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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 the minutes of November 2024 were an accurate reflection of the meeting.
RESOLVED: 1. To consider the progress against the actions with regards to implementing the statutory Welsh Language Promotion Strategy Action Plan 2022-2027 and propose any recommendations for service areas.
RESOLVED: i. To undertake pre scrutiny on the report (attached at Appendix B), thus providing Scrutiny with an opportunity to contribute to this matter; and ii. To authorise the Service Director Democratic Services and Communications to provide feedback to Cabinet on behalf of Members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
RESOLVED: i. To pre-scrutinise the draft 2025/26 Revenue Budget Strategy as part of phase 2 of the Council’s 2025/26 Budget Consultation. ii. To request the Service Director for Democratic Services & Communications to provide Cabinet with the feedback of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
The following declarations of interest were made pertaining to the agenda: County Borough Councillor J Edwards – Agenda item 4 – “ Personal and non Prejudicial - My employer is named within the report” County Borough Councillor Sera Evans - Agenda item 5 – “ Personal and non Prejudicial - My employer is named within the report” County Borough Councillor R Davis – Agenda item 5 – “Personal and non Prejudicial - I am related to someone who works for a company named within the report”.
Decision as recorded
Resolved that the minutes of November 2024 were an accurate reflection of the meeting.
Resolved that the minutes of November 2024 were an accurate reflection of the meeting.
The Service Director Democratic Services and Communications reminded Members of the open consultations and advised Members to contact the Scrutiny Team if further information was required. Members were also referred to the Cabinet Work Programme to identify matters for pre-scrutiny which was also published on the Council’s website.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: 1. To consider the progress against the actions with regards to implementing the statutory Welsh Language Promotion Strategy Action Plan 2022-2027 and propose any recommendations for service areas.
The Welsh Language Services Managerprovided the Committee with the Welsh Language Promotion Strategy 2022-2027 and Action Plan Update 2024-2025 for comments and for Members to ascertain the progress made in relation to the strategy to date. Members were advised that the aim of the action plan ( which was a 2nd version of the plan) was to build on the work achieved by the Council and its partners to promote and facilitate the language over the period of the first five year plan. It was advised that the action plan plays an important strategic role to support the aim of increasing the number of Welsh speakers in the county borough in line with the Welsh Government’s Cymraeg 2050 strategy, as well as being a statutory requirement noted under Standard 145 of the Welsh Standards Compliance Notice issued by the Welsh Language Commissioner in 2015. The Action Plan derived around the following 3 key themes: · Theme 1: Increasing the number of Welsh speakers · Theme 2: Increasing the use of Welsh · Theme 3: Creating favourable conditions – infrastructure and Context The Chair, thanked the officer for the report and commented on the positive direction, that 42% of people surveyed, indicated that they wanted to see more opportunities to learn, use or practise the Welsh language in their communities and the Chair questioned if this was being made possible. The Welsh Language Services Manager referenced the Eisteddfod legacy and how aspects of this would assist in this area, to give people more opportunity to use the Welsh language. The Officer also advised that the Council were looking to seek an additional officer to help promote the strategy, with reference to such promotion of the strategy and its actions in the community, to create community involvement and help strengthen the Welsh learning opportunities available. A Member further commented on the 5% target referenced in the strategy and queried whether there were any specific targets set to reaching this overall figure. The Officer advised that currently, there were no such targets but that overtime the plan would be developed to include such information. One Member commented positively on the report although spoke of the difficulty of scrutinising the plan due to the lack of outcomes and performance measures. Reference was made to positive projects in the plan, including social media campaigns but no metrics to validate the positive effects of the project. The Member welcomed the Welsh government investment into technological investments to help promote the language, which they felt would assist the council in achieving its aims and objectives. The Member also queried whether there was full commitment from all areas of the Council in promoting the Welsh language. The Officer commented on the discussions with the Welsh Language Commissioner in respect of measuring performance and advised that this was a difficulty for all Authorities, although spoke of training undertaken with the Commissioner and the Councils own inhouse developments, such as revisions to Council documents and templates to capture such information, as well as work with the Councils digital team to develop bespoke systems. The Officer confirmed the whole Council approach to the Welsh Language standards and the promotion of the language which was echoed by the Head of Service. Reference was made to the Council, being the first in Wales, to take forward the Guaranteed Interview Scheme for Welsh speakers, which would further develop both the importance and promotion of the language. The Officer also took the opportunity to reference the review to the Welsh Language Standards and the Welsh Education Bill which would have further implications on the Council and the potential revisions this would have on the strategy and accompanying action plan. The Member had also raised a query in respect of timeliness of reporting to the Committee and the Officer advised that the Council were looking to appoint an officer to help develop the strategy and action plan, which would hopefully assist in report being presented in a more timely manner. Another Member echoed the comments in respect of lack of outcomes and measures adding that such measures would be better placed on an ‘All Wales Basis’ to provide a fuller picture of the promotion of the language. The Member continued by talking of joined up approaches and queried the partnership arrangements