The Performance Scrutiny Committee - Partnerships is scheduled to meet to discuss the Shared Resource Service (SRS) Monitoring Update, the Gwent Regional Partnership Board (RPB) Annual Report 2024-2025, and a Scrutiny Adviser Report. The meeting will also include a review of actions arising from previous meetings, a forward work programme update, and outcomes monitoring.

Shared Resource Service (SRS) Monitoring Update

The committee will be presented with an update on the Shared Resource Service's (SRS) performance for 2024/25, including major initiatives. The Shared Resource Service (SRS) is a collaborative Digital, Data and Technology Service which delivers a variety of services to Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council, Monmouthshire County Council, Newport City Council, Torfaen County Borough Council and currently Gwent Police.

The report pack includes a submission of evidence to scrutiny from Matt Lewis, Chief Operating Officer of the SRS. The report outlines an overview of the SRS, its governance arrangements, performance in 2024/25, and major initiatives.

According to the report pack, the SRS was created in 2011 as a shared technology service, with Newport City Council formally joining the partnership on 1 April 2017. The report pack states that additional services were added to allow the SRS to position itself to best respond to challenges including:

• financial pressures
• resilience challenges
• professional opportunities
• need to align standards across the whole SRS customer base
• high turnover rate of staff
• OneWales consistency, not uniformity

The report pack states that the SRS is governed to ensure that Newport's views and needs are represented across everything that the SRS delivers. It also states that the SRS budget is approved annually by the Finance and Governance board, which includes Section 151 representatives¹ from all five partner organisations, including Newport.

The report pack states that Newport City Council's financial outturn for 2024-25 was a £6,082 overspend, which was due to a number of factors, including contract savings and overspends, Microsoft licence agreement requests, data line savings and PSBA overspend.

The report pack also states that the SRS has generated a Newport specific reserve fund which currently stands at £50,935, which is held and utilised for service improvement in agreement with Newport, for Newport benefit only. It also states that Newport currently holds £237,457 in capital reserves to support the future refresh of the infrastructure in Vantage.

The report pack outlines the internal audit work carried out for the year ended 31 March 2025, and states that sufficient internal audit work has been undertaken to allow an overall opinion to be given as to the adequacy and effectiveness of governance, risk management and control.

The report pack includes an overview of the SRS's performance, including calls resolved against SLA², percentage resolved at first point of contact, customer satisfaction, and time to resolve.

The report pack also details major initiatives, including:

• Taxi Driver DBS Checks Automation
• Housing Register Automation
• Translation Automation using AWS services³
• Voice-to-Text Transcription (Sonic Brief), developed in conjunction with Newport's Digital and Social Care teams
• Starters, Leavers and Movers automated process
• Microsoft Copilot roll out
• Connecting Wales (Contact Centre)
• Shared Data Platform and Single View of Child (SVoC)
• Connecting Care
• Collaborative Website using the LocalGov Drupal platform
• New Property Service Model and associated IT Systems

The report pack also outlines aligned technical standards, including cyber security, information security, Windows 11, cloud services, cloud telephony, and the Develop Yourself Plan.

The report pack provides updates for education, including device rollout as part of EdTech, SLA signup, and Teams Telephony.

The report pack also details the Net Zero contribution of the SRS, including a power saving initiative in Newport Schools, and social value, including an apprenticeship scheme and a new disposals policy that recycles old devices.

The committee may wish to consider the SRS's progress in delivering the outcomes of the original business case, plans to develop the partnership further, barriers to delivering the outcomes, and how effectively the partnership arrangement is working. The committee may also wish to consider plans to ensure the ongoing support and maintenance of initiatives like the AI Voice Bot and Connecting Care, and contingency plans to address potential delays or obstacles in projects like Connecting Care and regional data sharing.

Gwent Regional Partnership Board (RPB) Annual Report 2024-2025

The committee will be presented with the Gwent Regional Partnership Board (RPB) Annual Report 2024-2025. The RPB is a statutory partnership body, established to lead and guide the implementation of the Social Services and Well Being (Wales) Act 2014 across the five Gwent Local Authorities within the footprint of the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board area.

The report pack includes the Gwent RPB Annual Report 2024-2025, which provides a strategic overview of the work of the Board in delivering against its priorities through the work of the themed Strategic Partnerships sitting beneath it.

The report pack states that the priorities of the RPB are:

• To improve care and support, ensuring people have more say and control in their care.
• To provide advice, information and assistance with a focus on prevention and early intervention.
• To improve outcomes and health and wellbeing, for people across the region.
• Provide co-ordinated, coproduced person-centred care and support
• Make more effective use of resources, skills, and expertise across partners, through multi agency working and collaboration.

The report pack also includes a summary of the Key Developments of the last Year , including information on carers, Dewis Cymru⁴, Dementia Friendly Gwent Network, citizen engagement, workforce and college consortium, and AskSARA[^6].

The committee may wish to consider the joint regional commitments within the Area Plan, review the RPB Annual Report 2024/25, and provide any feedback/comments. The committee may also wish to consider how the RPB's Area Plan reflects the needs identified in the Population Needs Assessment (PNA), how the RPB are aligning their priorities with other partner organisations, challenges or barriers in implementing the strategies outlined in the report, and how the RPB plan to collaborate with other regions or partnerships to share best practices and improve service delivery. The committee may also wish to consider what training and development opportunities are being provided to staff, and what efforts are being made to raise public awareness about the services available through the RPB.

Scrutiny Adviser Report

Neil Barnett, Scrutiny Adviser, will present the committee with the Scrutiny Adviser Report. The report pack includes the Action Sheet from the committee meetings, the Draft Forward Work Programme for the year 2025-26, and the Outcomes Monitoring table.

The committee is asked to note the responses for the actions, determine if any further information/action is required, and agree to receive an update on outstanding issues at the next meeting. The committee is also asked to consider the Committee's Forward Work Programme Update, and note the responses given by Officers/Cabinet Members' to recommendations made by the committee.