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 prepared for this situation.

 

The Interim Corporate Director Education and Family Support advised that his Directorate including schools, were well supported by the Council’s Finance team through the schools governing body and the headteacher/assistant headteacher. All schools also had business managers who dealt with the schools finances. Training for staff at schools was also given through the established Central South Consortium and Governor Improvement Groups and Networks. These three bodies in particular, gave schools support and advised on ‘best practice’ that should be deployed. He acknowledged that there were further challenging times ahead, projection planning was being prepared by all schools in order to meet these challenges.

 

A Member noted that there were still a considerable number of vacancies on some school governing bodies, and she asked if this would compromise the level of support required at that particular school.

 

The Interim Corporate Director Education and Family Support acknowledged this, but added that all such vacancies were promoted actively with schools with a view to recruiting further school governors where required. Governors with experience in Education or Finance were also sought after, as these people were well equipped in dealing with future challenges, ie affecting the schools budget and its effective operation. It was not always easily however to fill all such vacancies, as there had to be sufficient level of interest from individuals and the right time of person applying.

 

A Member asked for a breakdown of the budget cuts facing schools in the next few years, if this was fully known.

 

The Head of Finance and S151 Officer confirmed that for the financial year 2018-19, there was no budget reduction planned for schools as part of the Council’s budget proposals. For 2019-20 onward, a budget reduction of 1% was planned, with a 1.5% proposed cut being imposed on all local  authorities in Wales by Welsh Government.

 

With regard to budget deficits for schools moving forward, including their recovery plans, a Member asked if there was any allocation in the Council’s Reserves to support those schools who were struggling long term from a financial perspective.

 

The Head of Finance and S151 Officer advised that though the projected deficit for school budgets as detailed in the report was projected at £1.234m for year end, this total would be less than that by that time. This was due to the fact that deficits would to a degree be negated, by schools Contingency Funds for school improvements etc, which from year to year usually had a surplus at year end.

 

A Member asked if any consideration had been given to altering catchment areas for schools, primarily in order to cater for children who will reside within new large housing developments planned for the northern side of Bridgend.

 

The Interim Corporate Director Education and Family Support confirmed that school catchment areas had been static now for some 15 years or so. There were a number of difficulties that needed to be encountered when changing catchment areas, such as school transport requirements that were subject to statutory guidance, parental preference and other issues governed by the Schools Model Code. These issues were complex to manage, and therefore that was the reason why catchment areas were maintained, unless it was deemed absolutely necessary to change the boundaries of these at any given location.

 

As this concluded debate on that part of the report relating to Education, Family Support and Schools, the Invitees left the meeting.

 

The Chairperson then welcomed to the meeting the Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing and the Cabinet Member for Social Services and Early Help.

 

Following the Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing giving a brief introduction to that pert of the report relevant to her Directorate, the Chairperson invited questions form Members.

 

A Member referred to page 24 of the report and the table that showed the Directorate’s net budget for 2017-18 (£64.809m), with current projections indicating an over spend of £1.937m for year end.

 

In relation to the areas of Adult Social Care – Other Services (variance 179.9%) and Mental Health – Supported & Other Accommodation (variance 136.2%) he asked why the variance in these areas was so significantly high.

 

The Head of Finance and S151 Officer advised that purely from a financial perspective, the percentages shown in this section of the table, related to net budgets in those areas where services of the Directorate generated income.

 

The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing advised that it the overspend related to previous years savings not being met and historical overspends on the LAC. The demand on services provided by the Directorate was also considerable and therefore savings made were in the context of a demand led service. Transformation projects underway were also taking longer than anticipated to make the level of savings required..

 

She added that when children with complex conditions reached adulthood the budget did not transfer across into adult social care. There were a number of high cost out of county placements in CS.

 

The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing, added that there were remodelling plans in place that had taken time to develop new models and approaches to delivery but these were now moving into implementation would make a positive impact on the budget..

 

She added that there was an increase in the numbers of children, young people and adults with complex conditions requiring support and that this was likely to continue into the future..

 

A Member felt that year on year the Social Services and Wellbeing Directorate failed to reach its target of savings as earmarked in the Council’s Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS). He acknowledged that all Directorates were facing budget cuts and that this was difficult for them to keep maintaining the provision of key services. However, year on year he was aware that this Directorate in particular, was not achieving the savings aligned to it. He felt that in view of this, there was a case emerging for every line of the Directorates budget lines to be individually scrutinised.

 

The Cabinet Member for Social Services and Early Help whilst considering the Member’s views, advised that the Social Services and Wellbeing Directorate compared very well with other local authorities in Wales in the support of children, and the financial commitment (ie cost per person) it gave on terms of this.

