Agenda item

To consider a report by the Strategic Planning Team Manager (copy attached) for the launch of the consultation on the Conwy/Denbighshire Public Services Board’s Well-being Assessment, produced in line with the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.

11.10 a.m. – 12.00 p.m.

The Leader, Councillor Hugh Evans, introduced the report (previously circulated) as statutory guidance stated that consultation on its content must take place and the Local Authority’s Scrutiny Committee was a statutory consultee. 

The Leader described the process that had been undertaken to produce the report, its structure and availability, together with the ongoing process for its maintenance.  He also emphasised the importance of the Well-being Assessment and the increased emphasis being placed on “well-being” and the requirements of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 both locally and nationally.

The Council’s Strategic Planning Team Manager gave an overview of how the information had been compiled along with a demonstration of the web-based Well-being Assessment.  This included the data contained within the assessment on a community, county and Public Service Board (PSB) area level.  She advised that in future, all public authorities in the PSB’s area would be expected to utilise the information contained in the well-being assessment when setting their well-being objectives and producing plans and strategies for services and for the area.  Officers were currently in the process of developing a communication strategy to draw the Assessment and its importance to the attention of all relevant people and stakeholders.  The Assessment would be constantly evolving and updated on a regular basis, but because of this it would not lend itself well to being published as a hard copy document.  However, if a member wanted specific detail from within the Assessment, particular sections could be printed for that purpose, with a caveat that they were subject to regular changes.  

Responding to members’ questions, the Leader, Chief Executive and Strategic Planning Team Manager advised that:

·       The PSB would be meeting on 27 March 2017 to discuss the consultation responses, therefore they would appreciate receiving members’ observations on the Well-being Assessment by 24 March 2017;

·       The Well-being Assessment would in future form the basis of the Council and its partners strategic planning activities and would be used to support the development of their plans.  It would require a cultural change in how all partners worked and worked together for the purpose of making the county and the PSB area a better place, with service providers aiming to deliver better outcomes for citizens;

·       As a result of the above it was imperative that all services and groups within the Council were aware of the Well-being Assessment’s existence and signed up to its principles;

·       confirmed that further work was required with respect to individual community profiles on the Assessment’s website.  This area would be populated as part of the website’s on-going maintenance;

·       There would also be a need for the Council to challenge and monitor other PSB partner organisations’ commitment to utilising the information contained in the Well-being Assessment when producing their strategic plans etc.

In response to the latter point the Scrutiny Co-ordinator advised that the WG had commissioned an external organisation to develop a guidance on how to effectively scrutinise PSBs delivery of the requirements of the well-being goals of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.  The draft guidance was expected to be circulated to Scrutiny Officers in Wales for consultation in the near future.  North Wales Scrutiny Officers were due to meet at the end of March to consider the draft guidance and provide their observations on its contents.

The Leader requested that the Committee, as the designated committee for scrutinising the PSB, monitor closely all PSB partners’ commitment to utilising the Well-being Assessment for their strategic planning work.

Prior to concluding the discussion Members requested that a training session for all councillors on the requirements of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, including the Well-being Assessment, be held early during the term of the new County Council, post the May Local Authority elections, with additional training on both provided periodically during the Council’s term.  It was felt that this was necessary in order to embed the new culture and principles of the Act firmly within the Authority.

The Committee:

RESOLVED that the above observations and the following recommendations be reported to the Public Service Board in response to the consultation on the Well-being Assessment:

(i)    subject to the above observations,  endorses the approach taken in developing the Well-being Assessment and the ideas for its future use;

(ii)   that the data included within the Well-being Assessment be updated on a regular basis, and that all PSB partner organisations be recommended to use the information contained within the Well-being Assessment as the basis for their future strategic planning activities;

(iii) confirmed that members had read, understood and taken account of the Well-being Impact Assessment (Appendix 1) as part of their consideration; and

(iv) that an Executive Summary of the Well-being Assessment be written to provide an overview of its purpose and contents, and that a programme of training events and material on the principles and requirements of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, including the purpose and importance of the Well-being Assessment, be arranged and delivered to all Councillors post the May 2017 Local Authority elections.