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Vale of Glamorgan Council

CABINET

 

Minutes of a meeting held on 3^rd December, 2008.

 

Present:  Councillor G.C. Kemp (Chairman); Councillor T.H. Jarvie (Vice-Chairman); Councillors P. Church, G.A. Cox, A.M. Ernest, A.D. Hampton, H.J.W. James, and Mrs. D.M. Turner

 

 

C247              APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE -

 

These were received from Councillors Mrs. J.E. Charles and R.L. Traherne.

 

 

C248              MINUTES -

 

RESOLVED - T H A T the minutes of the meeting held on 19^th November, 2008 be approved as a correct record.

 

 

C249              DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST -

 

The following Members declared their prejudicial interests in Agenda Item 9 - Redevelopment of Cowbridge Comprehensive School: Councillors G.A. Cox, T.H. Jarvie and G.C. Kemp in that they were LEA Governors of the Cowbridge Comprehensive School.

 

 

C250              VALE OF GLAMORGAN LOCAL ACCESS FORUM  -

 

The following minutes of a meeting held on 24^th September, 2008 at the Visitor's Centre, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, were submitted:

 

Present:Mr. D.J. Field (Vice-Chairman in the Chair), Mrs. J.V. Custance, Mrs. V.M. Hartrey, Mr. J.J. Herbert, Mrs. H. March, Mr. H.S. McMillan, Mr. R.L. Traherne and Mrs. V. Warlow.

 

Mr. J. Wyatt, Mr. C. Fray, Mr. C. Jones-Jenkins, Mr. S. Latham and Mrs. S. Thomas (VOGC).

 

Prior to the meeting a site visit to view some of the CAIP works on the cliff top between Penarth and Lavernock had been undertaken.

 

