Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor John Roberts.

Members to declare any personal or prejudicial interests in any business identified to be considered at this meeting.

No interests of a personal or prejudicial nature were declared.

To elect the Committee’s Chair for the 2023/24 & 2024/25 municipal years.

(Note: As per the Committee’s Terms of Reference, the role of Chair shall alternate every two years between the elected membership of Denbighshire and Conwy Councils. Therefore, for 2023/24 & 2024/25 the Chair shall be a Member of Conwy County Borough Council).

In accordance with the Terms of Reference for the Conwy and Denbighshire Public Services Board Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee (JOSC) a nomination for the office of Chair of the Committee for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 municipal years was sought from amongst Conwy County Borough Council representatives on the JOSC.  Councillor Austin Roberts nominated Councillor Cheryl Carlisle for the role of Chair, Councillor Stephen Price seconded the nomination.  No other nominations were received.  The Committee unanimously:

Resolved:  to appoint Councillor Cheryl Carlisle as the Chair of the Conwy and Denbighshire Public Services Board Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 municipal years.

Councillor Carlisle thanked everyone for their support.

To elect a Vice-Chair for the Committee for the 2023/24 & 2024/25 municipal years.

(Note: As per the Committee’s Terms of Reference, the role of Vice-Chair shall alternate every two years between the elected membership of Denbighshire and Conwy Councils. Therefore, for 2023/24 & 2024/25 the Vice-Chair shall be a Member of Denbighshire County Council).

Furthermore, and in accordance with the JOSC’s Terms of Reference a nomination for the office of Vice-Chair of the Committee for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 municipal years was sought from amongst Denbighshire County Council representatives on the JOSC.  Councillor Joan Butterfield nominated Councillor Gareth Sandilands for the role of Vice-Chair, Councillor Arwel Roberts seconded the nomination.  No other nominations were received.  The Committee unanimously:

Resolved:  to appoint Councillor Gareth Sandilands as the Vice-Chair of the Conwy and Denbighshire Public Services Board Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 municipal years.

Councillor Sandilands thanked everyone for their support.

Notice of items which, in the opinion of the Chair, should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency pursuant to Section 100B(4) of the Local Government Act 1972.

No matters of an urgent nature had been drawn to officers’ attention ahead of the meeting.

To receive the minutes of the Conwy and Denbighshire Public Services Board Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 21 October 2022 (copy enclosed).

The minutes of the Conwy and Denbighshire Public Services Board Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 21 October 2022 were submitted for approval.  The JOSC:

Resolved:  that the minutes of the Conwy and Denbighshire Public Services Board Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 21 October 2022 be approved as a true and correct record of the proceedings.

No matters were raised in relation to the contents of the minutes.

To discuss with a representative from the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) the Health Board’s contribution to the work of the PSB, along with the benefits to the Health Board of being a partner on the PSB.

The Chair welcomed Alyson Constantine, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board’s (BCUHB) Integrated Health Community (IHC) Director of Operations (Central) to the meeting to discuss with the JOSC the Health Board’s contribution to the work of the Public Services Board (PSB), along with the benefits to the Health Board of being a partner on the PSB.

Prior to commencing the discussion, the Chair reminded Committee members that the JOSC’s powers in relation to scrutinising the Health Board, as with other PSB partners, extended only to their contribution to the work of the PSB.  She stressed that the JOSC did not possess any powers to scrutinise individual organisations’ policies or service delivery external to their role on the PSB.

The Director of Operations informed members that the Heath Board had recently received the NHS Wales Performance Framework. Contained in that framework was information on a Healthier Wales and the 4 aims in the Plan fitted well alongside the joint PSB Wellbeing Plan.  From the Health Board perspective and the Integrated Health Community, strategic documents linked the partnership working between the Board and the work of the wellbeing plan.

Members were reminded of the objectives of the Conwy and Denbighshire Wellbeing Plan including access to primary care, cancer recovery, delayed transfers of care, mental health and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) plan, care, recovery diagnostics and emergency and urgent care. Demonstrating the many areas which benefit  partnership working.

The Director of Operations offered to share her contact details with members if they had any comments or questions they wished to raise outside the meeting.

Members asked how best they could support and approach the scrutiny of the partnership between the PSB and the Health Board at future meetings. In response, the Director of Operations suggested an understanding of the amount of information the Joint PSB Group receive in terms of performance from a health perspective against the objectives set. Giving members information to scrutinise and debate any areas at future meetings.

Communication was often quite challenging. Informing residents of the work of the Board and also receiving information from residents could often be difficult. Sharing and engaging with patients and groups in society was beneficial to all and allowed discussions and communication to take place and form a positive relationship between partners and the public.  If a hub or information centre was established to ease the sharing of information between residents, public services and the voluntary sector, the Health Board would potentially be happy to engage in and share information and have further discussions if that was to occur.  All information sharing channels and the platform required to be used would help deliver better all round services to residents.

A member raised concerns on risks relating to GP surgeries in a specific area, the Chair suggested that queries of a specific nature should be raised with the Health Board outside the meeting. 

At the conclusion of the discussion, the Committee thanked the Health Board representative for the information imparted and for answering members’ questions.  It was:

Resolved:  subject to the above observations to receive the information imparted on Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board’s contribution to the work of the Conwy and Denbighshire Public Services Board and the benefits to it of being a partner on the Public Services Board. 

