HOMES AND SAFE COMMUNITIES SCRUTINY COMMITTEE
Minutes of a meeting held on 11th July, 2018.
Present: Councillor Mrs. C.A. Cave (Chairman); Councillor S.J. Griffiths (Vice-Chairman); Councillors Ms. B.E. Brooks, Ms. A.M. Collins, B.T. Gray, Mrs. S.M. Hanks, Mrs. M.R. Wilkinson and Ms. M. Wright.
Also present: Councillor A.C. Parker and Mrs. G. Doyle and Ms. H. Smith (Tenant Working Group Representatives).
137 ANNOUNCEMENT -
The Chairman informed the Committee of her regretful acceptance of the resignation received from Mr David Dutch due to his work commitments. The Chairman advised Committee that a letter of thanks would be sent to Mr. Dutch following the meeting and nominations for his replacement would be considered at the Tenant Working Group meeting on 17th July, 2018. Details of Mr Dutch’s replacement would be provided to Committee Members as soon as possible via the Scrutiny Support Officer.
138 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE -
These were received from Councillor M.J.G. Morgan and M.R. Wilson, Mr. A. Raybould (Tenant Working Group Representative) and Ms. J. Clay (Citizens Advice Bureau).
139 MINUTES -
RECOMMENDED - T H A T the minutes of the meeting held on 13th June, 2018 be approved as a correct record.
140 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST -
No declarations were received.
141 LANDLORD SERVICE - VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN, DOMESTIC ABUSE AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE POLICY (REF) -
The Cabinet Member for Housing and Building Services presented the reference to Committee to advise that on the 20th October, 2014 the Cabinet at the time had approved a Landlord Service Domestic Abuse Policy. This policy set out the expected housing response to reported incidents of domestic abuse.
Since that date, the Welsh Government had introduced the Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Act (Wales) 2015 (VAWDA-SV) and launched the national strategy on Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence in November 2016. The Landlord Service had therefore produced a new VAWDA-SV policy to comply with the updated legislation and strategy.
On 18th June, 2018, Cabinet was advised to adopt the new Domestic Abuse Policy for the Council’s Landlord Service and proposed response to incidents of the VAWDA-SV in accordance with the new national strategy 2016-2021.
VAWDA-SV could affect any person at any time during their lives, with one in four women being affected by domestic abuse in their lifetimes. This meant a significant number of those living within Council properties would be affected by abuse or even considered as perpetrators of domestic abuse. It was therefore essential that there was clear guidance in place detailing the approach the Council would take as a landlord.
The Officer’s report, attached as an appendix to the reference, also advised that the new Landlord Services VAWDA-SV policy outlined a range of options to support victims to either remain in their homes safely or support them to seek alternative accommodation.
The policy reinforced the importance of joint working in relation to tackling domestic abuse. As well as supporting victims, this included referring victims into the Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Meeting (MARAC) and to Atal-y-Fro (the local domestic abuse support agency), Safer Vale and South Wales Police.
As a landlord, safeguarding remained central to the Council’s work and therefore it was essential that all staff throughout the Environment and Housing Department, including repair staff, were confident in identifying signs of abuse and know how to act on these concerns.
The Cabinet Member concluded his presentation by advising that the Landlord Service Policy for VAWDA-SV was designed to support victims of crime and disorder to prevent any future incidents. With increased powers to remove those people identified as perpetrators it would reduce the number of disturbances within Council properties. Therefore, Cabinet sought to adopt the new VAWDA-SV Landlord Services Policy and had referred to the Committee for information.
RECOMMENDED - T H A T the new Landlord Service - Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Act Policy be noted.
Reason for recommendation
To ensure Members were aware of the new Landlord Services - Violence Against Women - Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Policy.
142 CLOSURE OF ACCOUNTS 2017/18 (DEH) -
The Finance Support Manager presented the report, the purpose of which was to update the Committee of the provisional financial position for the 2017/18 financial year.
The Officer advised that following the end of each financial year, Scrutiny Committees were provided with provisional outturn figures for the Council. The Statement of Accounts would be approved by Council before 30th September, 2018, following an audit by the Wales Audit Office.
Council on 1st March, 2017 agreed the authority’s revenue budget requirement for 2017/18.