Action

(a)       Apologies for Absence -   These were received from Mr. N. Moss and Mr. R. Pittard;  Ms. S. Tindall (CCW) and Mr. B. Guy (VOGC).     (b)       Minutes -   AGREED - T H A T the minutes of the meeting held on 18th June 2008 be approved as a correct record.   During the course of subsequent discussion in relation to Pont-y-Werin, it was confirmed that this Council was still in negotiations with Cardiff as to the financing of this project.   It was also agreed that a brief note as to the progress made against each action would be included in the minutes in the future in order to assist in tracking progress.   (c)               Valeways–   The Chairman welcomed Mr. Gareth Simpson, the Chief Executive of Valeways since November 2007, to the meeting. Mr. Simpson explained that, in addition to assisting the Council in maintaining countryside access, Valeways facilitated walking activities. 15 Walking Guides had been produced, for example, and Mr. Simpson referred specifically to the cross cutting relationship between Valeways and the Council which involved most Directorates, citing walking with vulnerable groups as an instance of engagement with Social Services and, more generally, of helping push forward the health and wellbeing agenda in line with the Council’s promotion of the same. He also drew attention to the fact, however, that there was no longer an Access and Inclusion Officer in post at Valeways and that this was a direct consequence of the current funding situation.   The point was accepted that the work of Valeways was underpinned by volunteers (some 400 at present) and the annual budget of c. £90k. minimal given the very significant contribution made by Valeways to the improvement and maintenance of footpaths/signage etc. Mr. Simpson identified a major difficulty as being short term funding, a consequence of which was the inability to forward plan and develop the service with any degree of certainty. One of Mr. Simpson’s prime tasks currently was fund-raising and the figures quoted at the meeting indicated a reasonable degree of success to date.  He referred to the additional £20k. allocation from the Council to fund his post as having realised a good return.  He forcibly made the point however that the capacity within Valeways to deliver services was weak both in terms of staff and the availability of appropriate transportation.  There was just one full time employee plus two full time equivalents with himself being employed for 3 days a week as Chief Executive and, also, finance for the purchase of a suitable vehicle was required.   The success of Valeways was hugely reliant on volunteers, there being some 400 currently on the data-base.  He explained that the continuation of funding for the one full time post (Volunteer Co-ordinator) which came from CCW was far from secure, drawing attention to the need for “fresh blood” and to difficulties relating to the ongoing recruitment of volunteers.  Mrs. Warlow too referred to the desirability of attracting new Trustees with new ideas.  The date of the Valeways AGM - at which Trustees were appointed - would be forwarded to the Members of the LAF who, having had prior experience of access issues, would be welcome to submit their names for consideration.   Members of the LAF fully appreciated the contribution made by Valeways and to that end Chris Fray undertook to write to the Leader of the Council in the strongest terms in support of Mr. Simpson’s recent letter which set out the current precarious situation for Valeways.  Following further discussion on the above and related matters, including other potential funding streams such as Creative Rural Communities Grants, it was   AGREED -   (1)       T H A T the best wishes and support of the LAF be conveyed to the volunteers and staff at Valeways and Mr. Simpson be thanked for his presentation.   (2)       T H A T, as referred to above, the fact that the Head of Leisure and Economic Development was to write to the Leader of the Council in support of Valeways’ application for grant be wholeheartedly endorsed.        (d)       Presentation on access improvements delivered over the life of the LAF by Mr. C. Jones-Jenkins -   Chris Jones-Jenkins confirmed that the period covered within the presentation was 2004/08.  Details were presented of the projects undertaken in partnership with Valeways, with reference being made to the issue of Open Access land which, within the Vale, had related purely to common land.  The ROWIP had been produced with the assistance of consultants which, Chris Jones-Jenkins indicated, had in itself been a very informative process and changes in work methods had resulted.  The Routine Maintenance Map was regularly reviewed and, as far as PIs were concerned, this Council was consistently above the Welsh average; although it was accepted that those figures were somewhat erratic, proposals were in hand to address that particular issue.  As regards the Definitive Map and the number of Diversion Orders made, a huge improvement in performance had been achieved with this Council having made 10 in the period.  Mr. Jones-Jenkins warned that there was a huge amount of work yet to be done in the Barry area as a consequence of 50 years of previous neglect.  He referred too to the Coastal Access Improvement Programme 2008 which needed to be revised in light of the damage to the Penarth to Lavernock path as a consequence of inclement weather and as seen on the earlier site visit, the estimated costs of the work now being £120-130k. as opposed to £50k.  Discussions were ongoing with CCW regarding the possibility of additional funding being made available.  Mr. Jones-Jenkins also reported on the successful bids during the period quoting in particular the £50k. being made available for the Llansannor Equestrian Route and £100k. for stone stile preservation.    During the course of such discussion, reference was made to the fact that areas along the cliff top on the Penarth to Lavernock path were unfenced and that these areas posed a potential danger to the public.  Fencing had not been included in the remit of the works funded under the grant and it was generally accepted that there was an element of risk in walking / country pursuits. Having considered issues as to whether guidance should be given to users of such routes, Members   AGREED - THAT the Secretary should ask for the matter to be debated at the next meeting of the NAF with the aim of a statement being made which could be used as guidance throughout Wales.     (e)       ROWIP - Progress report on implementation together with funding arrangements, including spend to date –   Chris Jones-Jenkins reported that this Council had been allocated £46,740 to be used for works outside the Coastal Zone which satisfied the criteria laid down in the ROWIP. This Council had decided to utilise the whole of the funding to the review and ultimate production of the Definitive Map within the financial year.  To that end, the employment of the temporary Definitive Map assistant would continue, and details of the work undertaken to date were presented. Councils had also been asked to indicate a provisional project as a contingency action should extra funding be reallocated late in the annual programme; this Council had included a project of signposting paths from the road.  It was noted that this action point featured prominently in the ROWIP and recent performance indicators had shown a deficiency in current provision.  In order to be able to undertake the project as expeditiously as possible, Members noted that stocks of signposts were being prepared in advance.  It was noted that it was anticipated that future years would see a greater emphasis on practical works, mostly through the “access for all” criteria that was central to many of the ROWIP’s action points.   In conclusion Chris Jones-Jenkins confirmed that the Definitive Map would be finalised in the current financial year.   AGREED - T H A T the position be noted.     (f)         Reappointment of the LAF -   Prior to the Secretary giving an update on the progress to date in the reappointment process, Mr. Field expressed his appreciation to all the officers involved in the work of the LAF.  Mr. Wyatt responded on behalf of the team and then informed Members that to date, following over 100 individual letters having been sent out and advertisements posted in the press and on the Council’s website, only 25 expressions of interest had been generated with approximately 12 applications having been received.  He concluded by thanking all Members of the LAF for their contributions, and expressed best wishes for the future to those Members who had decided not to stand for re-selection.  He referred specifically to Mr. Field who had been a member since the inception of the VOG LAF and who would not be returning, thanking him in particular for his having assumed the Chairmanship in recent months.

