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The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
RESOLVED a) That Members reviewed the arrangements and effectiveness of the Partnerships Panel in undertaking its core functions of scrutinising the work of the Public Services Board and the Community Safety Partnership. b) That the Panel be reviewed again in six months’ time.
RESOLVED That the Partnerships Panel received the update and provided oversight of the Strengthening Communities project in Pembrokeshire Public Services Board’s (PSB) Well-being Plan.
RESOLVED That the Forward Work Programme, as set out in the report, be approved with the addition of an item providing an update on the Reducing Poverty and Inequalities project in the Public Services Board’s (PSB) Well-being Plan for the next meeting. The meeting ended at 3.31p.m.
Nominations were sought for the role of Vice-Chair. Councillor Huw Murphy Moved that Councillor Sam Skyrme-Blackhall be duly elected; Seconded by Councillor Joshua Beynon. The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That Councillor Sam Skyrme-Blackhall be duly elected as Vice-Chair.
There were no declarations of interest made.
The Chair welcomed Members to the meeting and invited any comments on the Minutes of the meeting held on 25 May 2023 that had already been circulated. He then referred to the Panel’s Forward Work Programme in Minute 8 where Members had requested a written update from the Safer Pembrokeshire Community Safety Partnership on the implementation of a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) and for the update to include how effective it had been to date. The Chair advised the item had been postponed from the Agenda for this meeting to enable Dyfed-Powys Police to provide feedback on the PSPO to the Community Safety Partnership in December 2023. It was noted that a report informing the Panel of the first 12 months of the PSPO would be brought to the May 2024 meeting. Moved by Councillor Steve Alderman; Seconded by Councillor Mark Carter. The vote, by way of show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Minutes of the Meeting held on 25 May 2023 be approved as a correct record, in both English and Welsh.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED a) That Members reviewed the arrangements and effectiveness of the Partnerships Panel in undertaking its core functions of scrutinising the work of the Public Services Board and the Community Safety Partnership. b) That the Panel be reviewed again in six months’ time.
The Committee considered a report by the Head of Democratic Services reviewing the arrangements and effectiveness of the Partnership Panel in undertaking its core functions of scrutinising the work of the Public Services Board (PSB) and the Community Safety Partnership (CSP). Following a review of the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Model in May 2019, the Head of Democratic Services explained a newCorporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee was established. The new Committee took over the responsibility for the scrutiny of the PSB and CSP through a standing Partnerships Panel. At the outset, she stated it was agreed that the arrangements of the Panel would be considered after 18 months. The Council’s Scrutiny Strategy Group agreed to the review being paused in the summer of 2021 due to COVID, as there had not been a great deal of progress made on work streams and projects. The matter was then revisited 12 months ago and on the basis that the Panel was comprised of predominantly new Members, it was agreed to undertake the review when Members would have had more experience of the operation and effectiveness of the Panel. In discussion, Panel Members debated some of the challenges to better partnership working between separate organisations while scrutinising the work of the PSB and frequency and spread of Panel meetings throughout the year. The Chair Moved the recommendation within the report, with the addition that Members review the work of the Partnerships Panel every six months; Seconded by Councillor Sam Skyrme-Blackhall. The vote, by way of show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED a) That Members reviewed the arrangements and effectiveness of the Partnerships Panel in undertaking its core functions of scrutinising the work of the Public Services Board and the Community Safety Partnership. b) That the Panel be reviewed again in six months’ time.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED That the Partnerships Panel received the update and provided oversight of the Strengthening Communities project in Pembrokeshire Public Services Board’s (PSB) Well-being Plan.
The Chair welcomed Iwan Thomas, Chief Executive Officer of PLANED, Councillor Neil Prior, Chair of the Public Services Board (PSB), and the Corporate Policy and Partnerships Manager to the meeting. The Chair of the PSB outlined the purpose of the Board and his experience of the work undertaken since the last Panel update in May. He stated the Board had identified key areas, namely Climate Emergency, Reducing Poverty and Inequalities, and thirdly, Strengthening Communities, which was the focus of this discussion. Overall, he felt the PSB was making progress in these areas. The Chair then opened up the debate with a question about one of the main headline actions for the Strengthening Communities project, such as overcoming the challenges of community engagement. Iwan Thomas, PLANED’s Chief Executive Officer and one of the group representatives of the project led at the silver ‘co-ordinating’ level, stressed the importance of finding the right hook to engage communities, but to consider the language, terminology and methods used as well. The Chair made further reference to an idea in the report regarding the creation of 1,000 community champions and promoting this across Pembrokeshire. Mr Thomas explained that Professor Philip Kloer, Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Medical Director at Hywel Dda University Health Board and Vice-Chair of the PSB, had identified a similar programme in Ilfracombe, Devon, where individuals, who were already active in community organisations, volunteer to help deliver services there. Some of the other key points that arose from the Panel’s discussions were noted as follows: · Councillor Joshua Beynon raised questions in relation to meeting attendance and practices within partnership organisations, to which the Chair of the PSB highlighted the Council’s employee volunteering scheme and that work was ongoing to expand and internally promote the policy. He was aware that Hywel Dda University Health Board had also acknowledged it needed to do more to offer employee volunteering. · The Chair of the PSB extended an invitation to Panel Members to attend and observe meetings of the PSB should they wish. He stated that at every third meeting of the Board there would be a specific spotlight session on one of the three projects in the Well-being Plan, and these are planned on a rotational basis. The Climate Adaptation project was due to be discussed at the next meeting followed by Reducing Poverty and Inequalities in January 2024 and the Strengthening Communities project would be considered again in March 2024. · Councillor Aled Thomas, making reference to the Build a better understanding of our bilingual communities headline action in the PSB’s Project Plan and speaking as the Council’s Welsh Language Champion, asked what was being done to develop and promote Welsh. The Chair of the PSB recognised that urban communities may face different challenges to more rural communities where greater levels of bilingualism might be seen, however, was something that the Board was committed to addressing. · Discussion progressed to wider work that had taken place with the New Local independent think tank and network of councils. The Chair of the PSB gave an overview of a new approach to the current model of public service delivery that would see a shift away from councils and towards communities. He confirmed the annual membership fee of £14k was paid for by the Council. Moved by Councillor Steve Alderman; Seconded by Councillor Mark Carter. The vote, by way of show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Partnerships Panel received the update and provided oversight of the Strengthening Communities project in Pembrokeshire Public Services Board’s (PSB) Well-being Plan.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED That the Forward Work Programme, as set out in the report, be approved with the addition of an item providing an update on the Reducing Poverty and Inequalities project in the Public Services Board’s (PSB) Well-being Plan for the next meeting. The meeting ended at 3.31p.m.
The Chair outlined the items scheduled for the May 2024 meeting and mentioned that a report providing an update on environmentally-themed projects to the Public Services Board (PSB) would be listed on the Agenda. The Committee would also consider the implementation of a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) from the Safer Pembrokeshire Community Safety Partnership as previously mentioned, as well as considering the impact of changes to the law regarding tenancy agreements. The Corporate Policy and Partnerships Manager offered an item relating to the PSB’s work on Reducing Poverty and Inequalities for the next meeting. Moved by Councillor Mark Carter; Seconded by Councillor Steve Alderman. The vote, by way of show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Forward Work Programme, as set out in the report, be approved with the addition of an item providing an update on the Reducing Poverty and Inequalities project in the Public Services Board’s (PSB) Well-being Plan for the next meeting. The meeting ended at 3.31p.m.
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