To receive apologies for absence from Members.

Apologies for absence were received from the following Officers:-

Interim Head of Finance and S151 Officer

Corporate Director Communities

To receive declarations of personal and prejudicial interest (if any) from Members/Officers in accordance with the provisions of the Members’ Code of Conduct adopted by Council from 1 September 2008.

Councillors PJ White and RE Young declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 7., in that they were mentioned in the report as being appointed LA Governors at certain schools.

To receive for approval the Minutes of 15/05/18 and 19/06/18.

RESOLVED:             That the Minutes of meetings of Cabinet held on the following dates, be approved as a true and accurate record:-

                                  15 May 2018

                                  19 June 2018

The Interim Head of Finance submitted a report that was presented by the Chief Executive in her absence, the purpose of which, was to provide Cabinet with an update on the Council’s financial position as at 30 June 2018.

The report gave some background information, and following this it showed in paragraph 4.1.1 the Council’s net revenue budget and projected outturn for 2018-19 in Table 1. This reflected that as at 30 June 2018, the Council had an under spend of £1.298m which was similar to the status regarding Quarter 1 this time last year.

The next part of the report detailed certain Budget Virements/Technical Adjustments, with one of the latter being an allocation of £3.007m funding to Directorates to meet the costs of the nationally agreed pay award.

The Chief Executive then confirmed that given the large scale reductions on Council wide budgets in 2018-19 (42.6% of overall Council budget reductions) there is a risk that there may not be sufficient funding available within these budgets for any major price inflation increases, particularly as inflation rates remain relatively higher than previous years (CPI was 2.4% in May 2018 compared to 0.5% in March 2016 and 2.3% in March 2017), so the budget will need to be monitored closely during the remainder of the year.

He then made reference to the paragraph entitled ‘Monitoring of Budget Reduction Proposals’ and Prior Year Budget Reductions, and Table 2 in paragraph 4.2.2 of the report entitled Outstanding Prior Year Budget Reductions. This showed that of the £2.604m outstanding reductions, £1.192m is likely to be achieved in 2018-19 leaving a shortfall of £1.412m, with some proposals still not likely to be achieved, that included Learner Transport amongst others. There was an added shortfall relating to the Social Services and Wellbeing Directorate, which was currently being monitored through a Financial Plan.

The Chief Executive continued his submission, by then referring to Budget Reductions for 2018-19, together with a comparison of the RAG position against Quarter 1 in 2017-18. He added that the most significant budget reduction proposals unlikely to be achieved were associated with the Learner Transport Policy, Reductions to the budget for Public Conveniences and the Removal of Subsidised Bus Services.

He then outlined a summary of the financial position for each main service area, further details of which could be found in Appendix 3 to the report, with comments on the most significant variances shown on a Directorate by Directorate basis, in paragraphs 4.3.1 to 4.3.5 of the report.

The Chief Executive then concluded his submission, by giving a resume of Council Wide budgets and Capital Programme monitoring, with Appendix 4 of the report providing details of the individual schemes within the Capital Programme, showing the budget available in 2018-19 compared to the projected spend.

The Deputy Leader thanked the Chief Executive for his submission, and noted the financial pressures being experienced in the Social Services and Wellbeing Directorate. He asked the Corporate Director – Social Services and Wellbeing how these were currently  ...  view the full minutes text for item 231.

The Corporate Director Communities presented a report, the purpose of which, was to seek authority to conduct an additional consultation in relation to Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPO’s), further to the consultation that occurred in July-Oct 2017. This consultation would specifically be to introduce dog fouling and other dog controls in Bridgend County Borough Council.

By way of background information, the Head of Neighbourhood Services confirmed that through a report dated 27 June 2017 entitled PSPO’s, Cabinet approved a Consultation to seek views on the creation of these, for the purposes outlined in paragraph 3.1 of the report.

He added that whilst initially Orders would relate to the control of dogs were not included in the PSPO consultation, following a number of Member representations requesting that greater steps be taken to combat the issues of irresponsible dog ownership, inclusion of a PSPO consultation to also address this area, was now being proposed.