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

RESOLVED - T H A T the minutes be noted.

 

 

C251              JOINT CONSULTATIVE FORUM -

 

The following minutes of a meeting held on 23^rd October, 2008 were submitted:

 

Present:Councillor Mrs. J.E. Charles (Chairman); Councillors Mrs. M.E.J. Birch, A.D. Hampton, Mrs. M. Kelly Owen, C.L. Osborne and M.R. Wilson.

 

Representatives of the Trade Unions:Mr. P.S. Carter (Vice-Chairman) (UNISON), Mr. D.C. Jones (UNISON), Mr. G. Beaudette (NUT),  Mr. T. Cox (NASUWT), Mr. G. Moseley (UNISON), Mr. G. Lewis (GMB), Mr. N.H. Morgan (UNISON) and Mr. N. Patterson (Unite and T&GW).

 

 

(a)       Apologies for absence -

 

These were received from Councillor Mrs. M. Randall and Mr. G. Moses (ATL).

 

           

(b)       Minutes -

 

AGREED - T H A T the minutes of the meetings held on 18^th July 2008 and 21^st August 2008 be accepted as a correct record.

 

 

(c)        Presentation on Total Records Information Management (TRIM) and Oracle System: Simon Davies OneVale Programme Co-ordinator -

 

At the meeting held on 21^st August 2008 it had been recommended that all Members of the Joint Consultative Forum receive a presentation on the TRIM and Oracle recording systems prior to implementation.  

 

The TRIM System would facilitate a structured corporate approach to records management.  Currently the management of information throughout the Council tended to be poorly structured with too much reliance on individuals’ own electronic filing protocols or departments’ hard copy filing systems.

 

The Council would be one of the first with TRIM to use a corporate system, which would use the Local Government Classification Scheme by service function.  This was a long term project over several years due to its complexity and users would help identify functions within their own service areas.  TRIM had been chosen for its good integration toolkit, powerful search engine, ease of use and other advantages over similar information management systems.  Data protection, freedom of information and legal admissibility issues were still under refinement but the TRIM system should help the Council comply with all statutory and regulatory requirements for information management.  

 

The interest of the Forum was particularly directed at information pertaining to employees and how this would be stored.  On the Trim system only one set of information would be kept in the same folder and full backup would exist.  Security restrictions would apply at different folder levels although, where appropriate, information would be accessible if needed. 

 

It was unlikely that the Trim system would involve schools before 2013 other than for staff employee records.  However the introduction of Trim was at a very early stage in the process and would be subject to full consultation.

 

RECOMMENDED - T H A T Simon Davies, OneVale Programme Co-ordinator, be thanked for his presentation.

 

 

(d)       Minutes of Directorate Consultative Groups -

 

AGREED - T H A T the minutes of the Learning Directorate Consultative Group held on 26^th June 2008 be noted.

 

The following matters arising from the minutes were noted.

