Agenda item

Purpose:

To undertake scrutiny of service delivery across Public Protection services in the first six months of the 2018/19, with comparison to previous years. The Public Protection division comprises of Environmental Health, Trading Standards & Animal Health and Licensing.

Recommendations:

1. To consider and comment on the contents of the report entitled ‘Public Protection Performance report 2018/19, first 6 months’.

2. Members receive one annual performance report in future years, to be scheduled in May of each year. In this way, Officers will be able to avoid duplication by sourcing performance information from annual statutory returns. The Division’s 2018/19 performance would therefore be reported to this Committee in May 2019.

3. Members receive one further report each year, to focus on a specific area of interest, adding value to service prioritisation. Officers will be guided by Members as to their particular areas of interest. On this occasion, a service focus on a Trading Standards topic will supplement the six month performance report.

Key Issues:

1. In January 2015 Cabinet requested that Public Protection performance was reviewed regularly by this Committee to assess progress over time. As a consequence six monthly reports have been provided to Strong Communities Select committee, together with annual reports to Licensing & Regulatory committee. As per recommendation 2.1 above, it is suggested this becomes one annual report, noting services are largely compliant with regulatory expectations,

and customer satisfaction levels are typically high.

2. The attached report summarises performance over the first six months of 2018/19, 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, there has been an increase in reactive work over the first months of 18/19, to the detriment of some of our proactive work. An example would be a 29% increase in Public Health service requests equates to less proactive private water supply work, (as both functions provided by same Officers). Managers will continue to prioritise workloads and improve performance where required.

·         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. The Head of Public Protection and the Trading Standards and Animal Health Manager provided a presentation summarising the performance report and focussing on scams in particular.

Member Scrutiny

The Chair acknowledged the wide portfolio held by the team and the increased pressures and demands that they face.  Modern Day Slavery and Human Trafficking was highlighted as a future item.

·         Reporting: The proposal to move to annual reports instead of 6 monthly in a time of change was queried.  The Head of Public Protection agreed to provide an interim exception report each November to provide assurance to the Select Committee.  Members wanted to know where and when pressures occur.

·         Ask for Angela: A Member supported the “Ask for Angela” scheme that enlists the assistance of pub staff to provide an escape for vulnerable persons (e.g. those persons who may have met online or other circumstances).  The Head of Public Protection confirmed that we support PubWatch schemes especially to encourage the safety of vulnerable individuals.

·         Car parking:  It was questioned how the change in responsibility for parking from the Police to the authority would be resourced.  The Head of Operations explained that there is a small enforcement team to manage car parks. The change has the capacity to generate income where offenders are found and hoped to fund six enforcement officers.  There will also be an opportunity to work with Public Protection colleagues on civil enforcement matters such as litter and dog fouling.