Minutes:
(1) Cabinet Member - Communities
The Cabinet Member - Communities informed Members that the Council would again be supporting its town centres on the run up to Christmas with concessions for free parking within its car parks. The proposed dates and times were in keeping with the previous tradition of operating concessions in the two weeks leading up to Christmas Day. The concessions will operate from:
· 8th – 13th December after 2.00pm
· 15th – 20th December after 10.00am
· 22nd – 24th December after 10.00am
The Cabinet Member - Communities stated that it was hoped the free Christmas parking would encourage footfall into Bridgend and Porthcawl town centres for the Christmas period.
The Cabinet Member - Communities updated Members on the UK Steel Enterprise, a regeneration subsidiary of Tata Steel which had provided £5,000 to the Council to back its work in assisting local businesses. UK Steel Enterprise was originally set up in 1975 to support investment and business growth in areas affected by changes in the steel industry and now invests directly in growing businesses, providing equity investment and loan finance. It has also serviced office space and workshop units in various parts of Britain including Cardiff and Ebbw Vale.
The Cabinet Member - Communities stated that a cheque of £5,000 had been presented to the Council to support its work in capital investment and job creation, and two schemes were currently in operation: The Local Investment Fund and Green Shoots. The former scheme offers financial assistance of up to £35,000 (although currently this is capped at £10,000) on the basis of up to 40% support of eligible expenditure by small and medium sized enterprises. The latter scheme offers small grants averaging around £2,000 to micro enterprises who employ nine or fewer people.
The Cabinet Member - Communities informed Members that the Green Shoots project would finish at the end of December 2014 so the money from UK Steel Enterprise, matched with £5,000 internally from existing Bridgend County Borough Council resources, would allow continued Green Shoots type of support for new starts and micro businesses into 2015. Although the amount was modest, probably enough to support four or five small investment projects, there was the possibility of further support after 2015.
(2) Cabinet Member - Children and Young People
The Cabinet Member - Children and Young People announced that comprehensive preparations were being made for the Estyn monitoring visit to the Authority next month. Members would be informed of the outcome of the Inspectorate’s visit which was expected to last three days.
The Cabinet Member - Children and Young People stated that a recruitment process was underway for a new Head Teacher at Archbishop McGrath Catholic High School and the new primary provision for Garw Valley South. Mrs Vivien Thomas currently a Head Teacher in Tairgwaith Primary School in Ammanford has been appointed as the new Head Teacher at Ogmore Vale Primary School.
The Cabinet Member - Children and Young People advised that the son of a Bridgend foster carer had won a prestigious UK national award at the inaugural Fostering Excellence Awards. Jac Talbot, a pupil at Bryntirion Comprehensive School, won the Fostering Sons and Daughters Award for the amazing impact he had had on the lives of those fostered young people who had lived in his home. Jac was also involved in a range of activities including recruitment videos, a “Skills to Fostering” film, several radio interviews and Dylan's story – a publication by the fostering network. He advised that sons and daughters like Jac played a crucial role in helping foster children to settle into a new home, as well as giving support to vulnerable children, and to that end, the Authority had developed a Sons and Daughters’ Group; a network run by social workers to provide them with additional support.
The Cabinet Member - Children and Young People informed Members that the former youth wing at Bryntirion Comprehensive, which had been become run down and underused, has been transformed into a bright new Sixth Form Study Centre with multiple use. This was made possible due to a grant from Laleston Community Council who had helped to fund the new facility. The new wing was officially opened by the First Minister last month.
The Cabinet Member - Children and Young People informed Council that at the Heronston Hotel last month, over 60 professionals took part in the Authority’s first ever conference dedicated to raising awareness of the needs of young carers. He was pleased to see staff from Pencoed, Litchard and Cynwyd Sant Primary Schools, Ysgol Bryn Castell Satellite School and Brynteg, Llangynwyd and Maesteg Comprehensive Schools supporting the event, which showed two DVDs ‘’Walk in my shoes’’ and “Too tough to teach”, as well as a presentation and question and answer session from four young carers, which the audience had found to be very powerful and moving. He advised that the key message was that more training was needed for teachers in order to tackle problems for young carers in the Borough’s schools, as those young carers often felt that their voices and roles were not valued. He announced that young carers would be performing, screening their DVD and exhibiting their artwork at an event to be held at the Heronston Hotel on Wednesday, the 26th November at 4.30pm. He advised that all Members would be welcome to support the event which had been organised by Action for Children.
