(Note
original report submitted to Gwent PSB for 30th June Gwent PSB
meeting)
SUBJECT: Establishment
of a Regional PSB Scrutiny Committee
Report written and submitted by: GSWAG Sub Group (led by Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council)
Author: Sarah King, Blaenau Gwent County Borough
Council
Consultees: Gwent PSB Partners (following March 22 GPSB
meeting), GSWAG Partners and Local Authority Scrutiny Officers)
1 |
Areas
Affected |
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1.1 |
The full
regional PSB will be impacted by the establishment of a Regional Scrutiny
Committee and all areas of Gwent represented. |
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2 |
Purpose of
Report |
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2.1 |
The purpose
of the report is to set out recommendations for the establishment of a
Regional PSB Scrutiny Committee, supporting the Regional PSB. |
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3 |
Background |
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3.1 |
Following
the establishment of the Regional PSB, and in keeping with the development of
a Regional Well-being Assessment and Plan, the PSB has agreed to establish Regional
Scrutiny arrangements to review and scrutinise the work of the Regional PSB.
This was also agreed, in principle, by all Gwent Local Authorities within their
reports to local Scrutiny Committees. |
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3.2 |
The
considerations of this, and previous reports on the establishment of Regional
Scrutiny Committee, have been taken into account alongside the already
established arrangements of other joint committees such as: ·
CCRCD / CJC; ·
Regional Partnership Board; ·
Cardiff and the Vale Partnership Board; and ·
Cwm Taf Public Services Board Joint Overview and Scrutiny
Committee. |
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4 |
Setting up
Regional Scrutiny Arrangements |
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4.1 |
It has been
agreed by the Regional PSB to have both a Regional PSB Scrutiny Committee and
to also maintain local PSB / Partnership Scrutiny arrangements. |
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4.2 |
Local
Arrangements All local Scrutiny
PSB (partnership) arrangements will be maintained, with Local PSB Scrutiny
Committee Meetings being held until 2023 (in line with the development of the
Well-being Plan). Discussion has taken place for these local arrangements to
remain post 2023 to retain local accountability with arrangements for Local
Authority discretion. |
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4.3 |
Role of
Local PSB/Partnership Committee ·
To
consider items that relate to the individual Local Authority area only, with
joint or partnership activity being considered by the Regional Committee. ·
Local
Scrutiny Committees will remain accountable to their own local authorities. ·
Membership
of local committees to be determined by local arrangements. ·
Members
should only refer a matter to a Joint scrutiny committee if it falls clearly
within the responsibilities and terms of reference of the Regional Scrutiny
Committee and if there is no scrutiny of the issue in the local authority to
which the member belongs. ·
All
community safety responsibilities* are to be maintained by each local
authority and their local scrutiny arrangements. *
Under Section 19 of the Police and Justice Act 2006 every Council must ensure
that it has a committee with the power to scrutinise decisions made, or other
action taken, the work of the responsible
authorities (in respect of their crime and disorder functions), and to make
reports or recommendations to the local authority with respect to the
discharge of those functions. |
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4.4 |
Regional
Arrangements The PSB have
agreed for a Regional PSB Scrutiny Committee to be operational from Autumn 2022
in order for the committee to effectively consult on the Well-being Plan. For
this to be effective, and align to new local authority administrations, the
Regional PSB Scrutiny Committee and membership should be approved at all
Gwent Local Authority Council’s following the PSB decisions. |
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4.5 |
Role of
Regional PSB Scrutiny Committee ·
The
role of the Regional PSB Scrutiny Committee would be to hold the Regional PSB
to account; ·
The
committee will feed comments / discussions / recommendations directly to the
Gwent PSB; ·
The
Regional PSB would be accountable to the Regional PSB Scrutiny Committee
only; and ·
To
scrutinise the overall effectiveness of the Gwent / Regional Public Services
Board and exclude scrutiny of individual partner organisations. |
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5 |
Options for Recommendation to the PSB |
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5.1 |
Following
discussions across the Gwent Local Authorities, including GSWAG, the
Governance Group, Policy Officers and Scrutiny Officers, the following recommendations
for a Regional PSB Scrutiny Committee are being presented to the Regional PSB
for approval. |
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Recommendation 1 – Membership Two Local
Authority Elected Member representation including one representative from partner
organisations (note these cannot be officers of the organisations). To
include: ·
The
Fire and Rescue Authority ·
Third
Sector ·
Health
Board Member ·
NRW Principles: ·
The Committee should have an equal
number of Elected Members from each appointing authority and no executive
members. ·
Each local authority will determine
and nominate its Elected Members in accordance with its own arrangements. The
term of office of the nominated Elected Members shall be a matter for each
nominating local authority. |
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Recommendation 2 - Voting One vote per organisation
(regardless of number of members). This is the same as the current arrangements for the CCRCD |
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Recommendation 3 - Chairs and Vice
Chairs Regional PSB Scrutiny Committee to identify its Chair at the first meeting of the Committee, and it will be reviewed and elected annually thereafter. |
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Recommendation 4 - Meeting Cycle Hold the