in place for better engagement to which the Officer responded to, commenting on the positive partnership with Menter iath. One Member queried whether there had been an increase in Welsh speakers from the 2011 census data reported and the Officer advised that RCT was one of only 4 Authorities to have an increase in the language, with the total number of Welsh speakers now standing at 28, 556. Further general comments in respect of this item were provided with again Members echoing the importance of community involvement and engagement so that promotion of the language was not taken forward by the Council alone. Reference was also made to early years provision and continuity of Welsh education medium, with a member commenting on the need to monitor and challenge this area, also referencing the challenge of any policy decisions which may impact in this area. The final comments by the Committee related to the legacy of the Eisteddfod and the inclusivity of the event and the Committee paid thanks to the officers involved. RESOLVED: 1. To consider the progress against the actions with regards to implementing the statutory Welsh Language Promotion Strategy Action Plan 2022-2027 and propose any recommendations for service areas.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: i. To undertake pre scrutiny on the report (attached at Appendix B), thus providing Scrutiny with an opportunity to contribute to this matter; and ii. To authorise the Service Director Democratic Services and Communications to provide feedback to Cabinet on behalf of Members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
The Service Director, Democratic Services and Communication provided Members with the context of the report, which was the opportunity for the Committee to pre-scrutinise the Councils Annual Equality report before consideration by Cabinet in March. The Council’s Diversity and Inclusion Manager presented the report to the Committee, advising that the Report had been developed to fulfil the Council’s legal duties and obligations to report on its progress in delivering the General and Specific Equality Duties, as well as containing progress made in year 2023-24 in meeting the equality objectives contained in Council’s Strategic Equality Plan. Members welcomed the positive report, and the open and honest reflections of the Councils position in respect of its delivery of its duties and the challenges facing the Council in such delivery. Reference was made to the Lets Talk Projects and engagement opportunities. The Diversity and Inclusion Manager confirmed that equalities monitoring is actively encouraged when using Lets Talk Projects to assist in the diverse demographic profile of respondents. Reference was also made to the drafting of the involvement strategy and how this would also look to capture such information to help inform the Council. A further query was raised regarding engagement and the Service Director, Democratic Services and Communication commented on the numerous engagement opportunities used to capture feedback outside of online engagement. In relation to Action 5 ‘Strengthening Bullying data’ Members questioned whether sufficient provision was in place to create ‘safe spaces’ within schools for children to be confident to report incidents of bullying and spoke of the need for consistency of approaches within schools when dealing with issues of bullying. Disparity of recording of bullying data was also highlighted to which it was confirmed work was taking place within Education Services in respect of such data recording. One Member suggested the inclusion of year 6 within primary school settings with the Bullying data, commenting on the changes in terminology for bullying between primary and secondary school settings which again could cause disparity. Members cited the Healthy workshop provision and the positive benefits and incites this provision provided to young people. Members queried whether there was evidence to illustrate any positive trend with Free School Meal take up, although the Diversity & Inclusion Manager confirmed that this data was not available, due to the way such information was tracked. One Member commented that the report was missing important metrics and performance data, to demonstrate whether some of the actions were providing a difference and asked that this be reflected upon to allow a more robust report to be available. The importance of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion as part of everyday life was referenced by Members and the Diversity & Inclusion Manager was questioned as to whether there was ‘buy in’ from across the Council to which Members were advised of the ‘Equality Commitment’ taken forward by the Senior Leadership of the Council, which provided the important focus that is needed for this area, which is embedded across the Council, although noted that there was still work to be done in some areas. One Member suggested the addition of outreach work to demonstrate the engagement with hard to reach groups, with particular reference to homelessness, to which the Diversity and Inclusion Manager agreed would be a positive addition. Members commented on the positive training and briefing sessions made available to Members and staff and it was queried whether more could be done to increase take up of such sessions. Members were advised of monthly equality clinics and other training opportunities that were being rolled out, although such take up did depend on a range of factors including availability. Following Members scrutiny of the report the Committee RESOLVED: i. To undertake pre scrutiny on the report (attached at Appendix B), thus providing Scrutiny with an opportunity to contribute to this matter; and ii. To authorise the Service Director Democratic Services and Communications to provide feedback to Cabinet on behalf of Members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: i. To pre-scrutinise the draft 2025/26 Revenue Budget Strategy as part of phase 2 of the Council’s 2025/26 Budget Consultation. ii. To request the Service Director for Democratic Services & Communications to provide Cabinet with the feedback of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
