ii) considered and commented on the Partnership's activity focus for 2026/27. [KE1]Apologies I should have told you that this preface is always made ahead of the CSP annual report - I have no idea why... [KE2]We usually put job titles as opposed to names in minutes.
Resolved: that the Committee: i) confirmed that it had read, understood and taken account of the work required to be undertaken by the North Wales Regional Partnership Board; and ii) provided observations on the work and progress during 2025/26 in the areas being taken forward through the Board.
Resolved: that the Committee: i) confirmed that it had read, understood and taken account of the report, including activity to date and future areas for development; and ii) confirmed that it had read, understood and taken account of the Well-being Impact Assessments as part of its consideration.
Resolved: that the Committee's forward work programme be approved.
An apology for absence was received from Councillor David Williams.
Councillor Arwel Roberts declared a personal interest in business item 7 because he was a governor of a local school.
The Vice-Chair read a message from the former Chair, Councillor Joan Butterfield, thanking Committee members and the officers who had supported her during her time as Chair. The Committee thanked Councillor Joan Butterfield for her many years supporting and chairing the committee.
The minutes of the Partnerships Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 9 July 2026 were submitted. Resolved: that the minutes of the Partnerships Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 9 July 2026 be approved as a true and accurate record of the proceedings. There were no matters arising.
Decision as recorded
Resolved that the Committee: i) considered and commented on the performance and statistical update for April 2025 to March 2026; and ii) considered and commented on the Partnership's activity focus for 2026/27. [KE1]Apologies I should have told you that this preface is always made ahead of the CSP annual report - I have no idea why... [KE2]We usually put job titles as opposed to names in minutes.
The Committee was discussing the Community Safety Partnership Annual Update for 2025/26 in its capacity as the Council’s designated Crime & Disorder Scrutiny Committee in accordance with ss. 19 and 20 of the Police & Justice Act 2006[KE1] . The Head of Corporate Support Service - Performance, Digital & Assets introduced the report (previously circulated). The Crime and Disorder Act, as amended by the Police and Justice Act 2006, required the Council to scrutinise the work of the statutory Community Safety Partnership and crime levels in Denbighshire each year. The report covered performance during 2025/26 and included current activity for 2026/27. The Community Safety Partnership Manager reported that partnership activity against all three priority areas had been assessed as good. The supporting statistical assessment rated two areas as good and one as acceptable. Police-recorded crime data was used to identify trends and emerging issues, alongside an assessment of partnership activity and prevention work. The priorities covered victim-based crime and anti-social behaviour; reoffending, exploitation and serious violence; and locally identified issues including county lines, domestic abuse, sexual violence and rural crime. Serious Violence Duty funding supported age-appropriate work on healthy relationships in secondary schools, targeted Youth Justice interventions and preventative work through the Youth Service. Sexual offences and theft and handling had required additional attention during 2025/26, although both showed a downward trend in the first quarter of 2026/27. The Partnership would continue prevention work on sexual violence and online offending, acquisitive crime and rural theft. Current work also included a public health campaign on ketamine and other drugs, the implementation of the Crime and Policing Act 2026 and preparations for risks to victim services arising from the proposed abolition of Police and Crime Commissioners in 2028. In response to members' questions, the officers and Chief Inspector explained: • The increase in adult reoffending was principally a matter for the Police and Probation Service. The Partnership's funded prevention work focused more heavily on children and young people, which had contributed to stronger oversight of youth reoffending. Police also used checkpoints and referrals to identify repeat offenders, understand the causes of offending and connect people with appropriate services. • Rural crime was not overlooked within county-wide data. Police could examine information at a local level, while named neighbourhood officers and Police Community Support Officers worked with councillors, partners and isolated communities to identify concerns that might otherwise go unreported. Hotspot patrols were used alongside wider neighbourhood policing. Members requested a clearer rural and urban breakdown in future reports. • The main areas in which performance had worsened were sexual violence and acquisitive crime. Online offending had contributed to the rise in recorded sexual offences. The response included education, early intervention, campaigns challenging harmful attitudes, safeguarding and access to commissioned victim support services. The We Don't Buy Crime initiative and property-marking schemes continued to support work on theft, including theft from rural communities. • The Partnership-funded schools project was delivered in secondary schools by the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre and covered healthy relationships, online safety and misogynistic content. Police school liaison officers also worked across primary and secondary schools. Information from schools and partner groups helped agencies respond to emerging risks, including artificial intelligence-generated content. • Information for older and vulnerable residents was shared through community events, the police alert system, families and relevant charities. The aim was to maintain two-way communication with all communities, including people living with dementia and residents in isolated rural areas. • Funding had not kept pace with demand across partner organisations. Much of the Partnership's direct funding was temporary grant funding, and the new statutory requirements were not accompanied by additional resources. Partners therefore sought to combine their information, staff and services and to invest in work that addressed the causes of crime and anti-social behaviour. The Committee recorded its thanks to the Conwy and Denbighshire Community Safety Partnership Manager[KE2] for her long-standing work across Conwy and Denbighshire. It also thanked, the former Head of Housing and Regulatory Services at Conwy County Borough Council and former Chair of the Community Safety Partnership, for his contribution before his retirement. Resolved that the Committee: i) considered and commented on the performance and statistical update for April 2025 to March 2026; and ii) considered and commented on the Partnership's activity focus for 2026/27. [KE1]Apologies I should have told you that this preface is always made ahead of the CSP annual report - I have no idea why... [KE2]We usually put job titles as opposed to names in minutes.
