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There is no summary of this meeting yet. Summaries are written once the council publishes the minutes, which are its official record of what a meeting decided. They usually appear a few weeks after the meeting.
Councillors: Rose Seabourne (Chair) Stuart Ashley Alfie Best Richard Clark (Deputy Leader) Lynda Clarkson Liam Cowles Fiona Cross David Daniels Giles Davies Steven Evans Joanne Gauden Karl Gauden Elizabeth Haynes Jon Horlor Nick Horler Anthony Hunt (Leader) Gaynor James Jon James Janet Jones Mark Jones Peter Jones Sue Malson Rosemary Matthews Susan Morgan Jason O’Connell Amanda Owen Norma Parrish Caroline Price Nicholas Simons Chris Tew Colette Thomas David Thomas David Williams Lucy Williams Nathan Yeowell Officers: Nigel Aurelius, Deputy Chief Executive Justine Cass, Solicitor John Clements, Senior Environmental Health Officer Delyth Harries, Monitoring Officer and Assistant Chief Legal Officer Neil Jones, Head of Communications, Engagement and Civil Contingencies Dave Leech, Strategic Director, Adults and Communities Jason Lewis, Director Corporate Services Jason O’Brien, Strategic Director, Children and Family Services Andrew Powles, Director of Education Dominique Redman, Team Leader Democratic and Member Services Tom Roberts, Business & Democratic Support Services Manager Andy Rothwell, Assistant Head of Education Chris Slade, Assistant Democratic and Member Services Team Leader Mark Thomas, Deputy Chief Officer, Highways and Climate Change Stephen Vickers, Chief Executive
2.1 Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Catherine Bonera, Ron Burnett, Nick Byrne, Alan Slade, Jayne Watkins.
3.1 The Monitoring Officer and Assistant Chief Legal Officer (MO&ALO) advised that Councillor David Thomas had a personal interest in relation to Agenda Item 14, Member Question Time as his question was regarding local businesses and he had a local business. Councillor David Thomas confirmed his personal interest. The MO&ACLO clarified that as Councillor David Thomas was asking the question, no other member would need to declare an interest in relation owning a local business. 3.2 The MO&ACLO referred to Agenda Item Agenda 9, Torfaen Education Services Post Inspection Update, and advised that she wasn’t aware of any interests, however, if Members entered into a debate, then they should consider whether there was a need to declare an interest at that point.
4.1 Council confirmed the minutes of the Council meeting held on 24 October 2023 as an accurate record.
5.1 Council noted the action sheet.
6.1 There were no petitions.
7.1 Public questions with replies are set out in Appendix A to these minutes.
8.1 The Leader: · Reminded members of the raffle taking place in the Members Room after meeting in aid of the Red Cross and their help for those currently experiencing the ongoing situation in Israel and Palestine. He thanked Councillor Gaynor James for providing the raffle and he thanked those that had contributed so far. · Wished officers, members and the community a happy Christmas. He referred to the many events organised across the borough, and he thanked those who had played a part in these events. He also thanked staff and members for their hard work over the year. · Commended Ysgol Panteg on other schools that had been inspected recently on their excellent inspection results. · Congratulated Ysgol Gymraeg Gwynllyw on the great progress they had made over the past year and welcomed them into the Chamber to give a presentation. Pupils from Ysgol Gymraeg Gwynllyw gave a presentation on how they were helping to shape their schools core values. Members thanked pupils for their excellent presentation. The Leader referred to other recent visits to the Council Chamber from Llantarnam Primary School and First Panteg Scout Group and he commented how inspired he was to see how well young people talked and engaged with the challenging issues being faced by the council. He referred to Ysgol Gymraeg Gwynllyw’s presentation and the efforts being made to recycle within the school and he offered to assist the product design department with materials which would contribute towards developing skills and the schools efforts to increase recycling within the school. The Presiding Member extended an invitation to all schools to use the Council Chamber to hold their Council Meetings. 8.2 The Chief Executive also congratulated students and thanked them for their excellent presentation.
