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1 ATTENDANCE Councillors: Rose Seabourne (Chair) Stuart Ashley Alfie Best Catherine Bonera Nick Byrne 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 Rosemary Matthews Susan Morgan Amanda Owen Norma Parrish Caroline Price Nicholas Simons Chris Tew Colette Thomas David Thomas Jayne Watkins David Williams Lucy Williams
2.1 Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Ron Burnett, Alan Slade and Nathan Yeowell.
3.1 3.2 The Monitoring Officer and Assistant Chief Legal Officer (MO&ALO) stated that there were a number of schools referenced in agenda item 10, however, advised that if members were to enter into a debate about a specific school they should consider whether they have an interest to declare at that time. The following interests were declared by Members: • Councillor Rose Seabourne declared a personal interest in relation to agenda item 13 as a Member of the Gwent Public Service Board Scrutiny Committee who were consultees. • Councillor David Williams declared a personal interest in relation to agenda item 13 as a Member of the Gwent Public Service Board Scrutiny Committee and Chair of Torfaen Voluntary Alliance who were consultees. • Councillor David Daniels declared a personal interest in relation to agenda item 13 as Deputy Chair of the Regional Partnership Board.
4.1 Council confirmed the minutes of the Council meeting held on 19 November 2024 were confirmed as an accurate record.
5.1 Council noted the action sheet.
6.1 There were no petitions.
7.1 There were no public questions.
8.1 8.2 The Leader: • Thanked councillors for their help with organising and supporting Christmas Events taking place around the borough. • Gave thanks to the workforce for delivering its objectives, often in very challenging environments. Using the Council’s County Plan and the Marmot principles as its compass, the Council was on the front line of improving the lives of residents and making a real difference day in day out in the community. • Stated that in Torfaen, the significant challenge was to reverse the stark health inequalities that existed within communities, which was at a time of rising demand and high public expectations, which made the decisions on how the Council used its resources even more critical. • Felt that the Council was embracing the challenge and were doing things differently to ensure resources were targeted to where they could have the greatest impact on lives. The Council’s mission was to transform and improve the lives of residents. • Played a video which highlighted a few examples from around the services of how the Council had been delivering on its Wellbeing Objectives in 2024. Following the video the Leader commented that there was much more that he had not touched on but he wanted to also thank Councillors for making a difference in their communities which was not an easy job and there was a vast amount of work that went unseen. He stated that all staff, Councillors, volunteers and residents should be proud of their achievement for the communities. He concluded by wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a successful 2025. 8.3 The Chief Executive: • Reflected on the collective achievements across Torfaen and expressed a heartfelt gratitude to everyone involved. • He thanked the Council’s dedicated staff for their hard work, commitment and passion who were the backbone of the Council’s success. • He thanked the councillors for their leadership, vision and tireless advocacy for their communities. They had been instrumental in guiding Officers through both challenges and triumphs and their commitment to serving residents with dedication was truly commendable. • He thanked Torfaen’s vibrant communities, who had been engaging, supportive and played a vital role in shaping the Local Authority into a thriving and inclusive place. • He stated that the Council would continue to build on its successes, embrace new opportunities and work together to build a brighter future for the communities in 2025. • He concluded by wishing everyone a joyful holiday season and a prosperous New Year.
9.1 The Executive Member, Corporate Governance & Resources introduced the report, and in summary, he commented as follows: • This was the final annual report within the life span of the Torfaen Council’s Strategic Equality Plan for 2020 to 2024. • It was a statutory requirement for the report to receive sign off at Full Council and be published by the end of March 2025. • The annual report covered activities relating specifically to the equality plan’s objectives and actions between 1st April 2023 and 31st March 2024. • The report documented work that had been conducted by officers across the organisation as tackling inequality required a joint commitment and effort from all. • Members would recall that in February Council approved a new Strategic Equality Plan that came into effect on 1st April 2025. This report documented the work of the previous year. • He acknowledged the hard work of the Equalities, Partnership and Policy Officer in preparing the report. 9.2 The Equalities, Partnerships and Policy Officer outlined the report which: - provided the Council with the Annual Equality Report for 2023 – 2024 and sought approval of publication before the statutory deadline of 31st March 2025; and - provided Members with an updated version of the Strategic Equality Plan 2024-28 Action Plan, for awareness. - Thanked members for efforts throughout year 9.3 Members commented that they were very impressed with the level of detail and the breadth of the plan. It was pleasing to see that a review was being carried out on the impact of gates and other barriers present in the community, which would ensure that green spaces were accessible by all. The report also highlighted the work the Council had done to support families to successfully resettle under the UK Resettlement Schemes which was welcomed. 9.4 Council unanimously agreed, to note the content and approves the Annual Equality Report 2023 – 2024, as set out in Appendix 1 to the report.