Decision as recorded
Resolved: that the Committee: i) confirmed that it had read, understood and taken account of the work required to be undertaken by the North Wales Regional Partnership Board; and ii) provided observations on the work and progress during 2025/26 in the areas being taken forward through the Board.
The Corporate Director: Social Services and Education introduced the report (previously circulated). The Regional Partnership Board was a statutory partnership established under the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014. It brought together the six North Wales local authorities, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board and partners from housing, education, the third sector and local communities. Denbighshire County Council hosted the Regional Collaboration Team that supported the Board. The Head of Regional Collaboration outlined the Board's work during 2025/26. Its priorities included prevention and early intervention, care closer to home, timely hospital discharge, support for children and families, emotional well-being and integrated services. The Regional Integration Fund supported 36 programmes across six models of care. Including partner match funding, just under £80 million was invested across health and social care in North Wales. Demand and the complexity of people's needs continued to increase, while workforce capacity and long-term sustainability remained challenging. Further work was also required to improve data, consistency and long-term planning across the region. In response to members' questions, the Corporate Director and Head of Regional Collaboration explained: • The Home from Hospital programme continued to face operational pressures, but partners had agreed a shared purpose and an improvement plan following a regional workshop. A leadership group and a regional alignment group provided strategic oversight and accountability; a Denbighshire officer co-chaired the alignment group. Work over the following six to seven months would concentrate on shared data, the Discharge to Recover then Assess model and trusted assessments between organisations. • Reduced resources, rising demand and increasingly complex needs meant hospital discharge would remain difficult. Fragmented information systems and inconsistent access to data also affected front-line practice, so the Board was working to improve the systems and processes that supported day-to-day services. • Denbighshire had secured £33.6 million of capital investment for the Royal Alexandra Hospital development, including a minor injuries unit and a 14-bed reablement unit. The Regional Collaboration Team had helped partners develop the business cases for Welsh Government approval through the Board's ten-year strategic capital plan. • Other benefits for Denbighshire included dementia-friendly communities, the Bwthyn y Ddôl children's residential assessment service, the LIFT project for vulnerable children and families, the Single Point of Access, Community Resource Teams, falls prevention coordinators, dementia support workers and community navigators. Denbighshire's Adult Services received approximately £1.9 million a year from the Regional Integration Fund and Children's Services received just under £1.6 million, in addition to funding used by the Health Board within the county. • The Welsh Ambulance Services University NHS Trust was involved in the Home from Hospital work. Improving discharge supported people ready to leave hospital, released beds for patients in emergency departments and could reduce the time ambulances and residents waited in the community. • There was no single response to complex needs. Regional programmes sought to provide support closer to home through community capacity, reablement, clearer referral routes, falls prevention, housing support and warmer homes. Work covered children and families, older people, people with learning disabilities and people requiring mental health support. • The Health Board, local authorities and charities were undertaking focused work on mental health support and crisis provision in rural areas. The Corporate Director agreed to provide Councillor Merfyn Parry with further details of that work. Resolved: that the Committee: i) confirmed that it had read, understood and taken account of the work required to be undertaken by the North Wales Regional Partnership Board; and ii) provided observations on the work and progress during 2025/26 in the areas being taken forward through the Board.
Decision as recorded
Resolved: that the Committee: i) confirmed that it had read, understood and taken account of the report, including activity to date and future areas for development; and ii) confirmed that it had read, understood and taken account of the Well-being Impact Assessments as part of its consideration.
