The Leader advised that when he took up the role of Leader, he informed members that he intended to look at the structure of the Cabinet portfolios, and that he would come back to them with an update.

This has now been completed, and he was pleased to be able to outline some changes that he wished to introduce with immediate effect.

In the Corporate Plan that members steered, the need to act as one council wherever we can was identified. This was in recognition of the fact that people don’t live their lives in discreet areas of service, even if local authorities are organised that way.

He wanted to reflect this, with Cabinet members having a broader range of cross-cutting responsibilities so that they can each work across directorates wherever possible.

With this in mind, the most experienced Cabinet member, Councillor Phil White, will gain responsibility for children and early help and intervention, as well as adult social services as the Cabinet Member for Social Services and Early Help.

This will help strengthen our work to improve the transition from child-to-adult services. Safeguarding our most vulnerable adults and children will be a key priority for Councillor White, as will ensuring that we help individuals, families, carers and parents as early as we can.

Councillor White will continue to be the champion for mental health across the organisation, and will lead on the ongoing modernisation of services for older people and people with learning disabilities.

Councillor Hailey Townsend will be Cabinet member for Wellbeing and Future Generations, and the authority’s new anti-poverty champion.

Her portfolio will align with the new Future Generations Wellbeing Act and our own intervention and prevention agenda. It will encompass Housing, the Youth Offending Service, Trading Standards, Environmental Health and all the shared public protection services, and Sport and Physical Activity which will include our partnership with Halo.

Councillor Townsend will also be the champion for play opportunities for children, and will continue to be our effective lead member for equalities and diversity.

Councillor Charles Smith will become Cabinet Member for Education and Regeneration. He was a teacher by profession, and has taught in many of our schools and has spent his career teaching or lecturing, so he brings that experience to the role.

He will now lead on our exciting 21^st Century school modernisation programme, and will also prioritise the continued improvements in standards and outcomes in all our secondary and primary schools, special schools and early years’ settings.

Councillor Smith will also continue to be responsible for leading on the regeneration of our towns.

Councillor Ceri Reeves will continue as the Cabinet Member for Communities. She will have responsibility for Transportation, Highways, Parks and Playing Fields, bereavement services, street cleaning, Planning, Libraries and cultural services.

Councillor Reeves will also take the Cabinet lead for tackling domestic violence alongside Councillor Thomas and Councillor White’s roles in this important field.  

As the Deputy Leader, Councillor Hywel Williams will lead on Finance, Human Resources, Customer Services, ICT, Procurement and Legal. He will also now have responsibility for Property and Health and Safety across the authority. The new Deputy Leader was also keen to retain the overviewing the new Waste Services contract.

As for himself as Leader, because he was newly elected to the role, the Leader advised that he would continue to chair the joint committee of the Central South Consortium School Improvement service.

He would chair the new shadow regional transport authority, and continue to represent all local authorities across Wales as the WLGA spokesperson for Health and Social Services. In addition, he would become a member of the Bridgend Public Services Board.

The Leader confirmed that he intended undertaking regular reviews of the Cabinet structure in future to see if it could be improved further, or if additional changes were required, to ensure that it could best reflect the business needs and priorities of the Authority. In the meantime, the Leader believed that these cross-cutting changes will help the Cabinet better reflect the authority’s stated aim of working as one council, and will strengthen our overall leadership role.

In other news, the Leader reported that the council’s outline business case for an all-new Pencoed Primary School had been approved by the Cabinet Secretary for Education. This means that BCBC could move to the next stage, so work was already progressing on developing a full business case that will focus on the outcomes, benefits and community benefits of developing a much-needed new school facility in the Pencoed area.

By coincidence, this news arrived as pupils from Brymnenyn Primary were visiting the site of their new school. This will be based next to Coleg Cymunedol Y Dderwen where construction work will shortly begin. Its opening is planned for January 2018 when it would become the latest in a long line of modern, state of the art educational facilities to be introduced in Bridgend County Borough.

Elswhere, St Robert’s RC Primary in Aberkenfig has become the latest local school to achieve a Platinum Eco award. These awards are presented by Keep Wales Tidy to schools who develop a culture of environmental awareness and global citizenship among their pupils. It takes the total number of schools in the county borough who have achieved this status to 24, so the Leader extended his thanks to the pupils, teachers, governors and staff at St Robert’s for helping to deliver this.

The council’s Childcare team has also played a significant role in helping a local day care nursery achieve a prestigious award. Banana Moon, which is based in Brackla, had been presented with the Gold Standard Plus Healthy Snack Award.

This has been developed by the council in partnership with the City and County of Swansea, Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council, Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board, Change for Life and Design to Smile. It was designed to teach children from an early age about the importance of easting healthily, so the Leader stated that he was looking forward to seeing other childcare providers signing up to the scheme.

Finally, following the stepping-down of the former Leader Councillor Mel Nott, Councillor David advised that he would be replacing Councillor Nott on the Town and Community Council Forum as Chairperson of that body. The next meeting of the forum would take place on 12 December 2016.