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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 Councillor Michael John be duly elected as Chair.
RESOLVED That the update report on the Climate Change, Decarbonisation and Nature Emergency projects in Pembrokeshire Public Services Board’s (PSB) Well-being Plan, be received.
RESOLVED That the update report on the Reducing Poverty and Inequalities project in Pembrokeshire Public Services Board’s (PSB) Well-being Plan, be received. [Councillor Rhys Jordan left the meeting at this juncture.]
RESOLVED a) That the update report provided on the Haverfordwest Public Space Protection Order be received. b) That the Panel continue to support the reporting of ASB incidents across Haverfordwest. c) That the Panel reiterate the parameters of the PSPO to residents, businesses, community groups and organisations.
RESOLVED That 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 be reviewed again in 12 months’ time.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED That Councillor Michael John be duly elected as Chair.
Nominations were sought for the role of Chair. Councillor Rhys Jordan Moved that Councillor Michael John be duly elected; Seconded by Councillor Mark Carter. The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That Councillor Michael John be duly elected as Chair.
Nominations were sought for the role of Vice-Chair. Councillor Michael John Moved that Councillor Rhys Jordan be duly elected; Seconded by Councillor Aled Thomas. The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That Councillor Rhys Jordan be duly elected as Vice-Chair.
There were no apologies for absence.
There were no declarations made at this point in the meeting.
Moved by Councillor Michael John; Seconded by Councillor Steve Alderman. The vote, by way of show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Minutes of the Meeting held on 27 November 2023 be approved as a correct record, in both English and Welsh.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED That the update report on the Climate Change, Decarbonisation and Nature Emergency projects in Pembrokeshire Public Services Board’s (PSB) Well-being Plan, be received.
The Chair handed this item of business over to Councillor Neil Prior, Chair of the Pembrokeshire Public Services Board (PSB) to introduce. He then welcomed to the meeting PSB Member Caroline Drayton, Natural Resources Wales (NRW) Operations Manager, and Emma Taylor, NRW People and Places Officer, who were leading on the PSB’s Nature Emergency, Climate Change and Decarbonisation project workstreams. At the end of his address, the PSB Chair reinvited Members of the Partnership Panel to attend a Board meeting or one of the PSB’s Silver ‘co-ordinating’ Group meetings looking at a specific topic. The Chair of the Partnerships Panel requested that the PSB Chair circulate meeting dates. Panel Members were then offered the opportunity to ask Caroline Drayton questions about the latest project update reports that were also considered at the PSB’s meeting on 21 May 2024. The Chair made reference to the Carbon Literacy training organised by Cynnal Cymru in Headline Action 1 of the Decarbonisation and Net Zero Project on page 18 of the Panel’s report. He enquired whether the training would be deemed mandatory across the Council or would it be specific to certain Members and Staff. Ms Drayton replied that while the training would be available to all organisations, the PSB would not dictate how the training should be taken forward. In response to an additional question from the Chair, the Corporate Policy and Partnerships Manager understood that several staff had been through the training, particularly those whose job roles related to that specific training. He was unaware of any decisions that had been taken on whether the course would be mandatory and made the assumption that it would not be, targeting instead those individuals whose jobs would benefit from the opportunity. Later, Ms Drayton illustrated with an example of Hywel Dda University Health Board, which had decided it would be impractical to roll out the four bite-sized e-learning modules to all its staff members. Turning to the Welsh Government-funded Project Manager and Project Officer posts across the Swansea Bay region under Headline Action 2 on page 19 of the report, the Chair sought clarification on whether the positions were filled by internal transfers, offering cost savings for any Council in the region, or from external advertisement. Ms Drayton stated she was unfamiliar with the recruitment process and reported the recent resignation of one of the overview posts had caused some information in the Agenda pack to become slightly out-of-date. Following the discussion further below, the Chair of the PSB agreed to take up this matter with the Head of Infrastructure. Councillor Michael Stoddart requested an explanation of carbon literacy, to which Ms Drayton observed the concept was about ensuring that the different organisations shared a commonality of the language so