Agenda and draft minutes

Councillor Hugh Evans – Denbighshire County Council.

Jo Whitehead – Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board

To approve the minutes of the last meeting held on 17 May 2021 (copy enclosed).

The minutes of the Conwy and Denbighshire Public Services Board meeting held on 17 May 2021 were submitted.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 17 May 2021 be received and approved as a correct record.

The Chair will lead on this item (copy enclosed).

Hannah Edwards presented the meeting action tracker and drew the following open actions to the Board’s attention for further consideration/action as appropriate –

·         The first two actions on the tracker were highlighted, ‘apply the rural proofing tool to the three priority areas’, and ‘when undertaking the impact assessment review, consider if there are any equality areas the Board needs to be made aware of’. The board agreed that these actions could not be closed, however suggested highlighting key point of the actions to assess rather than having updates at each Public Service Board (PSB) meeting.

·         The mental health and wellbeing update would be discussed in more detail later at the meeting.

RESOLVED that progress made on the actions arising from meetings be noted.

The Chair will lead on this verbal item.

No matters arising from the previous minutes were discussed.

Nicola Kneale (DCC) and Fran Lewis (CCBC) to present the Well-Being Assessment Progress Update and seek Approval on the Consultation and Plan the timeline.

2:05pm – 2:35pm

Nicola Kneale (DCC) presented the report (previously circulated) providing an update to the PSB on the progress of the Well-being Assessment, and to start to draft a timeline for consultation.

A statutory Well-being Assessment was in production, which would underpin the PSB’s next Well-being Plan (publication deadline of May 2023) and the well-being plans of its constituent organisations. It was intended that there would be a draft ready in November 2021, which would go through a statutory consultation process.

Nicola Kneale clarified in order to enable understanding of the wealth of complex information that was contained within the Well-being Assessment, an abridged presentation of key conclusions from the analysis of the Assessment’s content would form the basis of the consultation and be present at the next meeting for approval.

Nicola Kneale clarified that it was not intended for the plan’s development to be discussed in detail today, but that a lead member of the PSB be identified and a proposal for developing the Well-Being Plan be brought to the next meeting.

There was consensus among board members that one lead would not be adequate, due to work commitments but also not having a knowledge of other areas within the PSB area. Bethan Jones (Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board) alongside Sarah Schofield (Adra) and Tom Barham (Denbighshire Voluntery Services Council)agreed to lead on the Well-being Plan matter jointly.

Iwan Davies CCBC reiterated what was discussed at the early stages of the PSB where it was agreed that it would focus in areas which were not being worked on by other organisations. This was to avoid duplication of work.

The board felt that future work for the PSB should be to review changes made by Welsh Government on a more local level with CCBC and DCC, and agreed it would be beneficial to invite local working groups on specific subjects and ask how the PSB could support them.

RESOLVED that

(i)    The PSB note the progress made with the well-being assessment and approve the timeline for the constitution.

(ii)  That the key conclusions from the well-being assessment be presented at the next meeting and approval sought for the assessment consultation.

(iii) That the PSB note the production of the timeline for the Well-being Assessment and that Bethan Jones (Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board) alongside Sarah Schofield (Adra) and Tom Barham (Denbighshire Voluntary Services Council) be appointed as joint lead board members to work with officers to formulate a proposal for producing the next well-being plan.

To receive an update on the following priority areas –

(a)  Mental well-being – Public Health Wales Officer

(b)  Community Empowerment (including update on digital infrastructure) - Nicola Kneale

(c)  Environmental Resilience (including agreement of environmental commitments) - Justin Hanson / Helen Millband

2:35pm – 3:05pm

The board were updated on the priority areas for the PSB –

(a)  Mental well-being – the PSB were informed that Louise Woodfine (Consultant for central area) had been appointed as the new representative from Public Health Wales. However due to prior engagements she could not attend the meeting.  Further discussion on priority lead required at a future meeting.

(b)  Community Empowerment (including update on digital infrastructure) – Nicola Kneale updated the board on the work which was carried out. The connectivity schemes which were currently ongoing were highlighted –

·         The Welsh Government full fibre rollout was ending in June 2022,

·         Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) aimed to install full fibre broadband to public buildings. Openreach would then connect premises along the route and in the vicinity of the public buildings. However there were some concerns with progress as it was ending in September 2021, the matter was being explored by the North Wales Economic Ambition Board (NWEAB).

·         UK Government’s Gigabit Project, initially announced in the spring 2020 Budget but held back by delays and revisions. It was based on the government's pledge to ensure 85% of UK properties have access to gigabit broadband by 2025, there were up to 234,000 rural Welsh premises in scope.

·         There would be few properties who would not be able to access superfast broadband, these properties would be designated as ‘white properties’. The NWEAB would also be addressing these properties through the Last Few Percent project.

·         Community Fibre Partnership, used the Gigabit Broadband Voucher scheme and was a UK-wide government subsidy scheme to provide future-proof full fibre connections for homes and businesses. However there were some challenges as some rural areas would not be able to consolidate these vouchers to fund the implementation of fibre in some communities.

·         The Installation of fibre was expensive, so those properties that are especially difficult to reach are unlikely to be included in Openreach upgrades and the funding available from CFPs will be insufficient. Without a commitment of external investment in these hard-to-reach areas, they’re unlikely to be upgraded for some time.

The board thanked Nicola for an update on the complex matter. Graham Boase (DCC) suggested that the PSB could look at connectivity as a priority, as it impacts all organisations. He realised that the PSB could not actually implement work, however it could influence organisations who carried out the aforementioned work, and challenge the organisations on whether the work was carried out. Doing this could progress work along.

Discussed there could be a role for third sector organisations to help mobilise communities to obtain support and funding to improve connectivity.

Satellite broadband was raised and how the technology had been developed, and could likely be an only option which was viable for some of the rural areas in Wales.

(c)  Environmental Resilience – Jason Hanson (NRW) presented the PSB with a presentation highlighting work which had been carried out with regards to the environmental resilience priority.

The sub group reviewed all priorities at the end of last year, following the PSB’s request to do so. The sub group met twice since the last PSB meeting. There was a focus mainly on reviewing and amending priority 1, the environmental policy statement. The six priorities were –

1.    Work with our PSB partners to develop an environmental policy statement , so that we’re all working to the same goals

2.    Work with communities to develop environmental pledges and green changes that could be made to reduce our impact on the environment

3.    Look at environmental issues affecting the region that cannot be fixed by ourselves, like sea defences  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The Chair will lead on this item (copy enclosed).

3:05pm – 3:10pm

A copy of the PSB forward work programme was presented and the following matters were discussed –

·         The chair advised the committee that the next meeting would comprise  of

-          Receiving an overview of the key conclusions from the well-being assessment and approving the assessment for consultation

-          Reviewing the findings of the sub-group, regarding the development of the next well-being plan

-          Receiving information on the Freelancer and Public Sector Pledge

-          Reviewing the findings and recommendations of the Community Wealth Building and Progressive Procurement pilot.

-           

·         The board members did not suggest any further items to be discussed.

RESOLVED that, subject to the above, the work programme be approved.

The Chair will lead on this verbal item discussing the next steps for the PSB following the June workshop.

3:10pm – 3:40pm

Meeting concluded at 16:10

The item was for information purposes and was not discussed at the meeting.

The item was for information purposes and was not discussed at the meeting.

The item was for information purposes and was not discussed at the meeting.