Agenda and draft minutes

Councillors P.A. Evans, C.L. Williams and G. Greenland (Co-opted Member).

Councillors H. Hilditch-Roberts, T.R. Hughes, H.O. Williams and Mr J. Piper declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 3, “Urgent Matters - School Transport” because family members received school transport.

In accordance with the requirements of Section 100B(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the Chair declared that he intended to include for discussion the following matter requiring urgent attention under Part II:-

1.       The Initial Implementation of the Home to School Transport Eligibility Policy:-

In response to the number of queries and complaints raised with local Elected Members, during the school summer holidays, and since the commencement of the new school year, the Scrutiny Chairs and Vice-Chairs Group (SCVCG) had instructed the Committee to consider this matter as an urgent item of business at the meeting. 

The Chair emphasised that the Committee would not be examining individual cases or specific pick-up points, but focusing on the principle behind the policy and its initial implementation. 

The Head of Customers and Education Support introduced the report and outlined the background to the implementation of the policy.  She explained that the Service had put forward the school transport policy as a potential savings option from September 2016 to a Freedoms and Flexibilities Workshop during 2014. 

Elected Members, on realising the amount of potential savings associated with this budget, in the region of £300K, had instructed officers to work towards implementing the policy from September, 2015 with a view to protecting the Education Service itself from severe cuts in 2015/16.  This decision had necessitated meeting some tight deadlines in order to publish the proposed policy changes within the statutory requirements of 11 months prior to its implementation. 

Prior to the Cabinet approving the ‘Home to School Transport Eligibility Policy’ on the 30^th September, 2014 a letter had been sent to parents who were likely to be affected to draw to their attention the potential introduction of such a policy.  The draft policy had been considered by Communities Scrutiny Committee on the 11^th September, 2014 and by County Council on the 9^th September, 2014.  Following Cabinet’s decision and the policy’s publication in October, 2014 a copy was sent to all schools.  In May, 2015 all parents that had applied for school transport for their children received a letter informing them of the decision to strictly apply the policy from September 2015, and advised that they would be contacted again with the list of designated pick-up points across the county.  A high number of parents had telephoned the Council about the new policy and whilst they acknowledged that its application would inconvenience them a number had commented that they had been surprised to receive a ‘door to door service’ initially. 

Officers emphasised that Members had decided that the policy only be applied for high school children in the County.  School transport in Wales was governed by the Learner Travel (Wales) Measure which effectively stipulated that a Local Authority had a duty to make reasonable travel arrangements to facilitate a child’s journey to a secondary school if they lived three miles or more from the nearest suitable school.  The Measure did not stipulate that it was the local authority’s duty to provide transport from the child’s home to the nearest suitable school.  It was the parents/guardians’ responsibility to make sure the child arrived at the pick-up point.  To illustrate this point the Head of Legal Services cited a case taken to the High Court (RV Devon County Council exparte George 1988) where the Council’s decision not to provide school transport to an 8 year old child who lived in a rural area, 2.8 miles from the school and who had to travel to school along an unlit narrow road, had been upheld.

The list of proposed designated points had been circulated to Councillors  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

To receive the minutes of the Communities Scrutiny Committee held on 9^th July, 2015 (copy enclosed).

The Minutes of a meeting of the Communities Scrutiny Committee held on Thursday, 9^th July, 2015 were submitted.

RESOLVED – that, subject to the above, the Minutes be received and approved as a correct record.

To consider a report by the Chief Finance Officer (copy attached) which highlights some of the funding decisions taken by Welsh Government in the last year and outlines the impact on the council’s financial planning.

                                                                             9.35 am – 10.10 am

A joint report by the Chief Finance Officer (CFO), which highlighted some of the funding decisions taken by Welsh Government in the last year, and outlined the impact on the Council’s financial planning, had been circulated with the papers for the meeting.

The Lead Member for Finance, Corporate Plan and Performance highlighted some of the Welsh Government’s (WG) funding decisions in the last year and their impact on the Council’s financial planning.  The Chair welcomed the Welsh Local Government Association’s (WLGA) Director of Resources, Mr Jon Rae, to the meeting for the discussion on the report.  He explained that an invitation had been extended to the WG’s Minister for Public Services to attend the meeting for this discussion, however he had declined and suggested that a representative from the WLGA be invited to attend.  Examples of unplanned changes, positive or negative, affecting grant funded activity had been included in Appendix 1.

