Agenda and minutes

Venue: virtually via Microsoft Teams - if you would like to attend this meeting live via Microsoft Teams please contact committee.services@blaenau-gwent.gov.uk

Contact: Democratic Services  7788

Media

Items
No. Item

1.

Simultaneous Translation

You are welcome to use Welsh at the meeting, a minimum notice period of 3 working days is required should you wish to do so.  A simultaneous translation will be provided if requested.

Minutes:

It was noted that no requests had been received for the simultaneous translation service.

 

2.

Apologies

To receive.

Minutes:

APOLOGIES

 

Apologies for absence were received from:-

 

Councillor M. Moore

Councillor G. Collier

Councillor L. Parsons

 

3.

Declarations of Interest and Dispensations

To receive.

Minutes:

No declarations of interest or dispensations were made.

 

4.

Review into Water Supply Quality in Schools pdf icon PDF 417 KB

Due to the need to consider the following item as a matter of urgency, the Chair of the Committee has confirmed that the following matter can be considered under the Provisions of Paragraph 4(b), Section 100(b) of the Local Government Act, 1972.

 

REASON FOR URGENCY

 

For the Committee to consider the review and the implementation of appropriate changes to monitoring processes.

 

To consider the report of the Corporate Director Regeneration and Community Services and the Interim Corporate Director Education.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Due to the need to consider the following item as a matter of urgency, the Chair of the Committee has confirmed that the following matter can be considered under the Provisions of Paragraph 4(b), Section 100(b) of the Local Government Act, 1972.

 

Consideration was given to the joint report of the Corporate Director Regeneration and Community Services and the Interim Corporate Director Education.

 

The Chair reminded everyone that Members of the Education and Learning Scrutiny Committee had been invited to the meeting as observers due to the cross cutting nature of the report and therefore in line with the Constitution the Education and Learning Scrutiny Committee was not permitted to vote.

 

In response, a Member felt that the decision to stop Members of the Education and Learning Scrutiny Committee being able to vote on the decision of the report was an interpretation of the rules of the Constitution. The Member was of the opinion that it was an instruction from the Leadership of the Council to prevent Members from voting.

 

The Chair noted the comments and advised that the matter be taken up with the Leadership of the Council.

 

At the invitation of the Chair, the Corporate Director Regeneration and Community Services informed that the purpose of the report was to update Members on the outcome of the review carried out by Integrated Water Services (IWS) in light of the water quality issues experienced in our schools during the period of closure due to COVID-19.

 

The Corporate Director advised that the Council had taken a pro-active and comprehensive approach to the reopening of schools from a health and safety perspective, including water testing in accordance with the Approved Code of Practice (ACOP) L8 and Health & Safety Executive (HSE) specific advice. The safety of the children and staff across all school sites was a priority to the Council.

 

The closure of schools during lockdown was the longest period schools had ever been closed. The Corporate Director noted that normally schools are only closed for a period of five to six weeks during the summer holidays. This period of school closures was unprecedented and lessons had been learned across a number of services.

 

The Corporate Director advised that Integrated Water Services (IWS) was the firm appointed to undertake the review. The scope of the review included selecting 12 school sites from the 29 schools sites in the Borough. The schools selected were reported as follows:-

 

1. Blaen-y-Cwm Primary School

2. Bryn Bach Primary School

3. Brynmawr Foundation School

4. Canolfan yr Afon (Riverside) School

5. Coed-y-Garn Primary School

6. Ebbw Fawr Primary / Pen-y-Cwm Special School

7. Ebbw Fawr Secondary School

8. St Mary’s Church in Wales Primary School

9. Sofrydd Primary School

10. Tredegar Comprehensive School

11. Willowtown Primary School

12. Ystruth Primary School

 

A summary of the IWS review was detailed in Appendices 1 and 2 of the report and the Corporate Director outlined the key recommendations identified by IWS as follows:-

 

1)      Investigate a suitable on-line  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.