Agenda and minutes

(Budget), Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committee 1 - Tuesday, 21st January, 2020 09:30

Venue: Council Chamber, Civic Offices Angel Street Bridgend CF31 4WB. View directions

Contact: Mrs Julie Ellams  Democratic Services Officer

Items
No. Item

89.

Declarations of Interest

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)

 

 

Minutes:

Item 4, Medium Term Financial Strategy 2020-21 to 2023-24

 

Cllr T Beedle declared a personal interest in this item because he is Chair of Bridgend Governors Association.

 

Cllr JP Blundell declared a personal interest in this item because he is a community governor at Cefn Glas Infants.

 

Cllr P Davies declared a personal interest in this item because she is a governor at Bryntirion Infants and Juniors.

 

Rev Canon Edward Evans declared a personal interest in this item because he is a community governor at Bryntirion.

 

Cllr T Giffard declared a personal interest in this item because he is a governor at Tremains Primary School.

 

Cllr M Jones declared a personal interest in this item because he is Vice Chair of Bettws Primary.

 

Cllr K Rowlands declared a personal interest in this item because her son is in an apprenticeship in the BCBC Education Department.

 

Cllr R Stirman declared a personal interest in this item because she is a non LEA governor at Tynyrheol Primary School and a LA school governor at Bettws Primary School.

 

Cllr AJ Williams decared a personal interest in this item because she is a parent governor at Coity Primary School.

 

Cllr P White declared a personal interest because he is a governor of Maesteg Comprehensive School and Nantyfyllon Primary School.

 

90.

Approval of Minutes pdf icon PDF 79 KB

To receive for approval the minutes of the meetings of 09 10 19 and 30 10 19

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members considered the minutes of the meetings of 9th October 2019 and 30 October 2019.

 

9th October 2019 – Cllr Beedle stated that his concerns regarding the validity of governor training and LEA members failing to attend meetings and their lack of involvement, were not recorded in the minutes. The Chair of Governors had introduced a skills audit and this was also not reflected in the minutes.  

 

30 October 2019 – Cllr Giffard stated that he had declared a personal interest in the “Review of Post 16 Education Provision Across Bridged” item because he was a governor at Tremains Primary School but it had not been recorded in the minutes.

 

Rev Canon Edward Evans stated that he was unable to attend the 30 October 2019 meeting so had sent in a series of questions to be asked in his absence. There was no reference to his questions in the minutes. The Democratic Services Manager agreed to look into this.

 

RESOLVED                 That the Minutes of the Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committees dated 9th October 2019 and 30 October 2019 be approved as a true and accurate record subject to the corrections detailed above. 

91.

Medium Term Financial Strategy 2020-21 to 2023-24 pdf icon PDF 299 KB

Invitees

 

Lindsay Harvey, Corporate Director - Education and Family Support

Councillor Phil White – Cabinet Member – Social Services and Early Help

Nicola Echanis, Head of Education and Family Support

Joanne Norman, Interim Group Manager – Financial Planning and Budget Management

Victoria Adams, Interim Finance Manager – Budget Management: Communities, Education and Family Support

Hannah Castle, Headteacher, Cynffig Comprehensive School - Chair of Schools Budget Forum

Neil Clode, Headteacher, Llangewydd Primary School - Vice-Chair of Schools Budget Forum

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Group Manager – Financial Planning and Budget Management presented the draft Medium Term Financial Strategy 2020-21 to 2023-24 which set out the spending priorities of the Council, key investment objectives and budget areas targeted for necessary savings.

 

The Group Manager- Financial Planning and Budget Management explained that following receipt of the better than anticipated 2020-21 provisional settlement from Welsh Government, school budgets had again been protected from the 1% efficiency target in 2020-21. In addition the draft MTFS included funding for a number of budget pressures for the Education and Family Support Directorate including schools.   

 

A member referred to the 10% cut to the contribution to the Central South Consortium (CSC) and asked how sustainable this was bearing in mind similar cuts had been made for the last three years. The Corporate Director Education and Family Support replied that savings of 17.5% had been made over the last 5 years and this was challenging for CSC. In order to reduce overheads, CSC had moved to new premises and they were focusing on maintaining front line services whilst reducing back room staff. The Headteachers from Cynffig Comprehensive School and Llangewydd Primary School agreed that they had not seen any change to the number of Challenge Advisor visits and the provision of workshops and conferences to date. A member asked if similar cuts were being made to contributions by all authorities. The Corporate Director Education and Family Support explained

the Joint Committee would agree the same reduction across the board and indicated that the final reduction was likely to be less than 10%.       

 

A member asked if there had been cuts within the Directorate or if the schools had taken the majority of the cuts. The Corporate Director Education and Family Support replied that there had been significant staff cuts over the last 5 years and that considerable savings had been made from vacancy management.

 

A member referred to the MTFS Principles and in particular the “One-Council” approach. She believed that departments did not talk to each other and gave the example of home to school transport and safe routes to school. Free school transport was provided to children in Coity who lived close to the school but were unable to walk because there was no safe route. 

The member said that there was no joined up thinking and that her suggestion to extend on land adjoining an oversubscribed school, rather than build a new school, was rejected because of the cost of building a retaining wall. The Corporate Director Education and Family Support replied that there had been many conversations regarding the challenges around safe walking routes. They had to follow WG guidance and some cases were easier to resolve than others. The School Modernisation Programme dealt with new schools and extensions and often there were competing priorities. Members recommended that there should be a one Council approach with officers from Education, Planning and Finance working in a holistic manner to provide footways and crossing points thereby reducing the reliance  ...  view the full minutes text for item 91.

92.

Forward Work Programme Update pdf icon PDF 78 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Democratic Services Manager presented the Forward Work Programme. He explained that SOSC1 would receive the Education Outcomes report on 5 February 2020 and Learner Travel on 9 March 2020. Members asked if students and the Youth Mayor or colleagues, could be invited and if the meeting could be webcast. A member suggested that the meeting should be held in one of the comprehensive schools and the start time changed to 3 pm to accommodate the pupils. Another member stated that he would have child care issues at this time and this could also be a problem for other members of the committee. The Democratic Services Manager explained that if it was held in a school, the meeting could not be webcast and he agreed to look into this option. 

93.

Urgent Items

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.

 

 

Minutes:

None