 

He added that there was a similar scenario in terms of the support for Adult Social Care, where BCBC compared favourably to its neighbouring authorities when it came to expenditure in this area on a population ratio.

 

A Member supported the Cabinet Member for Social Services and Early Help, adding that the Council had to adopt a very cautious approach when protecting the most vulnerable in society, as it was incumbent upon it do so by legislation.

 

A Member asked the Invitees, what had been done differently in terms of the support of adults and young people, with at the same time, looking to make savings that the Directorate were required to make under the MTFS.

 

The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing advised that over the past couple of years, the Directorate had changed significantly in the way it delivered its services and that trend was continuing. There had been a shift in culture in order to achieve this, and allowed for different conversations at the point of contact with the directorate and a strengths based approach which encouraged and supported people to be more independent rather than the previous ‘dependency’ model of working. The re-ablement model  was free for 6 weeks, and this had resulted in 60% of people not needing ongoing support from the Social Services Directorate. There had also been a change in the way assessments are carried out resulting in a change to the type of care package provided. There had also been considerable changes in the way day services for people with learning disabilities was delivered.  3,500 people were receiving a Telecare package, and Bridgend were recognised as a leading authority in this area across Wales. In order to recoup further savings in the future however there would be difficult decisions for Members.

 

The Cabinet Member for Social Services and Early help, added that a considerable amount of work had been developed also in the area of Care in the Community, and that he hoped Members would note that there had been an improvement in sickness absence within the Directorate during Quarter 2.

 

A Member reiterated what another Member had previously said, and that all Directorates of the Council should keep in budget. He asked if timelines for paying back of the overspend incurred last year by the Directorate, had been too aspirational, in that more time was needed before this was cleared.

 

The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing confirmed that the original MTFS proposals had been too ambitious in terms of the timescale for delivery. A revised Financial Plan was in the process of being developed by Officers that would be shared with BREP. She recognised that this was still ambitious but that the directorate would continue to focus on the required savings whilst ensuring that citizens continued to be supported and safeguarded. Some levels of expenditure, were reliant on other Directorates, for example, Early Help and Support Services.

 

A Member felt that benchmarking exercises should continue with other Authorities both to see the trends regarding numbers of LAC, and through joined up thinking, ways of how these could be reduced. All local authorities in Wales he considered needed to approach Welsh Government on a collective basis, in order to try and obtain some much needed funding to cover the costs associated with this, as it was a heavy financial burden for Council’s to bear.

 

The Corporate Director Social Services and Wellbeing advised that the Cabinet Secretary for Finance had been approached regarding the above, and had set up a National Group to look at the costs borne by local authorities in the support of LAC, and the Directorate were also looking at ways to alleviate this with its Western Bay partners.

 

The Cabinet Member for Social Services and Early Help added that some support in this area could be alleviated by an increase in Foster Carers.

 

As this concluded debate on this item, insofar as it related to the Social Services and Wellbeing Directorate, The Chairperson thanked the Invitees for their attendance.

 

She then invited the Corporate Director Communities and the Cabinet Member Communities into the meeting, to discuss that part of the report that related to the Communities Directorate.

 

After an introduction to the report given by the Corporate Director Communities, the Chairperson invited questions from Members.

 

A Member asked when the review of Car Parking would be competed and subsequently implemented.

 

The Corporate Director Communities advised that this ongoing, and was due to be completed by the end of the financial year. The situation regarding the review not yet having been completed, had been complicated by the fact that Welsh Government had introduced  funding for free car parking arrangements for local authorities to implement in certain car parks that came under their jurisdiction.

 

A Member was fully aware that the Communities Directorate provided a considerable amount of public facing services, and that there had been delays experienced due to staffing reductions implemented as part of the MTFS, in the provision of some of these frontline services. She asked if in the next budget round there were plans to shrink the Directorates workforce even more, and what affect the streamlining of staff had had on staff that remained within the Directorate.

 

The Corporate Director Communities advised that nearly all of the services that were provided by his Directorate were public facing in their nature, and this was reflected by the fact that over 80% of Member Referrals were made to the Communities Directorate. This had sometimes proved a problem in managing all referrals in a timely manner, as the staffing complement, particularly back-office staff within his administration/business support sections had reduced quite significantly in recent years due to the extent of cuts his Directorate had been required to make, and these staff dealt in the first instance, with the likes of complaints and referrals.  Sickness levels within the Directorate had improved recently overall, however, some members of the Street Cleaning staff had been on long term sickness absence and this had proven to be a problem in the efficient delivery of this service. He and his Management team were looking at leaner ways of effective working, possibly supported by more efficient systems to compensate for the reduced levels of staffing experienced in recent years.

