The Policy Review and Performance Scrutiny Committee met to discuss the Cardiff Public Services Board's annual report, an internal change programme, and the procurement of a new financial system. The committee agreed to write to the Cabinet Member for Finance, Modernisation and Performance, Councillor Chris Weaver, to convey their observations and recommendations.

Cardiff Public Services Board Annual Report

The committee conducted its statutory scrutiny of the Cardiff Public Services Board's (PSB) annual report for 2024-25, hearing from Councillor Hugh Thomas, Leader of Cardiff Council and Chair of Cardiff PSB, Claire Bainan, the Director of Public Health Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, and Dr Karis Miles, Director of Communities Partnerships and Prevention for the Police and Crime Commissioner. The discussion covered a range of topics, including community safety, health inequalities, and citizen engagement.

Key discussion points:

• Partnership Working: The committee acknowledged the importance of effective partnership working between large organisations, noting the progress made through collaboration. Councillor Thomas highlighted examples such as the Age-Friendly Cardiff action plan and the Cardiff weapons in school guidance.
• Independent Review: The PSB commissioned an independent review of its partnership working, led by Stephen Taylor, formerly chief executive of the Leadership Centre for Local Government. The review suggested focusing on individuals with high public costs, investing in communities for prevention, strengthening joint intelligence analysis, and developing public service leadership.
• Health Inequalities: Claire Bainan emphasised the need to reduce health inequalities through a whole-system approach, citing the Good Food and Movement plan as an example. She also noted that they work closely with the planning team on new planning applications to give a public health view.
• Community Safety: Dr Miles outlined the Police and Crime Commissioner's initiatives in Cardiff, including funding for violence against women and girls services, community safety partnerships, and the Safer Streets Fund.
• Low-Income Families: Councillor Susan Elsmore raised concerns about the persistent percentage of low-income families and asked what could be done. Councillor Thomas noted that the council has a lack of control over some of the levers, particularly measures like the freeze in the local housing allowance and the cap on two children in the benefit system.
• Council and Police Relationships: Councillor Joseph Carter highlighted a perceived democratic deficit between the PSB and the council, particularly regarding communication between the police and local ward members. Councillor Thomas acknowledged that tensions can arise further down the organisations and that he has raised the need for operational commanders to recognise the role of local councillors with the police on several occasions.
• Immunisation Rates: Councillor Jasmin Chowdhury asked about tackling misinformation around vaccination. Claire Bainan said that they are using a proportionate universalism approach and have changed their model completely to be outreach. She also requested that Public Health Wales produce information on vaccinations in multiple languages.
• Sexually Transmitted Infections: Councillor Garry Hunt raised the issue of a significant increase in sexually transmitted diseases among older people and asked if there was a potential for partnership between the health service and the council to facilitate information and education. Councillor Thomas said that there have already been interventions in this regard, particularly through the Age-Friendly Cardiff work.
• Citizen Engagement: Councillor Calum Davies asked about increasing citizen engagement. Councillor Thomas said that where there is a subject of interest, that elicits engagement. Gareth Newell, the Head of Performance and Partnerships, said that the engagement mechanisms are designed to ensure that the sample is representative of the city.
• Anti-Semitism: Councillor Davies asked if the council would ever look at a task force into anti-semitism and violence around it. Councillor Thomas said that the council takes anti-semitism extremely seriously and that he and the chief executive are visiting one of the synagogues tomorrow.

Recommendations and Actions:

• The committee requested sight of the independent strategic review of partnership working led by Stephen Taylor.
• The committee may make a recommendation on linking the work of Public Health Wales with the PSB and the University Health Board to improve immunisation rates.
• The committee may recommend a more active approach to encourage schools to sign up for the Immune Patrol programme.
• The committee may recommend that noticeable shifts in trends, such as the increase in sexually transmitted infections among older people, are documented in future reports.
• The committee may make a recommendation regarding the democratic deficit in communication and engagement between the police and local ward members.
• The committee will commend the council for taking swift action in providing support to the Jewish community.

Change Programme Briefing

The committee received an introductory briefing on the council's change programme, which aims to address budget challenges and changing service demands. Councillor Chris Weaver, the Cabinet Member for Finance, Modernisation and Performance, introduced the item. Gareth Newell presented the briefing.

