Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Hugh Irving.

The Chair informed Committee members that Councillor Irving had been admitted to hospital following an accident at home earlier in the week.  Committee members requested that their good wishes for a full and speedy recovery be conveyed to Councillor Irving.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Hugh Irving.

The Chair informed Committee members that Councillor Irving had been admitted to hospital following an accident at home earlier in the week.  Committee members requested that their good wishes for a full and speedy recovery be conveyed to Councillor Irving.

No declarations of interest were made.

No declarations of interest were made.

No urgent matters had been raised with the Chair ahead of the meeting.

No urgent matters had been raised with the Chair ahead of the meeting.

To receive the minutes of the Performance Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 1 October 2020 (copy attached)

Agreement on the recommendation was by consensus.  No formal vote was taken.  All members indicated they were in favour of the recommendation, no one indicated they were against it and no one indicated that they wished to abstain.

Resolved:  that the minutes of the Performance Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 1 October 2020 be approved as a true and correct record.

The minutes of the Performance Scrutiny Committee held on 1 October 2020 were submitted.

Matters Arising –

Page 6 – The Scrutiny Co-ordinator confirmed that funding for the refurbishment work to accommodate the relocation of Work Opportunities services to both County Hall and Denbigh had been confirmed and was contained within the information brief which had been circulated to Members.

Page 6 – Welsh Street naming and numbering – The Scrutiny Co-ordinator stated that the officer who had been dealing with this had been seconded but was now back in their substantive role.  A report would be presented to Cabinet in the near future.

Agreement on the recommendation was by consensus.  No formal vote was taken.  All members indicated they were in favour of the recommendation, no one indicated they were against it and no one indicated that they wished to abstain.

Resolved:  that the minutes of the Performance Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 1 October 2020 be approved as a true and correct record.

To consider a report that provides the Council’s priorities in light of the Covid 19 emergency (copy attached).

10:05 a.m. – 10:50 a.m.

Agreement on the recommendation was by consensus.  No formal vote was taken.  All members indicated they were in favour of the recommendation, no one indicated they were against it and no one indicated they wished to abstain.

The Committee:

Resolved: - having considered the information provided in the report and during the discussion on the COVID-19 emergency, to confirm that the Council’s existing governance framework was still appropriate for assessing, monitoring and delivering the Authority’s corporate priorities

The Leader, Councillor Hugh Evans, introduced the Covid 19 Recovery Theme: Corporate Priorities report (previously circulated).

The Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and Cabinet had identified 14 Recovery Themes in light of the Covid emergency.   For each of the Recovery Themes, a standard template was to be utilised which was included in Appendix 2 of the report.

Included as Appendix 3 of the report was a draft report from the Chief Executive entitled “Covid 19 – The Future Shape of the Council”.   The draft report had also been considered by both SLT and Cabinet.

Both the Leader and the Corporate Director for Economy and Public Realm clarified the report was about delivering priorities not details of the priorities.  They did not want to duplicate work by discussing details.

During the discussions, the following points were raised:

·         Elections – there had been no official announcement from the Welsh Government (WG) to date that the May 2021 Senedd elections were to be deferred.  If the elections were to be deferred for 12 months, then Denbighshire County Council (DCC) would deal with that.

·         the importance of the involvement of communities in work to expand community resilience was emphasised.  The COVID-19 pandemic had highlighted residents’ willingness to embrace resilience work within their communities. 

·         As majority of staff were now working from home, a question was raised on how productivity was measured.  It was confirmed that staff were productive whilst working from home.  Line Managers monitored quality and volume of work through Appraisals which contained objectives and linked into individual Service Plans and the Corporate Plan.

·         It had been disappointing for all that the 2020 Urdd National Eisteddfod which had been due to be held in Denbigh had been cancelled and that subsequently the 2021 event had also been cancelled.  There was hope that it would now take place in Denbigh in 2022.

Agreement on the recommendation was by consensus.  No formal vote was taken.  All members indicated they were in favour of the recommendation, no one indicated they were against it and no one indicated they wished to abstain.

The Committee:

Resolved: - having considered the information provided in the report and during the discussion on the COVID-19 emergency, to confirm that the Council’s existing governance framework was still appropriate for assessing, monitoring and delivering the Authority’s corporate priorities

To consider a report that provides an update on the September review of the Corporate Risk Register (copy attached).