 

The Cabinet Member Communities advised that the year on year budget cuts were starting to ‘bite’ in the Directorate, and that in some areas, were starting to become more and more visible to the public also, for example reduced street cleaning. A lot of the services the Directorate provided were now becoming more reactive than proactive.

 

A Member commended the Communities Directorate for continually making its budget cuts year on year, and he wished to point out that one or two other Directorates needed to come in budget rather than have overspends year on year. The income for Fleet Services was reduced last year, and there had unfortunately been an £150k overspend in this service due to changes in the overall fleet requirement of the Council.

 

The Corporate Director Communities supplemented this, by advising Members that Fleet Services was presently being reviewed, with a view to integrating the service more with South Wales Police, and making changes to the way it was structured to ensure greater productivity and efficiency.

 

A Member felt it would be advantageous if some of the services provided by the Directorate could be taken over or supported by Town/Community Councils, such as grass cutting, litter picking etc.

 

The Corporate Director Communities advised that this was something that could be considered more moving forward, though assistance had been provided by some of the larger Town/Community Councils to the local authority on smaller initiatives such as providing dog litter bins. He felt that it may be an idea if smaller Town/Community Councils could federate in order to provide increased support to the Council, particularly neighbouring Town/Community Councils whose wards adjoined each others. The Community Asset Transfer programme was being reviewed, and Clubs and other Associations had been pursued to take more of an active role in the maintenance of Club changing room facilities, though some were reluctant to take over such facilities some of which were in a poor state of repair.

 

A Member suggested that it may be a good idea if the Council looked to secure County Borough wide Contracts, such as for grass cutting arrangements.

 

A Member advised that Town and Community Council’s precepts had to be set and submitted by no later than 5 January each year, so BCBC needed to link in with them in advance of this date, if they required support in any areas of services they provided.

 

The Head of Finance and S151 Officer advised that this would not be easy to achieve, given that the Council determined its Medium Term Financial Strategy each year after this date.

 

A Member felt that BCBC needed to forge stronger links with Town and Community Councils if they required assistance along the lines expressed above, in order to ascertain what level of support was required, and in what areas.

 

A Member reiterated what was eluded to earlier in debate, that Town/Community Councils could, where appropriate, group together with a view to jointly supporting certain Council led Projects.

 

The Corporate Director Communities advised Members that he was aware of a Welsh Government white paper, which advised that greater expectations were expected from Town/Community Councils in support of their wards moving forward.

 

The Chairperson then thanked the Corporate Director Communities and the Cabinet Member Communities for attending and contributing to the meeting.

 

The Chief Executive, Cabinet Member Wellbeing and Future Generations and the Corporate Director Operational and Partnership Services, then joined the meeting.

 

The Corporate Director Operational and Partnership Services advised by way of introduction, that he had always attempted to prepare to meet his projected budget cuts, a year in advance of when they were to be implemented.

 

It was difficult for him to achieve the level of cuts required, as unlike certain other Directorates, he could only really cut staff as he had no other assets. For further details of the net budget for the Operational and Partnership Services Directorate was outlined on page 28/29 of the report..

 

A Member asked if austerity had changed the way members of staff in his Directorate had undertaken their duties.

 

The Corporate Director Operational and Partnership Services advised that he had been employed within the Authority since 2003, and that the recession had established itself within the last 7 or 8 years.

 

Within this time there had been some collaborative working including within legal teams from a number of neighbouring authorities, and whilst this had been successful for a number of years, it now no longer was. However, the Shared Regulatory Service collaboration between Cardiff City, Vale of Glamorgan and BCBC’s continued to go from strength to strength, as did the collaboration of the CCTV unit. Due to staff cutbacks experienced since austerity, normally through employees leaving the organisation and their post not being filled, staff had been flexible to expand their role where required, including having appropriate training in order to successfully achieve this.

 

A Member referred to page 29 of the report and reference to underspends associated with software licences. She queried this, as it was illegal to use various ICT systems without these type of licences.

 

The Corporate Director Operational and Partnership Services advised that some of the ICT services were being planned to be rationalised as was identified in the report, and he assured the Member that there was nothing illegal taking place with regard to software licences.

 

He added that in order to reduce pressure on staff, more Apprentices were being recruited within the Authority, and particularly in ICT and this had help realise the savings earmarked for this Directorate.

 

A Member asked if the position regarding staff retention was proving a problem in the OPS Directorate.

 

The Corporate Director Operational and Partnership Services, confirmed that as the workforce was shrinking this reduced opportunity for a structured career for individuals in certain lines of work. Employees were therefore staying in the same job for longer, due to a lack of opportunity for progression both in this and neighbouring authorities. It was difficult presently to recruit Lawyers, and in order to negate this, the Legal Department were recruiting paralegal Officers and encouraging Trainee Lawyers to progress and become fully qualified so that they could progress within the Legal Department.

