Appointment of Panels, Working Groups Etc

APPOINTMENT OF PANELS, WORKING GROUPS ETC

TERMS OF REFERENCE

1Housing Allocations Appeals Panel

To consider, at the request of the applicant, reviews of decisions not to put a person on the Council’s Housing Register who has applied to be put on it or to remove a person from the register, other than at his/her own request.
To consider appeals by applicants who wish to challenge the way in which the Council has dealt with an application under homelessness legislation.
To deal with appeals against determinations made by the Chief Housing Officer, under the Housing Act 1996 (as amended by the Homelessness Act 2002), in respect of applicants considered unsuitable to be a tenant.

The Panel comprises 3 Elected Members selected on an alphabetical rota basis. Local Members are invited to attend but are not included in the decision-making process.

2Chirk Environmental Liaison Group

The Chirk Environmental Liaison Group provides a Forum to discuss environmental issues of concern to the residents of Chirk. In addition to the County Borough Council, the Chirk Town Council is represented on the Liaison Group.

3Permanency and Fostering Panels (formerly Adoption and Foster Care Panel)

There are two separate Panels for adoption and fostering matters and one Member of the Council needs to be appointed to sit on both Panels. The Council’s previous representative was Councillor Lloyd Kenyon.

4Planning Policy Panel

Established by the Planning Committee in February 1996 to provide a mechanism for the informal discussion of planning policy issues between Members and Officers.

Terms of reference amended and extended by the Planning Committee on 7 March 2005 as follows:

To be the main forum for developing Local Development Plan Policies
To provide a mechanism for Member/Officer discussion on a range of regional and strategic planning policies such as the Regional Waste Plan and Minerals Policy

5Wrexham Tenant & Member Partnership

To monitor and review the activities and performance of the Council’s Landlord Services/and services delivered by the Authority which directly affects tenants.

To consider and make recommendations to the Executive Board on future service delivery options for the Council’s Landlord function.

To consider and make recommendations to the Executive Board for the HRA Business Plan.

To consider and make recommendations to the Executive Board for an annual service operational plan consistent with the HRA Business Plan.

To consider and make recommendations to the Executive Board to adopt and revise policies and procedures for the delivery of landlord services.

To promote the engagement and participation of tenants in all aspects of the delivery of the landlord services.

6Wrexham SACRE

In April 1996 the Wrexham Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education (SACRE) was established in accordance with Welsh Office Circular 10/94 comprising 9 Elected Members, 9 representatives of Christians/Religious Denominations, and 8 Teachers’ Representatives.

7Guardianship Panel

This Panel was established to facilitate a statutory requirement for Member involvement, under the provisions of the Mental Health Act, whereby the Authority can accept the person into guardianship.

8Rota Visitors to Children’s Homes Panel

Panel of Members to undertake monthly programme of visits to all children’s homes under the management of the Authority.

9Rota Visitors to Older People’s Homes Panel

In November, 1998 the Panel of Rota Visitors to Older People’s Homes was established with the following powers and duties by way of a co-ordinated programme of unannounced monthly visits to homes under the management of the Authority.

To contribute to the monitoring of service standards.
To review service developments and the implementation of Committee policy.
To contribute to safeguarding service users.
To have the opportunity for direct contact with service users and staff and to develop a first-hand understanding of how service users experience the service that they receive.

10Wrexham Partnership Liaison Group

To clarify the expectations of the local authority, voluntary and community organisations and volunteers.

To identify collective aims and priorities in sufficient detail to inform corporate policy.

To specify those aspects of the relationship, such as policy, strategy and planning which would benefit from a joint approach.

To identify how the Council will work with voluntary organisations to facilitate community participation in planning and policy formulation.

To recognise the importance of community led development and specify the key roles the local authority and voluntary sector have in developing this process.

To be responsible for ensuring that the Council has accurate information about the range and scale of local voluntary and community action.

To be responsible for assisting the Council to understand the contribution that local voluntary and community action can make to the health of local communities.

To establish a clear understanding of the funding arrangements under which the Council will provide support for voluntary groups with community led initiatives.

To provide an annual timetable for payment arrangements via Service Level Agreements.

To provide a Forum for discussing methods of monitoring and review.

That a minimum of two Meetings of the Liaison Group be held per year.

That the Chair and Vice-Chair shall be elected annually. If the Chair appointed is an Elected Member, the Vice-Chair shall be appointed from the representatives of the voluntary/community sectors and vice-versa. The appointments shall alternate each year.

11Youth Offending Service (YOS) Management Board

Provide the governance arrangements of the YOS and ensure that the YOS sits equally between the criminal justice system and other children and young people's services
To agree arrangements for reporting on the performance and resourcing needs of the YOS to local authority Members, the police authority, the Probation Board, the Local Health Board and the North East Wales Medical Trust
To use YOS management information to inform strategic planning decisions aimed at preventing youth crime
To determine the Youth Crime Prevention Strategy/Youth Justice Plan for Wrexham and ensuring its delivery
To ensure that YOS staff receive appropriate training and development opportunities to address any competence deficits identified through the Youth Justice Board's effective practice quality audits
To seek to ensure that children and young people with whom the YOS works have access to appropriate mainstream services
On behalf of the partner agencies, to provide strategic direction for the work of the YOS and agree the strategic priorities in achieving the aims of the youth justice system
To monitor the performance of the YOS (including the Intensive Supervision Surveillance Programme)
Ensure that the YOS partnership is sufficiently resourced to deliver the objectives of the published Youth Justice Plan
To ensure the YOS partnership delivers the national and local targets set out in the 13 Key Performance Indicators