The following pages
provide further information relating to established and proposed
arrangements for taking forward the work of Carmarthenshire Public
Services Board. The response is shaped around the three key issues
the committee have identified as your Terms of Reference for the
inquiry into PSBs:
1. To gain an understanding of the structure and
functions of the Public Services Boards.
2. To explore the effectiveness of PSBs, resourcing
and capacity.
3. To gather evidence of issues or barriers that may
impact on effective working, and examples of good practice and
innovation.
1.
Structure and functions of Carmarthenshire Public Services
Board
1.1 Carmarthenshire
Public Services Board met for the first time in May 2016 following
the publication of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act
(WFG Act). At that meeting Barry Liles, Principal of Coleg Sir
Gâr was elected as the Chairman with Cllr. Emlyn Dole, Leader
of Carmarthenshire County Council being elected as Vice-Chairman.
Following local government elections in 2017 the role of Chairman
and Vice-chairman were re-considered at the July 2017 PSB meeting
(as required by the WFG Act guidance) and both Barry Liles and
Cllr. Emlyn Dole were re-elected to their positions.
1.2 Carmarthenshire
PSB (and Local Service Board prior to that) have made a conscious
decision to elect a representative from an organisation other than
the County Council as the Chairman of the Board. We feel that this
provides a clear message that all PSB partners have an equal stake
in the work and business of the PSB. This has been well received by
member organisations.
1.3 In addition,
although the WFG Act guidance differentiates between Statutory
Members, Invited Participants and Other Partners in terms of Board
membership, Carmarthenshire PSB have agreed that any decisions made
by the Board are only valid when made jointly and unanimously by
all members. In the event of a disagreement between members it is
the responsibility of the Chairman to mediate an agreement and to
ensure that this is presented to the next available meeting of the
Board or to a special meeting if required.
1.4 The Board meets
every other month (6-times per year). The location of meetings
varies between PSB member organisation facilities, with those
members who have facilities to hold meetings hosting the meeting in
turn, without charge to the PSB. This is seen as a contribution in
kind by PSB members.
1.5 As a result of
approving our first Carmarthenshire Well-being Plan at our 2 May
2018 meeting we will now be establishing a series of Delivery
Groups to enable and drive progress against our agreed well-being
objectives. In addition, we are going to maintain a Safer
Communities Delivery Group which will fulfil statutory duties for
partnership community safety work between agencies required through
the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, which have not been superseded by
the WFG Act. The Crime and Disorder Act identifies
‘Responsible Authorities’ (local authority, health,
probation, police, fire) who are required to work together to
identify, understand and address community safety issues. This
arrangement will be reviewed on an on-going basis to ensure the
most appropriate means of fulfilling these statutory duties.
1.6 The
Carmarthenshire PSB partnership structure and support arrangements
are included for reference as Appendix 1.
2.
Effectiveness of PSBs, resourcing and
capacity
2.1 As required
through the WFG the secretariat for the PSB is provided by
Carmarthenshire County Council. The Council does not receive any
additional financial resources to manage this function. The Council
is therefore not in a position to provide dedicated administrative
support to the work and function of the PSB but this is included in
the work objectives of the following officers:
·
Corporate Policy & Partnership Manager
·
Community Safety Manager
·
Community Safety Assistant.
These officers also fulfil other duties for the Council as part of
their day-to-day roles.
2.2 As noted above,
the PSB will be establishing a series of Delivery Groups during the
next few weeks with PSB members taking responsibility for acting as
either the Expert Lead or Vice-Chair of the Group with officers
from PSB organisations providing officer time to support the work
of the Delivery Group. This work will again be in addition to
organisational responsibilities as there are no new or additional
resources available to deliver the agenda. However, PSB members can
see the benefit in working together with other PSB partners to make
progress on areas of collective action and are therefore keen to
contribute support in kind. Only time will tell if this support in
kind approach will be sufficient to make the desired progress that
the PSB is hoping for.
2.3 It is felt that
if dedicated resources were provided to manage and facilitate the
work and ambitions of the PSBs there could be potential for the PSB
to achieve more and at a quicker pace.
