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Contact: Stephen Boyd 01597 826374
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Apologies To receive apologies for absence. Minutes: There were no apologies for absence. |
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To authorise the Leader to sign the minutes of the meetings held on 7th November and 21st November 2017 as correct records. Additional documents: Minutes: The Leader was authorised to sign the minutes of the meetings held on 7th and 21st November 2017 as correct records. |
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Declarations of Interest To receive any declarations of interest from Members relating to items to be considered on the agenda. Minutes: There were no declarations of interest reported. |
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Closure of the HTR Commissioning Programme PDF 92 KB To consider a report by County Councillor Phyl Davies, Portfolio Holder for Waste and Property and County Councillor Liam Fitzpatrick, Portfolio Holder for Highways.
Minutes: Cabinet was advised that having looked in great detail at options for the HTR service, it was being recommended that rather than transfer the service to a trading company it be retained in house and adopt many of the initiatives and changes to service delivery that were identified for the trading company. This option was strongly favoured by staff.
It was further proposed that the current programme board be retained to move forward and achieve the transformation of the service, adopting most of the benefits and changes in activity that were outlined for the trading company.
The Leader and Acting Chief Executive paid tribute to the staff and to the work of the Head of Highways and Senior Business Manager for their work on the commissioning project which had provided a lot of useful learning points for future projects.
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To consider a report by County Councillor Liam Fitzpatrick, Portfolio Holder for Highways. Additional documents:
Minutes: Cabinet was advised that the Chair of Scrutiny Committee A had said that the Committee had not been given an opportunity to scrutinise the policy as it had not appeared in the Cabinet’s forward work plan and therefore requested deferral of the report.
Members were advised that the report had been in work programme and that the Scrutiny Chairs and Vice Chairs Steering Group decided not to scrutinise it. The Leader and Cabinet asked that in future when this was the case, this be noted in reports.
In view of the interest now being shown in the parking policy it was moved and seconded that the report be deferred to the next meeting on 9th January 2018 to give an opportunity for the report to be scrutinised.
County Councillor Peter Lewis who had attended to speak against the report said he would reserve his comments until the report was considered.
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Corporate Asset Policy PDF 68 KB To consider a report by County Councillor Phyl Davies, Portfolio Holder for Property and Waste. Additional documents:
Minutes: Cabinet considered a revised version of the Corporate Asset Policy.
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Financial Overview and Forecast as at 31st October 2017 PDF 182 KB To consider a report by County Councillor Aled Davies, Portfolio Holder for Finance. Minutes: Cabinet considered the financial outturn report for the month ended 31st October 2017. The Portfolio Holder for Finance reported that the deficit recovery plan was starting to take effect with a £2m surplus identified in central activities through the capitalisation of some costs. This would help mitigate the impact on reserves. Further measures were being looked at but there were further pressures in the system with the increasing numbers of looked after children.
Portfolio Holders reported that the overspend in school transport had been by £166k and that the Housing service was working to address the number of void council house properties. The Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services asked that future reports be updated to reflect the investment required for Golwg Bannau and Golwg Camlas residential establishments under invest to save rather than historic savings targets.
The Chair of the Audit Committee noted that there had been little change in the forecast overspend. The Portfolio Holder for Finance advised that he would be attending the Finance Scrutiny Panel on 8th December to discuss the report.
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Capital Programme Update for October 2017 PDF 112 KB To consider a report by County Councillor Aled Davies, Portfolio Holder for Finance. Minutes: Cabinet considered the capital programme update report.
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To consider the Joint Audit – Education Scrutiny Working Group interim report on the financial viability of schools. Additional documents:
Minutes: The Chair of the Audit Committee presented the report of the Joint Audit – Education Scrutiny Committee Working Group on the financial viability of schools. Secondary schools were the most serious risk but the rate at which primary schools were depleting their reserves was also a major concern. He had attended the Schools Forum who were broadly supportive of the report. He referred to the Wales Audit Office report which said that the Council faces challenges in achieving the pace required to deliver an affordable, sustainable education service. The Portfolio Holder for Education thanked the Working Group for the report and advised that work was already being undertaken to support schools.
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Welsh Public Library Standards report for 2016/17 PDF 80 KB To consider a report by County Councillor Rachel Powell, Portfolio Holder for Libraries. Additional documents:
Minutes: Cabinet considered the Annual Report from the Welsh Government on the Library Service, for the year 2016-17, as required under the Welsh Public Library Standards. For the year 2016-17, Powys Library Service met 17 of the 18 core entitlements, and partially achieved the 18th. (The same as for 2015/16, the only outstanding item being internet access on mobile libraries). The framework has 16 quality indicators, of which 7 have targets; for those with targets, Powys met 5 in full, 1 in part, and failed to meet one.
Cabinet noted that the report did not cover the 46,000 council transactions carried out by libraries staff as part of the Libraries Plus project and the Leader thanked the Principal Librarian and her staff for their work. The Portfolio Holder thanked the Leisure/Culture Scrutiny Working Group for their comments.
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Correspondence To receive such correspondence as in the opinion of the Leader is of such urgency as to warrant consideration. Minutes: The Leader referred to the email forwarded by County Councillor Matthew Dorrance from one of his constituents in respect of the Parking Policy report that had been deferred. |
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Delegated Decisions Taken Since the Last Meeting PDF 40 KB To note the delegated decisions taken since the last meeting. Minutes: Cabinet noted the delegated decisions taken by Portfolio Holders since the last meeting.
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Forward Work Programme PDF 83 KB To consider the Cabinet forward work programme. Minutes: The Leader reminded Portfolio Holders of the need to ensure that the forward work programme was kept updated.
The Leader advised that in the last week the Cabinet had met the Welsh Government Cabinet Secretary for Local Government and Public Services Alun Davies AM to discuss a range of issues including local government reform and Under Secretary of State for Wales Guto Bebb MP to discuss economic development.
The Leader noted that this was the last Cabinet meeting Sue Bolter, the Head of Regeneration and Commissioning would be attending before she left the Council for another job and she thanked her for her service and wished her well for the future. |