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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 Mr Hudson be invited to write back to the Committee and attend if appropriate.
RESOLVED That the report on the Broadband programme and the progress being made, be approved.
RESOLVED That the work of the County Farms Working Group (CFWG) be noted; That the Terms of Reference for the CFWG be approved. That the progress from previous recommendations be noted; and That the overall performance and management of the farms estate be noted.
RESOLVED That the poverty working group update report be noted. [The Cabinet Member for Social Care and Safeguarding and the Head of Engagement, Performance and Community left the meeting at this juncture.]
RESOLVED That the Council continue to make the decisions required for the Council’s Self-Assessment (and a panel performance assessment) be approved. That the Council delegate the decisions required for the Council’s Self-Assessment (and a panel performance assessment) to Cabinet be approved.
RESOLVED That the Annual Report 2022-23 be endorsed prior to consideration by Council.
RESOLVED a) That the Forward Work Programme be approved; and b) That Councillors Jordan Ryan and Michael James be appointed to the Finance Panel.
The Chair sought nominations for the role of Vice-Chair. Councillor Vanessa Thomas moved that Councillor Aled Thomas be elected; Seconded by Councillor Steve Yelland. The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That Councillor Aled Thomas be duly elected as Vice-Chair for the ensuing Municipal Year.
There were no Declarations of Interest made.
RESOLVED That the Minutes of the Meetings held on 21 March 2023 and on 9 May 2023 (Extraordinary) be approved as a correct record. The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED That Mr Hudson be invited to write back to the Committee and attend if appropriate.
The Democratic Services and Scrutiny Officer read a letter from Mr John Hudson regarding the right place for the determination of plans and strategies and whether this should be the Council (involving all 60 Members) or the Cabinet (involving nine Members). In particular, Mr Hudson questioned whether the Toilet Strategy should be discussed by full Council or the Cabinet as resolved in the meeting of the Policy and Pre-Decision Committee on 9 May 2023. The Chair Moved that Mr Hudson be invited to attend a future Policy and Pre-Decision Meeting to allow discussion on this item as the letter had only been received on 19 June 2023. In writing back, the Cabinet Member with responsibility for Planning and Housing Delivery, Councillor Jon Harvey would be invited to attend the following meeting if appropriate. Moved by Councillor Joshua Beynon; Seconded by Councillor Aled Thomas RESOLVED That Mr Hudson be invited to write back to the Committee and attend if appropriate.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED That the report on the Broadband programme and the progress being made, be approved.
The Chair welcomed the Head of Information Technology to the meeting to give a presentation on Digital Connectivity (Broadband) who advised that the Council had been successful in their Wave 3 Challenge Fund bid of up to £4million to provide Local Full Fibre Networks. The Committee then debated the contents of the report and the key points were highlighted as follows: · The commitment to use local supply chains wherever possible to grow local was welcomed by the Committee. · Concerns were raised regarding Broadway Partners going into administration however, positive discussions were ongoing with an anticipated conculsion of a positive sale in 8-10 weeks. · The County have the highest penetration of fibre network providers including OGI, Dragon and others. · The Chair highlighted the excellent voucher drawdown. In response to a concern raised by Councillor Mike James regarding the Broadway contract, the Head of Information Technology committed to arranging a meeting with the local community in North East Pembrokeshire for more in-depth information. Moved by Councillor Joshua Beynon; Seconded by Councillor Mike James The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the report on the Broadband programme and the progress being made, be approved.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED That the work of the County Farms Working Group (CFWG) be noted; That the Terms of Reference for the CFWG be approved. That the progress from previous recommendations be noted; and That the overall performance and management of the farms estate be noted.
The Chair welcomed the Interim Chief Property Officer to the meeting to present the report on the reinstatement of the County Farms Working Group. The Interim Chief Property Officer updated Members that the report was written based on the requirements of the Committee to have oversight of the County Farms working group and the following items were highlighted: · One meeting of the working group had taken place. · Councillor Aled Thomas had been elected as Chair. · The Terms of Reference were had not been agreed. · Nine recommendations from the previous Working Group had been discussed and were provided with actions with updates. · The County Farms Working Group was an advisory group only and not a decision making group. · An oversight of the County Farms portfolio noting it included 4500 acres of land and 600 dwellings creating many jobs and providing approximately £600K of income to the Authority. · The Property Team had been greatly reduced following two leaving the department, one leaving imminently, one retiring and two on leave. Councillor Aled Thomas informed the group that a good discussion had taken place at the first meeting and the Interim Chief Property Office advised Members that the agreed Terms of Reference would be submitted to the Committee for approval. Moved by Councillor Joshua Beynon; seconded by Councillor Aled Thomas The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the work of the County Farms Working Group (CFWG) be noted; That the Terms of Reference for the CFWG be approved. That the progress from previous recommendations be noted; and That the overall performance and management of the farms estate be noted.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED That the poverty working group update report be noted. [The Cabinet Member for Social Care and Safeguarding and the Head of Engagement, Performance and Community left the meeting at this juncture.]