 

He was experiencing some difficulty he added in the recruitment and retainment of Procurement staff. He further added that local government was unfortunately not so highly regarded as a career job anymore as it used to be, and the freeze on cost of living pay rise for local government workers since the recession kicked in, had compounded this situation.

 

The Leader advised that he had been happy to hear that the pay freeze on the cost of living pay rise for local government workers had this year been lifted this year. He felt that this would assist in the recruitment and retainment of staff. He added that Cabinet and CMB were also looking at staff incentives such as the Brivilege card and Care Work packages etc.

 

The Corporate Director Operational and Partnership Services advised Members that he also employed a time recording system for all staff, and he was able to ascertain from this any excessive hours certain staff may be putting in, indicating that increased support may be required in that particular Section.

 

A Member noting the debate regarding austerity and the pressure this was putting on the workforce collectively speaking, asked the Chief Executive what lead he was giving to Directors in order that they and the Authority may meet the challenges that undoubtedly lie ahead.

 

The Chief Executive confirmed that the Leader worked closely with his Cabinet and he worked in a similar way with his Directors, in order to get the right balance within the Authority, so as to meet challenges the Authority were facing. He also discouraged Officers and teams to work in isolation, as closely sharing information corporately, reflected the Council’s mission which was to adopt a ‘One Council’ approach in terms of expediting its business.

 

A Member felt that it was essential that each Directorate of the Council met its budget allocation for the year under the MTFS, and that a change in culture was required, whereby Directorates should be held accountable if they over spent.

 

The Chief Executive acknowledged this point, but added that the Authority was obliged to meet its statutory services, including more notably, protecting the most vulnerable in society through areas such as Social Services and Children’s Services. Packages for care for these people in society was often expensive and difficult to control, though there would be a bigger cost to the reputation of the Council if anything went awry in these key service areas.

 

The Leader reiterated the above, adding that all Members were corporate parents, and that it had a legal responsibility to ensure that the very young and the elderly should be well looked after by the local authority. Powys Council were presently in special measures, and BCBC had been in a similar position previously, with regard to Adult Services. Compromising the safety of the most vulnerable was not an option he added, notwithstanding the fact that all Directorates of the Council needed to try and meet the budget that had been aligned to it.

 

The Leader added that the management structure of the Authority was also going to be looked at to see if savings could be made more from the top down than perhaps vice versa.

 

A Member felt that Bridgend seemingly were always in the top quartile when it came to the number of Looked After Children (LAC) it was responsible for. He felt that due to the expense local authorities had to go to in order to support the number of LAC it had to, and due to the fact that there was no real control over the number of these at any one time, Welsh Government should be approached perhaps collectively by neighbouring authorities to ask for a solution to the situation.

 

The Leader advised that this course of action was being pursued including a request for extra funding, in an effort to alleviate the past, current and anticipated ongoing situation. There were currently 395 LAC in Bridgend he added, and this number was fairly stable at the moment. Ways were being looked at to reduce this number and the cost of placements he added. Work had also been carried out which had resulted in there now being 15% less older people in residential care than there had been 5 years ago, the Leader further added. Both Social Services and Childrens Services were demand led and this was the financial issue that local authorities were faced with. The Council were alleviating the problem to a degree, such as looking at methods that would allow people to be more independent than was previous the case.

 

As this concluded the debate on this item, the Committee thanked the remaining Invitees for their attendance, following which they retired from the meeting.

 

Conclusions:

 

  Education and Family Support

 

1.        In relation to the possible future 1% budget efficiency saving for schools, the Committee queried whether schools were making suitable preparations now to try and minimise the impact on the schools and their staff and recommend that they focus on income generation through hiring out their facilities out of school hours.

 

            Additional Information:

 

·                   The Committee have asked to receive a list of the schools that are at full capacity whilst also in deficit.

 

Social Services

 

1.        Due to the increasing numbers of Looked After Children being an issue across Wales, the Committee questioned whether there was any leadership emerging from Welsh Government on this subject, or any working group established to explore this national concern.

 

Additional Information:

 

·                   Members requested to receive detail on any management restructures which have equated to monetary savings over the past few years.

 

Communities

 

1.        The Committee acknowledged the need for Town and Community Councils (TCCs) to collaborate more, but that this was difficult to take further as identifying a common purpose amongst themselves was challenging with individual capabilities, needs and priorities being very different. It is recommended that in order to maximise the potential of TCCs and for them to work more effectively together and with the Local Authority, the subject is raised with the TCC Forum for discussion for them to take back to their individual TCCs. 

 

2.         It is also recommended that a proposal be put to the TCC Forum for more regular meetings to ensure momentum and consistent monitoring of any future collaborative work.