Agenda item

A report by the Head of Business Improvement and Modernisation, on the Local Service Board’s proposed arrangements for a joint Public Service Board for Conwy and Denbighshire, had been circulated with the papers for the meeting.

                                                                                                         10.10 a.m.

A copy of a report by the Strategic Planning and Performance Officer (SPPO), on the arrangements for establishing the statutory Public Services Board, also including potential options for scrutinising the new PSB, in line with requirements of the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act, had been circulated with the papers for the meeting.

The Strategic Planning and Performance Manager (SPPM) introduced the report and explained that the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act (Wales) 2015, which would come into force on the 1^st April 2016, would have wide-ranging implications for the Council as well as other public organisations in Wales. 

Communities Scrutiny Committee, at its next meeting in February, would be looking in greater detail at the Act’s implications for the Council.  One of the Act’s provisions was to change the present Local Service Boards (LSBs) into Public Services Boards (PSBs) and in doing so placing the new PSBs on a statutory footing.  Consequently the PSBs must be subject to more intense scrutiny activity from local authorities.  Denbighshire currently operated a joint LSB with Conwy County Borough Council and other partner organisations. 

At its September, 2015 meeting the joint LSB had decided that its desired approach from April, 2016 would be to operate as a Joint PSB, unless the Welsh Government (WG) determined that the new local government structure in the area would be different going forward.  The Joint LSB also expressed the intention for the new Joint PSB to have a single long-term partnership Well-being Plan for the Conwy Denbighshire area from 2017 onwards, at present the LSB manages two separate single integrated plans (SIPs).  If the production of a single Well-being Plan could be brought into fruition it would then be more appropriate to scrutinise it on a joint basis, to avoid duplication and to make better use of limited resources. 

Whilst work was already underway with respect to planning for a joint Wellbeing Plan, it was being undertaken in such a way that if the WG agreed a different configuration for local government in North Wales, the work done to date would not have been in vain as it could be used for Denbighshire and Conwy as separate entities, or for any other potential configurations. 

The Democratic Services Manager outlined all potential scrutiny options for the proposed Joint PSB as detailed in appendix 2 to the report, explaining that Option 4 - joint informal scrutiny arrangements – seemed at present the most appropriate model to adopt once the Joint PSB was operational.

Responding to members’ questions officers advised that:-

·                     With respect to other potential local government reorganisation configurations, these had not been explored with respect to the establishment of a joint PSB.  The reason being that Conwy and Denbighshire had for some time operated a joint LSB, and until such time as either authority was told that this would definitely not be the future local government structure for the area, it seemed logical to proceed down the joint route for the new PSB;

·                     Bearing in mind that current LSB partner members i.e. Police, Health and Fire and Rescue Service, also configured their sub-regional structures into three areas based on the local authority counties in north-west, north-east and central North Wales, it was logical and reasonable for the joint LSB to propose the establishment of a joint PSB for Conwy and Denbighshire;

·                      Whether at the conclusion of the process there was either a single or a joint PSB its remit would be to serve the needs of its residents to the best of its abilities;

·                     Until the end of March, 2016 the WG was meeting the administrative costs of the LSBs via grant funding.  However, from 1 April and the introduction of the PSBs, each local authority would be expected to fund the administrative costs for each PSB.  To accommodate these costs going forward corporate business planning processes as well as consultation and engagement methods were being streamlined with a view to each process being utilised to realise maximum benefit for the organisation;

·                     The new draft Local Government (Wales) Bill, currently out for consultation, which proposed fundamental changes to local government structures and methods of working, would present challenges for everyone involved, including local government.  Members were encouraged to get involved with the consultation on this particular Bill because of its wide-ranging implications.

Members requested that a report on the draft Local Government (Wales) Bill and its implications be presented to all councillors prior to the consultation closing date in February 2016.

At the conclusion of the discussion it was:-

RESOLVED – that the Partnerships Scrutiny Committee support:-

(a)          the proposal of Conwy and Denbighshire continuing with their joint arrangement and merge to become the Conwy and Denbighshire Public Services Board under the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act (subject to proposals continuing for Conwy and Denbighshire to merge under a future local government reorganisation);

(b)          the proposal of Conwy and Denbighshire having a single Well-being Plan for both counties;

(c)           working towards a target publication date of November 2017 for the joint Conwy and Denbighshire Wellbeing Plan; and

(d)          the continuation of the existing scrutiny arrangements for the LSB/PSB and, subject to a decision on local government reorganisation, to introduce Joint Informal Arrangements as outlined in Option 4 of Appendix 2 from May 2017.