Issue - meetings

As detailed in the recommendations.

Councillor Johnson introduced the report which provided an overview of the Audit Wales report “‘Together we can’ Community resilience and self-reliance”, which highlighted how building community resilience and self-reliance could help reduce reliance on local authority services in future, if local authorities shifted from being a ‘direct provider’ to ‘enabler’.

‘Together we can’ was the third report published by Audit Wales in a series focused on poverty and what local government was doing to tackle it.  The report also highlighted the recommendations and expectations of Audit Wales in

terms of local authorities next steps.

            The Chief Officer (Housing and Communities) explained that the recommendation in the report would require cross organisational work and financial support at a time when the Council faced a significant budget pressure and it would need ongoing investment for it to be a success.

            The report had been submitted to Community and Housing Overview and Scrutiny Committee who moved a further recommendation of  “That the Committee recognises the work of numerous voluntary organisations and individuals across the County and that be fed back to Cabinet when considering the report at its meeting on 18^th June”.

            Councillor Roberts said that such recommendations needed financial investment from both the UK Government and Welsh Government.  He thanked the Overview and Scrutiny Committee for their additional recommendation.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the findings and recommendations of the Audit Wales ‘Together we can’ Community resilience and self-reliance’ report be noted; and

(b)       That the recommended response in relation to Audit Wales recommendations be noted and it being reported to appropriate Committees in June 2024 be supported.