10.1 The Head of Resources and Planning outlined the report which explained how the prioritised plan for ongoing investment in Torfaen school assets beyond 2024 would deliver on the objectives of the Sustainable Communities for Learning (21st Century Schools) programme. 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 Councillor Richard Clark, Executive Member Children, Families and Education commented that the report highlighted that the Council had a strategic approach in relation to improving its schools. The report showed the Council’s previous investment in its schools which was over £121 million, which had been done in collaboration with Welsh Government, which proved that the Council had a good track record of making improvements and investing in schools. He was optimistic that in the future the plans outlined in the report could be delivered with the caveat of finance. The programme presented a fair reflection of the needs within the schools. If the report was approved today the Strategic Outline Programme would be submitted to Welsh Government. Individual projects would be advanced in accordance with the agreed programme and when the necessary funding was in place. Individual business cases would be prepared, agreed and submitted to Welsh Government for each project. He paid thanks to the Education Overview and Scrutiny Committee who had been visiting and inspecting the conditions of the schools within the borough and had contributed to modifications in the report. In response to a Member question, the Head of Resources and Planning stated that Officers had received some helpful information regarding funding for capital maintenance for schools last week, however they had not had any information on the longer-term strategic approach for schools yet. The Leader commented that the Authority would continue to have dialogue with Welsh Government on capital quantum and intervention rates and would work with them to unlock investment in as many schemes as possible. The report was about getting the right balance between realism, ambition and practicality. As soon as the Council could get the capital funding needed, there was a clear plan in place on how to deploy that money to get the best possible condition for all schools going forward. Other Members commented that it was very pleasing to see that the Pupil Referral Unit provision was being extended to primary school children which was well needed. They felt that it made sense to have an overall strategic vision with prioritisation and stated that it was reassuring to see primary schools in the plan. 10.6 Council unanimously agreed to approve the investment priorities in the draft Sustainable Communities for Learning Strategic Outline Programme.
11.1 The Executive Member, Corporate Governance & Resources introduced the report, and in summary he commented as follows: · He gave thanks to the Officers involved in developing the report which was a significant piece of work. · Members would be aware that the Council adopted a County Plan for 2022-27 in December 2022. · The Council had committed to producing an annual delivery plan throughout its five-year lifespan and the plan was reported twice a year into Full Council. · The delivery plan sets out the work that was planned for each financial year in order to meet the Council’s ambitions. · The delivery plan continued to be monitored each quarter to ensure expected progress was being tracked and delivered. · This was the third annual delivery plan which represented the mid-year report and also mid-point through the five-year plan. · With the adoption of a longer-term masterplan, working towards the Marmot principles, it was important not to forget that each single year delivery plan was part of a longer-term endeavour. · The vast majority of the delivery plan was on target or had been successfully completed. There were some targets which were red or amber, but service areas continually reviewed progress and performance which was also monitored through the Council’s Executive Team and Policy Development Forum. · Those which were red or amber did not mean that they were not going to be delivered, but it could mean that they might not be delivered as quickly as originally thought. · The targets were meant to be challenging and sometimes had to be adjusted to achieve the outcomes desired. 11.2 The Business & Democratic Support Services Manager highlighted the key areas of the report which asked Council to note mid-year progress delivering the 2024/25 County Plan Delivery Plan (attached as Appendix 1 to the report), and outlined the progress made delivering the Council’s commitments during the 2024/25 financial year. 11.3 11.4 11.5 Members commented: · That it was a very comprehensive report, and it was positive to see the progress being made across the Authority. · That there were a few targets within the plan around community halls and libraries and it was felt that those targets were reliant on public participation to a certain extent, and Officers should not be too harsh if those targets were not met on time. · That in relation to the targets around establishing a volunteer programme, it was suggested that Torfaen Voluntary Alliance could be able to assist with meeting the target by helping with volunteer recruitment. In response to Member questions, Officers gave the following replies: · Children’s Services had seen a period of stagnation in relation to the Looked After Children Reduction Strategy, which had been impacted on by a number of areas, with one being the number of unoccupied asylum seeker children coming into the system which was out the Council’s control. The service area recognised the need to reduce the number of Looked After Children safely, and an accelerated improvement group had been developed which would be focusing on redesigning Children’s Services to increase the capacity and to respond to the community offer and preventative function to prevent children coming into the system. However, within the last quarter there had been a more positive shift within the Looked After Children population, and the numbers were started to decrease and with the work of the accelerated improvement group it was hopeful that the situation could be sustained. · The call abandoned rate was showing red in many areas and was due to setting ambitious targets, however it was following the same tracking as last year. Officers were confident that this would improve in quarters three and four. Calls were prioritised and those calls that came in for critical areas were answered first, however there was work ongoing on information giving calls. · In the plan the target was for each social worker to have an average of 20 caseloads, and it was marked as being