Agenda item

Context:

To provide an opportunity to scrutinise the draft Well-being Plan prior it its publication and ensure that it identifies appropriate steps to address the challenges and opportunities raised in the Well-being Assessment.

Key Issues:

Monmouthshire is facing some pretty big challenges, demographic changes, climate change and adapting to the potential of new technology. Our current way of delivering public services will need to change if we are to address these issues head-on and maximise wellbeing for current and future generations.

The Well-being of Future Generations Act aims to ensure that public bodies think more about the long term, work better with people and communities and each other, look to prevent problems and take a more joined-up approach. Each PSB must prepare and publish a local well-being plan setting out its local objectives and the steps it proposes to take to meet them. This needs to be published no later than one year after the last council election.

The plan must describe how the Board will improve the economic, social, environmental and cultural well-being of the county by setting local objectives which maximise its contribution to the seven national the well-being goals. There are two elements to the plan, objectives and the steps to meet those objectives.

The PSB adopted four draft well-being objectives at its meeting in 25th July following scrutiny by this committee. These are based on the well-being assessment. The draft objectives were then subject to a fourteen week statutory consultation period with the Future Generations Commissioner and a well-being plan developed to put in place the steps necessary to deliver the objectives. The process used to move from the Well-being Assessment to Well-being Plan was scrutinised by this committee in October 2017 and the

draft plan was subsequently endorsed by the PSB prior to a statutory 12 week consultation period which will end on 8th February.

The complex nature of the challenges raised in the well-being assessment means that there are not off-the-shelf or ready-made solutions that can be applied. If these challenges could be addressed easily then they would probably not have arisen in the assessment. The PSB is here to address these complex issues and to convene the experts around the issues that

cannot be solved by a single public body acting in isolation. Many of the steps will be about exploration and identifying what works. Consequently the document does not contain a detailed action plan. This will be developed alongside the Well-being Plan but will not form part of it.

This is the first opportunity the committee has had to consider the draft plan. Any recommendations will be used to refine the final document alongside feedback received during the consultation phase. Officers from Monmouthshire County Council and other partners continue to work on the process of refining the steps.

A timetable for the remainder of the process is shown below. This committee will have the opportunity to consider the final plan prior to publication. Given the proximity of the next PSB Select Committee to the publication date is expected that comments about the report are raised at the January meeting to ensure they can be addressed prior to publication.

4.7 Members of the public continue to have the opportunity to get involved and shape the plan up until the end of the consultation period. This can be viewed at www.monmouthshire.gov.uk/our-monmouthshire on social media using the hashtag #OurMonmouthshire. Ideas can also be shared on Made Open using the link http://www.monmouthshire.madeopen.co.uk/issues/835.

Member Scrutiny:

Members felt reassured that the Commissioner had felt we were in the top quartile in respect to Monmouthshire’s PSB and praised officers for their work.

In regard to a workshop recently held a member expressed that not all key players were on board.

It was asked in regard to challenges and opportunities, what were the timeframes for short, medium and long term projects.

Reassurance was sought in regard to obtaining real solutions in regard to tackling the causes of perpetual generational problems in families.

Time banking was felt to be positive but concerns were raised that it would not be accessible for all.

A Member voiced frustration in respect to the lack of capability, capacity and will in our public services to enact.

It was asked why there is not a Gwent wide PSB.

Members felt that highlighting five issues and providing solution would build momentum.

A change of culture and mind-set is needed and we have to have clear ways of measuring our effectiveness.