To receive apologies for absence from Members. 

Apologies for absence were received from the following Members / Officer:

Councillor MEJ Nott – Leader

Councillor HJ David – Deputy Leader

Councillor CE Smith – Cabinet Member Regeneration & Economic Development

Councillor HJ Townsend – Cabinet Member Children’s Social Services and Equalities

Councillor PJ White – Cabinet Member Adult Social Care & Health and Wellbeing

Councillor HM Williams – Cabinet Member Communities

Chief Executive.

The Committee noted its disappointment that the Chief Executive and Cabinet Members had not been able to attend the meeting.      

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 19 January 2016 and 9 February 2016

RESOLVED:           That the minutes of the meetings of the Corporate Resources & Improvement Overview and Scrutiny Committee of 19 January and 9 February 2016 be approved as a true and accurate record.       

The Head of Democratic Services presented a report which detailed the items to be considered at the next meeting of the Committee to be scheduled following the Annual Meeting of Council and sought confirmation of the information and invitees required. 

The Head of Democratic Services also reported on a list of potential items for the 2016-17 Forward Work Programme which would be prioritised and scheduled at the meeting of the Committee following the Annual Meeting of Council.   

Conclusions:                  

1. The Committee noted the items to be considered at the next meeting to be scheduled at the Annual Meeting of Council.

Determined the invitees to be invited to attend.

Invitees:

Cabinet and CMB

All Scrutiny Chairs

Randal Hemingway - Head of Finance and ICT

Yuan Shen - Corporate Improvement and Integrated Partnerships Manager

Darren Mepham – Chief Executive

The Head of Democratic Services introduced a report which presented extracts of the Council’s draft Directorate Business Plans for 2016-17.

The Corporate Improvement and Integrated Partnerships Manager informed the Committee that extracts from each Directorate Business Plan had been produced for the Committee and in each extract, Corporate plan indicators had been highlighted in yellow.  For each commitment in the Corporate Plan, Directorates have set out the milestones that will be taken to achieve them and the target date for completion and measures they will use to assess performance with targets set for 2016-17.

The Committee expressed concern at the lack of consistency in the way in which performance data is presented in the Directorate Business Plans as some Directorates were making comparisons on different years.  The Corporate Director Resources informed the Committee that the comparisons to be made in the Directorate Business Plans should only relate to the period of the Medium Term Financial Strategy.  The Corporate Director Education and Transformation informed the Committee that reports for the education service would vary from other Directorates as school targets are based on academic years while school budgets are based on fiscal years. 

The Committee questioned the reason for the budget for the Music Service being zero.  The Corporate Director Education and Transformation informed the Committee that the core budget of the Directorate was previously used to subsidise the Music Service, however schools now have a Service Level Agreement to pay for the Music Service it uses without the need for subsidy.  She stated that the Music Service had been re-structured with peripatetic teachers now being designated as tutors which allows demand to be met for the teaching of more modern musical instruments in schools.  There was now a greater amount of choice offered to pupils to enable whole classes to access musical instruments. 

The Committee questioned the reason for the budgets for Transition and Post 14 being zero.  The Corporate Director Education and Transformation informed the Committee that these services were still being delivered but in a more integrated way and are reflected in the Strategy, Partnerships & Commissioning budgets.  She stated that she would remove these budget headings from the Learning budget.  She informed the Committee that the spend for transition was now under the Support for Children & Learners.    

The Committee referred to the proposed housing developments at Parc Afon Ewenny and Brackla North East and questioned how the extra capacity from these developments would be dealt with at schools. The Corporate Director Education and Transformation informed the Committee that the Welsh Government had provided the authority with the opportunity to bid for Band B funding up to 2024 with the authority giving the Welsh Government an indication of its needs for new schools.  A scoping exercise was being undertaken based on demand and anticipated pupil numbers from these proposed housing developments.  She informed the Committee that it was envisaged that a new primary school would have to developed somewhere in Bridgend town centre at a location to be determined.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 197.

Invitees:

Cabinet and CMB

All Scrutiny Chairs

Randal Hemingway - Head of Finance and ICT

Deborah Exton, Group Manager Finance

Darren Mepham – Chief Executive

The Corporate Director Resources reported on an update on the Council’s financial position as at 31 December 2015.  She stated that the overall projected position as at 31 December 2015 was a net under spend of £1.165m.  She highlighted the status of the budget monitoring proposals which showed 76% of the proposals being green, nine proposals totalling £1.230m are currently red with nine proposals totalling £1.481m being amber. 

The Corporate Director Resources also reported on the monitoring of the capital programme which for 2015-16 totals £40.088m of which £24.794m is the Council’s resources with the remaining £15.294m coming from external grants.  She also informed the Committee on the review of earmarked reserves where Directorates had up until 15 December 2015 drawn down £288k of funding from their Directorate specific earmarked reserves and £940k from Corporate Reserves including the Major Claims Reserve and the Change Fund. 

The Committee expressed concern at the under spend of £218k in Schools Based SEN.  The Corporate Director Education and Transformation informed the Committee that the under spend had occurred as a result of the need to hold vacancies to meet the savings required in the MTFS.  She stated that difficulties had been encountered in recruiting one-to-one support for pupils.  She also stated that the Welsh Language Standards had introduced a requirement to employ Welsh speaking support staff and discussions had taken place with the Vale of Glamorgan, Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfil and RCT Councils in relation to having an arrangement for Welsh speaking support staff in an attempt to avoid a large turnover in staff. 

The Committee questioned whether the over spend of £142k in School Improvement related to one school.  The Corporate Director Education and Transformation informed the Committee additional funding had to be allocated to Coleg Cymunedol y Dderwen due to it being placed in special measures.  Funding had also been allocated to other schools in terms of capacity and leadership and an additional head teacher allocated to Cornelly primary to cover sickness.  Funding for School Improvement had been received from Schools Challenge and the Central South Consortium. 

The Committee expressed concern at the over spend of £170k on Home to School / College Transport and that the service should be placed in one Directorate and separate to the two existing Directorates to which the functions sat.  The Committee referred to recent communications received by parents in relation to their child’s eligibility to qualify for Home to School / College Transport only for it to be later withdrawn.  The Corporate Director Education and Transformation informed the Committee that the service had suffered a legacy of inconsistencies in management with some inconsistencies in the application of Home to School / College Transport which had affected approximately 150 pupils.  The Corporate Director Education and Transformation stated that the software package in use by the Transport Team had thrown up some anomalies.  The Corporate Director Education and Transformation commented on the difficulties that had been encountered in managing the service when the budget for the service is  ...  view the full minutes text for item 198.

The Head of Democratic Services submitted a report seeking nominations from the Committee to sit on the Standing Budget Research and Evaluation Panel.  The Standing BREP would undertake a review of the process following the setting of this year’s budget.  The Committee was requested to nominate the Chair of this Committee and one Member of the Committee and additionally a reserve Member to sit on the Standing BREP.    

RESOLVED:           That the Chairperson of the Corporate Resources and Improvement Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Councillor C Reeves be nominated to represent the Committee on the Standing Budget Research and Evaluation Panel  with Councillor E Dodd being nominated as the reserve member in the event that Councillor C Reeves could not attend.   

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.

There were no urgent items.