Vale of Glamorgan Council
Cyngor Bro Morgannwg

Agenda Item No. 7

 

The Vale of Glamorgan Council

 

Corporate Performance and Resources Scrutiny Committee: 21st March 2017

 

Report of the Managing Director

 

Vale of Glamorgan Public Services Board - Well-being Assessment

 

Purpose of the Report

  1. To advise the Committee of the Public Services Board's (PSB) published Well-being Assessment and the comments received in response to the consultation on the draft Assessment.

Recommendations

  1. That the Committee note the comments made during the consultation process and in particular the feedback received from the Future Generations Commissioner and Welsh Government.
  2. That the Committee note the published Well-being Assessment and the changes made to the Well-being Assessment following the consultation exercise.
  3. That the Committee notes the work that will be undertaken by the PSB to further develop the Assessment and the Well-being Plan.

Reasons for the Recommendations

  1. To advise the Committee of the published Well-being Assessment as approved by the Public Services Board on the 9th March 2017.
  2. To ensure that in line with statutory guidance the Committee is 'able to draw on the published advice provided to the PSB by the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales'.
  3. To advise the Committee of the further work being undertaken by the PSB.

Background

  1. The Well-being of Future Generations Act came into force in April 2016 and its primary aim is to ensure public bodies improve the economic, social, environmental and cultural well-being of Wales in accordance with the sustainable development principle. The Act established PSBs in each Local Authority area and sets out their duties with regard to publishing a Well-being Assessment and Well-being Plan. The Council is one of the four statutory members which sit on 'Our Vale', the Vale of Glamorgan PSB.
  2. The PSB must publish a Well-being Plan by May 2018 which must be informed by a Well-being Assessment. Statutory guidance sets out the process by which PSBs must produce an Assessment of the state of well-being in the PSB area. The Assessment must be published twelve months before the publication of the PSB's Well-being Plan, therefore by May 2017. The PSB must publish a set of well-being objectives within the Well-being Plan and these must be designed in such a way as to maximise the PSB's contribution to the achievement of the national well-being goals as laid out within the Act.
  3. Extensive work has been undertaken to produce the Vale of Glamorgan Well-being Assessment. Consultation on the draft Assessment was undertaken in January and February 2017 and this included presenting the draft Assessment to the Corporate Performance and Resources Scrutiny Committee.

Relevant Issues and Options

  1. Consultation on the draft Assessment included an online survey, sharing of information via social media, circulation of the link to the draft Assessment and survey to a wide range of stakeholders, a stakeholder workshop, Member briefings and drop in sessions in three local libraries. As a result of the consultation and comments received amendments have been made to the Assessment and these are detailed in Appendix A to the report. The feedback received has helped to strengthen the Assessment at this stage and overall the responses have been positive and recognised the extensive work and range of information which have contributed to the Assessment. The Assessment which includes a suite of documents is available at http://www.valeofglamorgan.gov.uk/en/our_council/Public-services-board/Increasing-our-Evidence.aspx
  1. Detailed feedback on the Assessment was received from Welsh Government (Appendix B) and the Office of the Future Generations Commissioner (Appendix C). The feedback recognised that the Well-being Assessment is an ongoing project that will continue to be developed as part of the PSB's work to establish a robust evidence base. Subsequent conversations with the Future Generation Commissioner's Office have clarified expectations in terms of amendments needed prior to publication of the Assessment.
  2. As detailed in Appendix A amendments have been made to the Assessment in light of comments received from Welsh Government and the Commissioner. This includes more information about links to the well-being goals and the sustainable development principle, more detail about how the priority areas have been identified and also more information about regional working. The PSB will pay due regard to the feedback as it continues to develop the Assessment and the PSB well-being plan over the coming year.
  3. The Assessment has been undertaken in accordance with the sustainable development principle as set out in the Well-being of Future Generations Act. The approach taken by the PSB has also been consistent with the five ways of working set out in the Act; integration, involvement, prevention, collaboration and looking to the long term. The PSB will continue with this approach as it works to improve the Assessment and develop the Well-being Plan.
  4. The PSB held a workshop on the 9th March and this was the first stage in discussing the PSB's well-being objectives, timetable for the well-being plan and how partners will work together to draft the plan. Discussions were undertaken in the context of the need to ensure the plan addresses the issues raised in the well-being Assessment and the PSB is maximising its contribution to the national well-being goals.
  5. As part of the consultation on the draft Assessment views were sought on the areas. Identified by the PSB which should be the focus of further work and the subject of more detailed research and analysis. These areas are:
  • Ensuring young children have a good start in life and preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE)
  • Tackling inequalities linked to deprivation, focusing on a range of issues which are more acute in some of our more deprived communities. This provides an opportunity for a place based approach and builds on some of the PSB's existing work.
  • Protecting, enhancing and valuing the environment as one of our greatest assets to ensure the natural resources of Wales are sustainably maintained, enhanced and used now and into the future. 
  • Improving our engagement with our communities, utilising existing networks and being more innovative including the promotion of volunteering.
  1. The public and stakeholders were asked if they agreed with the emerging themes and there was support for focusing attention on the four areas and recognition of the interconnectivity between them. However it was also suggested that transport and the needs of older people should also be key considerations. These areas together with the feedback received in response to the recent consultation exercise will be looked at in more detail to help shape the Well-being Plan which will be published in 2018.
  2. It is intended that a report be brought to the next meeting of this Committee outlining the PSB's draft well-being objective and the timetable for the Well-being Plan.

