Hazel Ilett delivered the presentation to the committee, with additional comments from Matthew Gatehouse. Sharran Lloyd and Matthew Gatehouse answered the members’ questions.

Challenge:

What overall influence do we have with the Wellbeing Plan? Will we be updated as it progresses?

The key factor in producing the regional Wellbeing Plan at the regional level, and the remit of the Gwent Public Services Board, is not to lose the localism. As we start to develop that plan, we are making links through the local delivery group, the subgroup for the regional Public Services Board. Each of the 5 localities has that board in place – ours is the Monmouthshire Programme Board, which will link with the Public Services Board and ensure that we drive what matters to Monmouthshire. It will take on board any of the recommendations from this committee and ensure its voice is heard in the development of the next plan. Officers are working on establishing a Gwent scrutiny process; members of this committee might sit on the regional board as well, with ability then to influence the local picture.

Are the 5 authorities each going to have a scrutiny committee?

We’re all maintaining our local scrutiny but will also link with the regional scrutiny arrangement.

Will each local authority concentrate on its local aspect?

Yes. We want this committee to focus on what matters to Monmouthshire and ensure that the Gwent Public Services Board is delivering on the county’s behalf. Then there are the mechanisms to feed back if the committee doesn’t feel that our citizens are being serviced best through this arrangement.

The report is Monmouthshire-based. Will there be a high-level report and 5 separate reports for each area?

Possibly, but we don’t have answers at the moment as the regional plan isn’t yet in place. There will be a local plan and a report coming forward; we are working now through how the regional plan works with that. There could be 2 reports but we will try to simplify them into one report for this committee, if feasible.

Do we have representation on the separate boards? What does ‘separate boards’ mean?

The Gwent Public Services Board has become a regional board with representatives from the 5 local authorities and partners. To ensure they still have localism feeding in, there are 5 local delivery groups in each authority – they are the strategic delivery groups for those 5 areas. In Monmouthshire, ours is a programme board, essentially a sub-group of the regional Public Services Board, and will feed in what matters to Monmouthshire at that PSB level.

Do we have officers or members on the local delivery board?

It mirrors the PSB, in effect. We have all of the partners who sit at PSB level represented here in the county – the next level down from the Chief Executives who sit at regional PSB, so here we have Directors and their counterparts from across the other public services. The difference in Monmouthshire is that we also have representation from town and community councils on our board. Because it’s a delivery group, and non-political, it’s an Officer forum.

Who is on the Programme Board, currently?

It is chaired by Matt Gatehouse, with Will McLean, Frances O’Brien and Jane Rodgers from MCC. We also have representation from Public Health and ABHB, the Chief Constable and Superintendent representing Gwent Police, Gavo as third sector representation, representation from town and community councils, South Wales fire and rescue service, and Natural Resources Wales.

Is it possible to have an overview/hierarchy of what was just explained and how the groups fit together?

An illustration of the structures can be sent to the committee.