It was explained that during austere times the financial planning difficulties encountered by Denbighshire had resulted from the level of uncertainty attached to the Welsh Government’s (WG) indicative Revenue Support Grant (RSG) estimates, and the lateness of some grant funding notifications severely impacted on its ability to plan and manage its budget as effectively as it would like.  This problem was not unique to Denbighshire, similar concerns had been raised by all Welsh Local Authorities (LAs).

The late notification of grant allocations could potentially have wide ranging implications on LA’s, dependent upon the purpose of the grant, the audit/monitoring requirements attached to it, or whether the employment of staff members were dependent upon knowing whether that funding stream was continuing i.e. the Animal Licensing Movement Recording Grant listed in the Appendix to the report.  A number of grants in recent years had been awarded within weeks of the end of the financial year with a requirement that the monies be spent by the end of the financial year, such a short timescale for the tendering and procurement of works etc. did not equate to effective and efficient use of valuable resources.

The inconsistencies of the audit regime governing various grants was also a concern as the value of some of the grants were not cohesive with the audit requirements stipulated for them.  The WLGA had on numerous occasions made representations to the WG, via the Partnership Council for Wales’ Finance Sub-Group, on the predicament faced by Welsh LAs due to the late notification of RSG and grant funding.  It was estimated that the administration of the grant funding in total could equate to circa 10% of its actual value which in effect meant that one tenth of the grant monies was spent on administration costs.

The Finance Sub Group had, on the 9^th July, 2015, reiterated its concerns to the WG.  The WLGA continued to lobby the WG on the basis  that grant regimes elsewhere in the UK had been relaxed considerably whereas in Wales over 50 grant schemes remained part of a centralised system, e.g. Scotland had abolished all but two of its annually allocated grants, and in England a dozen or so grants remained.

Recently WG Ministers had indicated a willingness to consolidate the number of grants they awarded.   Whilst this was a positive move it did carry the risk that consolidation comes hand in hand with drastic reductions in the financial value of future grants. 

With regard to the timing of the next settlement, the outlook for the 2016/17 appeared to be very tight as it now seemed likely that the UK Chancellor would not be making his Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) statement until  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To consider a joint report by the Supporting People Team Manager and the Housing Care and Support Manager (copy attached) on the Supporting Independent Living Service, and an overview of key findings of the recent Supporting People led strategic evaluation of the service.                                                                            

                                                                                  10.10 am – 10.45 am

A copy of a report by the Head of Community Support (HCS), which monitored the effectiveness of the new Supporting Independent Living Service (SILS), had been circulated with the papers for the meeting.

The Lead Member for Social Care (Adults and Children’s Services) introduced the report, previously circulated, which gave an overview of the findings of the recent Supporting People led strategic evaluation of the service.  Future proposals for the service were also outlined in the report. 

The Lead Member acknowledged that whilst the progress in moving the old warden service into the new Supporting Independent Living (SIL) Service had been slow, it was now progressing and would in due course deliver the type of service the WG wanted to see Councils provide.

The Service Manager:  Strategic Development advised Members that there were a few areas within the project that required urgent attention, these being:-

-  realising value for money from the service, by promoting its availability and encouraging more people to use it.

-  raising awareness of the service and the fact that it is a service that was available to all County residents who may benefit from it, not restricted as the previous service was to people living in sheltered accommodation.

-  better co-ordination of the service with other Health and Social Care services i.e. Reablement, Single Point of Access (SPoA).

The Service Manager outlined the three levels of support which the SIL Service provides for service-users.  He also advised that the SIL Action Plan addressed a number of actions detailed in the Council’s Ageing Well Plan, endorsed by County Council two week previously.

Members were advised that the Supporting People grant funding for Denbighshire was in the region of £6m, and whilst the amount for next year was expected to be lower than that awarded for this year it still equated to a considerable amount of money.  Money which needed to be spent wisely and targeted to support the most vulnerable in the community.  Members felt that it was therefore important that local Assembly Members were informed of the potential impact on vulnerable residents of cuts to this particular grant funding. 

Members also asked that a progress report be presented to them in December, 2015 which should include the SIL Action Plan, details of the awareness raising campaign both inside and outside the Council, other initiatives to realise value for money and the number of SIL Service recipients in each Council ward. 

At the conclusion of the discussion it was:-

RESOLVED – that the Committee:-

(a)            receives the report and, subject to the above observations, supports the approach being taken to establish and embed the Supporting Independent Living Service in Denbighshire, and

(b)            that a further progress report, including the SIL Action Plan, be presented to the Committee at its December, 2015 meeting.

