To receive apologies for absence from Members

Apologies for absence were received from the following Members:-

Councillor M Winter

Councillor E Venables

Councillor RM James

Councillor A Owen

To receive declarations of personal and prejudicial interest from Members/Officers in

accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct adopted by Council from 1 September 2008. 

The following declarations of interest were made by Members:-

Councillor L Ellis – Prejudicial interest in Agenda item 7, in that a family member was affected by the proposals in the report.

Councillor DBF White – Prejudicial interest in Agenda item 7 and 8, in that his wife works for BCBC.

Councillor JC Spanswick – Prejudicial interest in Agenda item 7 and 8 in that his wife works for BCBC

Councillor G Phillips – Prejudicial interest in Agenda item 7 and 8, in that his wife works for BCBC

Councillor PJ White – Prejudicial interest in Agenda item 7 and 8, in that his sister works for BCBC

Councillor B Jones – Prejudicial interest in Agenda item 7 and 8, in that his sister works for BCBC

Councillor MW Butcher – Prejudicial interest in Agenda item 7 and 8, in that she has a close relative working in BCBC

Councillor CA Green – Prejudicial interest in Agenda item 7 and 8, in that her sister works for BCBC

Councillor DR Pugh – Prejudicial interest in Agenda item 7 and 8, in that his daughter works for BCBC

Councillor C Jones – Prejudicial interest in Agenda item 10, in that he is a Trade Union Representative on the Central South Consortium.

All the above Members left the meeting whilst these items were being considered.

The following declarations of interest were made by Officers:-

D Mepham, S Cooper, D McMillan, M Shephard – Interest in Agenda item 7 and 8 as employees of the Authority affected by the Policies subject of the reports, and left the meeting whilst these items were being considered. N Young and PA Jolley declared an interest also in these items, but remained in the meeting to present the reports and/or respond to Members questions in their capacity of S151 Officer and Monitoring Officer, respectively. MA Galvin and G Jones also declared an interest in these items, but remained in the meeting to take the Minutes and provide support in respect of electronic back-up, respectively.

D Mepham, S Cooper, D McMillan, M Shephard, N Young, PA Jolley and MA Galvin – Interest in Agenda item 9 as they were directly affected by the Pay Policy of the Authority. These Officers left the meeting whilst this item was being discussed. The item was presented by the Cabinet Member Resources. G Jones declared a personal interest in this item but remained in the meeting to take the Minute and provide electronic back-up.

To receive the minutes of a meeting of Council of 20 January 2016

RESOLVED:                That the Minutes of a meeting of Council dated 20 January 2016 be approved as a true and accurate record.

(i) Mayor (or person presiding)

(ii) Members of the Cabinet

(iii) Chief Executive

Mayor

The Mayor welcomed those present to the meeting of Bridgend County Borough Council on 17 February 2015. As Members/Officers aware, an annual Holocaust Memorial is held every year within the county borough. The Mayor had the great honour of being part of the event, and this year’s theme was “Don’t Stand By”. It asked people to consider their personal responsibility, and not be a bystander to persecution and genocide. Listening to the life stories of individuals who chose not to stand by during the Holocaust was both moving and humbling he stated, and illustrated that there is always the capacity for good in the face of such evil. He was privileged to light the Holocaust Memorial Day candle, and fully supported this ongoing remembrance which demonstrates that we continue to value a free, tolerant and democratic society.

Litchard Primary School hosted 30 Chinese children who were visiting from the Beijing area recently, so the Mayor had taken the opportunity to invite them into the council to meet him and see for themselves how local government works. He felt that they fully enjoyed the visit, and he was also pleased to be able to attend their farewell presentation at the Sony Theatre in Bridgend College where he wished them a safe journey home.

The Mayor and his Consort were also delighted to host a school council at Betws Juniors after children aged between five and 11 expressed an interest in visiting the civic offices to find out more about his role as Mayor. They were an absolute joy, and we had a very lively question and answer session that Jeremy Paxman would have been proud of he added! The children were a real credit to their school throughout this event.

Porthcawl Comprehensive has a long established record of staging outstanding musical productions, and this year was no exception. His Consort and himself attended their “We Will Rock You” show at the Grand Pavilion and thoroughly enjoyed this celebration of the life and music of Freddie Mercury and Queen. The hard work and talent of pupils and teachers was evident, and he congratulated them all on another excellent show.