that each could understand the carbon footprint impact resulting from one another’s activities and frame thinking around future impacts. She continued carbon literacy was linked strongly with the agenda on climate change, energy and supply and equality through the services provided by the organisations and how they could be accessed. In reply to a supplementary question raised by Councillor Stoddart, the Head of Democratic Services responded that the e-learning modules would be available to Members and Staff on Pembrokeshire Online Learning (POD) and agreed to explore this possibility with the Learning and Development team. The Corporate Policy and Partnerships Manager directed the Panel to the Project’s priorities for the next reporting period and affirmed that a plan would be developed for delivering the carbon literacy training to Members and Staff across the PSB organisations. He then undertook to make contact with the Council’s new Energy and Sustainability Manager to check if the plan was on his list of priorities and provide an update at the next Panel meeting. Further clarification of the Cynnal Cymru course that had been accredited by the Carbon Literacy Project was given by Emma Taylor, who advised the training would cover a core module and a geographically-specific module. For the Local Authority and Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority (PCNPA), the module would focus on the County and be location-specific. Once the course had been developed for Pembrokeshire, she went onto say that the aim was to equip participants to pass on the training to others and that the content could be tailored to different audiences. Furthermore, the training had already been paid for and would be made available across the County to all PSB partners for no additional cost. As one of the PCNPA Members who had attended a training session in mid-March, Councillor Steve Alderman stated that he appreciated the opportunity and suggested the modules would be useful if they were released onto POD. Moved by Councillor Jordan Ryan; Seconded by Councillor Steve Alderman. The vote, by way of show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the update report on the Climate Change, Decarbonisation and Nature Emergency projects in Pembrokeshire Public Services Board’s (PSB) Well-being Plan, be received.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED That the update report on the Reducing Poverty and Inequalities project in Pembrokeshire Public Services Board’s (PSB) Well-being Plan, be received. [Councillor Rhys Jordan left the meeting at this juncture.]
[During consideration of this item, Councillor Mark Carter declared a personal interest by virtue of being a private landlord. Councillor Mike Stoddart declared an interest by virtue of his wife owning a holiday home.] The Chair welcomed to the meeting the Council’s Head of Children’s Services, who was leading on the PSB’s Reducing Poverty and Inequalities Project workstreams. The Head of Children’s Services outlined the main points of his report, which was also discussed at the PSB’s meeting on 21 May 2024 and included: • Work was about to start on a project hearing from people with lived experience of poverty to inform ongoing action planning, and review of the PSB’s Reducing Poverty Strategy. He explained that colleagues from Co-production Wales and the Pembrokeshire Association of Voluntary Services (PAVS) would be reaching out to a group of about 30 people who contributed to some research last year to ask if they would be willing to be part of a lived experience group to inform onward work. • The inaugural Tackling Poverty Summit held in February 2024 was considered extremely successful in terms of attendance, with over 100 attendees. The Head of Children’s Services expected that the Summit’s organising sub-group would be reconvened shortly to plan ahead for next year’s event. He hoped that the positive and constructive feedback received after this year’s Summit would be used to improve future events. • Ongoing monitoring of the Action Plan was under way and the intention was to develop and continue to grow that Plan to make a real difference to poverty on the ground in Pembrokeshire. Earlier that day, the Head of Children’s Services had met with Councillor Marc Tierney, the Council’s Anti-poverty Champion, in order to encourage and enhance his involvement in the poverty agenda. He indicated that he had tasked Councillor Tierney with ensuring that poverty remained uppermost in Members’ minds when making key decisions at Council. The Head of Children’s Services was committed of keeping Councillor Tierney informed of progress against the Strategy, Action Plan and development of people’s lived experience of poverty so that he could also challenge and contribute to that work asAnti-poverty Champion. • Councillor Michael Stoddart acknowledged that poverty was a serious issue but remained challenging for the Council to resolve when it could only control the setting of rent and Council Tax levels and had increased both of these higher