To consider a report by PSB Support Officers (copy attached) which informs the Committee of the risks facing the PSB and the measures taken to manage and mitigate those risks.  The report also seeks members’ observations on the identified risks and mitigation measures implemented.

The Corporate Performance and Improvement Officer (CCBC) guided members through the Risk Register for the Public Services Board’s report (previously circulated). The Risk Register focused on the PSB’s ability to fulfil the statutory obligations and deliver the Well-being Plan.

The Risk Register had last been reviewed and discussed by the Board in November 2022. Members were informed that at the next meeting in July 2023, the Board would discuss the risks and issues of the Board and partner organisations in detail.. It was thought it would be a good opportunity to ascertain any common risks and issues.

The last review that had taken place in November had been a detailed review and well debated. Members were guided to section 4.2 which outlined what had been updated in terms of the Risk Register. It was decided to include an additional column to include what further action the Board could take to further reduce the risks identified. It also included some time scales to make sure the Board could monitor actions in a timely manner. 

Risk PSB 2: The risk that partner organisations were not committed to the Board. The Board included three additional mitigating actions:

·       PSB members had agreed to set up informal meetings to discuss upcoming agendas, build relationships and networking.

·       Joint Scrutiny Committee established to evaluate the effectiveness of the PSB.  The PSB viewed the JOSC as a valuable risk mitigation tool.

·       Representatives from the PSB’s invited participant list to be co-opted onto the Joint Scrutiny Committee as and when required, to discuss specific items / areas of work as a way of assessing the effectiveness of the PSB’s plans.

Members were informed of a change to risk PSB 3: The risk that the PSB failed to maximise the potential impact it could achieve through a collaborative approach. This risk included three additional mitigating actions:

·         Support from the co-production network to ensure it successfully collaborated.

·         Joint Scrutiny Committee established to evaluate effectiveness of the PSB.   

·         Representatives from the PSB’s invited participant list to be co-opted onto the Joint Scrutiny Committee as and when required, to discuss specific items / areas of work as a way of assessing the effectiveness of the PSB’s plans.

The Board identified an additional risk PSB 6: The risk that recruitment and retention issues, leading to a loss of expertise and capacity, worsen resulting in poor or inadequate services. The risk identified fell across all partners across the PSB and recruitment had been a challenge across all the organisations.

Included in the agenda pack had been a copy of the full Risk Register, it included the inherent and residual risk scores for each.

At the conclusion of the introduction, members were invited to comment and ask questions. The following topics were discussed in greater detail:

·         Concerns were raised with regards to the holding of informal meetings, therefore not aiding transparency and whether any notes or action points from those meetings were recorded. It was confirmed that the informal meetings were restricted, any discussion at those meetings was then formally put forward to the PSB meeting for discussion. The notion of an informal meeting was following a suggestion from an Audit Wales review. The discussion had at the formal PSB meeting would then be recorded in the minutes of those meetings, which were shared with the JOSC.

·         Concerns were raised in relation to the effects of not engaging with other stakeholders, and low response rates to public consultations. Members were encouraged to contact the Corporate Performance and Improvement Officer with suggestions of ways to encourage the public to engage with the Board or if they had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

To receive and consider the Committee’s proposed forward work programme (copy enclosed).

The Scrutiny and Committee Services Officer guided members through the draft forward work programme (previously circulated). The next scheduled meeting of the Committee was scheduled for 20 October 2023.

Proposed for the next meeting was an update report on the PSB’s implementation of the Well-being Plan. It was suggested an invitation be extended to the Chair of the PSB to attend the next meeting to present the progress report. 

It was agreed, in accordance with a member’s suggestion, that the standing item on the contribution of PSB partners be amended in future to read the ‘Contribution and Commitment of PSB Partners to the work of the PSB and the benefits of the PSB to partners’.   Members discussed which partner they would like to invite to the next meeting and agreed to extend an invitation to Natural Resources Wales (NRW) to the meeting on 20^th October to discuss their contribution and commitment to the work of the Public Services Board and the benefits to the organisation of being a member of the PSB.

Members were reminded that the PSB produced an annual report, the Chair of the PSB could be invited to present the report to the Conwy and Denbighshire Public Services Board Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee when available.

It was suggested an invitation be extended to other partners on the PSB to attend future meetings, including the Voluntary Sector and the Police and Crime Commissioner who attended PSB meetings as invited participants.

Following consideration of the proposed forward work programme for the JOSC the Committee:

Resolved: 

(i)  to confirm its draft forward work programme for its next meeting scheduled for 20 October 2023;

(ii) that the Chair of the Public Services Board be invited to the above meeting to present the ‘Update by the PSB on the Implementation of its Well-Being Plan’ item, which would include a discussion on any obstacles or pressures faced to date with respect of its implementation;

(iii)                 that a representative from Natural Resources Wales (NRW) by invited to attend the October 2023 meeting for the purpose of discussing NRW’s contribution and commitment to the work of the Public Services Board and the benefits to the organisation of being a member of the PSB;

(iv)   that for future meetings consideration be given to inviting representatives from the PSB’s ‘Invited Participants’ membership to attend meetings of the JOSC to provide a presentation on their ‘contribution and commitment to the work of the Public Services Board and the benefits to their organisation of being an invited member of the PSB’

(v)     to note the proposed dates for JOSC meetings to be held during 2024. 

Minutes of the meetings held on:

(i)            26 September 2022

(ii)          30 November 2022

Both sets of minutes submitted for information were noted.

The Public Services Board Forward Work Programme, circulated for information, was noted.