 

Item No. 3 - TC (NASUWT) had written to the Chief Executive with regard to consultation rights on the Corporate Absence Management Policy.  NASUWT had members who were subject to Corporate Policies but their Union representatives did not have consultation rights.  Often policies adopted by schools were based on Council policies so it was important that this issue was addressed.

 

The Forum were also advised that the Single Status national handbook recognised Unison, GMB and Unite for the purpose of consultation negotiation and that employees employed by schools were subject to the policies, terms and conditions as determined by the respective employing Governing Body.

 

The Operational Manager, Human Resources, indicated that further discussion was needed between the Human Resources section and Teaching Unions with a report being made to the Learning and Development Teachers’ Association Group.  A further report could then be brought to the Joint Consultative Forum if necessary.  It might also be possible to follow the meeting of Single Status groups with a further meeting to involve the teaching unions as appropriate.

 

Item No. 7 - TC (NASUWT) referred to the lack of a formal recruitment and selection policy / procedure for schools.  It was understood that such a policy was under consideration and it was requested that the process be speeded up to prevent further inconsistencies in procedures followed.

 

The Operational Manager for Human Resources indicated that a recruitment and selection policy procedure for schools would be given a high priority if this was deemed important by teachers’ associations.

 

Item No. 10 - GTCW fees.  The General Teaching Council for Wales had raised the fee it charged teachers and the amount they received from the Council in reimbursement no longer covered the full cost.  As the professional fee charged by GTCW had to be paid in order for a teacher to qualify for employment in Wales, it was thought it should be fully reimbursed by the Council as happened with other groups of employees.  The issue of inequality arose if one group of employees was financially disadvantaged through payment of professional fees.  The Operational Manager for Human Resources indicated that it was reasonable for this matter be brought to Forum Members’ attention however, given that the Cabinet had not yet determined the matter it would be inappropriate to discuss further other than to note the comments. 

 

The Chairman thanked the Union representatives for bringing the matters to the Forum’s attention but further progress could not be made until a formal response was determined.

 

 

(e)       Car Pool Working Group -

 

AGREED - T H A T the minutes of the Car Pool Working Group held on 17^th September 2008 be noted. 

 

 

(f)         Feedback on Policy Development -

 

AGREED - T H A T the details submitted relating to the above, which included those policies recently approved, those about to be submitted for approval, those concerning which ongoing discussions were being held and those in the process of being drafted, be noted.

 

 

(g)       Head of Human Resources Progress Report -

 

The Operational Manager for Human Resources indicated that Steve Ralph, Head of Human Resources, would retire at the end of October 2008.  As an interim measure, the Director of Finance, ICT and Property Services had assumed responsibility for Human Resources to allow the Director of Learning and Development time to concentrate on the forthcoming ESTYN inspection. 

 

The Forum recorded their thanks to Steve Ralph, Head of Human Resources and extended their best wishes for his forthcoming retirement.

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

RESOLVED - T H A T the minutes be received and noted.

 

 

C252              DRAFT SUPPLEMENTARY PLANNING GUIDANCE ON PLANNING OBLIGATIONS (REF) -

 

Cabinet had, on 17^th September, 2008 referred the above SPG to the Scrutiny Committee (Economy and Environment) as part of the consultation process.  That Committee had subsequently recommended that the views of each of the other Scrutiny Committees be sought on the content of the document.

 

The responses of each of the Scrutiny Committees were contained within the report indicating that each had supported the production of the draft Guidance.  The Scrutiny Committee (Economy and Environment) had also fully endorsed the draft SPG for public consultation purposes. 

 

RESOLVED - T H A T the recommendations of the Scrutiny Committees be accepted.

 

Reason for decision

 

To have regard to the views expressed.

 

 

C253              VALE OF GLAMORGAN LOCAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN (LDP) - RESULTS OF THE CONSULTATION ON THE DRAFT PREFERRED STRATEGY (DPS) AND INITIAL SUSTAINABILITY APPRAISAL REPORT (ISA) (DEER) (SCRUTINY - ECONOMY AND ENVIRONMENT) -

 

RESOLVED - T H A T the matter be withdrawn.