Resource Implications (Financial and Employment)

  1. To assist with the production of well-being assessments grant funding was made available by Welsh Government on a regional level. The Vale of Glamorgan PSB and Cardiff PSB were successful in obtaining £45k funding to support the work on well-being assessments. This was split equally across the two areas and utilised by both PSBs for data gathering, analysis work and engagement for their Assessments under the 'Let's Talk' branding. In the Vale of Glamorgan work has been led by the Council's Performance and Policy team with support from the PSB Business Intelligence Group.
  2. Support for PSBs for 2017/18 is also available, again on a regional basis. The funding for 2017/18 is up to a maximum of £46,753 for the Cardiff and Vale area for a 12 month period. The funding can be used for addressing gaps in the evidence base, enabling the Assessments to become an ongoing process, to support community engagement and for ensuring appropriate analytical capacity and capability is in place. Discussions between the two PSBs are ongoing to enable a proposal to be submitted to Welsh Government by the 31st March 2017.

Sustainability and Climate Change Implications

  1. The PSB must consider the economic, social, environmental and cultural well-being of the area and contribute to the national well-being goals. The PSB must also work in accordance with the sustainable development principle, seeking to ensure that the needs of the present are met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Legal Implications (to Include Human Rights Implications)

  1. The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act received Royal Assent on the 29th April 2015 and came in to force on the 1st April 2016. The Act strengthens existing governance arrangements for improving the well-being of Wales to ensure that present needs are met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The new legislation applies to a number of public bodies including Local Authorities and established PSBs.
  2. 'The Act' makes provision by virtue of a Local Authority's Executive arrangements under Part 2 of the Local Government Act 2000 (as amended) for the scrutiny of decisions made and actions taken by the PSB, including the review and scrutiny of the board's governance arrangements along with other functions as provided for under 'the Act'. A Local Authority is entitled, where it has more than one overview and scrutiny committee, to designate a committee for the purposes of carrying out the functions referred to above in accordance with 'the Act. The Corporate Performance and Resources Scrutiny Committee is designated to carry out these functions in the relation to the Vale of Glamorgan PSB.

Crime and Disorder Implications

  1. Crime and disorder information has been included in the Well-being Assessment and community safety issues will continue to be reported to the PSB. The Police, Fire Service, Probation Services and Police and Crime Commissioner's office are all represented on the PSB.

Equal Opportunities Implications (to include Welsh Language issues)

  1. A PSB is not under a duty to carry out formal impact assessments.
  2. The Well-being Assessment provides the evidence base for the Well-being Plan and where possible data has been considered at different levels to highlight differences in well-being and experiences for different groups. An Equality Impact Assessment will be undertaken as part of the development of the Well-being Plan and objectives.

Corporate/Service Objectives

  1. The work of the PSB is consistent with the well-being objectives detailed in the Council's Corporate Plan 2016-20 and will assist with the delivery of a number of commitments.

Policy Framework and Budget

  1. The publication of the Well-being Assessment is the responsibility of the PSB but Corporate Performance and Resources Scrutiny Committee is a statutory consultee.

Consultation (including Ward Member Consultation)

  1. Extensive engagement has been undertaken to inform the Assessment and consultation was also undertaken on the draft Assessment enabling the public and stakeholders to comment on the content and future direction.

Relevant Scrutiny Committee

  1. Corporate Performance and Resources

Background Papers

Shared Purpose: Shared Future, Statutory Guidance on the Well-being of Future Generations (WALES) Act 2015 - SPSF 3 Collective role (public services boards) - Welsh Government

Vale of Glamorgan Council Corporate Performance and Resources Scrutiny Committee 13th December 2016 - Public Services Board Progress Report December report

Contact Officer

Helen Moses - Strategy and Partnerships Manager

Officers Consulted

Legal Services

Responsible Officer:

Huw Isaac - Head of Performance and Development