Agenda and draft minutes

Councillor Ann Bowen Morgan apologised for her inability to attend the meeting.

None.

None.

Councillor Matthew Vaux, Cabinet Member for Partnerships, Housing, Legal and Governance and Public Protection presented the report upon the Ceredigion Senior Coroner 2023 report.

It was stated that a report had been presented to the committee on 16 July 2024 outlining the national  statistics, and it was noted that the 2023 statistical return for Ceredigion  had not been received.

Currently, it was reported that:-

1) Ceredigion Statistical Return for 2023

Unfortunately, the Council had not yet received the information for the 2023 statistical return for Ceredigion

2)Inquests

26 inquests were held between the 26th of June 2024 and 1st of December 2024

7 of which were public inquests and 19 were inquests in writing. There were two inquests scheduled for future dates - 02.12.2024 and 05.02.2025.

Coroner Services - Ceredigion County Council

3)Toxicology

There has been an increase in toxicology cases in recent years

4) Coroner Service support

The Coroner’ office arrangements had changed in that the Coroner’ co-located private solicitor practice had recently merged with another private practice. This had had an impact on administrative staffing support in respect of the Coroner’ service. To ensure continuity of service, the Council was in the process of addressing staffing support for the Coroner.

Members reiterated their disappointment that the Coroner had not provided the Local Authority report and statistical data for 2023; as this information was required for transparency and accountability arrangements of the Council due to public monies providing financial support to the service.

Following questions from the floor, it was AGREED:-

(i)             to note the report for information;

(ii)            that a further letter be sent to the Coroner’s Office requesting the Local Authority report and statistical data for 2023 as soon as possible and if a response was not received in an appropriate time the letter be sent to the Chief Coroner; and

(iii)          the need to consider a future merger of the Coroner Ceredigion Service with Carmarthenshire/Pembrokeshire coronial areas.

Councillor Bryan Davies, Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Democratic Services, Policy, Performance and People and Organisation presented the report upon the Sickness Absence Report. He stated that

the report sets out the management of sickness absence in the Council and presents an overview of absence monitoring results for the year up to 31 March 2024. 

In relation to the Management of Sickness Absence, it was reported that it was

covered for corporate staff, by the Management of Sickness Absence at Work, and for school staff, by the Policy and Procedures for Managing Sickness Absence at Work. Both policies follow the same principles and could be split into two distinct parts and a detailed narrative for both absences was provided on both  :

a)Short term sickness absence – short period of absences, often only a few days as a result of minor ailments

b)Long term sickness absence – continuous absence of longer than 28 days

In 2017-18 the Council reported the highest number of days lost per full time equivalent (FTE) employee amongst all local authorities in Wales at 13.6 days. In response to this a number of initiatives were introduced which focussed on improving the absence rate. These included:

•Introduction of an Employee Health and Wellbeing Officer role

•Implementation of a revised Management of Employee Absence policy

•Training to managers on effective management of long-term sickness absence

•Implementation of revised procedures on monitoring sickness absence

These initiatives have seen a reduction in the number of days lost per FTE and which over the past four years have consistently been below the Welsh average for all local authorities in Wales.  It was reported that in 2022-23

the latest available comparison of all local authorities in Wales and Ceredigion’s 9.6 days lost per FTE was comfortably in the lower quartile. 

However, there had been an increase in Ceredigion for 2023/24 which had seen the number of days rise to 11.1 day per FTE, although this rise had been observed across the UK.   

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)’s Health and Wellbeing at Work 2023 Report stated that sickness absence was at the highest level for over a decade. The average rate in the public sector was 10.6 days absence for those organisations between 1,000 and 4,999. The rate for those over 5,000 employees was 13.3 days absence. For short term absence the main reasons were identified as minor illnesses, musculoskeletal injuries and mental health, whilst for long term absence these were mental ill-health, musculoskeletal injuries, acute medical conditions and stress. 

The comparison data for all Welsh local authorities for 2023/24 had not yet been published the provisional results were provided.  The first two quarters of 2024/25 were broadly the same as at the same period last year. As at 30 September 2024, the days lost per full time employee was 5.39 days, compared to 5.41 days in 2023/24 but this remains higher than the target of 5 days for the first six months of the year.  

The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Councillor Bryan Davies, Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Democratic Services, Policy, Performance and People and Organisation reported that Ceredigion County Council, along with all listed public authorities in Wales, was required to carry out gender pay reporting and publish employment information on an annual basis.

The requirement to carry out gender pay reporting was contained with the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017. The Regulations require the following six calculations to be undertaken on the workforce as at 31 March each year. The report was based on the workforce snapshot data taken on 31 March 2024.  

As a result of the introduction of the Single Status Agreement in 2012 Ceredigion County Council does not pay bonus payments (performance or specific) therefore no figures are published for points 3, 4 or 5.

As at 31 March 2024 a mean pay gap of 7.0% and a median pay gap of 6.6% existed between men and women. This had decreased from 31 March 2023 where the mean pay gap was 7.8% and median pay gap was 10.4%.  This compared favourably with the national average 2024, where the Wales median was 8.9% and the UK median was 13.1%.