The following adjustments to the revised budgets were highlighted within Appendix 1 of the Officer’s report with no overall effect on the authority and were accounting adjustments largely outside the control of services.
- IAS19 Retirement Benefits - the purpose of the standard was to ensure that the operating costs of providing retirement benefits to employees were recognised in the accounting period in which they were earned by the employees. Figures provided by the actuary differ from the estimated and the movements needed to be incorporated into the accounts.
- Asset Rents - The charge could vary each year due to an increase/decrease in the valuation of assets. The movements needed to be incorporated into the accounts.
The following table compared the amended budgets and the actual expenditure, including transfers to and from reserves, for the Committee. The final column showed the net transfers to reserves for the Committee which had been included within the actual expenditure figures.
|
Service Year -
2017/18
|
Original
Revenue Budget
|
Amended Revenue
Budget
|
Total
Provisional Actual
|
Variance
+Favourable
() Adverse
|
Net Transfer
to /(From) Reserve
|
|
|
£000
|
£000
|
£000
|
£000
|
£000
|
|
Youth Offending Service
|
701
|
709
|
544
|
+165
|
0
|
|
Regulatory Services
|
2,166
|
2,169
|
2,166
|
+3
|
+330
|
|
Council Fund Housing
|
1,126
|
1,294
|
1,294
|
0
|
+49
|
|
Private Housing
|
11,003
|
11,062
|
11,073
|
(11)
|
+983
|
|
TOTAL
|
14,996
|
15,234
|
15,077
|
+157
|
+1,362
|
The report presented to Committee detailed the variances which were set out by the Finance Support Manager as follows:
Youth Offending Service - Favourable variance of £165,000.
There was a favourable variance of £125,000 on staffing due to vacancies and £40,000 on supplies and services.
Regulatory Services - Favourable variance of £3,000.
The Regulatory Services had entered into a collaboration with Bridgend and Cardiff Councils. The Vale of Glamorgan Council had acted as host for the Shared Regulatory Service (SRS) since 1st May, 2015. There was a favourable variance of £333,000 on the Regulatory Services base budget held by the Vale of Glamorgan Council for its own share of the service. Included within this figure was £152,000 which related to the repayment of the Vale of Glamorgan of its apportionment of the underspend from the SRS during 2016/17, which was allocated following approval by the Joint Committee in September 2017.
The underspend had allowed a £330,000 transfer to the Visible Services Reserve, of which, £230,000 would be used to implement changes to the waste collection service and £100,000 would be used for additional resurfacing in 2019/20.
Council Fund Housing – Breakeven.
There was an adverse variance of £42,000 on temporary accommodation for the homeless.
There was a favourable variance totalling £125,000 with £109,000 relating to the Homelessness Team, largely due to expenditure being off-set against additional transitional grant funding and £16,000 relating to the Housing Strategy Team due to vacant posts.
The underspend had allowed a transfer of £85,000 to the Homelessness Reserve. The Community Safety Budget outturned on target after transferring £2,000 from the Community Safety Reserve to fund overspends within the service. There were other planned transfers from reserves to cover specific staff posts, with £25,000 being drawn down from the Homelessness Reserve and £8,000 from the Rural Housing Needs Reserve.
Private Sector Housing - Adverse variance of £11,000.
There was an adverse variance of £23,000, with £5,000 relating to staff costs and £18,000 relating to supplies and services, mostly due to quantity surveying services on the Holton Road Commercial Face-Lifting scheme.
There was a favourable variance of £12,000 as income within the Division was higher than budgeted, some £8,000 of which related to the Renewal Area Team’s fee income which had been slow earlier in the year but improved by year-end, which reflected the payment profile on the capital works budget.
There were planned drawdowns from reserves of £65,000 of which £49,000 from the Disabled Facilities Reserve was used to fund the costs of an Occupational Therapist and £16,000 was used from the Temporary Empty Homes Officer Reserve.
Rent Allowances/Council Tax Benefits – Breakeven.
