Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from County Councillor Jonathan Wilkinson.

To authorise the Leader to sign the minutes of the meetings held on 9^th and 16^th January 2018 as correct records.

The Leader was authorised to sign the minutes of the meetings held on 9^th and 16^th January 2018 as correct records.

To receive any declarations of interest from Members relating to items to be considered on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest reported.

To consider a report by County Councillor Aled Davies, Portfolio Holder for Finance.

Cabinet considered the budget for 2018 - 2019, the medium term financial strategy for 2018 – 2023 and the capital programme for 2018 – 2023 (copy filed with the signed minutes).

The Portfolio Holder for Finance advised that the proposal provided a balanced budget for 2018/19 and included further reductions in expenditure through efficiencies and some changes to service provision. He advised that there was a 0.4% decrease in the financial settlement from the Welsh Government from last year meaning a reduction in funding of £0.679m. Service and other pressures of £22.350m, together with the need for investment in Children’s and Adult Services had added to the financial challenge the Council faced.  As a result, in addition to the significant savings originally identified within the existing MTFS, other sources of funding had been drawn upon to limit the impact on services in the short term. Some reserves would also be used and the Section 151 Officer advised that reserves were being kept at an appropriate level.

The second year of the plan represented a significant challenge for the Council.   It was clear that the Council in its current form was no longer affordable and significant transformational change was required to deliver a council which could operate within the funding available to it.  A fundamental review of how the Council delivered its services and what it could continue to deliver was underway and would be developed over the next six months in order to maintain a balanced budget for the remaining years of the plan. The Acting Chief Executive confirmed that Management Team had already started this work.

Cabinet welcomed the independent assessment of the proposed budget and the level of reserves carried out by CIPFA that had concluded there were appropriate procedures in place to set a robust budget and adequate reserves.

To consider a report by County Councillor Aled Davies, Portfolio Holder for Finance.

Cabinet considered the financial outturn for the period ended 31 December 2017. The report included a business case for the draw-down of £321k in 2017/18 and £253k in 2018/19 from the Adult Social Care Reserve. The Portfolio Holder for Finance noted that there had been little change in the amount of savings delivered since the last report.

To consider a report by County Councillor Aled Davies, Portfolio Holder for Finance.

Cabinet considered the Capital Programme update for the period ended 31 December 2017 and requests for budget virements in respect of:

Schools and Inclusion - The procurement of the new School at Ysgol Bro Hyddgen has been delayed, which will impact on the delivery timescales for the overall project of the replacement Primary and Secondary School for Ysgol Bro Dyfi.  This virement rolls forward £1.091m from 2017/18 to 2018/19.

Regeneration, Property & Commissioning - The refurbishment of Ladywell House is to take place in 2018/19. This virement is to roll £1m into 2018/19.

To consider a report by County Councillor Aled Davies, Portfolio Holder for Finance.

Cabinet considered a proposal for the Council to sign up to the Welsh Government Code of Practice on Ethical Employment in Supply Chains (CPEESC). The code was designed to ensure that workers in public sector supply chains are employed ethically and in compliance with both the letter and spirit of UK, EU, and international laws and covered issues such as 

•      Modern Slavery and human rights abuses;

•      Blacklisting;

•      False self-employment;

•      Unfair use of umbrella schemes and zero hours contracts; and

•      Paying the Living Wage.

It was confirmed that local businesses contracting with the Council would be expected to sign up to the code. Officers would work with Business Wales to make paperwork in tendering with the Council as simple as possible.

To consider a report by County Councillor Aled Davies, Portfolio Holder for Finance.

Cabinet considered the Treasury Management report for the 3^rd quarter. The Portfolio Holder for Finance advised that as at 31 December 2017 the Council had no cash invested as it was instead used to support the capital programme.

County Councillor Aled Davies left the meeting at 11.37.

To consider a report by County Councillor Jonathan Wilkinson, Portfolio Holder for Housing and Countryside Services.

Cabinet considered Council Housing Rents, Garage Rents and all property and tenancy related service charges.  The proposal was that with effect from April 2018 the rent increase for the majority of HRA tenancies (2,119 properties) was 4.5%, that for a further 991 homes the increase was greater than 4.5% but less than 4.5% + £2.00 per week and that for a further 2,232 homes the increase would be 4.5% plus £2.00 a week (6.4%). Members asked for a review of the level of garage and garage plots rents to be undertaken to compare levels with the commercial sector. Members also asked about support for tenants in arrears and were advised that a significant proportion of officer time was spent assisting tenants in arrears. The Head of Housing confirmed that the homelessness strategy was being reviewed and would be brought to Cabinet for consideration in the autumn.