 

 

C254              COUNCIL TAX BASE 2009-10 (DFICTP) (SCRUTINY - CORPORATE RESOURCES) -

 

Approval was sought for the Council Tax Base in order to meet the deadline for agreeing the final Council Tax Base by 31^st December, 2008. 

 

The Tax Base had been calculated as detailed below and noted in paragraphs 5 and 6 of the report:

 

·                    "the number of dwellings for the area in each valuation band;

·                    adjustment for estimated changes to the list in the year i.e. additions, reductions (including those for disabled adaptations), deletions and exemptions;

·                    reduction by the estimated number of discounts allowed, incorporating the policy on discounts for unoccupied properties;

·                    convert each Band to a Band D equivalent by applying the appropriate multiplier e.g. for Band A multiply by 6 divide by 9;

·                    sum the Band D equivalent of each band;

·                    multiply this by the estimated collection rate;

·                    add the Band D equivalent of Class O properties i.e. dwellings owned by Ministry of Defence.

 

The following assumptions have been made -

 

·                    the calculations are based on data available to the Council on 31^st October 2008;

·                    the collection rate will be 97%."

 

This was a matter for Executive decision.

 

RESOLVED - T H A T pursuant to the report and in accordance with the Local Authorities (Calculation of Tax Base) Regulations, the amount calculated by the Vale of Glamorgan Council as its Council Tax Base for the year 2009/10 shall be:

 

·                    For the whole area:  54,870

·                    For the area of Town and Community Councils

 

Barry	18,464	Pendoylan	254
Colwinston	275	Penllyn	958
Cowbridge with Llanblethian	2,487	Peterston-Super-Ely	547
Dinas Powys	3,554	Rhoose	2,701
Ewenny	427	At. Athan	1,331
Llancarfan	449	St. Brides Major	1,122
Llandough	912	St. Donats	186
Llandow	425	St. Georges & St. Brides-Super-Ely	234
Llanfair	362	St. Nicholas & Bonvilston	529
Llangan	376	Sully	2,465
Llanmaes	232	Welsh St. Donats	305
Llantwit Major	3,963	Wenvoe	1,059
Michaelston	214	Wick	373
Penarth	10,666

 

Reason for recommendation

 

It was essential that the Council Tax Base was set in order that it could be submitted to WAG and used by Councils and levying bodies to set precepts.

 

 

C255              RE-DEVELOPMENT OF COWBRIDGE COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL (DLD) (SCRUTINY - LIFELONG LEARNING) -

 

Approval was sought to commence the construction of re-development of Cowbridge Comprehensive School, Cabinet being reminded that beyond finalisation of the design stage and associated costing, the Council had not yet committed to the construction stage. 

 

Davis Langdon and the design team had designed and planned the re-development of Cowbridge School, the design allowed for a single phase development within a maximum targeted budget of £21.5m.  Attention was drawn to the fact that, in order for the single phase development to be delivered, it was a requisite that the Council had secured the £21.5m. in full.  The programme provided £205,800 for a temporary sports hall and a contribution of £300,000 towards fixtures, furnishings and equipment.  It was anticipated that the temporary sports hall would be relocated to another school once the re-development of Cowbridge was complete.  The school would be co-ordinated on a single site with the playing fields being provided adjacent to the school.  The canteen and administration block together with the three existing newer teaching blocks would all be refurbished and there would be a high degree of landscaping with new car and bus parking arrangements supported by new access roadways.  With regard to fixtures, furnishings and equipment, the estimated maximum cost was £600,000.  It was noted that it had always been envisaged that part of the cost in relation to loose fixtures, furnishings and equipment (i.e. £300,000) would be funded from elsewhere within the Education Budget. 