There had been a number of favourable variances during the year totalling £1.048m. There was a favourable variance of £221,000 on discretionary housing payments. Discretionary Housing Payments were used to provide support to claimants adversely affected by some of the key welfare reforms. The grant allocation received from the Department for Work and Pensions had been fully spent. The saving was due to a lower take-up from claimants than anticipated from the top up allocation provided by the Council from its own funds. There were also favourable variances of £229,000 from recovered overpayments and associated subsidy on rent allowances and £598k,000 on the Council Tax Reduction Scheme due to a lower than anticipated take-up.
This enabled the following transfers to reserves totalling £1.048m. A transfer of £570,000 to the Council Fund had been approved as part of the Initial Revenue Budget proposal in November 2017 based on the projected underspend on the Council Tax Reduction Scheme at that time. An additional £300,000 had been set aside in the Visible Services reserve for resurfacing in 2019/20 and £178,000 had been added to the City Deal reserve.
The Officer went on to advise that Council, on 1st March 2017, agreed the Authority’s 2017/18 Housing Revenue Account (HRA) budget.
The 2017/18 Housing Revenue Account outturned with an in-year deficit of £183,000, compared to the amended budget which was a planned deficit of £127,000. A breakdown was shown in Appendix 2 of the Officer’s report. The HRA reserve opened at £958,000 and the in-year deficit resulted in the reserve closing at 31st March, 2018 with a balance of £775,000. This level was in line with the current Housing Business Plan.
The net adverse variance of £56,000 was identified over the following areas:
Supervision & Management General – Favourable Variance £231,000.
There were adverse variances totalling £21,000. £3,000 of which related to premises and £6,000 to supplies and services in the Asset Management Team and in Housing Management. £7,000 related to supplies and services such as promotions, software/hardware and other non-staffing costs and £5,000 related to transport.
There had been a number of favourable variances totalling £252,000. There were favourable variances in Asset Management and Development with £21,000 related to Staffing and £2,000 to Transport. Favourable staffing variances in the rest of the service were £49,000. There were further favourable variances in support and central management costs of £76,000, tenant participation of £22,000 and premises of £82,000.
Supervision and Management Special Services – Favourable Variance of £11,000.
This budget was split into three areas; Ty Iolo Homeless Hostel, Vale Temporary Accommodation and Vale Special Services. The term 'Special Services' related to communal costs for all housing areas throughout the Vale of Glamorgan, including sheltered accommodation, such as grass cutting, rubbish removal, communal lighting, security, warden salaries and environmental improvements.
There was an adverse variance of £28,000 on Special Services supplies and services.
Favourable variances totalled £39,000. A favourable variance of £19,000 at Ty Iolo was mainly due to staffing. There was a favourable variance of £7,000 related to Temporary Accommodation and Special Services had favourable variances of £2,000 on premises and a saving on Sheltered Schemes of £11,000.
Housing Repairs – Favourable Variance of £279,000.
There was a favourable variance of £296,000 on responsive repair call-outs mainly as a consequence of the housing stock being brought up to Welsh Housing Quality Standard. Expenditure on gas servicing, asbestos, electrical servicing and other cyclical charges were less than budget resulting in a favourable variance of £226,000. The favourable variances were offset by an adverse variance of £243,000 related to works to void properties.
Capital Financing Costs – Favourable Variance of £229,000.
Interest and debt management charges were lower than originally estimated due to a lower amount of borrowing required during the year to fund the Housing Investment Programme.
Rents, Rates, Taxes and Other Charges – Favourable Variance of £31,000.
This was due to a reduction in legal expenses and Council Tax payable on long-term void properties.
Increase in the Provision for Bad and Doubtful Debts – Adverse Variance of £55,000.
It was anticipated that the bad debt provision would need to be increased by £90,000. The outturn was higher than this at £145,000. This may be expected going forward as the impact of further welfare reforms would put added pressure on rent collection rates in the future.
Capital Expenditure from Revenue Account – Adverse Variance of £735,000.
Savings within the HRA, as outlined above, had made it possible to increase the contribution from revenue to capital expenditure. This had led to a reduced balance on the HRA reserve but also a decrease in the prudential borrowing requirement for the 2017/18 Housing Investment Programme and in turn borrowing costs going forward.
Dwellings Rents – Adverse variance of £62,000.
Dwelling rents collected were slightly less than budgeted.
Non Dwelling Rents – Adverse Variance of £3,000.
Rents collected on garages were slightly less than budgeted.
Interest Received – Breakeven.