2.4 Welsh Government
funding to support regional collaboration (on a health board
footprint) has proved beneficial with a Regional Co-ordinator
appointed working across Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and
Pembrokeshire PSBs. This has enabled a consistent approach across
the counties as the Well-being Assessment and Well-being Plan were
being developed. This has been welcomed by PSB members who work
across more than one PSB area as it has aided consistency in their
organisational response.
2.5 Although the
Well-being Assessments and Plans for each county were developed
using a consistent framework each of the assessments and plans take
their own shape and focus. As a result, as we now move towards
delivery of the plans, the regional approach may prove less
fruitful as the focus shifts to local delivery. We would encourage
a revision of this Welsh Government funding to enable individual
PSBs to now access funding support to facilitate local
delivery.
2.6 The PSB is very
much looking forward to getting into the delivery phase of its work
as the last 2-years, since the WFG Act was published and PSB
established, have been very process driven with the PSB needing to
undertake the County Well-being Assessment and preparing its first
Well-being Plan. All partners are now keen to make progress on
delivering the actions that have been identified as areas where the
PSB can add value to local issues through collective action.
3.
Evidence of issues or barriers that
may impact on effective working, and examples of good practice and
innovation
3.1 The main issue
that may hold the PSB back is capacity. There is a real sense of
willingness and support from PSB members to making progress against
the PSB well-being objectives, however, with no dedicated resource
to drive the agenda there is a danger that progress may be
hindered. All partners can see the potential, as well as the
collective and organisational benefit, of the actions that have
been agreed but organisational pressures can sometimes restrict the
capacity of partners to contribute as fully as they’d like to
the work.
3.2 The PSB is
entering an important phase in its development as all partners are
now very keen to see action and progress. As previously noted, the
first 2-years of the PSB have been very process driven with
undertaking the well-being assessment and developing the well-being
plan. This work will serve us well going forward but it is now time
to take action and make progress against the identified well-being
objectives.
3.3 As part of the
undertaking of the well-being assessment and development of the
well-being plan the PSB has developed and improved its methods of
engaging with stakeholders and the public. A collective approach
between partner organisations has been well received and is
something we will look to further develop as part of the work of
the Delivery Groups. This collective approach will benefit the PSB
members as well as stakeholders and the public as organisations
look to develop ways of undertaking meaningful and influential
engagement to inform decisions.
3.4 The regional
approach taken to date in terms of a consistent framework and
approach for undertaking the well-being assessment and developing
the well-being plan has worked well and has been of benefit to
partners working across more than one county boundary. As a result
of the working relationships developed it has been agreed that a
regional PSB meeting will take place for the first time on the 25
June 2018. This will include the membership of the PSBs in
Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Powys. There are
areas of commonality in each of our well-being plans and there is
benefit in identifying areas where we could work together to make
progress. In addition, there are numerous regional and national
matters that request PSB agenda time which are currently being
repeated four times over with some partners having to sit through
the same presentation numerous times. PSBs will take stock of the
benefit of regional meetings once the first one has been held
before agreeing on the way forward thereafter.
3.5 The WFG act has
driven the Well-being Plan to focus on areas of collective action
that the PSB members can make progress on by working together. As
part of the development of the Carmarthenshire plan we have
identified short (1-3 years), medium (3-7 years) actions and
long-term (7-20 years) ambitions to focus on. In the past the remit
of community strategies was too broad to enable focused activity on
key issues. The new approach taken by the PSB has identified a
number of key issues that are relevant to partners and are matters
that require a collaborative approach in order to be resolved.
3.6 The potential
for the PSB arrangements to make a genuine difference to public
service delivery is clear for all to see. In principle, there is no
question about PSB partners’ commitment to the approach.
However, the challenge comes in putting that commitment into
practice whilst also facing significant organisational pressure.
Addressing that tension will be a significant issue for the PSB
going forward but it is something that all partners fully recognise
and acknowledge.
Practice of the
Expert Lead, Vice-Chair and Lead Officer for each Delivery Group
will be established in order to ensure integration and
collaboration between the work of each group.