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. Those Members who declared a prejudicial interest, left the meeting whilst the items they so declared in were being considered:-

Councillor D Lewis – Agenda item 6. Personal interest as a Member of the Public Service Board Scrutiny Panel.

Councillor B Jones – Agenda item 10. Personal interest due to his brother receiving Council Tax Discount on an empty property.

Councillor S Baldwin – Agenda item 6. Personal interest as a Member of the Public Service Asset Board.

Councillor JC Spanswick – Agenda item 6. Personal interest as a Member of the Public Service Board Scrutiny Panel. Agenda item 8. Prejudicial interest as family members are employed by the Council.

Councillor DBF White – Agenda item 8. Prejudicial interest due as his wife works for the Council. Agenda item 6. Personal interest as a Member of the Local Community Health Board. Agenda item 10. Personal interest due to him having a close relative who is an SEN Register Officer.

Councillor JP Blundell – Agenda item 6. Personal interest as a Member of the Public Service Board Overview and Scrutiny Panel.

Councillor R Shaw – Agenda item 6. Personal interest as a Member of the Public Service Board Overview and Scrutiny Panel.

Councillor T Thomas – Agenda item 6. Personal interest as a Member of the Public Service Board Overview and Scrutiny Panel.

Councillor T Beedle – Agenda item 6. Personal interest as a Member of the Public Service Board Overview and Scrutiny Panel.

Councillor RM James – Agenda item 8. Prejudicial interest as a family member is an employee of BCBC.

Councillor J Gebbie – Agenda item 8. Prejudicial interest as a Member of the National Joint Council negotiating body.

The Monitoring Officer advised Members that all Officers in attendance would be retiring from the meeting for Agenda Item 8., due to the fact that they had a direct interest in this item as it was in relation to the Council’s Pay Policy. The only employees who would remain in the Council Chamber, would be the Senior Democratic Services Officer – Committees to take the Minutes and the Group Manager – Human Resources and Organisational Development who would be presenting the report.

To receive for approval the minutes of 20/02/19

RESOLVED:                      That the Minutes of a meeting of Council dated 20 February 2019 be approved as a true and accurate record.

(i) Mayor (or person presiding)

(ii) Members of the Cabinet

(iii) Chief Executive

(iv) Monitoring Officer

Mayor

Since the last Council meeting the Mayor announced that he and his Consort have had a fairly quiet time.  They had carried out 11 official engagements, which had been very varied and very enjoyable, and he especially would like especially to mention the following.

They were delighted to attend the re-opening of the Nantymoel Boys and Girls Club. The club has recently been refurbished and is now a community hub providing great facilities for the local community. It was great meeting particularly for all the people who have worked so hard to make it happen.

Last week they had attended the High Sheriff’s Youth Community awards, and they were especially proud that there were 3 winners from Bridgend.  The MPTC were recognised for their community fundraising, Heronsbridge School were awarded the Duke of Edinburgh Group Award for their continued achievements and The Zone in Bridgend were commended for their youth work.

Earlier this month the Mayor and his consort were invited to meet with 3 school councils, Corneli Primary, Afon y Felin and Ysgol yr Sger.  The children questioned them about them roles and it was fun but challenging. They found out what the young people feel are concerned about and heartening to see them so engaged.

Details of all recent events the Mayor had recently attended are outlined hereunder:-

• Nantymoel opening of boys and Girls club;
• Lord Mayor of Cardiff St David’s day service;
• Porthcawl Life boat fund raising;
• Mini Olympage games Ogmore vale.
• Mulligan Community sensory rooms opening;
• Cawl a Chan Pencoed Choir;
• re-opening of Pyle library;
• High Sheriff Youth Community awards;
• Meeting 3 School Corneli Primary school;
• Neath Port Talbot Mayor’s Charity dinner.

Deputy Leader

The Deputy Leader began by congratulating the pupils of Cwmfelin Primary School for generating the winning poster in a competition organised as part of the Bridgend Food Waste Mission.

This initiative has so far educated more than 3,000 local pupils from 39 primary schools on how food waste can be recycled and converted into electricity.

Each pupil was invited to design and submit a poster explaining the many benefits of food waste recycling, and Cwmfelin came up with the winning idea.

This design will now go on prominent display when it is added to the sides of recycling vehicles across the county borough, while Cwmfelin pupils will be treated to a tour of the Agrivert Plant at Stormy Down to see the process in action.

