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.

The Corporate Director Operational and Partnership Services submitted a report, the purpose of which, was to present:

a)    The items due to be considered at the Committee’s meeting on 25 January 2018, and seek confirmation of the information required for the subsequent scheduled meeting dated 21 February 2018;

b)    A list of responses to comments, recommendations and requests for additional information from the previous meeting of the Committee;

c)    A list of potential Forward Work Programme items for formal prioritisation and allocation to each of the Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committees.

Attached to the report were comments/conclusions (including those still outstanding) on topics considered at the last scheduled meeting (Appendix A); the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee FWP, including the items scheduled for the next two meetings (Appendix B), and the Subject O&S Committees (SOSC’s) FWP, which includes the topics prioritised and agreed by the Corporate O&S Committee for the next set of SOSC’s in Table 1, as well as a list of proposed future topics at Table 2 (Appendix C).

Arising from consideration of the report, and discussions that ensued on this, it was

RESOLVED:        (1)   Members discussed the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Forward Work Programme and agreed the following:

• Members approved the feedback from the previous meeting of the Committee and noted the list of responses provided.
• In relation to the scheduled City Deal item, Members request to invite the Chair of the City Deal Group to the meeting and further ask that the report request detail what is Bridgend aiming to get out of the deal and when.

                            (2)    Members discussed the Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committees Forward Work Programme and agreed the following:

• Regarding the Empty Housing item, Members request that a breakdown of service provision for empty properties be provided including contracts that we sub-let out.
• Regarding the Prevention and Wellbeing and Local Community Co-ordination item, Members question what input is provided by AMBU and what is provided by Bridgend Council.

                            (3)    Members prioritised and delegated the following to the Subject Overview and Scrutiny Committees:

Invitees:

All Members of Cabinet and Corporate Management Board 

The Head of Finance submitted a report, the purpose of which, was to provide Committee with an update on the Council’s financial position as at 30 September 2017.

The Scrutiny Officer outlined the report, and explained that each Director would be invited into the meeting together with the appropriate Cabinet Member, in order to respond to any questions Members may have in respect of the service area they are responsible for. The Head of Finance and S151 Officer would be present during the whole duration of the meeting, to answer any questions of a financial nature she added.

The Chairperson then firstly invited to the meeting the Interim Corporate Director Education and Family Support together with the Cabinet Member for Education and Regeneration.

The Interim Corporate Director Education and Family Support outlined the financial position for his Directorate for the above period, following which Members went straight into questions.

A Member noted that there were no budget reductions planned for schools this coming year, but that the report reflected a projected deficit for schools. She asked if this would have any effect on staff reductions.

The Interim Corporate Director Education and Family Support advised that he was not aware of any planned compulsory redundancies planned for teachers, but staff changes would continue ie through teaching staff moving on and not being replaced, and/or cases of voluntary redundancy/early retirement.

A Member asked what action was being taken, to ensure that schools Business Plans were becoming more efficient.

The Interim Corporate Director Education and Family Support advised that it was now incumbent for all schools to provide robust debit recovery plans as part of their Business Plan, and this was reviewed on a monthly basis, in order to ensure that the schools expenditure was within budget over a continuous rolling programme. Discussions also took place on Business Plans and schools finances, with the schools governing body. He added that staff on different Contracts at any given school did affect the schools budget, and this was a further reason for its budget to be regularly monitored.

Referring to page 23 of the report and the paragraph headed Schools’ Delegated Budgets, a Member noted that a considerable number of schools were projecting a deficit balance at year end, with a projected overall deficit balance amounting to £1.234m. She asked how/when it was planned that this deficit would be clawed back.

The Interim Corporate Director Education and Family Support, advised that this deficit would look to be made up by all schools in deficit as soon as was possible, without affecting the quality of education being provided for pupils at the school. If the deficit was considerably large, then the deficit would look to be cleared within a three year period (or at worse within a five year period).

A Member asked if schools were equipped with the necessary expertise to manage proposed cuts, as they would experience a 1.5% budget cut for each of the next two years. He asked if they were well  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30.

Invitees:

Councillor HJ David – Leader

Councillor HM Williams – Deputy Leader

Councillor D Patel – Cabinet Member Wellbeing and Future Generations  

Darren Mepham, Chief Executive

Andrew Jolley, Corporate Director - Operational and Partnership Services;

Randal Hemingway, Head of Finance

Sarah Kingsbury, Head or Human Resources and Organisational Development

The Section 151 Officer submitted a report, the purpose of which, was to present the Committee with the draft medium Term Financial Strategy 2018-19 to 2021-22, which set out the spending priorities of the Council, key investment objectives and budget areas targeted for necessary savings. The Strategy included a financial forecast for 2018-22, and a detailed draft revenue budget for 2018-19.

The Head of Finance and S151 Officer referred to the Appendices that supported the report, where savings were identified for the Resources Directorate. He advised that in particular, he was looking to obtain extra income from cases of housing benefit and bad debt recovery, where good progress had been made recently in bringing in oncome for this.

The Corporate Director Operational and Partnership Services referred to Appendix B to the report, and made the following comments on budget cuts that had been identified in his Directorate in certain areas as follows:-

OPS1 – Directorate wide restructure – Staffing restructures will result in reduced capacity within teams. This saving was currently on hold, pending the Chief Executive looking to implement changes at Senior Management level.

OPS2 – Reduction of procurement training budget – Savings required for year 2018-19 identified by section re-structure and the introduction of two trainee members of staff

OPS3 – Efficiencies from Shared Regulatory Service – Savings proposals earmarked for this service area to be considered next week by the Shared Regulatory Services Joint Committee

The Corporate Director Operational and Partnership Services added that savings earmarked for the divisions of Housing, ICT and Performance, had already been found for the next financial year.

Conclusions:

Members commended the Corporate Director Operational and Partnership Services for his clear strategic vision and future planning for budget cuts.

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.