To consider a report by the Lead Officer: Young People, Safeguarding and Workforce Development (copy attached) on progress regarding the mapping and profiling of community groups, the emerging themes and next steps.

                                                                                 10.55 am – 11.30 am

A report by the Lead Officer: Young People, Safeguarding and Workforce Development (YPSWD), which provided an update on the mapping and profiling of community groups and emerging key themes, had been circulated with the papers for the meeting.

The Lead Member for Community Development introduced the report and outlined the themes emerging from the mapping work.  The Interim Head of Communication and Leisure and the Lead Officer:  Young People, Safeguarding and Workforce Development advised that of the approximately 1000 community groups that exist in Denbighshire around 300 had been profiled to date. 

The profiling work would assist the Council to plan for children and young people’s needs in future, particular out of school activities.  The next steps in the project had been detailed within the report.  Responding to Members’ questions and concerns, officers advised that:-

·                 The profiling work in each locality included organisations/groups’ equality and diversity, which covered all types of disabilities be they physical or learning disabilities.  The Service was also working closely with the Social Services Department on issues such as inclusion, holiday schemes and about whether the Disability Toolkit could be applied to the Youth Service’s broader work;

·                 Whilst some initial themes were emerging at this stage, particularly in relation to accessibility for disabled individuals to community groups, with only circa 30% of the profiling work completed it was anticipated that once the profiling was in the region of 80% complete some firm conclusions could be drawn on the number of groups accessible to the disabled.  At this point it was envisaged that the voluntary sector could be asked to help support this area in future;

·                 Confirmed that the mapping process should be more or less completed by the end of the current financial year;

·                 With a view to encouraging young people to engage with community/activity groups, and with different age groups, the establishment of a ‘virtual youth service’ was being proposed, as a means of information sharing and communicating information about the diverse groups available in the County;

·                 They were aware of a shortage of age 12 to 25 specific provision in the Prestatyn area.  However, further work was required to determine whether young people in this age group were engaging with other broader age-range community groups in that area, and whether they were involved in more than one of these groups.  The Children and Young People’s Partnership had recently highlighted low level mental health issues within this specific age group;

·                 Confirmed that they were working closely with Menter Iaith and Yr Urdd with a view to growing the availability of social settings where pupils could use the Welsh Language outside of a formal educational setting.  The County’s own Youth Clubs were encouraging the use of Welsh in their sessions and the Welsh in Education Strategic Group (WESG) were also looking at potential opportunities for doing this.  The Lead Member advised that he had recently contacted the Welsh Language Commissioner with respect of this matter

The Lead Officer agreed to promote the need for all groups to be as inclusive as possible and accessible to people with disabilities.  As the majority of the groups were community groups run by volunteers they would need to be persuaded and influenced to be inclusive to all.  Members felt that it was important that community based groups need to work closely together to complement each other and to ensure that no particular age group or element of the community felt disengaged or isolated.

Members congratulated the officers on their progress with the profiling work across the County, particularly with young offenders in rehabilitating them and turning them away  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

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

                                                                                     11.30 am – 11.40 am

A copy of a report by the Scrutiny Coordinator, which requested the Committee to review and agree its forward work programme and which provided an update on relevant issues, had been circulated with the papers for the meeting.

A copy of the ‘Member’s proposal form’ had been included in Appendix 2.  In response to a question from Councillor R.M. Murray, it was explained that completed proposal forms requesting the inclusion of business items on the Committee’s agenda would be considered.  The SC explained that assistance in completing forms would be available if required.          The Cabinet Forward Work Programme had been included as Appendix 3, and a table summarising recent Committee resolutions and advising on progress with their implementation, had been attached at Appendix 4. 

The Committee considered its draft Forward Work Programme for future meetings, Appendix 1, and the following amendments and additions were agreed:-

5^th November, 2015:- The Committee agreed that Lead Members, Councillors B.A. Smith, D.I. Smith and E.W. Williams, be invited to attend the meeting.

In response to a request from the Lead Member the presentation of the draft Housing Strategy had been deferred until the November meeting.  This would enable the Lead Member and officers to incorporate into the Strategy the feedback and comments received on the draft Strategy at a housing staff workshop held in late August.

The Scrutiny Coordinator informed the Committee that an information report pertaining to the Reablement Service had been circulated with the Information Brief for the meeting.

RESOLVED – that, subject to the above amendments and agreements, the Work Programme as set out in Appendix 1 to the report be approved.

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

                                                                                  11.40 am – 11.50 am

No reports were received.

Meeting ended at 12.55 p.m.