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

None

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 the meeting of the Partnerships and Governance Overview and Scrutiny Committee dated 2 December 2015

RESOLVED:             That the minutes of a meeting of the Partnerships and Governance Overview and Scrutiny Committee dated 2 December 2015 be approved as a true and accurate record, subject to the following amendments:-

Councillor M Thomas being added to the list of attendees at the meeting.

The Chairperson also referred to page 7 (5) of the Minutes, second paragraph, 6^th line, the period referred to 18 months to 8 years, should read 18 months to 4 years.

Councillor M Tomas

The Scrutiny Officer submitted a report, the purpose of which, was to

(a)  Present the items due to be considered at the Committee’s meeting to be held on 5 April 2016, and

(b)  Present a list of further potential items for prioritisation by the Committee

RESOLVED:

That the Committee noted the topics to be considered at the Committee meeting on 5 April 2016 and considered the list of future potential items for the Committees Forward Work Programme.

·         The Committee requested that the following items be added to the Forward Work Programme:

o   The Cultural Trust

o   County Borough Supplies

o   The Armed Forces Covenant

INVITEES:

Andrew Jolley - Assistant Chief Executive – Legal and Regulatory Services (LARS)

Councillor C E Smith - Cabinet Member - Regeneration and Economic Development

Arron Norman - Finance Manager, Social Services, Wellbeing, Resources and LARS

The Scrutiny Officer advised that the purpose of the report, was to present the Scrutiny Committee with the draft MTFS 2016-17 to 2019-20, which included a financial forecast for 2016-20, and a detailed draft Revenue Budget for 2016-17.

The Chairperson then welcomed the Invitees to the meeting to respond to questions from Members.

A Member referred to page 17 of the report and paragraph 3.10 which related to the Regional Collaboration Fund (RCF)/Intermediate Care Fund (ICF). He noted that it stated that in line with previous announcements, Welsh Government had ceased the RCF in 2016-17. Bridgend had historically benefitted from the RCF to help establish collaborations, such as Western Bay and the Regulatory Services collaboration. He asked how this would affect the Regulatory Services collaboration.

The Assistant Chief Executive Legal and Regulatory Services confirmed that the Regulatory Services collaboration had worked well and benefitted enormously since it had been in being. The RCF funding had allowed largely for the collaboration to be introduced. However, in terms of legal services collaboration Bridgend had not received the same funding as partners.  BCBC had relied more on savings it had made within the Legal Department by not having to recruit further lawyers or outsource , due to this work being absorbed through the collaboration arrangements. However, as this funding was ceasing to be, this may pose a problem for the other Authorities within the collaboration. . A meeting was soon to take place in order to plan the way forward with regard to the Legal Services  collaboration continuing in the absence of this funding. Lawyers were employed from the joint team to undertake work as part of the service, which would otherwise require to be outsourced, which was often expensive, so it was important he said to endeavour to continue with the collaboration arrangements, as in essence it saved the Department money. The collaboration had initially employed a Project Manager on a full time basis to establish a framework for the collaboration. However, this post had now been reduced to a part time role. The RCF had only been introduced to assist in setting up the Regulatory Services collaboration until such time it became self-financing/funded. The Assistant Chief Executive Legal and Regulatory Services confirmed that he had received extra funding than initially anticipated for the forthcoming year to support his Legal team, and this would help resource staffing.

The Member also noted that by contrast (to the above), the Intermediate Care Fund (ICF) had increased from £20m in 2015-16 to a proposed £50m across Wales for 2016-17 in the draft budget, which would again be allocated to the NHS to manage, albeit working in partnership with local authorities. He asked if this funding arrangement fed directly into the Council’s revised Corporate Priorities.

The Assistant Chief Executive Legal and Regulatory Services advised that both the above means of collaborative working linked in with the Councils Priorities, and were just two of the many partnership arrangements that the Authority were now involved with that were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.

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