Finally he announced that, tickets were still available for his Charity Lunch at the Great House on Friday. The guest speaker will be Non Evans MBE, a former sports broadcaster and rugby, judo, wrestling and weightlifting international. He hoped Members could find time to attend this lunch.

Deputy Leader

The Deputy Leader announced, that when children at Afon y Felin Primary School in North Cornelly wrote to rugby legend Gareth Thomas to ask about how he became a Welsh sporting hero, he did not think they expected a personal visit, but that’s exactly what happened. ‘Alfie’ spent several hours talking to the children and answering questions as part of a special project they were working on, and left them with the message that it takes hard work, commitment and resilience to accomplish a goal (or even a drop kick) in rugby terms.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 579.

The Leader reported that he was sure Members would be aware of the increasingly important role that social media is playing in how people choose to contact and interact with local councils. Bridgend County Borough Council already has well-used Facebook and Twitter pages in place, and with more than 10,000 followers  they have proven to be especially useful when we are consulting over things like the budget or the recent proposals for changing how we handle waste in future. This was bolstered recently with the addition of a brand new YouTube channel where the authority can share videos about council and community news as well as information on local events. The channel already features a library of short films and these range from an early look at plans to bring the Jennings Building back into public use to footage taken at last month’s annual Holocaust Memorial Day event.

The channel is expected to strengthen the council's growing social media presence and provide residents with a fresh perspective on the latest events and developments, so the Leader urged Members to take a look at this, and to let others know that it is available.

Social media also played an important role in the recent consultation on waste. This finished on 8^th of February and attracted a total of 2,795 completed feedback forms which was a higher than usual response. A lot of publicity work was undertaken around the consultation, including media coverage, radio broadcasting and social media promotion. A Facebook and Twitter debate was held which attracted more than 100 questions and 15,000 views. The feedback was currently being analysed so that a report could be produced. More news would be available on this soon.

Finally, Bridgend County Borough, Neath Port Talbot and Swansea councils joined with ABMU Health Board recently to launch the ‘Time To Change Wales’ pledge and he had been pleased to lend his support. The pledge demonstrated that each organisation recognised the importance of supporting both employees and people who are struggling with mental health issues, and was accompanied by detailed action plans which outlined what practical steps was being taken to promote mental health and well-being for example, by offering counselling services for staff or courses and events designed to reduce stress. Mental health issues touch the lives of thousands of people across Bridgend County Borough. If Members would like to find out more, the time to change Wales website is well worth a visit he concluded.

To be accompanied by a presentation from Mr S Barry from the Wales Audit Office.

The Chief Executive presented a report, in order to make an introduction on the Auditor’s General report, attached at Appendix 1 to the covering report.

He advised that this Corporate Assessment report was very positive and put the Council in a strong position compared to other councils in Wales. It had been commented on in a positive light by other neighbouring authorities. He added however, that there were areas within the report comprising the Appendix that could be improved upon in the future, and the Council were presently looking at ways to secure improvement in these areas.

Mr Barry, Wales Audit Office, referred Members to Appendix 1 and confirmed that the Wales Audit Office had since 2013 become involved in producing corporate assessments of local authorities, where in particular, issues such as good governance and performance being attained within local government were examined.

He advised that page 23 of the report highlighted the key messages and findings arising from the assessment, and he was pleased to inform Members that the Council was well placed to secure improvements that were required in the future, and that there were good systems and ways of working adopted within the Authority that could be built upon in the future. He was fairly confident of this, given that BCBC had a good track record and had shown both in the past and currently, that it had innovative ways of working. He also felt that BCBC were focusing on the right areas, and had plans in place or pending, to secure the further improvements that were required.

He concluded by stating that the Welsh Audit Office would do a follow-up assessment, in order to ensure that progress was being made against those areas within the report where it was considered that further progress could be made.

A Member referred to page 45 and paragraph 66 of the report, where it highlighted that the Authority could possibly be more proactive in its number of staff apprenticeships.

The Corporate Director Resources advised that the Corporate Management Board had been actively discussing just today its Workforce Strategy going forward in the future, and in line with this, how these fitted into key areas such as its Corporate Priorities, including succession planning. She advised that the Authority currently had 12 apprentice positions, and whilst it was looking to expand this number, it could only manoeuvre within existing budget and there was obviously financial restraints attached to the MTFS. She added that the Council were looking at initiatives such as the SEWSCAP framework for the 21^st Century School Programme, as well as looking at partnerships with other organisations to introduce apprenticeships, funded from the Council’s Capital Programme.