Interest received was in line with budget.
Charges for Services and Facilities – Favourable Variance of £18,000.
The level of income received for services and facilities was higher than anticipated.
As part of the final revenue budget proposals for 2017/18, a savings target of £4m was set for the Authority. No savings targets had been allocated to services that fell under the Committee’s remit for the year.
On 1st March, 2017, Council agreed the Authority’s Capital Budget for 2017/18.
Attached at Appendix 3 to the Officer’s report was a breakdown of the 2017/18 Capital Programme by scheme. The overall outturn for the Committee was a variance of £2.333m. The major variances were outlined by the Finance Support Manager as follows:
Housing Improvement Programme – Favourable variance of £2.041m with slippage of £1.372m.
Welsh Housing Quality Standards (WHQS) External Works – Accounts were currently being finalised with contractors and further works would need to be undertaken to maintain WHQS. The work would continue into 2018/19 and it had therefore been requested that £896,000 was carried forward.
Jenner Road - Structural issues had been identified at Jenner Road that would require additional work in 2018/19. It had therefore been requested that £51,000 was carried forward into 2018/19.
Williams Crescent - The final account was currently being agreed with the contractor and it had been requested that £98,000 was carried forward into 2018/19.
Common Parts – Delays with tenders and contractor capacity issues had resulted in work being pushed back into 2018/19. It had been requested that £98,000 was carried forward into 2018/19.
Emergency Works – Emergency works at Camrose Court were on-going. It had therefore been requested that £78,000 was carried forward into 2018/19.
Environmental Works – There were on-going environmental works on the Buttrills Scheme that would continue into 2018/19. It had therefore been requested that £63,000 was carried forward.
Aids and Adaptations – There were on-going works for aids and adaptations so it had been requested that £88,000 was carried forward to 2018/19.
Disabled Facilities Grant – Slippage of £186,000.
The referrals for disabled facilities grants were dropped during November 2017 but picked up again in January 2018. As a consequence, the budget for 2017/18 was committed during the financial year, but the building works were not completed and would be finished during early 2018/19. It had therefore been requested that £186,000 be carried forward into 2018/19.
As a result of the Capital underspend in 2017/18, Managing Director’s Emergency Powers had been used to approve slippage into 2018/19. This would fund the completion of schemes as shown in Appendix 5 of the Officer’s report.
The Major Repairs Allowance (MRA) was a grant given to the Authority by Welsh Government and could be used for capital expenditure on Housing Revenue Account (HRA) assets. The Authority’s MRA for 2017/18 was £2.779m. £14.358m was spent on major improvements to the Council’s housing stock during 2017/18, £2.779m of which was funded from the MRA, £3.201m from Housing Capital Receipts, £162,000 from Welsh Government and European Grants and £7.216m from Housing Revenue and Reserves, as well as £1m of unsupported borrowing.
With regards to Reserves the Officer advised that a reserve was an appropriation from a revenue account and did not constitute a cost of service until the expenditure was eventually incurred. A reserve did not cover a present obligation or liability and was a voluntary means of setting aside monies for future requirements either capital or revenue.
A provision was a charge to revenue and was included as part of the cost of the relevant service at the point the provision was created. A provision covered a present obligation or liability that had occurred to a past event and was compulsory under accounting regulations.
The Committee’s reserves, as at 31st March, 2018 were attached at Appendix 4 of the Officer’s report.
A Member raised the following questions with regards to Appendix 3 of the Officer’s report;
|
Question from Committee Member
|
Officer Response
|
|
With regards to the Castleland Renewal Area and the requested slippage of £16,000 via Emergency Powers to complete works at Gladstone Garden, why has slippage been requested and what stage of works were the Council currently at?
|
In the absence of the Operational Manager for Regeneration, it was agreed that a response be provided to the Committee following the meeting.
|
|
With regards to emergency works and work ongoing at Camrose Court, how much longer was this work going to take?
|
The Operational Manager for Building Services advised that progress on the Camrose Court project had been much slower than expected. Officers were currently waiting on advice regarding a highway issue which was the primary cause for delay. Unfortunately, at this point in time, Officers were unable to offer a completion date but, it was hoped the minor issue would be rectified within two months.
