Agenda item

Context:

To undertake scrutiny of service delivery across Public Protection services in the first nine months of this financial year 2017/18, with comparison to previous years. The Public Protection division comprises of Environmental Health, Trading Standards & Animal Health and Licensing.

Key Issues:

In January 2015 Cabinet requested that Public Protection performance was reviewed regularly by this Committee to assess any negative impacts. As a consequence six monthly reports have been provided to Strong Communities Select committee, together with annual reports to Licensing & Regulatory committee.

The report summarises performance over the first nine months of 2017/18, and highlights the following –

 The four service teams, for the vast majority of the services they deliver, meet the Authority’s legal obligations in relation to Public Protection services.

 As detailed in Appendix A, most proactive and reactive work is being carried out professionally, within prescribed response times. There are only a few exceptions - due to the reactive nature of most of the services – these being some slippage in housing visits, private water inspections and animal health visits.

 Annual reports will continue to be made to this Committee to assess performance over time, and help inform future priorities noting the competing demands.

 Services may struggle to take on any new statutory duties that protect the public and the environment, and therefore funding must be sought to support any new work.

 Future strategies for sustaining Public Protection services will be developed, (to include further income generation and collaboration), locally, regionally and nationally.

 Services will improve linkages to the Authority’s Corporate Business Plan 2017/22 and other key drivers, for example the Chief Medical Officer Wales’ priorities.

Member Scrutiny:

A Member raised concerns regarding the large scope of work undertaken by the team and the authority as a whole. With staff absence being a major concern it was asked if the current level and quality of work could be sustained with such low staff numbers.

The issue of dog fouling was raised and it was asked if, as with other authorities we could employ a private company to tackle dog fouling and littering with a view to raising revenue.

The Committee praised officers for the report, they felt that all key information was accessible and it allowed members to identify the key indicators.

A Member asked what income was being received on income stream to supplement the team’s budget.

Clarity was sought in regard to private water supplies, the size of supply and what monitoring takes place, especially in view of recent staff shortages.

It was asked if the team would be liaising with Richard Cope to ensure all bus drivers receive level one safeguarding training.

It was asked how many registered social landlords we have and how many properties are registered, what actions are taken if the properties are not being used correctly.

In respect to construction on the M4 proposed relief road, it was asked if we can encourage developers to engage with Members prior to work starting.

Weights and measures – it was asked if all relevant machines were calibrated and what sanctions are imposed on those who do not calibrate their machines.

Concerns regarding animal health were raised.

A Member asked who is responsible for air quality monitoring on the A48, ourselves or Welsh Government.

The success of the access advisory system was congratulated.

In regard to the construction of Monmouth school, it was asked if the large number of complaints made by members of the public was above average for a project of this size.

The level of staff in the department was raised as a concern, especially in view of the increasing workload including the slavery and trafficking act.

It was asked if enough was being done to raise the profile of social issues such as modern slavery.