Agenda item

To consider the report of the Managing Director.

Consideration was given to the report of the Managing Director.

The Managing Director spoke in detail to the report which sought approval for Blaenau Gwent to join the other Councils in Gwent and statutory partners to form a Regional PSB.  The report also provided an update on the progress made in relation to a regional well-being assessment and well-being plan, the formation of the regional scrutiny committee and the development of a local delivery partnership in Blaenau Gwent to ensure local priorities continued to be a focus in the County Borough.

The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 focussed on improving the social, economic, environmental and cultural well-being of Wales.  The Act set out a collective well-being duty on specified public bodies to act jointly via Public Service Boards (PSBs) to improve the economic, social, environmental and cultural well-being of their area by contributing to the achievement of the well-being goals.

The existing PSB structure included within Appendix 1 of the report highlighted that in Gwent currently there were 5 PSB’s centred on the 5 local authority areas and those PSB’s brought together local authorities and statutory and non-statutory partners to act collaboratively to produce the well-being plan and assessments as set out in legislation.  The next local well-being assessments were due in May 2022 and there was a requirement for the new Well-being Plans to be published by May 2023.

The Act also made provisions for two or more PSB’s to merge and proposals for the creation of a Regional PSB for Gwent were brought forward for all 5 PSB’s to be merged into one Regional PSB and local PSB’s disbanded.  However, the PSB had agreed to continue to focus on local priorities through local delivery partnerships.

The Managing Director continued by advising that Appendix 2 of the report set out the proposed structure of the Regional PSB and paragraph 2.9 detailed the benefits associated with this change.

If the proposal to move to a single Regional PSB was approved, the first task to be undertaken would be a Gwent wide Wellbeing Assessment by May 2022 and the publication of a Regional Wellbeing Plan by May 2023.  It was noted that there were two years remaining on the current Well-being Plan for Blaenau Gwent and this would continue to be delivered and overseen by the local delivery partnership and the work of the PSB and scrutiny of the existing Well-being Plans would continue through local scrutiny in each individual area until 2023 to ensure that priorities were delivered.  Operating parallel to this arrangement, a regional scrutiny structure would be set up in advance of May 2022.

Council was advised that colleagues in Gwent had already considered and endorsed the move towards a Regional PSB and the statutory and non-statutory partners had also endorsed the report.  Blaenau Gwent’s Public Service Board Scrutiny Committee had considered and agreed the report earlier that week at which debate had ensued in terms of administrative support and cost, the legal basis for the move to this arrangement and Members were keen to receive further information in terms of how the scrutiny arrangements were to be set up.  In addition, there was a clear assurance sought that the focus on local priorities would not be lost if this proposal was approved and that Members would be involved in the development of regional scrutiny arrangements.  The Managing Director advised that with those assurances, the Scrutiny Committee had supported the report.

The Leader of the Labour Group commended the proposal and said he was pleased that the local arrangement was to be maintained.  However, he had viewed the recording of the Public Service Board Scrutiny Committee earlier that day and expressed his concern that the Chair of the Committee had commented that there were no Labour Members present but did not provide the reason for this. 

The Leader of the Labour Group said that he wished to place on record the reason that Labour Group representatives had not been present was because the Majority Independent Group had decided to convene a meeting which conflicted with the original time of the PSB Scrutiny Committee.  Whilst this meeting had been rescheduled it then conflicted the pre-arranged Labour Group meeting.  He pointed out that he had immediately responded on the day the notice was received to advise of the situation and was told that the meeting would be proceeding.  He had then, subsequently written to the clerk and Managing Director to advise them both and said he felt that his Group deserved the same due respect as the Majority Independent Group because it could have been perceived that the Labour Group had decided not to attend this Committee when in fact there had been a valid reason for this absence. 

The Chair of the Committee advised that he had already sent an apology to the clerk who had notified him of the reason for the absence on that day but unfortunately, he did not have the opportunity to open his emails until following the Committee meeting.

The Leader of the Council advised that there was no malice intended when the meeting was re-arranged – similar to the arrangements of the Labour Group, the Majority Independent Group also held pre-arranged meetings on a Tuesday prior to each Council meeting.  However, he had requested a 30-minute delay on the commencement of the PSB Scrutiny Committee due to the weight of the Council agenda which would not have been dealt with in the allotted timescale.  He had not considered that a 30-minute delay was too excessive and it had been diarised a week previously.  However, he had not realised that this had conflicted with a Labour Group meeting – no-one had contacted him and only on the day of the meeting it had been brought to his attention.  He reiterated that this re-arrangement had not been undertaken with any malice intended.

A Member welcomed the report but had some concerns regarding a Regional PSB.  He felt that Blaenau Gwent had been losing out when it came to health, in particular and said he hoped the Regional PSB would have more influence and power to supply the public with the actual services that they required.

Another Member said that he was dismayed that he had been unable to attend the PSB Scrutiny Committee and that this was not the first time there had been clashes of meetings this year. He asked what assurance could be given that Members would have sight of all the minutes of the Regional PSB within a reasonable timescale in order that they could be scrutinised.  At present, there was a one-way process with Members only having sight of agendas and not the minutes and said he hoped that the new Regional PSB would operate a two-way process.

