To receive apologies for absence (to include reasons, where appropriate) from Members/Officers

Apologies for absence were received from the following Members for the reasons so stated:

To receive and confirm the following Minutes of Council:-

Extraordinary meeting – 24 November 2014

Ordinary meeting – 10 December 2014

RESOLVED:         That the minutes of the following meetings of Council were approved as a true and accurate record:-

                               Extraordinary meeting – 24 November 2014

                               Ordinary meeting – 10 December 2014

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

           The following Members declared a prejudicial interest in Agenda item 7, Council Tax Reduction Scheme, for the reasons so stated, and left the meeting whilst this item was being discussed:-

            Councillor E Venables  –  Due to her mother being in receipt of Benefits

           Councillor M W Butcher –  Due to a member of her family being in receipt of  Rate Relief

         Councillor D B F White –   Due to a member of his immediate family being supported through the Council Tax Reduction Scheme

           Councillor C L Jones   -     Due to his mother-in-law being supported through the Council Tax Reduction Scheme

            Councillor H Townsend – As she is supported through the Council Tax Reduction Scheme

            Councillor G Thomas  -    As his ex-wife is being supported through Council Tax Reduction Scheme

(i)            Mayor (or person presiding)

(ii)           Cabinet Members

(iii)          Chief Executive

(iv)         Monitoring Officer

MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENT

Former Mayor Councillor C J James on behalf of himself and Councillor P James extended his thanks to all Members and Officers for their encouraging words of support during the time of his illness.

MAYORAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Mayor announced that as this was the first Council meeting of 2015, he began by wishing Members a very Happy New Year. He hoped that they all enjoyed a peaceful and merry Christmas, and made the most of the festive season, which was particularly busy for himself and the Deputy Mayor as between us they had attended 58 events.

Just before Christmas, it was announced that the Community Chest grants scheme has invested more than one million pounds into grassroots sport in Bridgend County Borough since it began 15 years ago. A Sports Wales initiative which is run locally by the council’s Active Young People team, and in that time the scheme has helped hundreds of local clubs, organisations and businesses to create opportunities for people to get active and live healthier lifestyles. The most recent beneficiary was Maesteg Golf Club, which received £1,500 to expand their junior section, purchase equipment and train volunteers.

That investment has already paid off with the news that the young players have won the Welsh Inter Club County Championships and the Glamorgan County Championships for the first time in the club’s history. I recently met with the young players to discuss their success, and found out that the club works hard with local primary schools to make the sport as accessible as possible. To pass the one million pound funding mark was a significant achievement for the Community Chest scheme. He stated though that he would urge more clubs, organisations and businesses to find out more about it, and Members may also want to bring it to the attention of their constituents, too. Further details can be found at the Sport Wales website or by contacting our Active Young People team.

Nominations for this year’s Mayor’s Citizenship Awards are set to close on Friday 30 January. He asked those present, that if they knew of an individual, group or business within your local community who deserve to be recognised for going the extra mile to help others, please consider putting them forward for one of the awards. Members could find out more by visiting the mayor’s page at the corporate website, and winners will be announced and honoured at a mayoral event here at the Civic Offices in March.

Congratulations were also extended to the following who have been awarded New Year Honours:-

MVO was awarded to Mary Squire, Clerk to the Lord Lieutenant for Mid Glamorgan.

MBE’s were awarded to Mrs Jennifer Ann Morgan from Penyfai for services to Special Education and the community in Cardiff, and also to Mrs Shirley Rose Davies-Fox Chair of ISA Training in Bridgend for services to the Hairdressing Industry.

Finally, the British Empire medal was awarded to Mrs Karyl Carter from Stroke Association, Bridgend for services to Stroke  ...  view the full minutes text for item 443.

LEADER’S REPORT

The Leader advised that Members may be aware that the Development Control Committee recently resolved that no further coaling should be allowed to take place at the Margam opencast, and that the high water levels at the site require urgent action. The Committee also agreed to look at ways of making the site safe using existing restoration funds, and to organise a public meeting with Neath Port Talbot to bring everyone up to speed on joint efforts to deal with the problem. Both he and his fellow Cabinet Members fully supported the Committee’s decisions, as the site has long been a major concern and he was aware that a lot of work had been taking place between Bridgend, Neath Port Talbot, the Welsh Government and Natural Resources Wales, to find a long term solution on this very difficult issue. There will be further updates about this as the situation develops and Members would be kept informed accordingly.

He confirmed that colleagues in health had advised that Wales is experiencing its highest flu levels in four years, and are urging people to do all that they can to help stop it from spreading further. Recent figures have shown that while not everyone with flu symptoms will visit their GP, more than 3,000 have already done so. It is important that anyone who is in an at-risk group such as the elderly, the very young, pregnant women or people with a chronic health condition makes sure they are vaccinated as soon as possible. Further advice is available from local GPs, and Members may want to share this information with their constituents.

