Invitees

All Members of Cabinet and the Corporate Management Board

Yuan Shen, Group Manager, Corporate Performance, Partnerships and Transformation

The Scrutiny Officer presented a report, the purpose of which, was to present the Council’s draft Directorate Business Plans for 2018-2019 for the Committee to comment upon.

The Chairperson advised that the relevant Cabinet Member and Corporate Director would both be invited to the meeting, in turn, to respond to questions on their Business Plans. She added that the Corporate Director – Organisational and Partnership Services, would remain present throughout the meeting as he was deputising for the Chief Executive who was presently on annual leave.

The Cabinet Member – Education and Regeneration advised Committee in response to a Members question, that the Council were lobbying Network Rail for electrified rail connections and were looking to design a scheme at Pencoed for the new bridge, together with a traffic management scheme. He added that the likes of the Welsh Government Transport Secretary and the appropriate Member of Parliament needed to discuss the scheme further, and give consent for a date for this being given the go ahead.

The Member responded by stating that the Cardiff Regional City Deal should also be lobbied for a contribution to the scheme, as it was scheduled to be completed by March 2019, and electrified trains may not be in operation within the location by this time.

The Corporate Director – Communities advised that there was a whole range of schemes that the Council had submitted to the City Deal initiative to be progressed, however, other participating authorities and organisations had put similar bids in for schemes in their areas also. Therefore, if the scheme at Pencoed railway station was added to these, it would firstly need to be assessed and prioritised against others that had been put forward for consideration.

The Chairperson referred to page 106 of the report, where it stated a Key Achievement, namely that the Council supported 722 local people develop skills so that they could take advantage of opportunities to succeed through our Communities for Work, Bridges into Work and BESP programmes. She felt that these groups should to some degree interlink, so that more information was shared between them, which would then in all probability equate to this number increasing and resulting in better outcomes for people who commit to these programmes.

The Corporate Director – Communities advised that Cabinet had considered a report this week entitled Employability Programmes, and the main thrust of this, was to establish a single team to create and join up programmes such as those detailed above. Funding from Welsh Government and European funding would be committed to these programmes also.

The Cabinet Member – Education and Regeneration added that the Authority also needed to keep track on young people still in school as it had an obligation as the local Education Authority to track individuals up to the age of 25 (NEETS, etc), and this would assist in encouraging them to look at developing their skills which would assist them in subsequently obtaining employment opportunities.

A Member referred to page 124 of the report and Ref PAM020/20/22 and the percentage of A roads, B roads and C roads in overall poor condition.

The Corporate Director – Communities confirmed that with regard to the highway network, his Directorate was trying to maintain performance with a reduced budget, and that it was possible that he would need to look to secure extra budget from capital funding, as £2m was required a year for each of the next 10 years just to maintain highways at their present condition, as opposed to them being approved.

A Member referred to page 125 of the report and PAM031, the percentage of municipal waste collected by local authorities sent to landfill, and that the target for 2019/20 was the same as 2018/19 ie 30%. He asked if this was realistic given the uncertainty around MREC disposal/treatment options.

The Corporate Director – Communities advised that this target was being set as a conservative one, as the contract with MREC was both long term, ie for the next 12 years and unfavourable in respect of the terms of the Contract. The only way this performance indicator would probably improve he added, was through a change in the terms of the contract itself.

A Member referred to the narrative on page 98 of the Communities Directorate Business Plan, and felt that the this should explicitly confirm the savings (in monetary terms) that the Directorate had made since austerity and the on-set of the recession, and the further estimated savings it yet had to make, to increase public awareness of the decline in certain front line services. The public would then be better placed to be aware of the challenge the local authority faced, particularly in having to make cuts to non-statutory services that the Directorate provided. He added that the Directorate had also supported the Council’s School Modernisation Programme, yet there was no mention of this that he could see in its key achievements.

He added that all the Narratives of the other Directorate Business Plans, should be similarly altered.