The next part of the report outlined the unsightly, unpleasant and danger to people’s health that can be caused by dog excrement, and that while the majority of dog owners were responsible, there were a minority who allowed their dog to foul in public places without cleaning the mess up after them, which could lead to a health issue, such as for example in playing fields etc.

The introduction of a PSPO advised the Head of Neighbourhood Services, can impose certain restrictions, that would assist in correcting irresponsible behaviour associated with a minority of dog owners.

Paragraph 4.6 of the report then confirmed the process to follow with regard to any consultation over the making of Public Spaces Protection Orders for the Control of Dogs, while paragraph 4.7 outlined the extent of areas the Orders would cover, as well as what the provisions of the Orders would contain in relation to control measures for dog owners and the level of fine if an owner was caught contravening the provisions of such Orders.

The Head of Neighbourhood Services concluded his submission, by advising that the public consultation would also concentrate on the views of disabled groups, and in particular, any impact the Orders would have on this contingency of dog owners.

The Cabinet Member – Communities commended the report, adding that if the Orders were introduced, they would allow for better control over anyone caught breaching the provisions of such Orders.

The Cabinet Member – Social Services and Early Help stated that he hoped the Orders would be complimented by the extra provision of dog litter bins being placed in areas of the County Borough, in order that owners have sufficient receptacles where they could deposit dog fouling they collect from their animal.

The Leader advised that responsible dog owners had nothing to fear from the proposals contained in the report, and that Cabinet would await with interest the outcome of the public consultation. He asked what the definition was of ‘public places’.

The Head of Legal and Regulatory Services and Monitoring Officer replied that this meant any location  ...  view the full minutes text for item 232.

The Corporate Director – Communities, submitted a report, seeking Cabinet approval for Bridgend County Borough Council (BCBC) to be part of a consortium looking to prepare and submit a proposal to the UK Government to meet the requirements of its Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF), as part of the Prospering From The Energy Revolution Programme.

The Head of Neighbourhood Services advised by way of background information, that  ‘The Prospering From The Energy Revolution’ was part of the UK Government’s Clean Growth Strategy, and is an ambitious blueprint for lowering carbon emissions, protecting the environment. The Energy Revolution Challenge was also designed to address many societal challenges linked to energy, such as those referenced to in paragraph 3.1 of the report.

He added that the energy system was currently undergoing rapid change, due to a number of factors such as those exampled in paragraph 3.2 of the report.

The Head of Neighbourhood Services further added, that the Government were committing a considerable amount of funding in the investment of low carbon innovation, up to 2021. 10% of this would be allocated to the development of smart systems designed to provide cheap and clean energy across the heat, power and transport sectors. A breakdown of government funding on low carbon innovation was shown in paragraph 3.3 of the report.

The Prospering from the Energy Revolution Programme was designed to be business led, to be delivered through an ambitious and innovative consortium, which would comprise of the following:-

·         Project Developers;

·         ICT Specialists;

·         Technology Developers;

·         Local Authorities;

·         Energy Sector Companies;

·         Research Institutions, and

·         Multi-disciplinary Consultants

The Head of Neighbourhood Services explained that the Proposal will be led by Cenin Renewables, a company based at the Parc Stormy site.

A Digital Master Plan would detail how digital technology will develop integrated solutions for the decarbonisation of heat, power and transport, that will have benefits across the entire energy system.

The proposal for the ISCF was subject to commercial confidentialities due to the role of the private sector within the proposal, with the intention being, that the Cenin Renewables site near Porthcawl, could utilise its power generation capability to become a decarbonised hub.

The Head of Neighbourhood Services further explained, that discussions had also been held at a City Deal level and the Bridgend proposal would be a pathfinder project for the Capital Region, where learning and supply chain opportunities can be generated for the region. Especially, if City Deal Monies could be leveraged into the scheme sometime in the future.

The Head of Neighbourhood Services finally concluded his submission, by outlining the report’s financial implications.

The Cabinet Member Communities advised that he was very happy with the proposals of the report and that BCBC was part of this illustrious project.

There would be in total £120m of funding made available between 3 participating Authorities, ie Bridgend, Manchester and Newcastle. BCBC would therefore make an appropriate bid for £40m as part of the project, which was an unprecedented amount of money as part of the consortia.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 233.

