Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

To elect Chair for 2025 / 2026

To elect Councillor Elwyn Jones as Chair of the Care Scrutiny Committee for 2025/26.

RESOLVED to elect Councillor Elwyn Jones as Chair of the Committee for the year 2025/26.

To elect Vice Chair for 2025 / 2026

To elect Councillor Sian Williams as Vice-chair of the Care Scrutiny Committee for 2025/26

RESOLVED to elect Councillor Sian Williams as Vice-chair of the Committee for the year 2025/26.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillors Anwen J. Davies, Geraint Parry and Linda Morgan.

To receive any declarations of personal interest.

No declarations of personal interest were received.

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 3^rd April 2025 be signed as a true record.  (attached)

The Chair signed the minutes of the previous meeting of this committee held on 3 April 2025, as a true record.

To report to the Scrutiny Committee on the performance of the Housing and Property Department.

To accept the report.

The report was submitted by the Cabinet Member for Housing and Property, Head of Housing and Property Department and the Assistant Heads of Department.

It was reported that the Department implemented the Council Plan 2023-2028, and on the progress to the end of April 2025. It was noted that there had been progress against the milestones set for the Department's projects within A Homely Gwynedd and An Efficient Gwynedd improvement priorities. It was reported that the overall progress was good, with several milestones reached by the end of the financial year, and that being under challenging circumstances.

During the discussion, the following observations were submitted by the Members:

Attention was drawn to the 'One-Stop Shop' plan and the member noted that he was disappointed with the progress in the plan. Explanation was asked about the reason why this plan had taken such a long time to be implemented. It was acknowledged that there had been a delay in implementing this plan, but it was explained that he was happy to announce that the shop would open on 15 September.

It was noted that the report was very good and comprehensive. However, it was noted that there was concern with the number of homeless people who lived in an unsuitable accommodation in Gwynedd. It was asked what the plan was to improve these statistics. It was explained that they were developing plans to address this problem with sites currently being built. It was noted that major developments were currently being built in Caernarfon and Bangor. It was hoped that these buildings would be ready to open soon. In terms of clarity, it was explained that there were currently over 200 people in emergency accommodation, with the figure increasing to over 400 when including the houses on lease.

A question was asked regarding the Gwynedd connection, the people who did not currently live in Gwynedd, specifically how many of these people were able to claim a connection with Gwynedd and get a Council house. It was explained that 97% of Gwynedd social housing went to people with a connection to Gwynedd and, in addition, 60% went to people who wished to live in the ward in which they wanted to live. Additionally, it was reported that the Housing Associations had conducted a recent survey of the last 9 developments that they had completed, and it was discovered that 90% of the people who had moved to these social houses spoke Welsh.

The department was praised for the number of plans which attempted to address the serious problems of housing needs in Gwynedd. Attention was drawn to the milestones set to attract 20 additional properties to the Leasing Wales Scheme - Gwynedd, but only 12 had been attracted, asking what problems caused this. It was explained that interest in this plan had started to fade and therefore the department intended to make a significant campaign to raise the interest once again. It was noted that it was a special plan which met  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To report to the Scrutiny Committee on the performance of the Children and Supporting Families Department.

To accept the report.

The report was submitted by the Cabinet Member for Children and Supporting Families and the Head of Department.

It was reported that the department implemented the Council Plan 2023-2028 and reported on the progress made to the end of March 2025, acknowledging that it was still early days in the context of some of the new pledges in the document since April last year.

It was noted that the Children and Supporting Families Department had two projects in the Council Plan, namely the Autism Plan and Developing a residential provision for looked after children in small group homes plan. It was explained that the Autism Plan was thriving, with a training programme for front-line staff continuing with the aim of being a local authority with an understanding and awareness of autism. It was also mentioned that the collaboration with the Education Department continued with internal and external staff engaging with the third sector. Pride was expressed that there was currently no waiting list for the Autism Team, but it was assumed that this would not continue for long as there was a high demand for the service.

It was explained that the developing a residential provision for looked after children in small group homes plan had significantly developed over the past year. It was noted that staff had been appointed to the first home in Morfa Bychan and two children were welcomed to the placement. It was also reported that two additional properties had been purchased, and preparation work had commenced to get them to a registration standard.

During the discussion, the following observations were made by the Members:

Enquiries were made about the Derwen service, specifically regarding the access criteria for the Derwen service. It was explained that the criteria were if the child had a learning disability or a significant delay in more than one development field. The member noted that he appreciated all of Derwen's great work but that this meant that many families with children who needed a similar service to what Derwen offered were missing out as they did not fit into the learning disability criteria. It was believed that the Council only defined based on 'IQ' and therefore many children, for example children with autism, were missing out on the service that they required. It was explained that the Council did not use 'IQ' for the Derwen criteria, but it was acknowledged that there was a gap and that was the reason for establishing the autism team to try to address part of the gap.

It was asked whether the department could provide assurance that every autism team worker had received training to the highest level in the autism field. It was noted that it was one of the department's priorities to ensure that public-facing staff received appropriate and relevant training for the work that they did. It was explained that they could not say with certainty that every staff member had currently received the training, but the programme was in place and the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

To report to the Scrutiny Committee on the performance of the Adults, Health and Wellbeing Department.

To accept the report.

A report was submitted by the Cabinet Member for Adults, Health and Well-being and the Head of Department.

It was reported that the department implemented the Council Plan 2023-28, and it reported on the progress to the end of March 2025. It was noted that she was aware of all the challenges that the department faced and that this had been highlighted more than ever before as part of the Llechen Lân report. It was noted that she was happy to report that significant progress had been made during the year.

A summary was given of the main projects that had seen progress or caused concern, noting that there were some examples in the report, and that it did not refer to every workflow as the department's projects were very broad.

During the discussion, the following observations were submitted by the Members:

The Head of Department, who was retiring, was thanked for all his hard work over the years and the new Head of Department was welcomed.

The Cabinet Member was asked to ensure that the Council contacted the Government in Cardiff to challenge to ensure that the grants available for the autism team until 2027 continued beyond this. It was also asked how many were waiting for a domiciliary care assessment and what were the figures regarding this. In terms of challenging the Government, it was noted that it was a permanent process for the cabinet members and happened on a weekly basis. To answer the member's question, it was explained that the waiting list for domiciliary care had reduced to 64. It was explained that the department's priority was to ensure that the people on the waiting list were safe. In terms of the number of people waiting for an assessment, it was mentioned that the department had this information every month until the end of March with 129 assessments held over the last two months. It was confirmed that no individual was being refused an assessment.

It was asked what was being done to improve the situation in terms of older people waiting for a care and support plan. It was noted that it was a very timely point as the department was currently doing a lot of work under the preventative banner and that people were waiting for a more detailed assessment. It was reported that there was a need to move away from the mentality that domiciliary care was required to support people. Domiciliary Care was one of the options, but a lot of work was being done within communities to support people who required help and support. It was noted that the Social Services and Well-being Act emphasised the need to look at the strengths of individuals instead of what they could not achieve.

It was asked what the department saw as the biggest obstacle in making more Direct Payments to support people. It was explained that complications in the process of establishing the arrangements had been an obstacle for people to be eager  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.