Our Financial Advice and Support Service team recently hosted an open event at Bridgend Citizens Advice in the town centre

It included representatives from a wide range of organisations including BAVO, the MC Hub, Communities for Work, the Bridgend Coalition of Disabled People, Hafod, the Zone and more.

There was a great response and they engaged with more than 150 people, several of whom popped in after hearing about the event from others in the town centre.

It generated a number of referrals, all of which have been followed up, and he was really pleased to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 288.

The Leader reported that he hoped Members saw the recent announcement that an integrated transport hub is planned at Pyle as part of a £50m investment by the Cardiff Capital Region City Deal in Metro Plus projects across South East Wales.

The programme is designed to create ‘interchanges’ incorporating all modes of transport which can act as key hubs for using new and extended metro networks to access work, training, education, culture, retail and leisure throughout the region.

Given that almost 119,000 journeys were made from Pyle station in 2016-17 – a total increase of 35 per cent 2012-13 – this was fantastic news, and it is going to be of major benefit for the communities it serves, which include Pyle, Cornelly, Kenfig Hill, Porthcawl and Cefn Cribwr.

The proposed investment is significant, with a £3m new park-and-ride development, space for around 75 cars, charging points for electric vehicles, cycle parking bays, enhanced links with Village Farm Industrial Estate, and much more.

As Chair of the South East Wales Regional Transport Authority, the Leader was delighted to announce the proposal and he looked forward to seeing the project develop further.

Our support for Bridgend Ford was ongoing, and he recently paid a visit to the plant alongside our members of Parliament, Madeleine Moon and Chris Elmore.

They were very impressed by the high levels of workforce ingenuity present within the plant which make the Dragon line Fords most productive in the world, and how the plant also has a world class R & D Department on site.

Demonstrating such added value can only help bring greater confidence in the plant’s future and we were keen to support and encourage such innovation.

As a result of the visit, we were able to link Ford to our own trailblazing energy systems catapult project, and have involved a project manager from the University of South Wales who is responsible for smart energy storage solutions.

In addition, we have also put Ford in touch with Innovate UK, a national public organisation which helps businesses to deliver economic growth through research and development, as well as the Cardiff Capital Region City Deal’s challenge fund for new development.

These proposals are progressing, and Innovate UK is due to visit the plant very soon. We are all awaiting the outcome, and he would bring Members further news as this developed.

Finally, the Leader wished to briefly update Members about our recruit of a permanent Chief Executive for BCBC.

We have worked together with Solace to prepare the recruitment and advertisement, and the post is now live.

The deadline for the receipt of applications is 8^th April, and potential candidates will be invited to attend an assessment centre on 30^th April.

Final interviews by all Members in Council will take place on 1^st May, following which a successful candidate will be selected and announced.

The Leader assured Members that he would keep them updated on the recruitment process.

The Corporate Director – Social Services and Wellbeing presented a report, that provided an update to Council in relation to the current situation with regards to the Health Boundary change in April 2019, in order to ensure that Members are aware of the work that has and continues to be undertaken in readiness for the health boundary realignment from Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University (ABMU) Health Board to Cwm Taf University Health Board.

By way of background information, she advised that on 13 December 2017, Welsh Government commenced a consultation entitled ‘Effective Partnership Working in Bridgend, Proposed Health Board Boundary Change to align decision-making across Health and Local Government’.  The consultation closed on the 7th March 2018.

The consultation sought views on a proposal that healthcare services for people in the area of Bridgend County Borough Council (BCBC) should be provided by Cwm Taf University Health Board (Cwm Taf) instead of Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board (ABMU) to align decision-making across health and local government.

The Corporate Director – Social Services and Wellbeing confirmed that as from 1 April 2019, Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board will be known as Swansea Bay University Health Board and the Western Bay region will be known as West Glamorgan region.  Similarly, Cwm Taf University Health Board will be known as Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board and the Cwm Taf region will be known as Cwm Taf Morgannwg region. 

She added that from a local authority perspective, whilst the disruption to general services may not be as significant as that experienced by the Health Boards, the boundary changes impact on a number of BCBC services.  BCBC has been a crucial partner to the Western Bay Health and Social Care Regional Programme and therefore, from a local authority perspective, critical work has been undertaken to protect Bridgend services during this potentially disruptive time and to secure continuity in the Cwm Taf Morgannwg region after the 1st April 2019.  Therefore, it has been essential that BCBC adopt a structured approach to the disaggregation of regional services which has required close working with a range of partners to ensure that where regional funding supports integrated services, such services are accounted for between Western Bay, ABMU Health Board and BCBC.