than the rate of inflation. He cited the findings of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) in 2020 on the above-inflation rises in rents in the social rented sector as one of the reasons why child poverty in Wales, particularly in Pembrokeshire, had gone up. The Head of Children’s Services, making reference to more than £2bn of benefits had been left unclaimed in Wales this year according to a report by Policy in Practice, suggested there was an opportunity to support people to claim what they were eligible for. He illustrated with an example of the People PWR – Pembrokeshire Welfare Rights Project that had helped 84 out of 400 families to claim the benefits they were entitled to, amounting to £180,000. The Head of Children’s Services believed that the Council could support the Project to expand its capacity to help more families in the County and he had booked a session with that organisation to look at one of their Local Authority platforms with a view to developing this kind of work. • The Head of Children’s Services then drew attention to another recent report published by the JRF regarding stigma associated with poverty, and one of its recommendations suggested that poverty be reframed as an issue of economic injustice. He sensed a further opportunity for the Authority and its partners to start changing the narrative on poverty and make it acceptable for people experiencing economic difficulty to access services that supported them. • In connection with rents being a contributory factor to poverty, the Head of Engagement and Inclusion identified this was mainly an issue in the private rented sector where rents were completely uncontrolled and landlords could charge any amount they liked. With regards to Council Tax, he advised that those most in poverty were exempt from paying this charge. The Head of Children’s Services concurred with the Chair and the Head of Engagement and Inclusion that the setting of rent and Council Tax levels were political decisions made in the Council Chamber. • Councillor Jordan Ryan referred to a question he raised at the time when the Council Tax level was being set by the Authority and the reply he received was that 40% of people in Pembrokeshire were in receipt of a discount on their Council Tax. In relation to Council house rents, Councillor Ryan pointed out that they were lower than JRF’s Living Rent levels and while some may have risen sharply linked to inflation in recent years, they still represented good value for money compared with other Welsh authorities and the private rented sector. • Councillor Rhys Jordan expressed concern for those people among the ‘working poor’, who were struggling to get by financially every month and were not eligible for benefits. He sounded a note of caution to Officers and Members about the implications of promoting Council Tax increases by just £5 per week as for many people this amount might mean the difference of having money left over at the end of the month or not. In terms of the private rented sector, Councillor Jordan called on the new Cabinet Member to build more affordable and social housing in Pembrokeshire. • Councillor Delme Harries made reference to this discussion and stated that he would welcome a commitment for more affordable Council housing across all of the County as no new developments had been started in his area. • In response to a suggestion made by Councillor Ryan, Councillor Stoddart explained the reason why Council house rents were cheaper because the Welsh Government grant funded social housing. • On the existence of Universal Primary Free School Meals (UPFSM), the Chair queried whether there was any evidence of those who would have been entitled to free school meals were now not claiming because their child received meals under the UPFRSM scheme. While he did not have this information currently, the Head of Children’s Services put forward this data would be useful to gather in future as part of the work to expand people’s access to benefits. At this point, the Chair of the PSB recollected that at the last Corporate Improvement and Transformation Board meeting, it was reported that the Council had seen an increase in the uptake of free school meals from 68% to 72%. However, he was unable to verify whether this figure applied across the County or was for one specific school. Moved by Councillor Jordan Ryan; Seconded by Councillor Delme Harries. The vote, by way of show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the update report on the Reducing Poverty and Inequalities project in Pembrokeshire Public Services Board’s (PSB) Well-being Plan, be received. [Councillor Rhys Jordan left the meeting at this juncture.]
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED a) That the update report provided on the Haverfordwest Public Space Protection Order be received. b) That the Panel continue to support the reporting of ASB incidents across Haverfordwest. c) That the Panel reiterate the parameters of the PSPO to residents, businesses, community groups and organisations.
