Agenda, decisions and minutes

To elect Councillor Eryl Jones-Williams as Chair of the Care Scrutiny Committee for 2022/23.

Resolved to elect Councillor Eryl Jones-Williams as Chair of the Care Scrutiny Committee for 2022/23.

To elect Councillor Linda Ann Jones as Vice-chair of the Care Scrutiny Committee for 2022/23.

Resolved to elect Councillor Linda Ann Jones as Vice-chair of the Care Scrutiny Committee for 2022/23.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillors R. Medwyn Hughes and Einir Wyn Williams.

To receive any declarations of personal interest.

Councillor Linda Ann Jones noted that she is a director of the Seren company. This was not a prejudicial interest and she did not withdraw from the meeting.

To note any items that are a matter of urgency in the view of the Chairman for consideration.

None to note.

The Chairman shall propose that the minutes of the meetings of this committee held on the 17^th of March, 2022 be signed as a true record.

The Chairman signed the minutes of the previous committee meeting held on 17 March, 2022, as a true record.

To nominate members of the Committee to attend performance monitoring meetings.

To nominate the following Councillors to attend Performance Challenge meetings:

·         Adults, Health and Well-being work field: Councillors Sasha Williams and Meryl Roberts.

·         Children and Supporting Families work field: Councillor Gwynfor Owen, with the second nomination to be confirmed at the September meeting of this Committee.

·         Housing and Property work field: Councillors Dewi Jones and Menna Baines.

A short report was submitted explaining the Performance Challenge arrangements and requesting the Members to nominate representatives to attend the Performance Challenge meetings. It was explained that there will be a need for two representatives for each field of work and that the Care Scrutiny Committee representatives will need to attend meetings twice a year. It was added that these meetings will be an opportunity to receive updates on priority projects and an opportunity to challenge and bring issues to the attention of the Scrutiny Committee.

RESOLVED:

To nominate the following Councillors to attend Performance Challenge meetings:

·         Adults, Health and Well-being work field: Councillors Sasha Williams and Meryl Roberts.

·         Children and Supporting Families work field: Councillor Gwynfor Owen, with the second nomination to be confirmed at this Committee's meeting in September.

·         Housing and Property work field: Councillors Dewi Jones and Menna Baines.

To nominate three members to represent the Scrutiny Committee on the Mid Wales Joint Committee for Health and Care Scrutiny Group.

To nominate Councillors John Pughe, Linda Ann Jones and Eryl Jones-Williams to represent the Scrutiny Committee on the Mid Wales Joint Committee for Health and Care's Scrutiny Group.

The Committee was asked to nominate three representatives of the Care Scrutiny Committee for the Mid Wales Joint Committee for Health and Care's Scrutiny Group. Information on the Group's background and its aim as well as its role was provided, including looking at the provision of health and care services in Mid Wales and issues affecting people living in the relevant areas.

RESOLVED:

To nominate Councillors John Pughe, Linda Ann Jones and Eryl Jones-Williams to represent the Scrutiny Committee on the Mid Wales Joint Committee for Health and Care's Scrutiny Group.

To provide an overview of the North Wales Market Stability Report 2022 and to seek the Committee’s support for the approval of the Report by the Cabinet and Council.

a)    To accept the report and to note the information.

b)    To express the Committee's support for the approval of the report by the Cabinet and Council.

A foreword was received by the Cabinet Member for Adults, Health and Well-being noting the importance of this document and how useful it is. It was reported that the report goes hand in hand with the North Wales Population Needs Assessment that was scrutinised back in February by the Committee that looked at the care and support needs.  It was noted that this report responded to the Needs Assessment by measuring what was already in place in North Wales to respond to the needs and question if the provision in place was sufficient. 

It was reported that the North Wales Market Stability Report would be submitted to the Leadership Team and the Cabinet before being submitted to the Full Council for approval. It was added that it was a regional document that showed trends across north Wales as well as local messages for Gwynedd. The Department officers were thanked for their hard work within the tight schedule noting that the report would continue to be a live document that will be adapted and will be a very useful document as a result. The opportunity was also taken to congratulate Councillor Eryl Jones-Williams on receiving the Chairmanship of this Committee.

The report was submitted by the Adults, Health and Well-being Project Team Manager, noting that the Report was very broad and dealt with the services for adults and children with important messages being conveyed. The report dealt with a number of themes such as residential and nursing care, adoption, fostering and home care services, as well as aspects relating to the provision of safe accomodation. It was noted that the report also referred to preventative services and acknowledged their importance to reduce pressure on the services that were regulated. 

It was explained that it was required under the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 to draw up the report and it would be updated over the next few months and kept up to date. The messages about Gwynedd, that were noted in section 5 of the Report, along with the predictions about required progress in the care and provision available over the next few years were expanded on. To close, it was noted that what had been submitted was an attempt to summarise the main massages that were relevant to Gwynedd and the full report would be published in North Wales after approval by the Full Council in October.

During the discussion, the following observations were noted by members:

·         Thanks and appreciation were expressed to the Officers who had successfully completed the report by the tight deadline.

·         It was noted that it was interesting to see in the report how individual Councils in north Wales dealt with problems.

·         An update regarding direct payments was requested noting that there was no information about Gwynedd in the report.

·         An observation was made that there was a tendency to generalise the Adults field as a service for the elderly only; it was felt that there were tendencies to refer to the elderly when  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.