The Corporate Director – Social Services and Wellbeing then advised that in planning for the changes to regional boundaries, a Transition Programme was established which includes at various levels, Officers from the two Health Boards, BCBC and the third sector. The governance structure was  attached at Appendix 1 to the report and this showed the overarching Boards plus the work streams that support the Transition Programme.

The report then confirmed, that most of what impacts on BCBC is included in the Partnership Work Stream. This had been chaired by herself and also comprised Officers from the other key partners involved in the new arrangement.

A set of Principles were agreed by all partners at the onset, to underpin the work of the Transition Programme and form the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 290.

The Corporate Director – Education and Family Support and the Interim Head of Finance and Section 151 Officer submitted a joint report, that updated Council with regards to the Welsh Government (WG) change in the Mutual Investment Model (MIM) intervention rate for Band B; sought Council endorsement of the revised financial commitment required for the delivery of Band B of the School Modernisation Programme, and finally, to approve a change to the Capital Programme to reflect the updated commitment.

The Interim Head of Finance and Section 151 Officer confirmed that in 2010, Cabinet approved the recommended schemes included in each of the four bands of the School Modernisation Programme (A-D) which were subsequently detailed in Bridgend’s 21st Century Schools Strategic Outline Programme (SOP). The SOP was submitted to WG in 2011 and ministerial ‘approval in principle’ was received, subject to the completion of the WG business case process. 

A strategic review into the development and rationalisation of the curriculum and estate provision of primary, secondary and post-16 education undertaken in 2016 identified that there are revised Band B priorities from those identified within the 2010 SOP.

An updated SOP, which reflects the revised priorities, was submitted to WG in July 2017. Cabinet subsequently approved to discontinue the original Band B schemes identified in November 2010 and approved the revised list.

Paragraph 3.6 then outlined details of the schemes in question.

In December 2017, WG ‘approval in principle’ was received for Bridgend’s second wave of investment, which at this stage has an estimated programme envelope cost of £68.2m. 

In January 2018, Council approved in principle the financial commitment required for Band B of the School Modernisation Programme, subject to sufficient resources being identified and allocated to meet the match funding commitment.

The Interim Head of Finance and Section 151 Officer proceeded, by advising that in 2018 WG revised the approach to procuring MIM. A single Private Sector Delivery Partner (PSDP) would be procured to become the majority shareholder in a Welsh Education Partnership (WEP), with local authorities (LAs) and further education institutions (FEIs) together the participants; WG would hold the remaining shares. The WEP would be capable of delivering capital schemes, with the exception of Band B projects. WG’s review of MIM identified that special schools were now considered unsuitable for delivery under that funding arrangement.

In November 2018 Cabinet reconsidered the funding options for the programme determining that, having compared the likely cost to the local authority over a 30-year period, delivering Band B via a combined capital and MIM route would make best use of Council’s financial resources.

She added that, after the November Cabinet decision and prior to Council’s meeting, WG announced that they had reviewed their capital grant intervention rate, increasing the rate from 50% to 75% for special school and pupil referral unit schemes, and from 50% to 65% for all other schemes; WG advised that the MIM intervention rate would remain set at 75%.

In December 2018 Cabinet abandoned the decision made in November (as  ...  view the full minutes text for item 291.

The Group Manager – Human Resources and Organisational Development presented a report, the purpose of which, was to seek Council approval for the Pay Policy Statement for 2019/20. This was in response to legislative requirements and to provide openness and accountability in relation to how the Council rewards its staff.

She advised that the Pay Policy Statement provides the framework for decision making on pay and in particular, decision making on senior pay.

The updated Pay Policy Statement was attached for Members consideration at Appendix A to the report. This was produced in accordance with the requirements of the Localism Act 2011, which requires all local authorities to develop and make public their policy on all aspects of Chief Officer remuneration.

Since the introduction on 1 April 2012, the Policy had developed to take account of relevant guidance, legislation and changes to the Council’s senior management structure over recent years.

A Member felt that future such reports of this nature should be made available for Councillors to comment upon (should they feel the need to) further in advance to 3 clear working days prior to the Pay Policy Statement being presented to Council for formal approval.

RESOLVED:                        That Council approved the Pay Policy Statement 2019/20 detailed at Appendix A to the report.

