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

Members/Officers. 

Apologies for absence were received from the following Members/Officers:-

Councillor G W Davies – Holiday

Councillor D Sage – Hospital appointment

D McMillan – Unwell

M Shephard – Other Council business

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 (including Whipping declarations)

None

To receive for approval the minutes of a meeting of the Corporate Resources and

Improvement Overview and Scrutiny Committee of 24 June and 1 July 2015.  

RESOLVED:                     That the minutes of meetings of the Corporate Resources and Improvement Overview and Scrutiny Committee dated 24 June and 1 July 2015 be approved as a true and accurate record.

The Assistant Chief Executive Legal and Regulatory Services submitted a report on the above topic.

RESOLVED:             (1)   That the Committee noted the items due to be considered at the Committee meeting scheduled for 10 December 2015, and the subsequent meeting dated 19 January 2016.

                                  (2)   That the Committee also noted the list of further potential items for prioritisation by the Committee, which may be considered at its meeting on 24 June 2016.

Invitees

All Cabinet Members

All Overview and Scrutiny Committee Chairpersons

All Corporate Directors

Deborah Exton – Group Manager Financial Planning and Budget Management

Yuan Shen – Corporate Improvement Manager 

The Chairperson advised that the Corporate Director Resources and the Assistant Chief Executive Legal and Regulatory Services, would remain for the duration of the meeting, as the former was the Officer responsible for the Budget, and the latter was responsible for Performance. He added that other Directors and the relevant Cabinet Member would come into the meeting, in turn, to answer questions on the report that relate to their Directorate/Portfolio.

Communities

The Chairperson then invited to the meeting the Cabinet Member Communities and the Head of Regeneration and Development.

A Member referred to page 22 of the report and noted that four of the seven Performance Indicators shown on this page were showing a downward trend in relation to Year end 2013-14, and she asked the Invitees to give an explanation for this.

The Head of Regeneration and Development advised Members that there were a range of different programmes being considered to better support people in obtaining employment, such as the Workways Project and the Bridges into Work Programme. Further work was also being pursued to secure European Funding that would support further similar such projects as these. She added that the economy in Wales was not good and had not been since the recession, and this was not assisting performance indicator information in certain areas, such as for example, employment initiatives. In 1934 four areas where there was most deprivation were declared, and of these, only South Wales remained as an ‘assisted area’ in this respect. Work was ongoing however, in terms of seeking economic growth in the County Borough, particularly in the field of Information and Digital Technology, though it was a challenge sometimes to find individuals who had the necessary skills and qualifications to fill jobs in these and other specialist skilled areas.

A Member stated that sickness absence statistics in the Communities Directorate had in recent years shown an improving trend, though page 24 of the papers now reflected a downturn for this. He asked if there was an identifiable reason for this.

The Head of Regeneration and Development whilst not being able to comment on sickness absence in the Directorate overall, confirmed that it had been a difficult year in the Regeneration and Development Section of the Department, with there being cases of long term sickness absence.

The Corporate Director Resources advised that an exercise was being undertaken, whereby the Occupational Health Service of BCBC would be looking more closely than previous at specific cases of long term absences, with a view to getting these individuals back into work sooner rather than later, where that was possible. This would then drive down sickness absence overall within the Authority. This would involve more face to face interviews rather than perhaps telephone conversations that had been adopted more previously. A Project was being initiated by the WLGA to look at trends in all local authorities regarding sickness absence, ie their policies and practises, with the objective being to look at ways to decrease this where it was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 170.

To consider any items 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 minutes relating to the following item are not for publication as they contains exempt information as defined in Paragraph 14 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 14 of Part 4 and Paragraph 21 of Part 5 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

Following the application of the public interest test it was resolved that pursuant to the Act referred to above to consider the following item in private, with the public excluded from the meeting, as it was considered that in all the circumstances relating to the item, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.

To receive for approval the exempt minutes of the meeting of the Corporate Resources and Improvement Overview and Scrutiny Committee of 1 July 2015.