Scrutiny Meeting 4 weeks before each scheduled formal Regional PSB Meeting
(quarterly). It will be essential to schedule the Scrutiny Meetings so that there is adequate time to feed into the Regional PSB and also receive information back. |
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Recommendation 5 - Development of a
Forward Work Programme Establish a scrutiny work programme that is directly aligns to the work programme of the Regional PSB. The Work Programme should be drafted before the cycle begins so that it can be agreed at the first Scrutiny Meeting and should also be considered at every meeting to determine what needs to be brought forward and when to ensure effective scrutiny and to hold the Regional PSB to account. |
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Recommendation 6 - Meeting Arrangements a)
Papers
to be developed by the lead partner for each item b)
Papers
to be made available at least one week before the meeting using ‘modern.gov’
approach c)
Offer
all meetings as hybrid d)
All
meetings to be recorded and included on a central PSB website http://www.gwentpsb.org/ as well as on partner websites e)
Hold
pre-meetings 30 minutes before the meeting to agree a questioning strategy
and consider possible recommendations f)
Hold
post evaluation meetings after each meeting to review and assess the meeting,
including where improvements can be made in future meetings. |
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Recommendation 7 - Meeting Quorum Each Local
Authority area to be represented, and one-third of the overall. |
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Recommendation 8 - Resources Each statutory
partner provides a sum of money to support the scrutiny committee
(recommended share of £15,000), and one Local Authority identified as
Committee Support, with a review every year. To
make this Committee work effectively and to provide adequate support and
administration it is expected to be resource intensive. It should be noted
the precedence set by the support for the Scrutiny Committee of the CCRCD
that Rhondda Cynon Taff County Borough Council, as the host, receives £15,000
annually to support the operation of the Joint Scrutiny Committee. |
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Recommended Terms of Reference Agree the
Terms of Reference for the Regional PSB Scrutiny Committee, incorporating the
outlined recommendations above, and with the agreement that these can be
reviewed on an annual basis to ensure they remain fit for purpose and assist
in the effective operation of the Regional PSB Scrutiny Committee. Please see
attached at Appendix 1. |
Report
Date: 22nd June 2022
Appendix
1 - Draft Terms of Reference – Regional
PSB Scrutiny Committee
DRAFT Terms of Reference – Regional PSB
Scrutiny Committee
The Regional
PSB Scrutiny Committee will have the strategic oversight of the PSB and will
hold the Regional PSB and Partners to account for the delivery of the
Well-being Plan and supporting projects.
The Regional
PSB Scrutiny Committee will:
·
Perform
the Overview and Scrutiny function for the Regional PSB on behalf of the five
local Authorities of Gwent.
·
Develop
a forward work programme reflecting its functions.
·
Review,
scrutinise and challenge the performance, decisions made or actions taken by
the Board;
·
Review
and scrutinise the Board’s governance arrangements and function;
·
Review
and scrutinise the performance of the PSB projects including delivery and
outcomes
·
Make
reports or recommendations to the Board regarding its functions or governance
arrangements;
·
Promote
public engagement and participation;
·
Consider
matters relating to the Board as Welsh Ministers may refer to it and report to
the Welsh Ministers accordingly; and
·
Carry
out other functions in relation to the Board that are imposed on it by the
Well-Being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015. c).
·
Review
or scrutinise the progress of any joint project.
·
Refer
any matter to the Regional Gwent PSB which is relevant to its functions:
·
The
matter relates to one of the functions of the authority and is relevant to the
functions of the Regional scrutiny committee; and
·
It
effects the electoral area of the member or it effects any person who lives or
works there.
When
considering whether to refer a matter to the Regional Scrutiny Committee a
member should first consider if it falls within the remit of a single overview
and scrutiny committee within the member’s local authority, and if that is the
case the member should raise the matter there. Members should only refer a
matter to a Joint scrutiny committee if it falls clearly within the
responsibilities and terms of reference of the Regional Scrutiny Committee and
if there is no scrutiny of the issue in the local authority to which the member
belongs.
It is
acknowledged that the establishment of a Regional Scrutiny Committee shall not
serve to exclude a local authority’s right to carry out its own individual
Scrutiny of any decision of the Regional Gwent PSB.
In addition to
these functions the Regional Scrutiny Committee’s lines of Inquiry can include
(but not be limited to), the following:
·
The
effectiveness of the Wellbeing Assessment;
·
The
effectiveness of the Wellbeing Plan;
·
The
effectiveness of performance measurement arrangements;
·
The
level of commitment from individual partners to the work of the Regional Gwent
Public Services Board;
·
The
effectiveness of the Regional Gwent Public Services Board in communicating its
work, objectives and outcomes to its stakeholders; and,
·
The
effectiveness of the Regional Gwent Public Services Board in addressing the
issue of pooled funding to tackle priorities
The WBFG act
allows for scrutiny of the PSB as a ‘collaborative body’, not the individual
partners comprising the PSB. Paragraph 180 of the Future Generations guidance
states that; ‘The committee can require any member of the board to give
evidence, but only in respect of the exercise of joint functions conferred on
them as a member of the board under this Act.’ This includes any person that
has accepted an invitation to participate in the activity of the Regional Gwent
PSB. The Regional Scrutiny Committee will therefore scrutinise the work of the
Regional Gwent PSB and not
the individual activities of partners.