|
A Member raised the following questions with regards to Appendix 4 of the Officer’s report:
|
Question from Committee Member
|
Officer Response
|
|
With regards to homelessness and housing and the sum that would be used to support homelessness prevention work, what was the anticipated prevention work exactly?
|
In the absence of the Operational Manager for Public Housing Services, it was agreed that a response be provided to the Committee following the meeting.
|
|
With regard to gypsy traveller and the provision of gypsy traveller sites and a Gypsy Liaison Officer, has there been any progress on both these points and where does the Council stand at this moment in time?
|
The Operational Manager for Building Services advised a report was currently being drafted for Cabinet for their consideration on the matter. The Officer confirmed grant funding was available per siting which would reduce the need for Council funds being drawn upon.
|
RECOMMENDED - T H A T the report and financial measures taken and proposed be noted by the Committee.
Reason for recommendation
To make Members aware of the provisional financial position and actions that have been taken.
143 REVENUE AND CAPITAL MONITORING FOR THE PERIOD 1ST APRIL TO 31ST MAY, 2018 (DEH) -
The Finance Support Manager presented the report to advise the Committee of the position in respect of revenue and capital expenditure for the period 1st April to 31st May, 2018 regarding those revenue and capital budgets, which formed the Committee’s remit.
Council, on 28th February 2018, approved the Revenue, Capital and Housing Revenue Account Budgets for 2018/19. Reports monitoring expenditure were brought to the Committee on a regular basis.
The revenue budget and projected outturn for 2018/19 was shown in the table below. As it was very early in the financial year, the current forecast was for an outturn within target.
|
|
Revenue
Budget
|
Probable
Outturn
|
Variance
(+) Favourable
(-) Adverse
|
|
|
£000
|
£000
|
£000
|
|
Public Sector Housing (HRA)
|
(21)
|
(21)
|
0
|
|
Council Fund Housing
|
1,383
|
1,383
|
0
|
|
Private Sector Housing
|
11,007
|
11,007
|
0
|
|
Regulatory Services
|
2,239
|
2,239
|
0
|
|
Youth Offending Service
|
728
|
728
|
0
|
|
TOTAL
|
15,336
|
15,336
|
0
|
Public Sector Housing (HRA) - The HRA was expected to outturn on target and any underspends in year would be offset by additional contributions to Capital Expenditure thus reducing the reliance on Unsupported Borrowing.
Council Fund Housing - At this early stage of the year, it was anticipated the budget would outturn on target.
Private Housing - As it was very early in the financial year there was currently no variance to the budget to report.
Regulatory Services - The allocation of £2.239m represented the Vale of Glamorgan's budget for its share of the Shared Regulatory Service (SRS). A separate set of accounts was maintained for the SRS and periodically reported to the Shared Regulatory Service Joint Committee. At this stage in the year it was anticipated the SRS would outturn on target.
Youth Offending Service - It was anticipated that this service would outturn on target at year end.
As part of the Final Revenue Budget Proposals for 2018/19, a savings target of £6.298m was set for the Authority. Attached at Appendix 1 to the Officer’s report was a statement detailing all savings targets related to the Committee. Updates on progress would be provided to Members during the year.
Appendix 2 of the Officer’s report detailed financial progress on the Capital Programme as at 31st May 2018.
Members were advised that Appendix 2 included requests for unspent committed expenditure to be slipped from the 2017/18 Capital Programme into 2018/19 as approved by emergency powers on 12th June 2018.
Housing Improvement Programme - A delegated authority request had been approved to allocate the £20.129m related to the 2018/19 Housing Improvement Programme as follows:
|
Scheme
|
£000
|
|
HRA Internal Works
|
2,586
|
|
HRA External Works
|
5,564
|
|
Jenner Road
|
378
|
|
Williams Crescent
|
176
|
|
Emergency Works
|
300
|
|
Aids and Adaptions
|
432
|
|
Common Parts
|
2,750
|
|
Environmental Improvements
|
2,377
|
|
New Build
|
5,566
|
|
Total
|
20,129
|
HRA External Works - It had been requested to vire £1,000 to the Digital Highway in Sheltered Accommodation scheme which was required as match funding for the 2018/19 element of the grant.