Finally, the Leader stated that he was conscious of the fact that this was the first time Council had met since the tragic accident at Maesteg Comprehensive that resulted in the death of pupil Ashley Talbot. The loss of a pupil is always a sad affair, but especially so when it involves such sudden and tragic circumstances. This was a dreadful incident for all concerned, but Maesteg Comprehensive School had always been a strong, close-knit community, and pupils, teachers, staff and governors were continuing to support one another. A full investigation into the incident is underway and we as a Council we were continuing to provide support for the school. The leader extended his thanks the Council crisis team who responded so promptly, and acknowledged the many offers of support that we received from neighbouring Councils, organisations and individuals, all of which were greatly appreciated. Ashley was a popular child with lots of friends, and will be sadly missed. Our thoughts remain with family, friends and everyone who knew Ashley, and who has been affected by this tragic accident.

One of the local Members echoed the comments of the Leader and thanked the support of the school in response to the tragic accident, in that all that could have been done was done. The school and its teachers and pupils had also been supported and still were, in order  ...  view the full minutes text for item 444.

Question from Councillor E Venables to the Cabinet Member – Children & Young People

On the 9 December 2014 Cabinet ratified the new Code of Conduct for issuing Fixed Penalty Notices for Unauthorised Absence from school. The new Code advises head teachers to NOT authorise ANY term holidays (apart from exceptional circumstances) Can you please explain how this complies with the All Wales Attendance Framework, the Education (Pupil Registration) (Wales) Regulations 2010 and the Education (Penalty Notice) (Wales) Regulations 2013

TO RECEIVE THE FOLLOWING QUESTION FOR THE EXECUTIVE

Question from Councillor Elaine Venables to the Cabinet Member – Children and Young People.

On the 9th December 2014, Cabinet ratified the new Code of Conduct for issuing Fixed Penalty Notices for Unauthorised Absence from School.  The new Code advises head teachers to NOT authorise ANY term time holidays (apart from exceptional circumstances).  Can you please explain how this complies with the All Wales Attendance Framework, the Education (Pupil Registration) (Wales) Regulations 2010 and the Education (Penalty Notice) (Wales) Regulations 2013?

Response from the Cabinet Member – Children and Young People

In line with the All Wales Attendance Framework the roles and responsibilities of parents, school and the EWS are made clear. The Education Act 1996, Section 7, provides that a parent is responsible for ensuring their child attends school regularly and that a school under the Education (Pupil Registration) (Wales) Regulations 2010 is required to undertake a register twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon to determine and record pupil attendance.

 Also, under section 437 of the Education Act 1996, Local Authorities have a duty to ensure that a child for whom they are responsible is receiving suitable education either by regular school attendance or otherwise.

Under the Education (Pupil Registration) (Wales) Regulations 2010 schools have a discretionary power to grant leave for the purposes of a holiday. There is no automatic right to withdraw pupils from school for a holiday and in law parents have to apply for permission in advance. The Regulations state that only in exceptional cases should a pupil be granted more than 10 school days leave in any school year. Whilst Heads have this discretion, BCBC is advising schools to use their discretion to not authorise term time holidays except where exceptional circumstances apply. Such exceptions would include, but are not limited to, pupils whose parents are in the armed forces, in recognition of the Council’s commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant

Bridgend County Borough Council’s advice to Head teachers is to look at individual requests on a case by case basis and make decisions based on the individual circumstances of the case as the list of exceptional circumstances is not exhaustive.  Holidays being cheaper in term time is not an exceptional circumstance. If the holiday is authorised then a FPN will not be requested.

Welsh Government guidance (All Wales Attendance Framework) clearly states that parents should not expect, or be led to expect, that schools will agree to family holidays in term time. Schools may need to remind parents of this and refer to their cluster attendance policy. When considering requests, a list of factors such as time of year, length and purpose of holiday, circumstances of family, overall attendance of the pupil, duration of the holiday and its impact on continuity of learning should be considered.

Where parents fail to apply for permission then this should result in an unauthorised holiday.

He reminded colleagues of the reasoning behind the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 445.

COUNCIL TAX REDUCTION SCHEME

The Mayor having declared an interest in this item vacated the Chair, and the Deputy Mayor took the Chair in his place, for this item only.

The Corporate Director – Resources submitted a report, the purpose of which, was to provide Council with information regarding the implementation of the 2015 -16 Council Tax Reduction Scheme (CTR), the requirement to adopt a CTR Scheme by 31 January 2015, together with the funding implications.

The report gave some background information, and confirmed that on 8 January 2014, the Council adopted the Council Tax Reduction Scheme for 2014-15 in accordance with the Council Tax Reduction Schemes and Prescribed Requirements (Wales) Regulations 2013.