 

In order to insure affordability in respect of the availability and timing of resources, Davis Langdon and the design team prepared a phased delivery with Phase 1 costed at a maximum of £16.5m.  The Phase 1 costings included the temporary sports hall (£205,000) together with a contribution of £125,000 towards fixtures, furnishings and equipment.  The maximum requirement for Phase 1 fixtures, furnishings and equipment would, therefore, be £450,000.  Reference was made to the fact that the £16.5m. phase of the development would include the same level of new build as the full £21.5m. scheme with the school buildings being co-located on a single site, the same level of car parking, bus parking and access roads and the provision of a new canteen within the existing administration block.  The £16.5m. phase would not include the completion of the playing fields which would mean that the school would need to continue to use the playing fields adjacent to the Townmill Road site.  

 

The report advised that it was estimated that once the £16.5m. phase had been completed, finalising the development could cost a further £6.48m. which would bring the total cost to deliver the facilities to £22.98m.  Final costs would depend upon the timescale for completing the development.  Davis Langdon and the design team had recommended the following prioritisation of work not included in the £16.5m. scheme:

 

·                    refurbishment of the existing buildings

·                    playing fields

·                    landscaping.

 

The costs of these works would depend upon when the works were carried out and would need to be contracted when funds were available.  The report also advised Members that the Cowbridge Trust was in the process of obtaining appropriate advice to enable detailed discussions with the Charity Commission to take place with a view to requesting the Commission consent to any sale proceeds generated from the possible sale of the Trust land at the lower school site to be re-invested into the redevelopment and construction of the upper school site.  Work was also being undertaken to identify the additional funding to deliver the full development of the school for September 2010 or as soon as possible thereafter.  However, in order to secure the £9m. School Buildings Improvement Grant the Council had to decide to proceed with at least the £16.5m. scheme. 

 

This was a matter for Executive decision.

 

RESOLVED -

 

(1)       T H A T approval be granted for the commencement of the construction and re-development of Cowbridge Comprehensive School in accordance with the budgeted affordability discussed in paragraphs 4-16 of the report and that the Council proceeds with the £16.5m. phase of the development immediately and continues to identify the funding necessary to finalise the development by September 2010 or as soon as possible thereafter. 

 

(2)       T H A T the Director of Legal, Public Protection and Housing Services in consultation with the relevant Cabinet Members and the Director of Finance, ICT and Property be authorised to prepare, complete and execute the appropriate contractual details with Carillion in relation to phase 1 of the construction and re-development of Cowbridge Comprehensive School.

 

(3)       T H A T the Urgent Decision Procedure under Article 13.09 of the Constitution be implemented to progress the matter.

 

Reasons for decisions

 

(1)       In order that the re-development project at Cowbridge can be completed to make the school fit for purpose whilst at the same time discharging the Council's statutory responsibilities in respect of school buildings.

 

(2)       To ensure that appropriate contractual arrangements are in place.

 

(3)       To progress the matter.

 

 

C256              PUBLICATION SCHEME (DLPPHS) (SCRUTINY - CORPORATE RESOURCES) -

 

The Council's current Publication Scheme would expire at the end of December 2008 and the Council was legally required to have a replacement in place by the start of January 2009.  The Information Commissioners Office had reviewed the nature of schemes and had issued a framework for a model scheme which, if followed by the Authority, could be adopted without formal approval of the Information Commissioners Office. 

 

A model Publication Scheme was attached as an appendix to the report.

 

This was a matter for Executive decision.

 

RESOLVED - T H A T a scheme based upon the Information Commissioner's Model Publication Scheme as set out in the appendix to the report be adopted.

 

Reason for decision

 

Under Section 19 of the Freedom of Information Act it was necessary for the Council to adopt and maintain a Publication Scheme.

 

 

C257              MATTERS WHICH THE CHAIRMAN HAD DECIDED WERE URGENT -

 

RESOLVED - T H A T the following matters which the Chairman had decided were urgent for the reasons indicated under the minute headings be considered.