The Leader of the Council commenced by stating that this was of equal concern across all partners and said that for such a large strategic body ensuring that scrutiny was correct from the beginning was absolutely essential.  Scrutiny managers were jointly considering the rationale behind the formation of regional scrutiny and the local scrutiny arrangements would continue for a period of time.  As this was such a large strategic entity, he suspected that scrutiny managers would be considering the effectiveness of scrutiny (whilst not losing local emphasis) because there would be an opportunity to consider and discuss major issues on a Gwent wide basis.  He reiterated, that it was absolutely crucial that the scrutiny process was fit for purpose and due diligence be given to the issues that needed to be discussed and, therefore, it was imperative that there were appropriate checks and balances.

The Chief Officer Commercial and Customer advised that the arrangements for regional scrutiny were being progressed and would be subject to a further report and confirmed that the local scrutiny arrangements would remain.  It was noted that as part of the regional scrutiny arrangements there would be a clear connection to the local aspect and connections between the Chair of the Scrutiny Committee and Regional PSB.

A Member expressed concern that there needed to be someone with very strong views fighting the corner for Blaenau Gwent to impress the effects positive or negative for Blaenau Gwent, particularly as there may potentially be votes taken at these regional meetings.  

Another Member said that she was dubious regarding a collaborative PSB because she valued Blaenau Gwent as an individual and no two authorities were the same and was concerned that Blaenau Gwent may be forgotten within the main strategic purposes of the group.  At present local arrangements would continue and this welcomed which, included third sector representation and she asked whether this third sector contribution would remain within the new scrutiny structural arrangements.

The Managing Director confirmed that regional scrutiny would allow for the voluntary sector representation to continue as it would with the local delivery partnership in Blaenau Gwent.

The Deputy Leader of the Minority Independent Group advised that he had raised questions and concerns at the PSB Scrutiny Committee the previous day about the structure of the Regional PSB and that a move to a larger Gwent Public Service Board could potentially result in job losses affecting Blaenau Gwent staff.  He pointed out that he had abstained from voting at this meeting because he felt that by moving to a larger Gwent wide organisation would be a step towards ending another Blaenau Gwent entity. He requested that a recorded vote be taken for the public record.

The Leader of the Council proposed that Option 1 be endorsed.  This proposal was seconded.

The Leader of the Labour Group advised that he had previously been appointed to this Board and said that some of the Members may not have so many concerns if they were aware of how the Board operated.  He pointed out that the strategic element of the Regional PSB and working with partners could be useful for resolving potential issues within the community and he saw this as a positive.  

The Leader of the Council concurred with the comments made by the Leader of the Labour Group.  He felt that this proposal would genuinely be of benefit for Blaenau Gwent and Gwent in general particularly, in relation to discussions around major issues and assured Members that all partners were treated equally from a political perspective within the group. He pointed out that the relationship with the Health Board continued to grow strong for obvious reasons and said that these were working links that were not going to be broken.

The Leader continued by stating that whilst the authority was moving to a Gwent wide PSB, local delivery partnerships would be formed to focus more acutely on the issues that were crucial locally and this mechanism would provide a greater understanding of the overarching work of the PSB. It was noted that a proportion of the work of the local partnerships would feed into the wider picture so there would be a two-way flow of information.  It was also equally important that the right people both politically and professionally were appointed to the local partnership and the Regional PSB.  There were linkages between the current PSB and the Scrutiny Committee with the Chair and Vice-Chair who had been invited to attending these meetings for considerable period of time, however, a similar process had not been adopted by the other local authorities, therefore Blaenau Gwent had and would continue to influence agendas. 

Following a lengthy discussion, a recorded vote was taken for the public record.

The Leader of the Council, thereupon proposed that Option 1 be endorsed.  This proposal was seconded.

In Favour of Option 1 – Councillors P. Baldwin, D. Bevan, J. Collins, M. Cook, M. Cross, N. Daniels, D. Davies, G. A. Davies, G. L. Davies, M. Day, L. Elias, D. Hancock, K. Hayden, S. Healy, J. Hill, J. Holt, J. Mason, H. McCarthy, C. Meredith, M. Moore, J. P. Morgan, L Parsons, G. Paulsen, K. Rowson, T. Sharrem, T. Smith, B. Summers, G. Thomas, S. Thomas, H. Trollope, J. Wilkins, D. Wilkshire, B. Willis, L. Winnett

Against Option 1 – Councillors M. Holland, J. Millard, K. Pritchard

Abstention – Councillor P. Edwards

The vote on Option 1 (preferred option) was carried.

RESOLVED, subject to the foregoing, that the report be accepted and Option 1 be endorsed, namely that the following recommendations be agreed:

Recommendation 1: To move to a regional PSB as outlined in the report with the importance of maintaining strong local partnerships.

Recommendation 2: To establish regional scrutiny and the developing arrangements, and to receive further details as appropriate.  

Recommendation 3: The local assessment of well-being, to be agreed by 5th May 2022, would be part of the PSB Scrutiny Committee work programme for 2021/22.

Recommendation 4: To support the proposed regional PSB terms of reference (Appendix 5), and requirements to make any relevant changes to committee structures and constitution.

Recommendation 5: The development of Local Delivery Partnerships to be considered in local scrutiny work programmes.

Recommendation 6: To continue to support Scrutiny of the current Well-Being Plans to 2023 through existing local partnership Scrutiny arrangements.