The Interim Corporate Director – Education and Family Support submitted a report, the purpose of which, was to seek approval from Cabinet for the appointment of local authority governors to the school governing bodies listed at paragraphs 4.1of the report.

This section of the report showed that appointments had been made to the governing bodies of the schools detailed therein, as these candidates were considered suitable for the role and there were no competition for any of the vacancies.

Paragraph 4.2 of the report, highlighted that there were still 17 vacancies that required to be filled in 15 Schools (Appendix A to the report referred).

The Cabinet Member, Education and Regeneration advised, that best efforts would be made to ensure that the remaining vacancies on School governing bodies were filled in the immediate future.

RESOLVED:                  That Cabinet approved the appointments listed at paragraphs 4.1of the report.

The Head of Legal and Regulatory Services presented a report, the purpose of which, was to seek Cabinet approval for items to be included on the Forward Work Programme (FWP) for the period 1 October 2018 to 31 January 2019.

In accordance with a provision of the Council’s Constitution, the FWP will cover a period of four months, and contain matters which the Cabinet, Overview and Scrutiny Committees and Council are likely to consider, in the way of plans, policies or strategies that form part of the Authority’s Policy Framework.

Paragraph 4.1 of the report, outlined the FWP for Cabinet (Appendix 1 of the report), the FWP for Council for the same period (Appendix 2 of the report), and finally the Overview and Scrutiny FWP (shown at Appendix 3 to the report).

The Head of Legal and Regulatory Services confirmed that there would be a translation cost of approximately £60 for each quarterly update of the FWP when it is published on the BCBC website, which would be met from existing budgets.

The Leader pointed out that the Overview and Scrutiny FWP was carefully constructed by these Committees and led on by the Chairpersons in consultation with Cabinet and CMB, with the view of ensuring that topical and meaningful items find their way onto the agendas of future Overview and Scrutiny Committee meetings.

RESOLVED:               (1) That Cabinet approved the Cabinet Forward Work Programme for the period 1 October 2018 to 31 January 2019, as shown at Appendix 1 to the report, and

                                    (2) Noted the Council and Scrutiny Forward Work Programmes as shown at Appendix 2 and 3 to the report, respectively.

The Head of Legal and Regulatory Services presented a report, which informed Cabinet of the Information reports for noting published since its last scheduled meeting.

The Information Reports so referred to, were detailed in paragraph 4.1 of the report.

In respect of the Social Services Representations and Complaints Annual Report 2017/18, the Cabinet Member Social Services and Early Help advised that this was an excellent report as was reflected in paragraph 3.4, in that the majority of complaints received were addressed and resolved informally (prior to reaching Stage 1 of the complaints procedure) and becoming formal complaints.

He also referred to paragraph 4.2 of the report that confirmed that during the period 2017/2018, the number of representations (complaints, comments and compliments) received in respect of adult social care and children’s social care totalled 552, and of this total, concerns resolved pre-complaints procedure amounted to 198, while 300 compliments had been received.

The Leader added to this by stating that this was good news, given that more complaints had been received within the above period than had been in the previous period ie 2016/2017.

RESOLVED:                That Cabinet acknowledged the publication of the documents listed in the report. 

To consider any items of business that by reason of special circumstances the chairperson is of the opinion should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency in accordance with paragraph 2.4 (e) of the Cabinet Procedure Rules within the Constitution.

None.

The following item is not for publication as it contains exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 14 and 16 of Part 4 and Paragraph 21 of Part 5, Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) (Wales) Order 2007.

If following the application of the public interest test Cabinet resolves pursuant to the Act to consider this item in private, the public will be excluded from the meeting during such consideration.

RESOLVED:              That under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) (Wales) Order 2007, the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business as it contains exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 14 and 16 of Part 4 and Paragraph 21 of Part 5 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended by the Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) (Wales) Order 2007.

                                  Following the application of the public interest test in consideration of this item, it was resolved that pursuant to the Act referred to above it be considered in private, with the public being excluded from the meeting as it would involve the disclosure of exempt information of the nature as stated above.

To receive for approval the exempt minutes of 19/06/18

RESOLVED:              That the exempt Minutes of a meeting of Cabinet dated 19 June 2018, be approved as a true and accurate record.