The Corporate Director – Communities whilst taking these comments on board advised that he did not wish the narrative to be too negative, despite the cutbacks his Directorate had faced and those still yet to come. There were more challenges that lie ahead, but he was confident these could be met by working leaner and more innovatively. His Directorate still had over £20m to spend on public facing services he added.

A Member referred to page 199 of the report and Ref: FIN3.4.1, the number of working days lost per FTE through industrial injury (Finance), as set by the Health and Safety Manager. He asked what the target was for the coming year as this was shown as TBC, to which the Interim Head of Finance replied that she would have a further look at this and come back to him outside of the meeting, as well as subsequently updating this part of the Plan accordingly.

A Member referred to page 141 of the report and the Budgets for Learning and Strategy and Partnerships and Commissioning, and he noted the progressive reduction in this for years 3, 4 and 5 of the MTFS. This estimated that the Net Total Budget was £108,363 for 2017/18 reducing year by year to £105,439 by 2021/22. He accepted that this was indicative at present, but asked Invitees how this could be mitigated in other ways, as well as it not impacting either too severely on schools budgets. He also noticed that school attendance figures were on the increase in the majority of schools, and asked if this was in any way connected with the School Modernisation Programme.

The Interim Corporate Director – Education and Family Support, advised that the savings for years 3, 4 and 5 as mentioned above, were indicative at present. The Directorate’s budget overall was approximately £108m as the Member confirmed, and of this, he explained that approximately £88m is delegated directly to schools for statutory education. The actual figure delegated however, was closer to £94m to schools, with the additional £6m relating to post-16 settings. Therefore, £20m related to the differential (ie the centrally retained element of the budget). It would be a challenge he added to make the recurring £630k saving against budget year on year as part of the current MTFS.

The Interim Corporate Director – Education and Family Support also advised that pupil attendance at schools had improved and was continuing to do so, as was attainment. To the extent that data revealed that in both these areas, BCBC schools, ie both primary and secondary were now in the top quartile in Wales. School attendance figures overall did correlate with good attainment, as pupils were not falling behind in their work etc, when their attendance at school was at an expected level or above. The Cabinet Member – Education and Regeneration added, that modern schools were a better and more improved environment to work in, and therefore, this was probably one of the factors why school attendance figures had improved.

A Member noted from this section of the report, that there was an estimated overspend in the sum of £304k for School Transport costs. He felt that ways should be looked at to cut this by providing shared transport arrangements with others, ie Social Services or even immediate neighbouring authorities school run operations.

A Member referred to pages 143/144 of the report, and the key achievements of the Education and Family Support Directorate, which were substantial in terms of their number. She felt that it was information such as this that needed to be made available to the public, in order to reflect the excellent work that this Directorate was providing, in the face of the recession. Referring to page 160 of the report, she was also pleased to see the good progress being made in catering themes, and was interested in knowing more about some of these innovative projects.

A Member referred to page 232 of the report and Ref: DOPS4, the performance indicator description of increasing the number of interactions from citizens on the corporate social media accounts (Facebook and Twitter) and noted that the actual for 2016-17 was 11.3%, with a target for the following 2 years of a 5% increase for each of these years. She asked if this would mean that the target would therefore be 11.8% for the subsequent years.

The Corporate Director – Operational and Partnership Services confirmed that this would be an added 5% to years 2017-18 and 2018-19 in terms of a target, meaning that it would 16.3% for both of these years.

The Cabinet Member – Wellbeing and Future Generations added that the new digital transformation proposals that were going to be rolled out, including new phone applications (and possibly Skype for Business) would assist in realising this increased target.

The Chairperson referred to page 216 of the report, and the Budget in Regulatory Services specifically relating to Trading Standards. In 2017-18 this was £351k but would be increased to £397k for 2018-19, which she calculated was a 12% increase. There were then proposed, indicative reductions for the three year period following 2018-19, though it was anticipated that the budget for each of these years would still be in excess of that allocated in 2017-18.

