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There is no summary of this meeting yet. One is written once the council publishes the minutes. The agenda and papers are below.
Lay Member D Reed (Deputy Chair) and Councillor B Perkins
None.
The minutes of the previous meeting were approved as an accurate record.
The Committee agreed that following an informal briefing provided to the Chair on partnership loan arrangements, adequate assurance had been provided regarding arrangements. Ongoing work had been undertaken to draw out information that could be provided to the leaders of the Council’s political groups, however due to the sensitive nature of the partnership loan arrangements no definitive timeframe could be given. The Chair would request the letter sent to the Cardiff Capital Region City Deal in relation to the submission of their late accounts and the response received from and by the two other authorities that had already raised this issue. These documents would be shared with the Committee, rather than duplicate the same work. The Committee recommended that the final Annual Governance Statement includes details of work done to increase the number of responses on the 23 reviews highlighted within the Draft Annual Governance Statement 2024/25. The Committee requested a formal progress update on the development of the mechanism whereby issues raised by Councillors on behalf of residents were recorded within the compliment, comments and complaints process. This would then provide the Committee with assurance that the completion date of July 2026 would be met.
- The Public Protection Service Manager presented a summary of the report. - The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is the national agency that set the standards for local authorities to follow. - The FSA have an audit function, with four audits conducted on Newport within the last 10 years. - The most recent audit of Newport provided a moderate score. - The actions not closed by the FSA in the most recent inspection included service planning, full completion of enforcement documents, internal monitoring and completing inspections on time. - A draft service plan from environment health and trading standards had been prepared. - The new service plans cover the omissions highlighted in the FSA audit. - Once agreed the plan would be sent to the Committee. - The FSA noted the service area didn’t have the required staffing levels to guarantee all inspections would be completed on time. The Committee noted the contents of the Management Response The Committee requested a report be brought back to the January 2026 Committee meeting.
The Head of Housing and Communities presented a summary of the report. - The Audit Wales report considered all local authorities within Wales. - The management response had been shared with Audit Wales, with Audit Wales accepting the response. - Since the Covid-19 pandemic Newport had faced ongoing increased demand for homelessness assistance. - 80% of those in temporary accommodation were single persons or childless couples. - Causes of homelessness include a range of complex factors. - Newport had reduced the number of families with dependant children living in temporary accommodation by 40% in the past financial year. - A range of planned actions in relation to improving value for money concerning temporary accommodation were to be completed by March 2026. - Data had been utilised to revise predictions for future temporary accommodation needs with internal and external working groups being established to address the recommendation related to planning for prevention. - The Strategic Housing Forum had been reinstated to improve partnership working. The Committee noted the contents of the Management Response. The Committee requested a report be brought back to the May 2026 Committee meeting. The Committee requested the Audit Wales September 2024 Affordable Housing report be shared with the Committee via email.
The Performance and Programme Manager presented a summary of the report. - There were seven severe risks, six major risks and two that were de-escalated. - The first risk de-escalated was delivery of the new social care system to replace Welsh Community Care Information System (WCCIS). - The second risk that was de-escalated was the stability of social service providers. - Both de-escalated risks were being monitored within the directorate. The Committee noted the contents of the report and the Council’s assessment of risk management arrangements.
The Strategic Director for Transformation and Corporate introduced the report. The Head of People, Policy and Transformation and the Performance and Programme Manager presented a summary of the report. The report had been presented to Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee on 11 September 2025 with comments and feedback from the Committee included in the cover report. The report focused on delivery against the corporate plan as well as the delivery and challenges faced by the Council within the last financial year. The Committee noted the contents of the report. The Committee the inclusion of more self-reflection, with an emphasis on identifying areas of improvement and the mitigation actions put in place to address those areas in the version of the report due to be presented to Cabinet in October 2025.
The Democratic and Electoral Services Manager presented a summary of report. - The report would be shared with full Council at the January 2026 meeting. - The report sets out how the committee has met their duty as set out within the constitution, the Local Government and Elections Act and Local Government Measure. - The report focused on outcomes and impacts of the Committee over the previous 12 months. The Committee requested more specific information on the outcomes of the Committees’ work to be included within the report.
The Governance Officer updated the Committee on the agenda for the upcoming meeting. The Committee recommended the items from the October 2025 Committee be moved to the November 2025 Committee instead.
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