The Cabinet Member - Children and Young People congratulated staff and pupils of Brackla Primary on becoming the first Primary School in the Borough to achieve the Silver Mark Award from the charity, SustransCymru. He explained that many Brackla pupils regularly cycled to school and had enjoyed taking part in the weekly ‘Bike It’ club sessions and ‘Wheelie Wednesdays’. The skills sessions had been held for pupils to pick up riding tips, safety advice and learn about bike and scooter maintenance.
The Cabinet Member - Children and Young People also congratulated teachers and pupils at Corneli Primary School for their efforts, which had resulted in a 76% increase in the number of pupils who regularly cycled to school, whilst walking was up by 22%, and 62% more pupils were travelling to school by scooter. He advised that their efforts had earned them a Bronze Mark Award.
Finally, the Cabinet Member - Children and Young People congratulated the 20 young people from Bridgend Secondary Schools who had achieved silver, gold and platinum level of the Bridgend Leadership Pathway, and they would be leading the Ospreys out when they played the Dragons at the Brewery Field this Friday.
(3) Cabinet Member - Resources
The Cabinet Member - Resources introduced Randall Hemingway, the newly appointed Head of Finance and ICT to his first meeting of Council. Randall had replaced Janet Smith who had recently retired from the Authority.
The Cabinet Member – Resources reported that a total of 31 annual reports had been received from Members, which had been published on Councillors’ individual BCBC web pages. He advised that Personal Development Reviews were ongoing and templates and guidance on both were available via Democratic Services.
The Cabinet Member – Resources thanked those Members who had completed and returned the survey on School Performance data. However, he asked that all those Members who had not yet completed the survey to do so as soon as possible, so that the Authority could determine whether progress had been made in respect of the quality of information being provided. Copies of the survey were available from Democratic Services, and all queries should be directed to Dawn Davies, the Principle Officer – Business Systems in the Children’s Directorate.
The Cabinet Member – Resources reported that the third and final module of the Leadership Academy would take place on the 17th, 18th and 19th November 2014, focussing on leading communities and developing partnerships. He advised that those events, which were provided by the Welsh Local Government Authority (WLGA), had been extremely well received, and he thanked those Members who had participated and made the sessions successful.
(4) Cabinet Member - Strategic Change
The Cabinet Member - Strategic Change stated that colleagues would be aware that the Council operated a system of elected Members visiting social care establishments throughout the Borough, which included establishments for both adults and children, as well as some of the Authority’s independent sector care homes. He reminded Members of the importance of participating in quality assurance for the standard of care provided to those citizens, and to this end Members would soon receive an e-mail reminder which would explain the system for visiting those care homes in full, and also encourage, request and sometimes require Member participation in the scheme. He reported that with 24 Members already taking part in the programme, training would be available for any new recruits and the scheme would also be able to clarify how many visits per year each Member undertook.
The Cabinet Member - Strategic Change updated Members on the long-running resettlement programme for people with learning disabilities. He reported that on the 29th October, the last nine residents of Bryneithin Registered Care Home were resettled into the community and had now become tenants of their own new purpose-built homes in Maesteg and had settled in very well alongside the staff that had moved with them. He commented that this was a significant step for learning disability services and the work being carried out to move forward from the residential care model to supported accommodation, enabling people to have greater independence and control over their lives. He informed Members that the land and buildings at Bryneithin were recently sold at auction, with the proceeds being placed within the corporate budget. He advised that this had been a good example of partnership working and congratulated the staff and managers for their determined efforts in planning and coordinating the move.