 

 

C258              REFERENCE FROM SCRUTINY COMMITTEE (CORPORATE RESOURCES): 2^ND DECEMBER, 2008 -

(Urgent by reason of the need to inform Cabinet of the comments on the budget of the Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Resources)

 

Cabinet considered the references that had been received by the Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Resources) in relation to the Initial Revenue and Capital Programme Budget Proposals 2009/10 and from the Scrutiny Committee (Housing and Public Protection) the Housing Revenue Account Budget Proposals 2009/10 and Revised Budget 2008/09.

 

At its meeting on 2^nd December, 2008 the Scrutiny Committee recommended that the following references be noted and referred to Cabinet subject to the following recommendation:

 

'That the Cabinet be requested to endorse recommendations (1) and (2) and note recommendation (3) of the Scrutiny Committee (Social Care and Health) of 24^th November, 2008 regarding Initial Budget Proposals detailed below:

 

"(i)       References from Scrutiny Committee (Social Care and Health): 24^th November 2008

 

INITIAL REVENUE BUDGET PROPOSALS 2009/10 (DFICTP) -

 

The Group Accountant advised that the report was submitted for consultation on the Initial Budget Proposals for 2009/10 and to inform the Committee of the amended original budget for 2008/09 for services which formed part of the Committee's remit.  Detailed at Appendix 1 to the report was the revised budget for 2008/09 which set out the necessary transfers to the original budget as detailed below:

 

·                    Asset rents - The main reason for the movement was attributed to revisions to the Accounting Code of Practice that required deferred government grant income to be released to revenue services which offset the asset rent already charged.

·                    Recharges - Adjustment required to reflect movement in charges between internal Council services.

·                    Budget Transfers - Budget adjustments to reflect transfers of functions and responsibilities between services which primarily related to :

-           Transfers within Social Services that had taken place to reflect savings and pressures within divisions but these had a nil net value. 

-           A transfer of £135,000 net income that had taken place from Private Housing to Social Services to reflect the transfer of client responsibility for the Vale Community Alarm System (VCAS).

 

The officer reported that the Social Services Budget was an extremely volatile budget which could be adversely affected by external factors for example economic pressures, weather conditions or epidemics.  Any variations to the assumptions used could adversely affect the outturn position.

 

The budget for Children and Young People's Services had been reduced by £670,000 which reflected the saving of £400,000 on children's placements, £70,000 on payments to foster carers, £83,000 additional savings on staffing costs due to delays in recruitment and anticipated additional grant income of £200,000 offset by the increased cost of the joint agreement with Cardiff Council for the provision of a Duty Team.  The savings that had been identified had been used to increase the amended original budget for Adult Services.  The Adult Services budget had therefore been increased by £1,094,000 being £670,000 from Children and Young People's Services, £424,000 from Service Strategy and reduced by £135,000 for the transfer for VCAS net income.  The transfer from Service Strategy related to a budget adjustment for savings which had been identified in excess of the efficiency savings required when the budget had been originally agreed but which were now not achievable.  The areas of planned savings that were not currently being achieved were reported as the review of Learning Disabilities Placements (£150,000), development of a strategy for EMI Service Provision (£100,000), a review of Community Care packages (£400,000) and a review of Service Level Agreements in Adult Services (£50,000).  Committee was advised that the increase in the budget that was required was to meet the continued pressure on the Community Care Budget which was currently estimated at £983,000 for a full year effect.  The report also highlighted that the cost of packages of care for Learning Disability Services continued to place pressure on the Adult Services budget as previous year's planned savings had not been achieved.

 

It had also been assumed that additional grant funding and one-off income of £250,000 would be received and that future community care commitments could be in line with previous activity.  However, the budget could be seriously affected by outside circumstances for example weather conditions or a flu epidemic.  The arbitration case had also not been completed and no allowance had been made for the outcome of the case should the decision not go in the Council's favour. 

 

The budget strategy for 2009/10 had set out a process for establishing a clear baseline.  Services were to prepare initial revenue budgets for the next year based on the cost of providing the current level of service and approved policy decisions.  The process also required the cost of price increases and pay awards to be included.