The Chair welcomed the Cabinet Member for Social Care and Safeguarding to the Committee who introduced the Head of Engagement, Performance and Community to present an update on the Poverty working group and the deployment of the cost of living grant money. The Cabinet Member advised that the draft strategy had been presented to the PSB in April 2023 with the finalised strategy returning in July 2023. The Head of Engagement, Performance and Community advised Members that when the Working Group had started with the Notice of Motion in 2021 there was not a cost of living crisis in place which had inevitably delayed progress. In response to a question from Councillor Joshua Beynon regarding the link between the Authority’s Poverty Strategy and the Welsh Government’s child poverty strategy, the Head of Engagement, Performance and Community advised that the Child Poverty Strategy had been in existence for a number of years. The strategy was being refreshed by Welsh Government with an aim of publishing at the end of this year noting that there were various opportunities to influence the strategy to ensure full engagement. The importance of updates from the Public Services Board was recognised by Councillors Pat Davies and Mike James together with any other agencies involved. Councillor Davies emphasised that child poverty was not just funding, but also housing, education and employment. Councillor James highlighted concerns on fuel poverty and urban fuel poverty since the cost of living crisis as many bus routes were being lost which added to the crisis. The Cabinet Member for Corporate Improvement and Communities advised Members that he was the Chair of the Public Services Board and that with himself and the Vice-Chair on the Committee and that the latest update was received a few weeks ago and that good progress was being made. The Cabinet Member for Social Care and Safeguarding thanked the Members for the comments noting that, as the crisis continues, it puts strains on families and our services across social care but the ambition for the Authority and the Welsh Government remained to eradicate poverty long term. Moved by Councillor Joshua Beynon; Seconded by Councillor Aled Thomas The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried RESOLVED That the poverty working group update report be noted. [The Cabinet Member for Social Care and Safeguarding and the Head of Engagement, Performance and Community left the meeting at this juncture.]
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED That the Council continue to make the decisions required for the Council’s Self-Assessment (and a panel performance assessment) be approved. That the Council delegate the decisions required for the Council’s Self-Assessment (and a panel performance assessment) to Cabinet be approved.
The Chair welcomed The Cabinet Member for Corporate Improvement and Communities to the meeting to present the self-assessment and panel performance assessment to the meeting. He advised that this was a local choice function to decide if Council or Cabinet decide on what happens with the Council Self-Assessment. A small team of Peers of Officers and Members would ask key strategic questions supported by the Local Government Association and the Welsh Local Government Association noting that Pembrokeshire were the first in Wales to perform this assessment. The Cabinet Member further advised Members that there was a Corporate Improvement Board in place with representation to consider the functions as an advisory group. Councillor Aled Thomas raised concerns regarding the political balance of the Corporate Improvement Board and proposed that recommendations went from the Corporate Improvement Board to Full Council to allow input from every Member; Seconded by Councillor Joshua Beynon. The Corporate Planning Manager advised that both the Self-Assessment and the Panel Performance reports were presented to the Governance and Audit Committee for views which contained Lay Members and a Lay Chair. This assured internal oversight over both processes. Moved by Councillor Aled Thomas; Seconded by Councillor Joshua Beynon The vote, undertaken by way of a roll call, was carried. The votes were recorded as follows: For the Motion: Councillors Joshua Beynon, Aled Thomas, Jordan Ryan, Mike James, Pat Davies, Steve Alderman, Michael Williams, Huw Murphy and Vanessa Thomas [9] There were no votes against and no abstentions. RESOLVED That the Council continue to make the decisions required for the Council’s Self-Assessment (and a panel performance assessment) be approved. That the Council delegate the decisions required for the Council’s Self-Assessment (and a panel performance assessment) to Cabinet be approved.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED That the Annual Report 2022-23 be endorsed prior to consideration by Council.
The Committee considered a report by the Head of Democratic Services regarding the Overview and Scrutiny Annual Report for 2022 – 23. The Democratic Services and Scrutiny Officer outlined the main points of the report and stated that the report provided details of scrutiny activities from June 2022 to March 2023, and covered each of the five scrutiny committees, which would be presented to Council in July for consideration and endorsement. She then highlighted the recent survey undertaken to gather Members' views on the current Overview and Scrutiny Committee arrangements and give Members an opportunity to make suggestions for improvement. The Democratic Services and Scrutiny Officer highlighted that there was a 67% response rate and gave thanks to those Members who took the time to complete the survey. The Committee discussed the contents of the report and the Chair thanked the Democratic Services and Scrutiny Team for their support to Members for all of their help over the last 12 months. Councillor Mike James concurred highlighting the importance of their work for the whole Council. Proposed by Councillor Joshua Beynon; Seconded by Councillor Pat Davies The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Annual Report 2022-23 be endorsed prior to consideration by Council.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED a) That the Forward Work Programme be approved; and b) That Councillors Jordan Ryan and Michael James be appointed to the Finance Panel.
The Chair presented the Forward Work Programme to Members noting that two additional Members were required for the Finance Panel, which sits underneath the Policy and Pre-Decision Committee to provide greater scrutiny of financial policies. The Chair advised of full agendas for both September and November and committed to return to Cabinet colleagues for any additional items for scrutiny. Moved by Councillor Joshua Beynon; Seconded by Councillor Aled Thomas The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED a) That the Forward Work Programme be approved; and b) That Councillors Jordan Ryan and Michael James be appointed to the Finance Panel.
Councillors must say when they have a personal link to something being discussed, such as a job, a property or a family member. A prejudicial interest is one strong enough that the councillor usually leaves the room and takes no part.
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