Key discussion points:

• Budget Pressures: The council is facing rising demand and financial pressures, requiring a focus on change and innovation.
• Service Review: A comprehensive review of council services was conducted, guided by principles such as prevention, digital efficiencies, and partnership working.
• Priorities: The change programme focuses on three key priorities: corporate enablers, preventative public services, and place-based services.
• AI and Digital Approaches: Councillor Mike Ash-Edwards complimented Isabel Bignall and her team on their work in applying digital and AI approaches across council services.
• External Perspectives: Councillor Ash-Edwards asked how the council benchmarks its practices and ensures innovation. Councillor Thomas said that the council had just come out of a peer review and that organisations in the digital space like Socitm[^2] were involved in the peer review.
• Feedback Mechanisms: Councillor Jasmin Chowdhury asked about feedback mechanisms to ensure a cyclic process with engagement. Councillor Weaver said that any projects that are involved in service change should go through the same corporate processes that we would expect around completing an equality impact assessment and engaging with the engagement team.
• Engagement with Lived Experience: Councillor Graham Hinchey asked whether there was any focus on engaging with lived experts in the change process. Councillor Weaver said that it depends on the nature of the change and the nature of the service, but the people using that service and you've got lived experience of the service you'd expect them to be engaged with as well as consulted as part of that change.
• Risk of Too Many Different Things: Councillor Carter asked whether the risk is we're doing too many different things here as part of this change program. Councillor Thomas said that if you're pursuing a change program you've got to have components which relate to some key corporate services to the key corporate enablers things like digital technology what we're doing on the workforce what we're doing in terms of core office and assets.
• Unintended Consequences: Councillor Hinchey said that there will be unintended consequences of school transport coming up if you coalesce all the ALN children into one particular place. Councillor Weaver said that what is potentially helpful about having it in a change program and recognising some of these things at the corporate level is that you can see the join ups a little more clearly.
• Headcount Reductions: Councillor Davies asked if using technology and modernisation there's no policy to reduce headcount. Councillor Weaver said that it is not a sort of top-down set this is how the entire council is going to approach a particular problem we will reflect on what the impact of that change within a service will be.

Recommendations and Actions:

• The committee may recommend that external views shape the plan going forward.
• The committee may recommend that all scrutiny committees engage with the programme and scrutinise specific proposals.

Enterprise Resource Planning System

The committee received a briefing on the procurement of a replacement Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, which will replace the council's current SAP, DigiGOV, and Talentlink systems. Councillor Chris Weaver introduced the item, and Ian Allwood, the Head of Finance, presented the briefing.

Key discussion points:

• Need for Replacement: The current SAP system is nearing the end of its mainstream support and is no longer fit for purpose. The new system aims to improve digital capability, data visibility, and workforce planning.
• Options Appraisal: The council considered four options: maintaining the current system, replacing only finance and procurement, implementing a single ERP solution, or using a best of breed approach. The council is looking to go forward to try and get solutions from both the best of breed and the single ERP suppliers.
• Future-Proofing: Councillor Ash-Edwards asked how the council is ensuring the new system will be future-proof. The panel said that by adopting the standard way of doing things, the council can take advantage of any new functionality that's coming through as part of that.
• National System: Councillor Hunt asked why every council doesn't get together in the country and have a unified national system. Ian Allwood said that there is a link with the financial ledger in terms of HR and that there are clear benefits of integration.
• Regional Collaboration: Councillor Carter said that it does seem odd that a consideration of the potential savings of doing this collaboratively with three or four local authorities isn't in the cabinet paper.
• Adopt, Not Adapt: The council intends to adopt, not adapt the new system, which means using the processes built into the new system rather than customising it to fit existing practices.
• Cyber Security: Councillor Davies asked about cyber security. The panel said that they will be making sure that they go through all necessary checks and balances with that.

Recommendations and Actions:

• The committee may recommend early working on long-term planning for replacement systems where the council can join in with other local authorities.
• The committee may recommend that the council seek clarification as to whether the group of six or eight local authorities that replaced their systems in the last two years did they go in all in together or did they get separate ones.
• The committee will keep an eye on the business change and resources that are needed for bringing the people with you and getting them on board as this progresses.