The Chair welcomed Councillor Jacob Williams by congratulating him on his appointment to Cabinet with responsibility for Planning and Regulatory Services, and the Community Safety Poverty & Regeneration Managerto the meeting. The Community Safety Poverty & Regeneration Managerthen presented her report that provided an update following the implementation of the Haverfordwest Public Space Protection Order (PSPO) in 2022. The PSPO was put in place by the Council and Dyfed-Powys Police to address anti-social behaviour (ASB) related to alcohol and substance misuse, crime, disorder and nuisance in Haverfordwest town centre, which included the skatepark and Picton Playing Fields areas. She then discussed the main issues set out in her report as follows: · During the consultation process, data collection mechanisms did not clearly show to what extent the alcohol and substance misuse issues contributed to anti-social behaviour. However, when ASB did occur, theCommunity Safety Poverty & Regeneration Manager stated it had quite significant impacts. · Enforcement of the PSPO is undertaken by Dyfed-Powys Police. Breaches of the Order were originally intended to be dealt with through the issuing of a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN), however, in March 2023, the Police notified the Pembrokeshire Community Safety Partnership of a change in its approach to taking action across the Force area. Where a breach of the Order was witnessed by a Police Community Support Officer (PCSO), theCommunity Safety Poverty & Regeneration Manager explained that a statement and body-worn footage would now be provided to a police officer in the Neighbourhood Policing Team whereas if the breach was witnessed by a Police Officer, they would provide their own statement. The suspect would then be reported for summons in both cases. · There had been no prosecutions by Dyfed-Powys Police under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act (2014) that introduced PSPOs, however, theCommunity Safety Poverty & Regeneration Manager advised that the Police on three occasions had issued warnings to people who had committed PSPO-related offences. Those given warnings complied with a direction to leave the area. On another occasion, alcohol was removed and disposed of. · The vast majority of alcohol and drug-related incidents occurred during the night-time economy, though Dyfed-Powys Police had reported an overall downward trend year-on-year. Referring to a more detailed breakdown in Appendix 2 of her report, the Community Safety Poverty & Regeneration Manager confirmed that in 2021-22, there were 214 reported incidents. This compared with 206 in 2022-23 and 172 in 2023-24. · Despite this, perceptions of anti-social behaviour and unreported ASB incidents in the town remained higher than reported incidents. The Community Safety Poverty & Regeneration Manager indicated that there was evidence to suggest that where ASB was being experienced in a local area, it was one of the primary factors that determined people’s quality of life, well-being and sense of community. Where ASB was repeated over a long period of time, it could erode feelings of public safety and undermine community resilience. Work was ongoing with the Police, partners and communities to increase more reporting of ASB across the Haverfordwest area, she continued. · In conclusion, while recognising that the relative levels of ASB in Haverfordwest were low, the Community Safety Poverty & Regeneration Manager was unable to substantiate whether or not the PSPO had had a positive influence on the designated area. She was also uncertain whether the Order was acting as a deterrent, nevertheless, added that the PSPO was one of the tools available to effectively manage out ASB in that area. The Panel proceeded to discuss the report and the key points were noted as follows: · Councillor Mark Carter asked to clarify why Tesco Extra was not included in the PSPO designated area as he understood that a number of incidents of anti-social driving and behaviour were alleged to have taken place in the store’s car park. The Community Safety Poverty & Regeneration Manager responded that the Council consulted extensively with the community, Local Members and businesses in agreeing the red line boundary. In answer to an additional question from the Chair regarding the PSPO boundary running on one side of a road only, the Community Safety Poverty & Regeneration Manager advised that the Police would manage the removal of alcohol or other illegal substances contributing to problem behaviour on the other side of the road using other powers than the Order. · The Chair wished to better understand some of the wording of the recommendation, namely that the Panel reiterate the parameters of the PSPO to residents, businesses, community groups and organisations. He wondered if these groups knew they were located within the PSPO boundary. The Community Safety Poverty & Regeneration Manager replied that notification was done through public meetings, however, there was no intention to arrange another meeting but instead promote the Order at meetings where the Safer Pembrokeshire Community Safety Partnership was already