A Member referred to page 43 of the report and paragraph 58 where SOCITM had assessed the Council’s website in 2014 as 1 star out of a possible maximum of 4 stars, and she asked if any improvement had been made since the carrying out of this assessment.

The Corporate Director Resources explained  ...  view the full minutes text for item 581.

The Corporate Director Resources submitted a report, detailing a small number of proposed changes to the Flexible Retirement, Ill Health Retirement and Redundancy Policy, and recommended the adoption of the revised policies, included within the suggested attached documents shown at Appendices 1 and 2 of the report, respectively. She explained that some amendments were required to the above, in order to reflect certain changes in respect of pension regulations. These changes were reflected in paragraphs 4.2 of the report.

The Corporate Director Resources confirmed that Trade Unions had been consulted on the proposed amended policies, and whilst GMB and Unite had confirmed their agreement to the changes, Unison had not to date replied on these.

She concluded her submission by advising that there were no financial implications as a result of the changes that had been made.

A Member referred to page 70 of the report and paragraph 12.7 entitled ’Re-engagement of employees made redundant’, whereby in instances of termination under Scheme B, C and D employees will be prevented from being re-engaged until the expiration of a period equivalent to the discretionary element of the redundancy payment. He asked if employees made redundant were made aware of this provision when facing redundancy.

The Corporate Director Resources confirmed that they were.

The Member asked a follow-up question namely, if employees left the Authority without pension or redundancy entitlements, was there any discretion for them to return to the Authority in a consultancy role.

The Corporate Director Resources advised that the Authority would not usually agree with employees returning in a consultancy role, in terms of most different job positions within the Council.

RESOLVED:                    That Cabinet approved the revised Flexible Retirement and Early Retirement, Ill Health Retirement and Redundancy Policy as appended to the report.

The Corporate Director Resources submitted a report, detailing a number of discretions within the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), which have resulted in a draft policy statement being compiled, setting out the general position of the Council in respect to each one, which required Council approval prior to implementation.

The report gave some background information, which included confirmation that the Local Government Pension Scheme contains many areas where the employer, or the Administering Authority, can or must exercise a discretion. Some of these were already covered by existing policies, however, the Council is required to document the position on the remaining mandatory discretions together with any optional discretions it wishes to include. She pointed out to Members, that attached at Appendix A to the report was the draft Discretions Policy, and should this be approved by Council, the effective date of the change(s) will be one month following the publication of the policy statement.

She added that where a discretion has not already been exercised, consideration had to be given to each mandatory and optional discretion and a recommendation put in the form of the policy statement.

The Corporate Director Resources confirmed that Trade Union colleagues had been consulted on the policy, and whilst GMB and Unite had confirmed their agreement to the proposals, Unison had not yet replied.

She advised that the decision to award additional pension benefits in only very exceptional circumstances was taken with financial considerations in mind, and that additional pension awards created further strain on the Pension Fund.

She added that the decision not to extend the twelve month period for incoming transfers to the LGPS takes into account the potential increased cost to the Pension Fund of career progression and longevity factors to a final salary scheme.

She culminated her submission by further adding that the decision to review cases where forfeiture of pension benefits in some form is possibly appropriate, is to ensure that the Council has the option to make good any financial losses caused by the member.

A Member referred to page 78 of the report and paragraph 3.5, where reference was made to the fact that if a member was convicted of a relevant offence, his former employing authority may apply to the Secretary of State who may issue a forfeiture certificate. She asked what Secretary of State this was.

The Corporate Director Resources confirmed that this was the Local Government Secretary of State in Whitehall.

RESOLVED:                      That Council approved the Policy Statement on Discretions in the Local Government Pension Scheme, as detailed in the report.

The Cabinet Member Resources presented a report, recommending that Council were being asked to consider the content of the report on the Authority’s Pay Policy Statement for the financial year 2016/17.

He advised that Councillors were accustomed to this report being provided annually since 2012, and also receiving interim updates when necessary and this may be so this year, as at the time of writing the report, national negotiations were continuing, for example, Chief Executives, JNC, NJC and Youth and Community Workers.

He highlighted for Council the significant changes since it last received a report on the Pay Policy Statement, ie that:-

-          A nationally negotiated pay rise has not yet been agreed for NJC Officers with Unison and Unite rejecting the current offer whilst GMB have accepted it.

