Meetings
Every meeting of Newport City Council's committees. Meetings of the full Council, the Cabinet, scrutiny and planning committees get a plain-language summary once their minutes are published.
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Scrutiny committees question the Cabinet's plans and decisions and can ask them to think again. More in the guide
The Committee looked at Newport City Council's Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan, which aims to make homelessness rare, brief and unrepeated. The minute records five recommendations and requests from the Committee, but no decision to approve the plan. The Committee also reviewed actions from earlier meetings and recommended that all actions and outcomes be made easily and publicly accessible.
The plan sets out how the council intends to prevent poverty, support people who are in poverty and create routes out of it. Councillors made nine comments and recommendations, including more detail on credit unions, ward-level deprivation data, more action on homelessness, and progress reports before the end of the council term. The minute does not record that the committee approved the strategy.
The Performance Scrutiny Committee - Place and Corporate considered two items: the Highway Asset Management Plan 2024-2029 and the draft Newport Culture Strategy 2025-2035. On both, the Committee made recommendations to the Cabinet Member. These cover road repair data, streetlight fault feedback, sharing the capital programme, planning-agreement funding, a more visual Culture Strategy, future projections and performance measures. The minutes record no other decisions.
The minute records that the Committee was advised of these matters and records no decisions. The next meeting is set for 30 April 2025, with updates on the South East Wales Adoption Service and the Fostering Service.
The Committee considered the Council's 2025-26 budget and medium-term financial plan, focusing on how the budget was prepared and how the public was consulted. It made comments and recommendations, including asking for a later report on the consultation results and for future budget consultations to start after Christmas. It also considered routine scrutiny reports on outstanding actions and the work programme.
The Committee scrutinised the budget proposals for the council's corporate service areas for 2025-26. Scrutiny means the committee checks council plans before Cabinet decides. The Committee made four comments to Cabinet on savings in Revenue and Benefits, paper forms, and the printed Newport Matters publication.
The Committee scrutinised the Place services part of Newport City Council's draft 2025/26 budget and Medium-Term Financial Plan, a plan of council spending over several years. Cabinet agreed these proposals for public consultation on 13 January 2025. Councillors questioned officers and made comments and recommendations to Cabinet on community centres, libraries, homelessness, home to school transport and grass cutting, and Cabinet will decide the final budget in February 2025.
On 14 January 2025 the Performance Scrutiny Committee - People considered the draft 2025-26 budget and Medium Term Financial Plan (a plan of spending and income over several years) for the council's People service areas. Members made comments and recommendations to pass to the Cabinet, including on community centre charges, short term care beds, community outreach and National Insurance increases. The Cabinet will consider consultation feedback before agreeing a final budget in February.
The Performance Scrutiny Committee (People) considered the mid-year report for Education Services for 2024/25, which covers April to September 2024. The Cabinet Member for Education and Early Years gave an overview, and members questioned officers. The committee recommended that officers consider a whole city approach to keeping pupils in Welsh-medium learning from Meithrin (Welsh-medium nursery) to Reception (first year of primary school), and asked for further data. The minute does not record a vote on the report as a whole.
The Committee considered mid-year reviews of four 2024/25 service plans: Environment and Public Protection, Regeneration and Economic Development, Housing and Communities, and Infrastructure. The reviews cover 1 April to 30 September 2024. The Committee made comments and recommendations on each service, and asked for several pieces of further information.
The Committee made seven comments and recommendations, which will go to the Cabinet for consideration.
The Performance Scrutiny Committee (People) examined the mid-year progress reports for Social Services for April to September 2024. These covered Children's Services, Adult Services, and Prevention and Inclusion. Scrutiny means councillors checking how the council performs. Councillors asked questions and made comments and recommendations, including requests for briefings and updates. The minute records no decisions beyond these comments and recommendations.
The Committee considered mid-year reviews of three service plans covering April to September 2024: Finance, People, Policy and Transformation, and Law and Standards. The minute records comments and recommendations from the Committee on staff turnover, complaints data, the Council website, a Coroner's Court project and a £305,000 overspend, but no formal decision.
The Committee considered the annual performance report for the Newport Norse joint venture for 2023/24, and asked officers and Norse representatives questions about rebates, customer satisfaction, staff data, environmental impact and the move to a new council company from 2026. The Committee made two recommendations, asking for more specific information in future reports on climate change and social value, and asked for two sets of figures to be provided.
The committee considered the Gwent Regional Partnership Board annual report for 2023-24. Members questioned officers on funding, the workforce, dementia services and how the partnership communicates with residents. The minute records requests for updates and recommendations for an easier-to-read report, but no formal vote on the report.
The Performance Scrutiny Committee - Partnerships met on 9 October 2024 to review two partnerships: the Shared Resource Service (SRS), a shared IT service Newport joined in 2017, and Safer Newport, the city's community safety partnership. The minutes record no votes. Instead, the committee's conclusions asked for ongoing updates on digital matters, called for clearer communication about safety, and asked for community surveys to be extended to rural areas.
The committee looked at Estyn inspection results for Newport schools from January 2022 to July 2024. It asked to be told of reports that show progress on Welsh language in education, and said it was content with the report. It also noted the action sheet and work programme, and a correction to the dates of its next meetings.
The Committee questioned officers, said it was content with the report, and made nine recommendations, including a breakdown of the most common reasons for contact and a six-monthly update in person. It also felt the Placemaking Plan should be postponed until a working group has finished.
The committee considered the draft Corporate Wellbeing Self-Assessment 2023-24 and the Strategic Equalities Plan Annual Report 2023-24, and made several recommendations on both. It was content with both reports. It also agreed to cancel its 27 September 2024 meeting, which had no main items.
These orders set rules for defined public areas to tackle antisocial behaviour. It also heard from Newport Wastesavers about its kerbside recycling partnership with the council. The Committee supported the PSPO changes and made recommendations on recycling engagement and collection points; the PSPO changes remain under public consultation, with decisions to follow.
The Committee scrutinised the 2023/24 end-of-year reports for Adult Services and for Prevention and Inclusion. The Committee said it was content with both reports, asked for a 12-monthly update on recruitment and retention, and asked that any grant pressures be brought back to it.
The Committee scrutinised the 2023-24 end-of-year reviews for three council service areas: People, Policy and Transformation; Finance; and Law and Standards. Each review reports progress against the service plan for the year to 31 March 2024. The minute records questions to officers on sickness, check-ins, digital services and assets, and a set of comments and recommendations from the Committee.
At its meeting on 26 July 2024 the Committee considered the draft Adaptations Policy, which sets out grants for adapting homes for disabled residents, and the Annual Digital Report 2023-24. The minutes record that the Committee was content with both reports. For the digital report, the Committee also asked for the difference between robotic process automation and artificial intelligence to be made clearer.