The Corporate Director – Operational and Partnership Services, advised that the Shared Regulatory Service collaboration had resulted in savings to all 3 of the participating Authorities, though like other areas of his Directorate, savings would be required in future years to coincide with further cuts that were anticipated (for all welsh local authorities). He added that the increase in budget for 2018-19 helped off-set other reductions in Regulatory Services, particularly in the Licensing Section where there had been reduced income coming in over the last few years.

He added that the Housing Department, was going to be restructured, and this together with some grant funding added to an under spend, would allow investment to be committed to emergency housing. This was important he explained for a number of reasons, such as accommodating children moving from into/care and finding such a transition difficult to cope with. The Department had to work closely with the Education and Social Services Department’s for this reason, as well as to support certain vulnerable individuals who may find themselves evicted and subsequently homeless, and as Corporate Parents, Members (and Officers) had a duty and responsibility to look after these people, particularly the young and old who were in more vulnerable positions than other age groups. The Authority were also bound by legislation to a degree, to look after the homeless.

A Member referred to page 232 of the report and DOPS4, and the P.I. to increase the number of interactions from citizens on the corporate social media accounts (Facebook and Twitter). She noted that this was 11.3% in 2016-17 and that there was a 5% increase for each of the years 2017-18 and 2018-19. She asked how this percentage was derived for 2016-17, and how could targets be set for future years that would be in any way accurate.

The Corporate Director – Operational and Partnership Services advised that these could be interrogated through systems in place that were being used by the Communications, Marketing and Engagement team, and the methods adopted with regard to their interaction with and through social media. The targets for the next 2 years were based on the above and past performance, but were obviously also estimated he added.

The Member advised that it may be better splitting Facebook and Twitter for this P.I. in future, in order to get more accurate targets for both for next  year and the year after, as they operated in different ways, ie Facebook ran on a 28 day cycle then lapsed, whilst Twitter didn’t.

The Corporate Director – Operational and Partnership Services advised he would discuss this point further with the Communications, Marketing and Engagement Manager, to see if these could/should be split in future into two separate P.I.’s based on the Member’s advice.

A Member made the point that the Directorate Business Plans should link in more closely with the Council’s Corporate Plan.

The Corporate Director – Operational and Partnership Services advised that Directorate Business Plans were more of an internal document, whereby the Corporate Plan 2018-2022 was both an internal and external document, that was actually made available to the public, as well as being published on-line.

The Member felt that it was important that the public recognised that the Authority had now adopted a ‘One Council’ approach in terms of conducting its business and providing services.

The Cabinet Member – Wellbeing and Future Generations, confirmed that the financial savings required as part of the MTFS were outlined in the Directorate Business Plans, and asked if the Member wanted these broken down further than they were in these documents.

The Member replied by stating that he just felt that the Council needed to explain more explicitly to the public of the challenges that lie ahead and the further savings it was required to make, on top of those it already had made.

A Member referred to page 117 of the report and DCO16.8 P.I., regarding number of Council owned assets (CAT) transferred to the community for running. He noted that that none of these had been taken over in 2016-17, and that the target was fairly modest for the next 2 years. He felt that aspirations for this P.I. should be higher.

The Corporate Director – Communities advised that the targets for CAT were not aspirational but they were realistic. It was difficult to convince community groups and more particularly Clubs and Associations to take over the likes of Sports Pavilions and Club changing rooms, particularly as a substantial number of these were in a poor condition, and required some considerable work to then make them more fit for purpose, some of which was costly, ie structural as opposed to just maintenance work. This was compounded by the fact that Clubs, ie football, rugby and cricket teams had an 80% subsidy off the Council under current arrangements, with the local authority being responsible for the upkeep of the buildings as well as any maintenance works that were required from time to time. If Club’s and Associations etc, operated any such asset completely through CAT, then they would lose this subsidy, and be totally responsible for the ongoing maintenance of the building in question.

The Cabinet Member – Education and Regeneration added that there was political support for CAT’s, and in 2018/19 a total takeover from the Council of Bryntirion Playing fields would be secured by way of a CAT.