11:00 a.m. – 11.30 a.m.

Agreement on the recommendations was by consensus.  No formal vote was taken.  All members indicated they were in favour of the recommendation, no one indicated they were against it and no one indicated they wished to abstain.

The Committee:

Resolved: - subject to the above observations to receive and confirm the amendments to the Corporate Risk Register.

The Lead Member for Finance, Performance and Assets, Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill, introduced the Corporate Risk Register Review, September 2020 report (previously circulated).

Attached to the report, Appendix 2 listed the core changes.

There was one new risk – Risk 46 Failure to progress the replacement Local Development Plan (LDP) to adoption.

During this latest review, the impact of Covid-19 had been a major factor, and a number of risks had been updated to reflect the impact thus far and future implications. Some risks had seen their scores increase in severity as a result.

It was confirmed that the Corporate Risk Register had previously been discussed at the Corporate Governance and Audit Committee.  That Committee had raised the risk posed by County Lines drug crimes in the county, this element would be considered during the next scheduled review of the Risk Register.  In response to questions from Committee members the Lead Member and officers advised that:

• School Governors were responsible for risk mitigation measures within individual schools.  Any significant risks would be escalated to the Education Department for support
• WG Guidance had been published on how to deal with claims for the various COVID-19 business support grants.  By following these guidance documents when dealing with claims the Council should mitigate the risk of being exposed to fraudulent claims
• Additional funding had been included within the current financial year’s budget to address the risks caused by Ash Dieback
• the Council had contingency budgets available to deal with the cost of severe adverse weather events.  If such events became major adverse weather events or an extraordinary event i.e. a pandemic local authorities would look to national governments for financial support

Agreement on the recommendations was by consensus.  No formal vote was taken.  All members indicated they were in favour of the recommendation, no one indicated they were against it and no one indicated they wished to abstain.

The Committee:

Resolved: - subject to the above observations to receive and confirm the amendments to the Corporate Risk Register.

To consider a report by the Scrutiny Coordinator (copy attached) seeking a review of the committee’s forward work programme and updating members on relevant issues.

11:30 a.m. – 11:50 a.m.

Agreement on the recommendation was by consensus.  No formal vote was taken.  All members indicated they were in favour of the recommendation, no one indicated they were against it and no one indicated they wished to abstain.

The Committee:

Resolved: - subject to the above amendments to confirm the Committee’s forward work programme

The Scrutiny Co-ordinator introduced the report (previously circulated) seeking Members’ review of the Committee’s work programme and providing an update on relevant issues.  Members were reminded that the proposal form for scrutiny topics (appendix 2) should be completed for the Scrutiny Chairs and Vice-Chairs Group to review and allocate items of business.

Items to be put forward to the 28 January 2021 meeting were as follows:

·         External Examinations/Qualifications 2020

·         Learner Transport for Welsh Medium Education and the Definition of Category 1 Schools

·         Cefndy Healthcare

Library Services Standards 2019-20 would be moved from January meeting to 18 March 2021 meeting as the WG assessment report had been delayed due to pressures caused by COVID-19.

Members were advised that a Special Meeting of the Committee had been arranged for the morning of 22 December 2020 to discuss the findings of the Use of Plastics Task and Finish Group and formulate recommendations from the Committee for presentation to County Council early in the new year.

Agreement on the recommendation was by consensus.  No formal vote was taken.  All members indicated they were in favour of the recommendation, no one indicated they were against it and no one indicated they wished to abstain.

The Committee:

Resolved: - subject to the above amendments to confirm the Committee’s forward work programme

To receive any updates from Committee representatives on various Council Boards and Groups

11:50 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Agreement on the recommendation was by consensus.  No formal vote was taken.  All members indicated they were in favour of the recommendation, no one indicated they were against it and no one indicated they wished to abstain.

The Committee:

Resolved: - to receive the feedback received.

Councillor Arwel Roberts confirmed he had attended Strategic Investment Group at which, bridges and flood recovery had been discussed.  Those items were to be sent to Cabinet for discussion.

Agreement on the recommendation was by consensus.  No formal vote was taken.  All members indicated they were in favour of the recommendation, no one indicated they were against it and no one indicated they wished to abstain.

The Committee:

Resolved: - to receive the feedback received.

THE MEETING CONCLUDED AT 11.30 A.M.