The Deputy Leader and Lead Member for Education and Children, Welsh Language, Culture and Heritage introduced the report (previously circulated), which provided an update on the Children's Services transformation projects intended to increase local placement capacity. The foster care incentives introduced in April 2026 were beginning to support recruitment. Four foster carers had been recruited during the current year, compared with two during the whole of the previous year, and a further three prospective carers were in the recruitment process. A targeted digital marketing campaign, using the experiences of fostering families, was expected to launch by the end of 2026 following a short procurement delay. The Reconnect project had commenced and was providing intensive therapeutic support to children whose needs and placement options had changed. The work aimed, where appropriate, to enable a move to a specifically matched foster placement, supported independent living or a return to the child's family. The external provider would be paid when an agreed outcome was achieved, avoiding the need to divert existing therapeutic staff or create a separate in-house team at an estimated cost of approximately £500,000. Work was also progressing on the first small group home in Rhyl, which would provide in-house residential care for up to three children. The planning process had delayed the project, although the consultation period was due to end that week and no objections had been received. The local community had responded positively. The home would provide a proof of concept, and the annual placement sufficiency plan would inform the number and location of any further properties. In response to members' questions, the Lead Member and Head of Children's Services explained: • An independent fostering agency placement cost approximately twice as much as an in-house foster placement because the fee also covered the provider's infrastructure, supervising social worker and therapeutic support. The number of children placed with independent fostering agencies had risen from approximately 15 in 2019 to more than 40. Recruitment was a long process: broadly, one foster carer might be approved for every ten initial enquiries. A full year of recruitment and cost information would be available after the incentives had operated for twelve months. • Increasing in-house provision would reduce costs and, more importantly, enable children to remain closer to their schools, communities, health services, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, friends and families. It would also help preserve language and culture, make reunification easier where appropriate and reduce staff travel. The Well-being Impact Assessments were therefore considered wholly positive. • Reconnect had reviewed the children living in residential placements and identified those who might move during the following 12 to 18 months after intensive therapeutic work. The commissioned provider worked alongside the Council's social workers and therapeutic team. Savings from successful moves could support further investment in the Council's therapeutic capacity. • A child would normally remain at their existing school unless the travel distance was considerable or the foster placement formed part of a permanent care plan. Where possible, school changes were made at natural transition points. The Council supported carers with transport, including taxis, but recognised that attending several schools could create significant logistical difficulties. • At the time of the meeting, four unaccompanied asylum-seeking children were placed with foster carers outside the county and outside Wales to meet cultural, religious or individual needs. Nine children were in independent foster placements outside the county, 16 were in residential placements outside the county, and ten were living outside the county with friends or family. Kinship placements could be positive, while the Council aimed to reduce external foster and residential placements where it could safely meet a child's needs locally. • The Foster Friendly employment policy was the only incentive limited to Council employees. It provided additional leave for training and meetings and applied to an employee fostering through any Foster Wales local authority. The other incentives were available to all eligible applicants; Council Tax support and parking benefits had been particularly well used. • The Council needed foster carers across the whole county, with a particular shortage in the south. A placement just beyond the county boundary could sometimes be geographically close to a child's home, but insufficient provision in southern Denbighshire could require a child to travel a long distance within the county. A wider distribution of carers would improve matching and reduce disruption to education and community links. Resolved: that the Committee: i) confirmed that it had read, understood and taken account of the report, including activity to date and future areas for development; and ii) confirmed that it had read, understood and taken account of the Well-being Impact Assessments as part of its consideration.
Decision as recorded
Resolved: that the Committee's forward work programme be approved.
The Scrutiny Coordinator introduced the report and appendices (previously circulated), which asked the Committee to review its programme of future work. The next meeting would be held on 22 October 2026 and would consider the Working Closer with Communities transformation project and an update from the North Wales Economic Ambition Board on its priorities, projects and work during the previous year. Members were reminded to submit a Scrutiny Proposal Form for any additional matters they wished the Scrutiny Chairs and Vice-Chairs Group to consider at its meeting on 29 September 2026. Resolved: that the Committee's forward work programme be approved.
No feedback was received from Committee representatives. In response to a question about the effect of recent changes in political balance on committee membership and chairing arrangements, the Corporate Director advised that the revised allocations had only recently been calculated and discussions with the political groups were continuing. Details would be circulated to members when the arrangements had been confirmed. Meeting concluded at 11.46am.
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