From the latest data, there were currently 14,898 households receiving CTR; 8,844 of these are of working age and 6,054 are of pensionable age. Out of the 14,898 households receiving CTR, 11,225 were entitled to full benefit.

The CTR Scheme in Wales she explained, was set by Regulations made under Schedule 1B of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (as inserted by the Local Government Finance Act 2012).

The Council Tax Reduction Schemes (Prescribed Requirements and Default Scheme) (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2015 had now been laid. Subject to approval by the Assembly, the figures used to calculate applicants’ entitlement to CTR will be uprated in line with Housing Benefit. These Regulations also incorporate additional amendments to reflect consequential changes related to social security benefits and other minor technical changes.

The Corporate Director – Resources advised that within the Prescribed Requirements Regulations, there was limited discretion given to the Council to apply discretionary elements that are more generous than the national scheme. These were outlined in Paragraph 4.7 of the report.

Consultation on the Prescribed Requirement Regulations was undertaken in 2013 and the results detailed in the Corporate Director – Resources’ Council Tax Reduction report to Council on 8 January 2014. This report can be found at http://www.bridgend.gov.uk/ web/groups/public/documents/agenda/111742.hcsp. As it was proposed not to change the discretionary elements, a further consultation exercise had not been completed.

The Corporate Director – Resources advised that it was proposed that the discretionary elements remain as those detailed in Paragraph 4.12 of the report.

The Council was obliged to make a scheme under the requirements of the Prescribed Requirements Regulations notwithstanding the fact that a default scheme would come into effect even if the Council failed to make a scheme. The obligation is a statutory duty and applies even if the Council chose not to apply any of the discretions available to it.

In terms of the adoption of the Council Tax Reduction Scheme, the Corporate Director – Resources suggested that the Council adopts the provisions as shown in bullet point format included in Paragraph 4.21 of the report.

Paragraph 4.24 of the report detailed the recommended available discretionary elements of the Scheme, following which the Officer referred to the reports financial implications, which stated that the 2015-16 Final Local Government Settlement showed that the sum provided for CTR was at  ...  view the full minutes text for item 446.

AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION

The Monitoring Officer submitted a report, the purpose of which was to seek Council’s approval of prosed amendments to the Constitution which reflected changes to the Council Procedure Rules and the recent realignment of responsibilities.

By way of background information, the Monitoring Officer advised that on 10 December 2014 Council approved the proposal to realign the responsibilities of the Corporate Director – Wellbeing and the Corporate Director – Children. The new arrangements took effect from 1 January 2015, and therefore, it was necessary to update the Constitution.

The realignment of responsibilities of both Corporate Director posts, the titles of which had also been amended, were shown in Paragraph 4.1 of the report. However, the Monitoring Officer explained that contrary to part of the provisions of this paragraph, the service area of Family Support would be aligned to the Corporate Director – Education and Transformation, whilst Safeguarding would fall under the remit of the Corporate Director – Social Services and Wellbeing.

In relation to the Council Procedure Rules, he explained that some of its present wording had caused confusion amongst certain Members, and due to this, it was proposed that part of this be amended as set out in italics and underlined in Appendix 1 to the report.

RESOLVED:               That Council approved the amendments to the Constitution as set out in Paragraph 4.1 (subject to the suggested amendment above) and Appendix 1 of the report.

AMENDMENT TO THE SCHEME OF DELEGATION OF FUNCTIONS

The Monitoring Officer presented a report, the purpose of which was to seek Council approval to amend the Scheme of Delegation of Functions.

He reiterated that Council had previously approved the proposal to realign the responsibilities of the Corporate Director – Wellbeing and the Corporate Director – Children, with the new arrangements taking effect from 1 January 2015. It was therefore necessary to update the Scheme of Delegation to reflect this.

The Monitoring Officer referred to Paragraph 4.1 of the report where reference was made to the changes proposed, ie with both the job titles being amended and some areas of their respective responsibilities, taking into consideration the amendment to part of their respective roles as referred to in the previous agenda item.

The Monitoring Officer then referred to the second part of the report, and the necessity for a further update, namely to add a new paragraph 6.7 to Scheme B2 of the Scheme of Delegation as shown in Paragraph 4.4 of the report. This was required in light of amendments to the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, with this further provision being allocated to the Corporate Director – Communities.

RESOLVED:               That Council noted the content of the report and approved the amendments to the Scheme of Delegation of Functions as set out in Paragraphs 4.4 and 4.5 of the report:

To consider any item(s) of business in respect of which notice has been given in accordance with Part 4 (paragraph 4) of the Council Procedure Rules and which the person presiding at the meeting is of the opinion should by reason of special circumstances be transacted at the meeting as a matter of urgency.