delayed or behind and the reason for this was that it was difficult to set a figure due to the different levels of complexity. Social Worker’s Caseloads were monitored on a monthly basis and there was a more positive shift in terms of case load capacity. As part of the Children’s Services review, work was ongoing to ensure that the right staff were working with the right number of children. A case load of 20 may be appropriate if there was a low level of complexity associated with those cases, where a case level of 5 might be appropriate if there is a level of high complexity. As part of the redesign work Officers would be looking to report on this in a more meaningful way. · The plan was monitored robustly, and Officers did not just look at the targets which were red, all activities within the plan were looked at monitored regularly to ensure that a level of challenge was also provided to the targets which were green. Projects were monitored through the programme management office and performance was monitored at management team levels within service areas and also at a corporate level. · The Council’s Performance Team role was to work across the Council to ensure the plan provided a fair reflection of performance and enabled the Executive Team and Cabinet to focus on areas of concern. The Executive Member, Corporate Governance & Resources informed Members that the Cabinet constantly reviewed the County Plan at their Policy Development Forums, looking at red, amber and green targets and they also challenged Officers on the targets. 11.6 Council unanimously agreed to note the mid-year progress delivering the 2024-25 County Plan delivery plan.
12.1 The Strategic Director Children and Family Services, outlined the report which advised Members of the content of the report of the Statutory Director of Social Services (Changing Lives), which provided a summary of developments throughout 2023/24 and included future developments and aspirations which are aligned to the County Plan and Annual Delivery Programme. 12.2 12.3 12.4 Members asked a number of questions and in summary the following responses were given by Officers: • Every bit of financial resource that the service received had an impact of residents, whether it be through employing staff or delivering services. • The service area had looked at where the demands were and as a result were looking at developing a community approach strategy which would build upon community resilience to deescalate demand in the system. Focus would remain on improving and developing independence for individuals so that they only came into the system as and when the need presented itself. In order to make efficiency savings the service area was ensuring that they had the right level of need and right level of service. • Some of the steps the service area was taking to empower families and reduce resilience on Council intervention was by focusing on strengths that existed within families. The service was emphasising a strengths-based approach focus rather than focusing on risks. Whilst risks needed to be acknowledged, the service was looking at how to monopolise those strengths within families and communities to try to ensure less dependence on statutory services. • The vast majority of children needing residential placements were placed within county, the out of country placements tended to be for children with complex needs as they needed provision to meet their needs. The Council was looking to develop more in house residential provision, with their first residential home opening this year. In relation to adults’ services, the Council’s focus was to maintain provision in house whilst meeting individual needs of the service users. • The report reflected on 2023/24, and Officers were confident that progress was being made in relation to administering Disabled Facilities Grants and Officers within adult services were working with the Health Board in relation to the occupational therapy recruitment processes to ensure that the proper recruitment and training was in place to sustain that. It was pleasing to report that processes had been tightened in this financial year in relation to administering Disabled Facilities Grants to ensure the process was efficient as possible and the allocation for this financial year had nearly been fully spent. • Assessments that were undertaken in adult social care were part of the proportionate assessment process and assessments would identify needs which is why there was a high proportion of assessment but not all of them were progressing into the formal care and support sector. The numbers and the volume varied depending on what route the assessment came from. If the service area received a lot of assessments from the hospital discharge route the proportion of those going into the structured care and support service was going to be higher, likewise when assessment were done from work within communities a higher proportion of those would be receiving preventative support. • In terms of the enhanced carers support allowance there was a regional strategic carers board and the members of that board would be looking at opportunities that existed through that. • Officers were liaising with the Health Board at regional and local level regarding carers support, looking at both individual packages and more strategic framework support. • The time taken to deal with complaints was dependant on the level of complexity. Complaints were always dealt with as quickly as possible. A significant number of queries that came in were dealt with by the Complaints department and there was a timeframe for dealing with the complaint depending on the stage of the complaint. Where there were delays in dealing with a complaint, Officers ensured that they maintained communication with the individual whilst they continued to investigate the complaints. Often the delays were due to the complexity of the complaint. Members commented that the report was very informative, and they felt that it was useful to have pictures included so that Members could see the activities taking place. Members commended the inclusion of feedback from service users within the report. In relation to comments regarding support for carers the Executive Member for Adult Services and Housing stated that respite for carers was an issue across Gwent. Unpaid carers provided a huge level of commitment and benefit to both the Local Authority and the community and maintaining those carers and making sure that they did not burn out was essential. He stated that he would take the issue up with the Regional Partnership Board as a renewed focus. 12.5 Council unanimously agreed to note and approve the content of the report attached as Appendix one to the report.