The Service Director Democratic Services and Communications presented the report to Members, advising of the opportunity for the Committee to formally respond to the second phase of the Council’s 2025/26 Budget Consultation. The Service Director fed back that the Overview and Scrutiny Committee is requested to pre-scrutinise the draft 2025/26 Revenue Budget Strategy, as part of the second phase of the 2025/26 Budget Consultation process. Through a bilingual PowerPoint presentation, the Service Director - Finance and Improvement Services provided Members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee with an overview of the 2025/26 Draft Revenue Budget Strategy which included: The Council’s Current Financial Position (2024/25); Phase 1 Budget Consultation – Headlines; Provisional Local Government Settlement 2025/26 – Headlines/Implications for Rhondda Cynon Taf; Cabinet Proposed Budget Strategy 2025/26; and Next steps and key dates. The Committee was then requested to provide their feedback and observations on the proposed 2025/26 Revenue Budget Strategy. The Chair sought clarity on the use of transition funding; the extent of consultation activities undertaken and could more be done in this area; and the work being delivered to reduce the requirement to utilised out of county services, and the Service Director provided feed-back on the areas raised. In respect of transition funding, this is one-off funding that has been used prudently over a number of years to support the setting of balanced budgets by smoothing the delivery of budget savings in line with the timing of when the savings are planned to be implemented. With regard to budget consultation, a comprehensive two-phase approach is taken and enables a wide range of opportunities for stakeholders to provide their feedback, including face-to-face engagement in town centres, at community-based meetings such as Neighbourhood Networks, the Older Persons Advisory Group, Disability Forum and comprehensive schools, alongside feedback via on-line channels. For out of County provision, the Service Director indicated that the Council aims to deliver services as close to home as possible, for example, across Children’s Services and Education Services, as this provides better outcomes and more cost-effective services, and work is on-going in these areas in line with the strategies in place. The Service Director Democratic Services and Communications added that with regard to consultation, the arrangements are kept under on-going review to ensure the Council maximises the opportunity for all residents to feedback their views on Council services / service delivery, with a Citizens Panel also in place to support these arrangements. A Member fed back the need to continue to prioritise highways, waste and school services; the need for continued investment in streetcare services; and the requirement for on-going communication with residents to raise awareness and understanding on the wide range of services provided by the Council, the cost of this provision and also the budget pressures faced by the Council, particularly in more complex areas such as social care. A number of Members also noted their agreement on the need for on-going communication with residents. The Service Director – Finance and Improvement Services fed back that the proposed budget strategy sets out on-going prioritisation of funding for schools, as has been the case over a number of years, and also supports maintaining service delivery across the Council’s frontline service areas. More specifically for frontline services, the Service Director noted that service managers keep delivery arrangements under constant review and focus is afforded to ensuring the most effective use is made of all frontline service resources, including, ensuring teams work closely together to eliminate duplication, considering the most effective location for services and taking action in response to customer / service user feedback. In respect of communication with residents, the Service Director indicated that specific service-by-service engagement takes place as well as more Council wide activity such as via budget consultation processes, Council Tax leaflets provided to all households and social media, with public communication and engagement being an area that is kept under on-going review. Committee Members then provided specific feedback on the areas contained within the proposed 2025/26 Revenue Budget Strategy. Council Tax A number of Committee Members supported the proposed increase in Council Tax of 4.5% and recognised that this level is likely to be one of the lowest across Wales based on the increases being proposed in budget consultation processes currently underway by other Welsh local authorities, as noted by the Service Director. One Member also highlighted that the preference would be no increase and recognised that it is unpalatable to do this at times. Schools Budget Members welcomed the proposed increase to the school budget, supporting the need for on-going investment in this area and investing in future generations. Efficiencies Members agreed that the Council should continue its approach to identify and deliver efficiency savings to ensure the Council utilises resources in the most efficient and effective way. A Member reiterated previous comments, as relayed on an earlier agenda item, in respect of the need for meaningful performance measures to be in place to help demonstrate the extent of value for money in the delivery of services. Fees and Charges Members supported the principle applied to review fees and charges individually and fed back that the proposals were reasonable, with positive feedback also provided in respect of cremation services. Reserves Members supported the Council’s approach to the management and maintenance of reserves and highlighted the importance for on-going communication with the public on the level of the Council’s reserves and how they are utilised, to increase understanding of this area across local communities. The Chair thanked Members for their engagement and reiterated the comments of other Members, thanking the Service Director, Finance and Improvement Services and his team for their consistent and diligent approach to the Council’s budget and the confidence Members had in the officers with regards to the Council’s financial planning and management arrangements. Following discussions it was RESOLVED: i. To pre-scrutinise the draft 2025/26 Revenue Budget Strategy as part of phase 2 of the Council’s 2025/26 Budget Consultation. ii. To request the Service Director for Democratic Services & Communications to provide Cabinet with the feedback of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
The Chair thanked Officers for their dedication and commitment and spoke of the reoccurring theme that resonated throughout the discussions, of Members requiring quantitative data to assist in illustrating the positive outcomes that are being achieved by the Council.
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.
Declarations are read from the minutes once they are published.
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