9.1 The Strategic Director Children and Family Services (SDC&FS) outlined the report which provided an update to Council, as part of an ongoing schedule, on the work of the education service, to address the recommendations made in the March 2022 Estyn inspection report. The report complemented scrutiny reports and meetings that had taken place during summer and autumn 2023. 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 In summary, the Executive Member Children Families and Education commented around: · The new culture developed within the education department and the progress made since the Estyn report. · The relationships that were now in place and the council’s ability to challenge the EAS. · The collegiate approach being taken across departments. · The authority’s improved relationships with schools. · Improved quality and use of data which ensured early intervention. · Honest conversations and good relationships with Estyn who had been assistive during the process. He also congratulated the schools listed in the report, referring in particular to the excellent final report published for Ysgol Panteg. He assured members that the AIG would remain in place to drive improvement in schools and to continue with those improvements. In summary, officers responded to questions as follows: · Vacancies for School Governors existed but were not significant. There’s was a small number of LA Governor vacancies and applications were always welcomed. Officers met with the Executive Member Children, Families and Education each half term to appoint LA Governors. Welsh Medium schools often struggled to appoint LA Governors due to confusion around governor meetings being conducted in Welsh and the ability to contribute, however, this was not the case and translations could be arranged where required. There was also a small number of vacancies available for Foundation Governors at Catholic Schools, Governors were recruited by the Diocese, however, nominations could be put forward by the LA. · The ‘Not In Miss Out’ campaign raised the profile and the importance of being in school. Feedback from schools indicated that the campaign was having an impact, banners were displayed in schools and the campaign was promoted through school assemblies and school competitions. Extracurricular provision was also being celebrated through social media as part of the ‘Not In Miss Out’ campaign and this was also working well. Data was compared on a fortnightly basis and was currently at 91% with the Welsh average being 91.3%. Progress was being made and the gap had narrowed, however, further progress was required to return to pre-pandemic levels. · The purpose of a managed move was to facilitate a move to a different school for learners that may be struggling to stay in a particular school and were at risk of permanent exclusion. Managed moves were an effective and professional way of managing a learner’s behaviour and they encouraged sharing of good practice between schools. The Managed Move policy was currently embedding and was due to be scrutinised in the spring. In the meantime, the policy would be shared with all members. · A significant amount of work was being undertaken around well-being. Considerable new practice had been put in place this year, some was linked to the Healthy Schools Scheme and this was being embedded into the school’s curriculum through the health and well-being aspect. The Education Psychology Service was also working closely with secondary schools to plan a behaviour conference and additional support. In addition the Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) programme was due to roll out to schools from April 2024 where staff in schools would be trained to carry out mental health work to enable structured and supportive conversations with learners. Additional Learning Needs work was also being undertaken to ensure that the appropriate curriculum was differentiated for learners. As Chair of Education Overview and Scrutiny Committee, the Presiding Member encouraged submission of questions for scrutiny committee and reminded members of the opportunity to observe scrutiny. Members praised the work of officers and the Executive Member, Children, Families and Education. The Leader also thanked members for investing in Education and for ensuring that education and the future of young people was a priority. 9.7 Council unanimously agreed to accept the report as an update.
10.1 The Chief Executive outlined the report which set out the progress made delivering the Council’s commitments during the 2023-24 financial year. 10.2 10.3 The Executive Member Corporate Governance and Performance thanked officers for their work in producing the report which presented an overall positive picture. He was pleased that the authority was already hitting 72% of targets and he praised the work of officers in ensuring that targets were hit, particularly during times of austerity demands were increasing and resources were restricted. He felt that reassurances had been provided around the targets that were currently judged to be amber or red and was confident that, although delayed, targets would be met and the desired outcomes would be achieved. He referred to the aborted target around the active travel project on Cwmbran Drive and explained that this was due to being unable to secure the necessary funding, however, funding had been secured to take forward a different programme of work in the next financial year. He felt that the report demonstrated the council’s ambitions to be outstanding. In response to comments and questions asked by members, the following main points were made: · The nine well-being objectives ensured a more collective approach and momentum had been gained as a result of a broader focus and the reformed directorate working more collectively on single objectives. · In terms of delayed progression due to absences, reflections were being made in terms of capacity across the directorates, and this was being managed by reallocating some components to ensure that outcomes were achieved. · Caseloads of social workers were monitored on a weekly basis. There was some fluctuation of caseloads and work was being undertaken to manage this. It should be noted that depending on the complexity of cases, a small caseload could generate the same level of work as an increased caseload. · There was a variety of ways to monitor and measure activity across the council such as a 12-week reporting cycle introduced through the Leadership Team with a focus on each directorates dashboard, establishment of a Corporate Programme Board with a focus on higher level projects, and a corporate risk register and local team directorate risk registers. This combined activity was resulting in successfully achieving targets or being close to achieving targets. In many cases where targets weren’t being met, it was due to matters outside of the council’s control, however, these were focused upon and resources were redistributed depending on priorities. 10.4 Council unanimously agreed to note the mid-year progress delivering the 2023-24 County Plan delivery plan.
11.1 The MO&ACLO outlined the report seeking approval of changes to the Constitution to reflect the establishment of the National Joint Committee for the National Adoption Service and Foster Wales and to agree that Councillor Richard Clark be nominated to serve on the Committee. 11.2 Council unanimously agreed that: · The Monitoring Officer in consultation with the Members Constitution Working Party be granted delegated authority to make amendments to the Constitution to reflect the establishment of the National Joint Committee for the National Adoption Service and Foster Wales. · Councillor Richard Clark be nominated to serve on the National Joint Committee for the National Adoption Service and Foster Wales until Cabinet next agree appointments to Joint Committees.
12.1 The Director Corporate Services and Head of Democratic Services (DCS&HODS) outlined the report informing council of the changes agreed by the Chief Executive and the Leader, under delegated powers, to the member nominated to serve on the Torfaen Leisure Trust – Board of Trustees at the AGM in May this year. 12.2 The DCS&HODS explained that Councillor Anthony Hunt had stepped down from the Torfaen Leisure Trust – Board of Trustees and the nominated replacement was Councillor Rose Seabourne. 12.3 In response to a question regarding membership of the Board, the Strategic Director Adults and Communities clarified that board members for Torfaen Leisure Trust were being interviewed and the new board was now in place. 12.3 Council agreed, with the majority voting in favour, to note that Councillor Rose Seabourne had been nominated to serve on Torfaen Leisure Trust – Board of Trustees for the remainder of the 2023/24 municipal year.
13.1 There were no motions on notice.
14.1 Member questions with replies are set out in Appendix B to these minutes.
15.1 Council unanimously agreed to note the Cabinet Decisions.
16.1 The next meeting was scheduled for Tuesday 23 January 2024 at 10.00am. Wished all happy Christmas.
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