13.1 The Head of Regional Partnership Team outlined the report which updated members on the work of the Gwent Regional Partnership Board (RPB) in fulfilling local authority statutory duties required under the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Act 2014. 13.2 13.3 Members asked a series of questions and in summary the following responses were provided by Officers: • Under the Regional Partnership Board there were seven strategic partnerships that worked across different themes, which monitored area plans to help identify any duplication coming through the system. The Regional Partnership Board carried out lots of engagement with the community, carers, families and paid professionals to see what support services were available and where there was duplication they worked together to prevent that happening. The strategic partnerships worked with the subgroups under them to make sure that all work was linking up. • A significant amount of work was carried on the redesign of the reablement services to make sure that there was one domiciliary care reablement offer. In terms of the spend that goes to third party providers, Officers were working very closely to make sure that the strategic ambitions were being delivered and when the fee setting process was being looked Officers looked at where the needs and demands were on a local level and fees were set according to those principals. If it was the case that there was a need to drive activity and support within domiciliary care sector that would be reflected in the way the fees were structured, however this had to be done within a tight budget, however that was a lever to make sure that prioritisation was being given to the right part of system based on the need. • There was a regional provider forum and commission group which sat under the Regional Partnership Group and discussions around domiciliary care happened frequently through that board. • Neurodiversity was a huge priority for the Regional Partnership Board and there was also a separate strategic partnership created to looked at this, the autism and neurodivergent strategic partnership. The strategic partnership had people with lived experiences sitting on the partnership and they were influencing the work that they did. • Prevention was one of the key priorities for the Regional Partnership Board, the board was looking at what it offered to communities to prevent them having to go into statutory services. There were carers hubs and dementia hubs set up within hospitals and the community. The board was also working with lots of multiagency partners to get preventative message out there to support people. • The Regional Partnership Board were working with the workforce board and college consortium to support students to advocate jobs within health and social care to promote the sector including hospital placements. • In relation to community involvement on each of the strategic boards that sit under the Regional Partnership Board there is at least one community representative on each board to ensure that the community have a voice. The Executive Member for Adult Services and Housing commented: • That he did not think duplication was always a bad thing, particularly in social care and health as it provided different offers and levels of support for people, and they could choose which route was more suited to them. • That domiciliary carers needed to be paid more, and it was a UK wide issue which needed to be addressed on a UK wide level. More investment was needed in adult social care which he would continue to advocate for. • That he would a arrange a Members Seminar for the New Year on the Regional Partnership Board. 13.4 Council unanimously agreed to note the joint regional commitments within the Area Plan, and the RPB Annual Report and the progress made against the objectives.
14.1 The Principal Solicitor outlined the report, adding that the report refers to changes to paragraphs 7.3.2 and 7.3.3 of Part 7, but should have also included paragraph 7.3.1. The report asked Council to consider and approve the proposed changes to the Constitution in relation to the Licensing functions. 14.2 A question was asked in relation to what cost saving measures had been introduced as part of the revised framework and how did the Council balance public safety and economic growth in its Licensing policies. However, the Principal Solicitor was not in a position to answer the question as she had only been tasked to look at the constitution as opposed to the functioning of the Licensing Committees. It was agreed that his questions would be passed on to the appropriate Officer. 14.3 Council unanimously agreed to the proposed changes to the Constitution as set out in paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 of the report.
15.1 The Director Corporate Services and Head of Democratic Services outlined the report which informed members of revisions to the political balance of the Council as a result of Sue Malson who was a member of the Labour Group standing down as a County Borough Councillor on 10th November 2024 with immediate effect, and sought agreement to the updated political balance until AGM in May 2025 or until further changes were required. 15.2 Council unanimously agreed to: - the change in political balance and adopted the political balance calculations attached at Appendix A to the report. - note the temporary vacant seats on the committees affected by these changes as shown in Appendix B.
16.1 There were no motions on notice.
17.1 Member questions with replies are set out in Appendix A to these minutes.
18.1 Council unanimously agreed to note the Cabinet Decisions.
19.1 The next meeting was scheduled for Tuesday 21 January at 10.00am.
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