Agenda Item No 7

The Vale of Glamorgan Council

 

Community Liaison Committee: 1 February 2017

 

Report of the Managing Director

 

Vale of Glamorgan Public Services Board - Well-being Assessment

Purpose of the Report

1. To seek the views of the Committee on the draft Well-being Assessment which must be published by the Vale Public Services Board (PSB) by the beginning of May 2017.

Recommendations

1. That the Committee consider the draft Well-being Assessment and advise the PSB of their views regarding the content, structure and conclusions detailed within the assessment.
2. That the Committee comment on the emerging priorities that the PSB have identified as the subject of further work.

Reasons for the Recommendations

1. The PSB must consult with Town and Community Councils regarding the draft Well-being Assessment and would welcome their views on the draft Assessment.

Background

2. 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 Public Services Boards (PSBs) in each local authority area and sets out their duties with regard to publishing a Well-being Assessment and Well-being Plan.
3. 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. This 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.
4. The Well-being of Future Generations Act also places a duty on Community and Town Councils with a gross income or expenditure of at least £200,000 for each of the three financial years preceding the year in which the local well-being plan is published to take "all reasonable steps" towards meeting the local objectives set out in the area's local well-being plan.
5. A Community or Town Council which is subject to this duty must also publish a report annually detailing its progress in meeting the objectives contained in the local well-being plan.
6. Membership of the PSB includes Councillor Mike Cuddy who was nominated by this committee as a representative of community councils.

Relevant Issues and Options

7. The assessment must consider the state of economic, social, environmental and cultural well-being in the area and provide an accurate analysis of the state of well-being in each community and in the area as a whole, capturing the strengths and assets of the people and communities in the area.
8. Extensive work has been undertaken to draft the Well-being Assessment with the aim of publishing it in April 2017. At the PSB meeting on the 15th December the PSB approved the draft assessment for consultation.
9. The consultation is taking place between the 9th January and the 5th February 2017 and includes a short on-line survey, drop in sessions in three libraries, Stakeholder workshops and attendance at a number of Forums e.g. the Youth Forum and the 50+ Strategy Forum. The revised assessment will then need to be approved by PSB on the 9th March to enable translation and publication by the beginning of April. It is intended that the draft assessment is presented to Cabinet on the 6th March. Although the assessment does not have to be published until early May the PSB has agreed to make every effort to publish at the beginning of April to avoid the weeks before the local government elections.
10. All community and town councils have been invited to comment on the draft Assessment and have been invited to attend a stakeholder workshop. They will also be consulted on the local well-being plan and well-being objectives.

Contents of the Well-being Assessment

11. A range of data sources, evidence and research have been used within the assessment as well as the results of engagement activities with the public and stakeholders. The assessment has utilised a common data set which has been commissioned by Welsh Government and produced by the Local Government Data Unit. The data set includes the national well-being indicators that accompany the Act and the Public Health Outcomes Framework indicators. Data is presented at both a Vale level and at a community level where available and appropriate. The assessment has also been developed in parallel with the Population Needs Assessment (PNA) which is a requirement of the Social Services and Well-being Act. The final assessment will highlight the key findings of the PNA which is being prepared by the Cardiff and Vale Integrated Health and Social Care Partnership and will also be published in April.
12. The assessment will be made up of a suite of documents which includes:

• An Executive Summary (Appendix A)
• An Overview Document which brings all the information together (Appendix B)
• Community Profiles (Appendices C - F)[Appendix C] [Appendix D] [Appendix E] [Appendix F]
• Four detailed Evidence Reports
• An Engagement Report

13. The Executive Summary and overview document are the core documents detailing the key findings and conclusions of the assessment.
14. The Community Profiles provide an overview of the Vale and each of the three community areas. It is expected that as part of the consultation on the draft assessment that these will be enhanced with input from the public and other stakeholders. The three community areas were agreed by the PSB as they reflect how services are currently provided by partners.
15. The four detailed evidence reports are being prepared to cover all aspects of well-being and provide a wealth of information about the Vale of Glamorgan. Work is continuing to refine the detailed evidence reports for publication in April. These reports are structured around four themes:

• Having an active and healthy future
• Being part of safe and inclusive communities
• Maximising opportunities and attainment
• Our environment

16. The evidence reports can be considered on their own for those interested in a particular topic but taken together provide a comprehensive picture of the Vale and show the links between for example health and the environment and the many factors which impact on well-being. On average each evidence report is 100 pages and the draft reports are available on the Council's website.
17. The Engagement report brings together the results of the engagement undertaken over the Summer to inform the assessment including the Let's talk about well-being survey. As part of the joint work with the Cardiff PSB and with the Integrated Health and Social Care partnership the 'Let's Talk' brand was developed which was used for the engagement activities which informed the assessment. The range of activities included surveys, focus groups and attendance at events, networks and meetings. The 'Let's Talk' logo is being used for the consultation on the draft assessment and will be used for the plan.

Next Steps

18. In November 2016 the PSB held a workshop to consider the key findings emerging from the assessment and to consider where they could collectively add value to improve well-being and where further work would be needed to help develop the PSB's well-being objectives and Well-being Plan. The conclusions reached by the PSB when considering all the information are that the following areas should be the focus of further work and the subject of more detailed research and analysis:

• 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.

19. As part of the consultation on the draft assessment views are being sought on the priority areas identified by the PSB which would then be looked at in more detail to help shape the Well-being Plan which will be published in 2018.

Resource Implications (Financial and Employment)

20. To assist with the production of well-being assessments grant funding has been made available by Welsh Government on a regional level. The Vale PSB and Cardiff PSB were successful in obtaining £45k funding to support the work on well-being assessments. This is being split equally across the two areas and being utilised by both PSBs for data gathering, analysis work and engagement for their assessments. 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.

Sustainability and Climate Change Implications

21. The PSB must consider 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)

22. 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 Public Services Boards.
23. '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.

Crime and Disorder Implications

24. 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)

25. A Public Services Board is not under a duty to carry out formal impact assessments.
26. 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

27. 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

28. 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)

29. Extensive engagement has been undertaken to inform the assessment and has been collated in to a report which will be further updated following this consultation. Further consultation is being undertaken on the draft assessment to enable the public and stakeholders to comment on the draft assessment.

Relevant Scrutiny Committee

30. 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

'Let's Talk' Well-being Assessment draft Engagement Report (Vale of Glamorgan PSB)

Draft Well-being Assessment evidence reports on the following topics (Vale of Glamorgan PSB):

• Having an active and healthy future
• Being part of safe and inclusive communities
• Maximising opportunities and attainment
• Our environment

Contact Officer

Helen Moses - Strategy and Partnerships Manager

Officers Consulted

Legal Services

Responsible Officer:

Rob Thomas

Managing Director