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There is no summary of this meeting yet. Summaries are written once the council publishes the minutes, which are its official record of what a meeting decided. They usually appear a few weeks after the meeting.
The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.
Cllr S Pursey – Personal – Trustee of Taibach Community Library.
Members considered the reported as circulated within the agenda pack. The Director of Strategy and Corporate Services introduced the strategy. The current corporate plan was approved in July 2024 and following feedback from all scrutiny committees during the year, a review was undertaken to consider how to strengthen the way the authority articulated how it is delivering against its four well-being objectives. The content has been streamlined to be clearer and more concise and simplify the way that key priorities are presented, ensuring greater accountability in terms of the measures being used and clarity of purpose. The document now has one overarching vision for Neath Port Talbot, as opposed to a vision for each of the four well-being objectives. The strategy now includes four key cross-cutting areas: cost of living and poverty prevention, climate change and decarbonisation, Welsh language, cultural and heritage inequalities and diversity and inclusion. The strategy is underpinned by annual Heads of Service delivery plans and includes service user perspectives from a residents survey. Officers advised that each of the service delivery plans will come before the various scrutiny committees during the year to ensure that there is regular consideration and opportunity to hold the plan to account and ensure that the authority is delivering on its priorities. Members enquired about the residents survey and the inclusion of additional questions. Officers confirmed that the full survey was considered by Cabinet in May. This information would be circulated with the scrutiny committee and that additional questions could be included. Members sought clarification on the governance arrangements around the business plans, including the producing, approving and scrutinising of the plans. It was confirmed that each Head of Service has a business plan aligned with the well-being objectives, which will be monitored by the relevant scrutiny committees. It was noted by members that in reference to play areas and active travel, both items are caveated by the term subject to funding. Members noted that all items are subject to funding, so were uncertain with why these two particular items have been caveated. Officers advised that these two items are subject to grant funding, therefore have been caveated to reflect this. With regards to performance measures, members expressed their concern that the measures currently outlined for libraries does not reflect the benefits to and use by the community of the libraries. Officers were asked to consider adding additional measures for the libraries. Officers noted that the use of libraries is reflected in the library strategy. Officers outlined that it is important that any data collected through performance measures should be able to be collected year on year and be reliable and indicative of the use of the libraries. Officers provided information with regards to how street cleanliness will be measured. Each zone supervisor undertakes one cleanliness inspection per week and will provide a cleanliness score. This information is consolidated and compared to the Keep Wales Tidy statistics that are received. Members noted the importance of gathering data from residents and recognised how valuable this data will be. However, the difficulty in gathering data consistently across the county borough was recognised. With reference to EV charging points, it was confirmed that this measure would be considering EV charging points on Council owned infrastructure. It was noted that the strategy sets out maximising public transport however there is no corresponding performance measure for this item to be monitored. Officers suggested two performance measures that could be considered. One measure could be comparing existing network performance against post covid recovery. Further compare the franchise network for 2025-2027 to the current network. Members welcome the consideration of key measures to determine if the item was delivering against its targets. Members welcomed the review of capital funding methodology. It was suggested that in consideration of this, there should also be a focus on identifying organisational bottlenecks and ensuring that the right number of people with the right skills are in place. Ensuring the there is protection around services that are used across the authority to support the delivery of services and projects. Some members expressed their concern about the uniqueness of the corporate strategy and the set out that there is a need to outline within it what makes Neath Port Talbot a desirable place to live and work. Cabinet members acknowledged the importance of highlighting the unique aspects and agreed to consider this in future iterations of the document. Following scrutiny, the recommendation was supported to Cabinet.
There were no urgent items.
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