Workforce Equality Report 2024

The Public Sector Equality Duty 2011, which forms part of the Equality Act 2010, requires that the Council publishes a range of data relating to our workforce under each of the protected characteristics detailed in the Equality Act:

• Age

•Disability

•Gender Reassignment

•Pregnancy and maternity

•Race

•Religion or belief (including lack of belief)

•Sex

•Sexual Orientation

•Marriage and Civil Partnership

The data gathered relates to the period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 and reports on each protected characteristic in: 

•our current workforce as at 31 March 2024;

•those who have applied for jobs during the period

•those who have left our employment during the period

Following questions from the floor, it was AGREED

(i)             to receive the Gender Pay Report; and

(ii)            to receive the Workforce Equality Report 2024

Councillor Bryan Davies, Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Democratic Services, Policy, Performance and People and Organisation

provided information relating to the Council’s Compliments and Complaints activity between 1st April 2024 and 30th September 2024.  This report provided details of the number and type of compliments received, the different complaints stages and information surrounding performance and outcomes. 

In compliance with the Complaints Standards Authority guidance, introduced as part of the Public Services Ombudsman (Wales) Act 2019, Cabinet and the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committee(s) should receive a report detailing the number and type of complaints received by the Council, at least twice a year.  

In summary

•124 Compliments were received

•176 Complaints were received: Stage 1 = 137 Stage 2 = 39

•16 ‘Contacts’ received via Ombudsman Wales

•134 Enquiries were processed by the Complaints & FOI Service

•556 FOI & EIR requests processed by the Complaints & FOI Team

This report demonstrates that there had been a significant rise in the number of complaints received in comparison to the same timeframe last year.  The number of formal investigations at Stage 2 has remained relatively stable though the number of informal, Stage 1 complaints had almost doubled.

It was important to note that there were several factors that may contribute to an increase in complaints activity and individual services work pro-actively to manage all complaints that are received regarding the provision of their services.  

It is evident from the data contained in the report that the Highways and Environmental Services (HES) received the highest number of complaints during the first half of 2024/25, with the majority of these relating to the Waste Collection Service.  A total of 81 complaints were registered against the HES, but it was encouraging to see that the number of formal complaints (at Stage 2) stayed relatively stable and consistent with numbers seen in previous reports.  This suggests that, despite the influx of complaints at Stage 1, it was possible to resolve these without needing to escalate to the formal investigation stage (Stage 2).  

An increase in complaints against a single service-area may not necessarily be indicative of ‘service failures’; consideration also needs to be given towards the nature of the service itself (i.e. the number of ‘customer contacts’ during a specific timeframe), changes to service provision (i.e. a reduction in capacity or alterations to the operational aspect of service delivery), as well as any peaks in public interest or discourse surrounding a particular service.  

These were some of the contextual elements that must be taken into account when seeking to interpret any themes and trends regarding complaints activity.  In this instance, the Waste Collection Service manages a vast amount of ‘customer contacts’ on a daily basis, though it was recognised that the service was experiencing operational difficulties in some areas of Ceredigion during the earlier part of the year.  As stated above, the upwards trend in complaints against the Waste Collection Service was not evident when examining the escalation of complaints to the formal investigation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Councillor Catrin M S Davies, Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure and Customer Services  reported that between 06 May 2024 and 09 July 2024, Ceredigion County Council consulted with residents and stake holders on the draft Digital Strategy. 

29 responses were received, and these have been reviewed, and many have been worked into the final version of the strategy. 

A consultation response document outlines the key findings, and a revised and improved strategy document had been created.

Currently, the strategy was ready for council consideration.

Following questions from the floor, it was AGREED to recommend that Council approve the updated Policy.

Councillor Catrin M S Davies, Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure and Customer Services provided an update on the Information Security Policy. The objectives of the policy were to protect the integrity of information, data and systems against misuse, loss, and any abuse or damage. 

The policy aims to ensure that data access rights were maintained and that systems were accessible and performing properly. Additionally, the policy ensures that appropriate plans and arrangements were in place to deal with disasters and provide continuity for critical services. It also focuses on how users make use of information systems, the auditing, the detecting of breaches, and holding users and services accountable for their use. This was a reworking of the existing policy to modernise guidance and bring up to date with best practice.

Currently, the policy contains minor updates and amendments to the existing policy which was due for a full 5-year review.

Following questions from the floor, it was AGREED to forward the policy to Cabinet for approval.

Councillor Catrin M S Davies, Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure and Customer Services reported that the purpose of this policy document was to provide a framework for the safe and ethical use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning and AI Large Language Models (GenAI), by Ceredigion council employees and councillors. This includes tools such a CoPilot, Bard, Bing or ChatGPT but many other tools are also becoming available and being embedded in other product sets. 

Currently, there were no policy governing the use of AI to support the delivery of council services. 

Following questions from the floor, it was recommend the policy for consideration and adoption by Cabinet.

Mr Duncan Hall, Corporate Lead Officer, Finance & Procurement provided the following on the latest financial position of the Council:-

•The latest quarterly financial position as reported to Cabinet (to include the latest BRAG status position on the 24/25 Budget Reductions)

•This included both the Revenue and Capital Financial Monitoring reports.

Following questions from the floor, it was AGREED to update as provided.

Consideration was given to the Forward Work Programme as presented subject to the following:-

(i)             a further email be sent to the Estates service as the report requested in the July meeting to be presented in the October meeting upon the sale of the Council assets had to date not been received. Members expressed their dismay as Officers had not responded to several emails sent from the Vice-Chair and the Scrutiny Support Officer; and

(ii)            a further email be also sent to the Estates service requesting a task and finish group to meet to discuss County farms; as a response to that request had also not been received

It was RESOLVED to confirm as a true record the Minutes of the Meeting of the previous meeting.