attending. Members would be requested to do the same. · Responding to a further question from the Chair, the Community Safety Poverty & Regeneration Manager believed there was sufficient signage that made it clear to people when they were entering the PSPO area and mentioned she would be happy to accept requests for additional signage. · The Chair then recalled an ASB incident that had been ongoing in and around Haverfordwest at the time as the PSPO was being set up, to which the Community Safety Poverty & Regeneration Manager confirmed that the incident involved alcohol and other illegal substances and action had been taken. Moved by Councillor Steve Alderman; Seconded by Councillor Delme Harries. The vote, by way of show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED a) That the update report provided on the Haverfordwest Public Space Protection Order be received. b) That the Panel continue to support the reporting of ASB incidents across Haverfordwest. c) That the Panel reiterate the parameters of the PSPO to residents, businesses, community groups and organisations.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED That 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 be reviewed again in 12 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). Members evaluated the arrangements of the Panel in November 2023 and resolved to review them again in six months’ time. At the last meeting, Members discussed whether there were better alternatives to scrutinising the work of the PSB and the CSP. This involved disbanding the Panel and bringing its functions back into the Parent Committee, the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The Head of Democratic Services outlined the advantages of doing this being fewer meetings, prevention of the duplication of work and Members of the Parent Committee being involved in that scrutiny work. The disadvantages would be whether the Committee would have sufficient capacity within its Forward Work Programme to take on the function, as this would take away time to scrutinise the other areas of the Committee’s work; and also the loss of cross-Committee involvement as the pool of Members comprised all Overview and Scrutiny Committee Chairs and Vice-Chairs to give sufficient profile and focus in ensuring effective scrutiny. In her assessment, the Head of Democratic Services stated that the position had remained unchanged for the past six months. The Chair then opened up discussion of the report and the key points were noted as follows: · Replying to a question from Councillor Michael Stoddart on the cost of holding such meetings, the Head of Democratic Services confirmed that the Panel was established as a statutory requirement and was required to meet at least once a year. She suggested that Members may wish to refer the matter to the Parent Committee, however, advised that altering the frequency of Panel meetings would necessitate a change to the Council’s Constitution. · Councillors Steve Alderman and Jordan Ryan expressed their support for the Panel to continue to function as it was without disbanding. · Speaking as Chair of the Parent Committee, as well as Chair of the Partnership Panel, Councillor Michael John was of the opinion that merging PSB business with the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee would impact on that Committee’s Forward Work Programme. He deemed that Extraordinary meetings held twice a year might be necessary to discuss Panel items, therefore, his preference would be to have separate Panel meetings where all the Chairs and Vice-Chairs of the Overview and Scrutiny Committees could attend. · Councillor Delme Harries, also making reference to Councillor Stoddart’s comments, made the point that the Partnership Panel could be included in any review of the Council’s Committee structure as part of the Authority’s plan to make £1m in efficiency savings. Moved by Councillor Mark Carter that the Panel be reviewed again in 12 months’ time; Seconded by Councillor Steve Alderman. The vote, by way of show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That 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 be reviewed again in 12 months’ time.
The Chair outlined a housing-related issue scheduled for the November meeting. Following further discussion, the Head of Democratic Services was unsure whether the item would fall within the remit of the Panel or the Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee, and offered to seek further clarity from the Head of Housing and Public Protection Services. The Head of Democratic Services also advocated for a change to the frequency of Panel meetings to take place in September and March instead of November and May.The reason for this, she added, was because the meeting that day had been arranged before the meeting cycle where the Vice-Chairs were due to be appointed to their Committees. Members were requested to submit any Public Services Board (PSB) and Community Safety Partnership (CSP) suggestions for the Forward Work Programme to the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee and/or to the Scrutiny Strategy Group.
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