-          However, in order that the Council is compliant with the introduction of the National Minimum Wage, national pay negotiations have led to an agreement for a temporary uplift to the NJC spinal column points 6,7 and 8, pending the conclusion of the pay negotiations.  Details were provided at 4.3 of the report.

-          A recent Welsh Government amendment to the Local Authorities (Standing Orders) (Wales) Regulations 2006, effective from 1 July 2014 has introduced a new requirement.

“Welsh Government recommends that Council should be offered the opportunity to vote before severance packages of £100,00 and above are approved for staff leaving the organisation. However, Members must be aware of the statutory or contractual entitlements due to an employee and the consequences of non-approval by Council which may allow an employee to claim damages for breach of contract.”

 He recommended that Council accepted the report and the content of the Pay Policy Statement.

RESOLVED:                   (1)   That Council approved the updated Pay Policy Statement as attached at Appendix A to the report.

                                       (2)    That Council also approved the proposals outlined in Paragraph 4.3 and 4.6 of the report.

The Assistant Chief Executive Legal and Regulatory Services and Monitoring Officer, submitted a report that provided Members with information to enable a response to be drafted for the consultation on the Local Government (Wales) Draft Bill.

In terms of background information, he confirmed that the Minister’s introduction to the draft Bill was attached at Appendix A to the report, and that responses to the consultation could be made on the form provided for Members at Appendix B to the report. He had provided Members with a briefing  in advance of the meeting (in the form of a Presentation)  on the implications of the draft Bill, prior to the consideration of the report, as well as tabling proposed draft responses from Members as a result of that briefing.

The Assistant Chief Executive Legal and Regulatory Services and Monitoring Officer, stated that Members would note that the contents of the report provided a broad overview of the draft Bill, rather than an in-depth view. He added that there were questions asked within the consultation on matters that were not contained within the draft Bill, and the report advised on those matters.

He confirmed that the remainder of the report provided an overview of the draft Bill, and reminded Council that the consultation questions were outlined in Appendix A to the report.

He then advised that the draft Bill covered the following areas, and these specific areas were both covered and elaborated upon in the report:-

·         Part 1 – Local Government areas and County Councils

·         Part 2 – General Power of Competence

·         Part 3 – Dealing with promoting access to Local Government

·         Part 4 – Dealing with the functions of County Councils and Members

·         Part 5 – Providing for the improvement of governance

·         Part 6 – Providing for the review of Community Council arrangements

·         Part 7 – Dealing with workforce matters

·         Part 8 – The interpretation section

A Member referred to Part 7 of the Bill, in relation to workforce matters and the setting up of a Public Services Staff Commission and recruitment and retention of staff issues, and questioned clarification of the role of the Commission and its legislative position. He questioned whether this was an example of micro management.

The Leader referred to a response made in respect of the type of question raised by the Member as outlined above as part of the consultation as follows, (ie under Part 7 of the draft Bill), as follows:-

“The WLGA has previously supported the establishment of a Public Service Staff Commission (PSSC) to specifically assist with the development of guidance to help Councils manage their workforces as part of any local government re-organisation. Section 178 does repeal the role of the PSSC in 2021 to reflect that the PSSC is specifically to assist with local government reorganisation planned for 2020.

The WLGA would not wish to see a statutory PSSC set up if there is no local government re-organisation. Therefore the WLGA would wish to see that that the establishment of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 585.

The Assistant Chief Executive Legal and Regulatory Services and Monitoring Officer submitted a report, to inform the debate on the impact and causes of recent announcements of redundancies within the steel industry. The report also provided information on what are thought to be the main causes of the present situation within the domestic steel industry, for example:

• Energy costs
• Business rates
• Strength of Sterling
• Cheap imports particularly from China
• Over-supply

The report gave some background information, then gave a resume of each of the above problems, and how they were impacting in a detrimental way on the steel industry.

The remainder of the report, outlined responses received in relation to the impact of the problems on the Steel Industry, including from the Business Minister (Westminster) and Welsh Government.

The report finally advised that the Leader on behalf of the Authority issued a press conference on 22 January this year, calling for swift action on the national steel crisis, and he had also written to the Prime Minister and the First Minister in the Welsh Assembly.