The Head of Legal and Regulatory Services submitted a report, the purpose of which, was to inform Council of the Information Report for noting which had been published since its last scheduled meeting.

The Information Report in question, was detailed in paragraph 4.1 of the report and was entitled ‘Related Party Transactions 2018-19 and Statement of Accounts.’

The Head of Legal and Regulatory Services confirmed that the forms in respect of the above had been tabled for Members today, in order that they could complete these and return them to the Finance Department (Nigel Smith) by no later than 12 April 2019.  

RESOLVED:                    That Council acknowledged the publication of the document(s) listed in the report.

1.         Councillor C Webster to the Cabinet Member - Education and Regeneration:

How does the Cabinet Member propose to reduce the number of children with Statements of Special Education Needs who are being excluded from school?

2.         Councillor T Giffard to the Leader

As a participant and major investor in the Cardiff Capital Region City Deal, could the Leader outline the projects secured so far that will directly benefit the people of Bridgend County Borough?

3.         Councillor T Thomas to the Cabinet Member Social Services and Early Help

Will the relevant cabinet member outline what has been done to reduce rates of smoking in the county borough for those who wish to give up?

4.         Councillor A Hussain to the Deputy Leader

              40% of battery powered and 22% of main powered smoke alarms failed to activate in residential lines in England. An industry statistics show that more than a fifth never test their alarms and 1:10 householders is without a working smoke alarm altogether.

In Wales the Welsh Fire and Rescue Services attended 8,271, an increase of 25% and in 3:10 dwelling fires between 2017 -18, no smoke alarm was installed.

The Local Government Association (LGA), which represent over 370 councils and fire authorities in England and Wales, is urging householders to buy and regularly check that their smoke alarms are working.

Do we know our failed smoke alarm statistic figures here in Bridgend County and what is our policy to keep our residents safe?        

5.         Councillor MC Voisey to the Cabinet Member Communities

Would the Cabinet Member please advise Council, how many enforcement penalty notices have been issued, and the value, in the last 12 months for:

•            Parking infringements

•            Dog Fouling

•            Litter and fly tipping

•            Non-compliance waste collection regulations.

Councillor C Webster to the Cabinet Member - Education and Regeneration

How does the Cabinet Member propose to reduce the number of children with Statements of Special Education Needs who are being excluded from school?

Response by the Cabinet Member – Education and Regeneration

BRIDGEND EXCLUSIONS RECEIVED BY STATEMENTED CHILDREN

It can be noted from the table that there has been only one permanent exclusion for a statemented pupil between 2014 and 2018.  Whilst there is no comparable national data available this is believed to be a positive reflection on both schools and the local authority. 

It can be seen that both the number and percentage of fixed-term exclusions has fluctuated over the same period.  The Education and Family support Department recognises that there has been an increase in high-tariff behaviours for younger children and has responded to this by developing additional foundation phase provision at The Bridge Alternative Provision.  This affords the opportunity to intervene at an early stage and facilitate where appropriate reintegration back into school.  In addition, it has also been recognised that a small number of children who have presented with extremely challenging behaviour and their needs are different to the usual Ysgol Bryn Castell profile.  There is a review of provision planned for summer term 2019.

As a result of the recent Inclusion restructure, the statutory role of the Principal Educational Psychologist has been strengthened.  This role is now focused upon the line-management of the Educational Psychology Service and does not involve the line-management of other services within the Inclusion Service.

One of the strategic priorities of the Education and Family Support Directorate is to develop a pan-Directorate focus on the early identification of an individual’s needs to facilitate more effective graduated response procedures and outcomes.  The Self-Evaluation Report for the Education and Family Support Directorate 2018-2019 provides a range of evidence in support of this activity.

As a result of the educated other than at school (EOTAS) review, in March 2018, an access to education panel was established. This ensures that pupil’s needs are addressed in a timely way. As part of this review, protocols such as managed moves and tuition have been reviewed. The recommendations from the EOTAS review will be fully implemented during 2019-2020.

To compliment the access to education panel, a team around the school model is in place in nearly all secondary schools where the graduated response from a range of teams is explored. This model is being strengthened further with the introduction of primary head teachers to support the transition of pupils from primary schools with a focus on early identification of needs.

At the end of 2017,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 294.

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 Committee 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 contained 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 it was resolved that pursuant to the Act referred to above, to consider the under-mentioned item in private with the public being excluded from the meeting as it would involve the disclosure of exempt information as stated above.