RECOMMENDED - T H A T the position with regards to the 2018/19 Revenue and Capital Monitoring be noted.
Reason for recommendation
That the Scrutiny Committee are aware of the position with regards to the 2018/19 Revenue and Capital budgets.
144 FAMILIES FIRST 2017-18 ANNUAL UPDATE (DSS) -
The Prevention and Partnership Manager presented the report to apprise the Committee of progress and activities within the remit of the Welsh Government Grant allocated to support the delivery of the Families First Plan 2017/18 in the Vale of Glamorgan.
The Families First Plan was initially developed in 2012 and focussed on a support network of provision and services aligned to a 'team around the family' approach.
Families First funds the co-ordination and support of services, the provision of a dedicated family support service (FACT - Families Achieving Change Together) and a range of bespoke projects that support the long term aims to improve the life chances of children and young people from disadvantaged families.
Eight distinct projects exist under the Families First Plan 2017-18:
- FACT - internally commissioned (Social Services);
- Disability Focus - internally and externally commissioned;
- Partnership for Young Parents - internally commissioned (Social Services);
- Putting Families First - internally commissioned (Education);
- Youth Support Programme - internally commissioned (Education);
- Young Carers - externally commissioned;
- C-Card scheme - internally commissioned (Education);
- Central co-ordination - internally commissioned (Education).
The Families First Management Board had also overseen two further pilot projects, the Families First Advice Line (FFAL) and Parenting and Youth Reshaping. The Officer advised that the FFAL was managed through FACT and had been particularly successful. Children, young people and/or families were referred through a central formal referral system (584 calls had been received between April 2017- March 2018) to a team who offered advice and signposting and if appropriate undertake assessments. This had proved successful in reducing the overall number of referrals to FACT and improved the appropriate nature of referrals. There had been a decrease of 4.9% (159) accessing the FACT project from 2016/17 in response to the implementation of the FFAL.
The second pilot was informed by planned changes to Families First by Welsh Government. All Local Authorities were informed early in 2017 that they would need to make additional changes to their Families First programmes, based on emerging priorities that would be made clear within the new Families First Programme Guidance launched in April 2017. All Local Authorities would also have a transitional year (April 2017- March 2018) in which to make the necessary changes. The pilot was designed to facilitate the changes in to the new Parenting and Youth services. This involved the secondment of two officers (one for Parenting and one for Youth) to lead on the development of these services; they undertook a staff skills audit, reviewed current activities, brought the respective teams together, reshaped the focus of the team in line with Welsh Government guidance, informed and updated the wider partners of changes, developed new brand/logos, and recruited staff as required. This had proven really worthwhile with the mobilisation phase of these services in place from April 2018 as planned.
The Officer advised that Welsh Government issued a set pro-forma for the annual progress report, this required details about a number of specified areas linked to the Families First guidance and an update on all projects. The annual progress report, attached at Appendix 1 to the Officer’s report gave an overview of some of the main outcomes and achievements and the individual project progress during 2017 to 2018. Looking forward, from April 2018 the funding received would be utilised to deliver the following projects:
- Team Around the Family project (FACT) internally commissioned and delivered via Social Services;
- Disability Focus - internally and externally commissioned (some on a regional basis);
- Young Carers - externally commissioned;
- Wellbeing Youth Mentoring Service (this absorbs both the Youth Support Programme and the C-Card projects). Internally commissioned and delivered via Learning and Skills;
- Parent Support Project (this absorbs Putting Families First, the Partnership for Young Parents and to incorporate some element of the Flying Start parenting service);
- Families First Advice Line (building on the success of the pilot). Internally commissioned and delivered by FACT (Social Services).
The Prevention and Partnership Manager went on to say that there had been significant growth in services relating to young persons disability and also the level of contact with the advice line service. This was counterbalanced with a visible decrease in services required for the overall family.
A Member referred to the case studies contained within the Annual Report, starting at page 20, and acknowledged that these case studies evidenced the excellent work being led by officers currently taking place. However, the Member enquired about the cases that did not have such a positive outcome to give more of an overview of the service.
The Prevention and Partnership Manager advised that cases which were less positive usually required involvement from higher statutory services such as Social Services and therefore the cases were out of his remit once escalated from the Families First Scheme.