Members debated the report, following which the following motion was made, which was duly seconded and carried unanimously:-

“That Council notes with deep concern the recent announcements by Tata Steel of the loss of jobs across South Wales and across the UK steel industry.

The Council urges Tata Steel the trade unions, Welsh and UK Government and the European Union to work together to help build a sustainable future for the steel industry in Wales and the UK.

The Council believes that all levels of Government should support the UK steel industry, not only as a source of tens of thousands of jobs, but also given its role as a foundation industry of key strategic importance to the wider and local economy.

The Council recognises that  a sharp slowdown in the Chinese  economy has sapped domestic demand, and that Chinese source steel is sold on the world market at low prices. Equally, the cost of energy and European rules on carbon emissions makes the UK a challenging climate in which to produce steel.

The Council are concerned that the impact on the steel industry if China was to be granted Market Economy Status, would result in the European Union, would be unable to impose tariffs on goods from China, if it was found that they had been dumped at below market prices and this would result in the increase in Chinese imports of steel into the European Union.

The Council, therefore, resolves to support the ‘Charter for Sustainable British Steel’ as promoted by the ‘UK Steel’ organisation. The Council also supports the proposals of UK Steel and Community regarding the EU Emissions Trading System proposals, which call for the steel sector to be helped to decarbonise in a way that ensures its future and the many thousands of valuable jobs it provides.”

This motion was supplemented as follows, and Members agreed unanimously to this being added to the above motion:-

“That BCBC contact local MEP’s,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 586.

Question from Councillor R C Jones to the Deputy Leader

“How many parents in Bridgend County Borough have registered to home school their children and how many children are currently being home schooled? What action is the authority taking to support parents who choose to educate their children at home?”

Question from Councillor RC Jones for the Deputy Leader:

‘How many parents in BCBC have registered to home school their children and how many children are currently being home schooled? What action is the Authority taking to support parents who choose to educate their children at home?’

Response from the Deputy Leader to Councillor RC Jones

Background

“Current data shows that Bridgend County Borough Council has 91 pupils known to be home educated.  It should be noted that this database is fluid and can change daily, as some pupils return to school or move and others de register. Also, we may not be aware of all families whose children are home educated as there is no requirement in law to inform the Local Authority if the children have not been educated through the state system. 

Data from the last 3 years shows that Elective Home Education figures are rising.  In July 2013, 34 pupils were known to the Local Authority compared with 76 pupils in July 2015. This is due to our robust attempts to ensure EHE children do engage with us and our significant efforts to engage with every family who elects to home educate.

Since 2013, a partnership has been established with parent representatives of the Bridgend Elective Home Education community which has proved to be successful.  Due to this partnership the Local Council is in a better position to understand elective home education, share good practice  and develop a working relationship built on trust.

Since 2013 we have also worked closely with other Local Authorities to establish a Professional Learning Community.  Currently, the consortium elective home education link workers meet termly to discuss trends in data; policy matters; current issues; cross border de registrations and to share ideas.  This is an excellent opportunity to share experiences and best practice.

Within the Welsh Government’s Consultation Summary of Responses: Registering and Monitoring Home-based Education (2013), Bridgend Local Authority was recognised as working effectively with it’s home educating community and suggested that this example of good practice should be emulated by other authorities across Wales.

In 2015, the Elective Home Education Policy was revised to reflect the need to ‘develop effective relationships’ as highlighted in the WG circular No 47/2006 (Inclusion and Pupil Support).  Cabinet approved the updated policy in April 2015.

A teacher is employed by Inclusion Services as an Elective Home Education Link worker to work with families that decide to electively home educate.  The Link worker contacts families to ensure they feel supported whilst home educating and to ensure that children do receive an education.

Links with other agencies such as health, inclusion , early help and Safeguarding are established and maintained in order to increase awareness of the law, Welsh Government Guidance and also to ensure wherever possible to full range of needs of these children are met.

Current Law

Parents are not legally required to register with the Local Authority; it is a legal choice to educate your child at home. It is the schools  ...  view the full minutes text for item 587.

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. 

None

The report relating to the following item is not for publication as it contains exempt

information as defined in Paragraph 12 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.

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

RESOLVED:                      The report relating to the following item was not for publication as it contains exempt information as defined in Paragraph 12 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, Council resolved pursuant to the Act to consider this item in private, and excluded from the meeting the press and public during such consideration.

 Minute No                         Summary of Item

                                          Application for VER