To consider a report by County Councillor Stephen Hayes, Portfolio Holder for Adult Services.

Cabinet considered the safeguarding report for Adult Services for the 2^nd quarter. The Portfolio Holder for Adult Services advised that he expected the way in which safeguarding was reported would change in light of the CIW inspection. He welcomed the letter from the Office of the Public Guardian advising that an assurance visit to inspect the Council’s management of its deputyship cases had found the service provided by the deputyship team to be excellent and that the team was well managed, effective and competent.

To consider a report by County Councillor Rachel Powell, Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services.

Cabinet considered proposals to establish a Corporate Safeguarding Group and its terms of reference. It was emphasised that safeguarding was a whole Council issue and that the remit of the group would be wider than Children’s and Adult Social Care. In view of this it was suggested that the Portfolio Holder for HR, ICT and Communications should be added to the membership.  The Acting Chief Executive would chair for the first six months and then it would be chaired by the Director of Social Services.

To consider a response to the Joint Audit – Education Scrutiny Working Group Report.

Cabinet considered the response to the Joint Audit/Education Scrutiny Working Group report into the financial viability of schools.

The Portfolio Holder for Education welcomed the Scrutiny report. She advised that a clear understanding of the schools funding formula and the cost of delivering the curriculum was urgently needed and that work to develop the funding formula was underway. She told Cabinet that 15 schools had unlicensed deficits. Officers were supporting these schools to remove all 15 deficits as a matter of urgency. Cabinet had recognised the pressures on schools and were recommending an additional £1m in the budget plus £250k for dual stream schools. The Portfolio Holder thanked those governing bodies who had developed their curriculums to keep within budget. Two secondary schools that had yet to submit recovery plans and further intervention measures were being progressed. 

The Director of Education advised Cabinet that every school would be expected to meet the 1 May deadline for submitting a budget plan or action would be taken.

The Chair of Audit Committee said that he would take the report back to the working group and report back to Cabinet if necessary.

To consider the Corporate Leadership Governance Improvement Plan.

Cabinet considered the Corporate Leadership Governance Improvement Plan which had been developed to address the observations made by CSSIW regarding Powys Children’s Services, on the Council’s approach to leadership and governance. It aligned with the Council’s Vision 2025 and contained a significant programme to ensure that the Council is a well-run, aspirational and high-performing organisation.  

County Councillor David Selby presented the observations of the Scrutiny group explaining that observations had to be submitted by email due to a Council budget seminar being called when the group had been due to meet. He regretted that there had not been enough time to scrutinise such an important document. Whilst appreciating that the plan had been produced in response to the CSSIW inspection of Children’s Services, Scrutiny members felt that the plan focused too much on Children’s Services and not the Council as a whole.  It was not clear to the Scrutiny members how they would be involved in monitoring progress and they doubted that all of the target dates could be met. They also felt that the document contained too many acronyms and that it would have benefited from the inclusion of a glossary.

The Director of Education acknowledged the points made by Scrutiny and advised that some of their comments had already been incorporated in the latest draft of the plan. He explained that the Plan was a living document that would go through many iterations and that it would be subject to further scrutiny.

To receive an update from the Anti-Poverty Champion, County Councillor Joy Jones.

County Councillor Joy Jones, the Council’s Anti-Poverty Champion and the Business Continuity and Risk Management Officer gave a presentation on the work of the cross party anti-poverty group. The Group had visited Machynlleth and Knighton and had been impressed by the way community groups stepped in to provide essential support to people in need.

The Leader thanked Councillor Jones and the group for their work and suggested that it should be shared more widely with members, perhaps on a member development day.

To receive for information the draft minutes of the TraCC Board meeting held on 23 November 2017.

Cabinet received the draft minutes of the TraCC Board meeting held on 23 November 2017.

To receive such correspondence as in the opinion of the Leader is of such urgency as to warrant consideration.

There were no items of correspondence reported.

To note the delegated decisions taken since the last meeting.

Cabinet received details of delegated decisions taken since the last meeting.

To consider the Cabinet forward work programme.

Cabinet received details of the forward work programme. The Portfolio Holder advised that there would be a report on the reconfiguration of primary education in Dyffryn Banw coming to Cabinet on 13 March.