The Chairman thanked the Officer for his detailed report and enthusiastic delivery of the PowerPoint presentation used to support his report and asked that a copy of the PowerPoint presentation be forwarded onto Committee Members for future reference.
RECOMMENDED -
(1) T H A T the content of the Officer’s report be noted.
(2) T H A T the positive work undertaken to support children, young people and families in the Vale of Glamorgan be noted.
(3) T H A T further update reports be received by the Committee on an annual basis.
Reasons for recommendations
(1&2) That Members are kept informed about positive progress made around the development of Families First.
(3) That an update report be presented in 12 months time.
145 1ST QUARTER SCRUTINY DECISION TRACKING OF RECOMMENDATIONS AND UPDATED WORK PROGRAMME SCHEDULE 2018/19 (MD) -
Members were advised of the progress in relation to the Scrutiny Committee’s recommendations and asked to confirm the updated Work Programme schedule for 2018/19.
The Scrutiny Support Officer advised that the decision tracking with regards to April to June 2018, as attached at Appendix A to the report, had only two ongoing items regarding the Youth Offending Service: 9 Months Performance Report for the Period April 2017 to December 2017 which Members would recall were raised only recently at the June meeting. These items were labelled as ongoing pending further research on how to respond by officers.
Appendix B to the report highlighted a single ongoing item which was a recommendation raised at the meeting on 11th October, 2017. The Officer reminded Committee this item was labelled as ongoing as it was pending the relevant report/strategy being brought to a future Committee meeting which was included within the current Forward Work Programme.
The Forward Work Programme for 2018/19 was attached at Appendix C to the report and included rolling items relevant to the Committee as well as unique reports which had been requested by the Committee. All items were set out by frequency within the Forward Work Programme as approved by the Committee Chairman. The Forward Work Programme had been aligned to the Cabinet Forward Work Programme and if approved by Committee would be uploaded to the Vale of Glamorgan website for members of the public’s information.
The Programme was a proposed list of items for consideration and may be subject to change depending on prevailing circumstances.
RECOMMENDED -
(1) T H A T the views of the Committee on the status of the actions listed in Appendix A and B to the Officer’s report be noted.
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18 April 2018
|
|
Min. No. 866 – Co-Opted Observer Membership of the Homes and Safe Communities Scrutiny Committee (HDS) – Recommended
|
|
(1) That it be recommended to Full Council that the Co-opted Non-Voting Observer vacancies on the Homes and Safe Communities Scrutiny Committee not be filled by the existing organisations.
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Recommendation raised at Annual Meeting on 9th May, 2018 and subsequently approved.
(Min. No. 8 refers)
Completed
|
|
(2) That the Homes and Safe Communities Scrutiny Committee write to Cymorth Cymru, Glamorgan Voluntary Services and the Citizens Advice Bureau seeking their views on possible involvement in the Committee, including the option of becoming co-opted non-voting observers.
|
Letter sent to relevant organisations on 9th May, 2018 following approval at Annual Meeting.
(Min. No. 8 refers)
Completed
|
|
16 May 2018
|
|
Min. No. 31 – 4th Quarter Decision Tracking of Recommendations and Work Programme Schedule 2018/19 (MD) – Recommended
|
|
|
(2) That the Forward Work Programme schedule attached at Appendix C be approved an uploaded to the Council’s website.
|
Forward Work Programme uploaded to the Council’s website.
Completed
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|
13 June 2018
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|
Min. No. – Tenant Engagement Strategy (REF) – Recommended
|
|
(2) That the final Tenant Engagement Strategy be referred to the Homes and Safe Communities Scrutiny Committee on an annual basis to monitor the implementation of the agreed actions.
|
Added to forward work programme as a rolling annual item.
Completed
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Min. No. – Timebanking Project – Six Monthly Monitoring Report (DEH) – Recommended
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(2) That the six monthly monitoring report and partner PowerPoint presentation be referred to the Community Liaison Committee.
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Reference has been revised and included on the Community Liaison Committee agenda for the meeting on 17th October, 2018.
Completed
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(2) T H A T the Forward Work Programme attached at Appendix C be approved and uploaded to the Council’s website.
Reasons for recommendations
(1) To maintain effective tracking of the Committee’s recommendations.
(2) For information.