 

All Directors had been advised to find the costs of increments and staff changes from their base budget unless relevant specific approval had been given for additional funding.  Services would also be expected to identify and achieve recurrent efficiency savings equivalent to at least 2% of their budget.  The target for Social Services was £2 million which had been previously agreed in order to meet the requirements of the Social Services Change Plan.  Services had also been requested to identify any burgeoning revenue cost pressures.  A list of cost pressures for 2009/10 was attached at Appendix 3 to the report.  They were not shown in a strict order of priority and included costs relating to Social Services that were a continuation of the level of over-commitment in 2008/09.  The report further stressed that any increased energy costs would also have a significant impact across the Council and a provisional cost pressure of £2.75 million had been included within Policy.  There was uncertainty as to the likely level of future energy prices and further work would be carried out in respect of this by the Budget Working Group. 

 

The budget was being presented to the Scrutiny Committee for consultation, with the intention that any comments were submitted to the Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Resources) by no later than 23^rd December, 2008 in order that final recommendations could be submitted by the Cabinet to Full Council at its meeting on 4^th March, 2009. 

 

In considering the report, Members questioned the savings that appeared to have been made in respect of staff recruitment and were advised by the Director that there was currently no moratorium on recruitment and he could report that there were measures in place to limit any adverse effect on the level of services. The Department was continuing to appoint to posts considered to be a priority.

 

Questions were raised in relation to the undertaking of reviews and an update on progress on care packages was discussed.  Members were advised that the reviews were ongoing but it had been noted that in some instances re-assessments had not made any significant differences to the care packages required.  The Director also referred to issues in relation to the Health Service and the need to be more focussed on the outcomes for clients.

 

Members queried whether some aspects of services could be undertaken by the Voluntary Sector and the Director confirmed that that was an avenue that was being explored.  In considering the report, Members felt that at present they could not make any specific proposals to the Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Resources) as they required more information on the Department's cost pressures and detailed suggestions of ways the Council could consider providing services in a different manner.  The Director explained that work was being done to gather additional information about the overall budget for Social Services in the Vale and this information could be provided for the next meeting of the Committee but it would be mainly at a whole service level.  Members requested assurance that all the lessons that had been learnt in relation to Children's Services and its management of the service area had been introduced in Adult Services and the Director advised that this was an ongoing priority. 

 

In view of the comments made at the Committee it was

 

RECOMMENDED -

 

(1)       T H A T the amended original budget for 2008/09 as set out in the table below be noted:

 

	2008/09	2008/09	Variance
	Amended    Original	Projected	(+)Favourable
Directorate/Service	Budget	Outturn	(-) Adverse
	£’000	£’000	£’000
Social Services
Children and Young People	12,728	12,728	0
Adult Services	31,115	31,115	0
Service Strategy	306	306	0
Total Social Services	44,149	44,149	0

 

(2)       T H A T the Director of Social Services take appropriate action to ensure that any potential over commitment of the 2008/09 budget was curtailed.

 

(3)       T H A T a further report be presented to the next meeting of the Scrutiny Committee on 15^th December, 2008 providing more detailed information in respect of cost pressures for Social Services and that any comments be forwarded to the Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Resources) and Cabinet following consideration of that report.

 

Reasons for recommendations

 

(1)       To facilitate the monitoring of the budget.

(2)       To contain expenditure within the budget.

 

(3)       In order that the Scrutiny Committee can make informed recommendations to be forwarded to the Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Resources) and Cabinet.

 

 

INITIAL CAPITAL PROGRAMME PROPOSALS 2009/10 (DFICTP) -

 

The report advised the Scrutiny Committee on progress on the 2008 Capital Programme for the period up to 31^st October, 2008 and to allow consultation on the Initial Capital Proposals for 2009/10.  Appendix A to the report detailed the financial progress on the Capital Programme as at 31^st October, 2008.  The report highlighted the request that Cabinet approve certain changes to the Capital Programme and where necessary seek Full Council approval.

 

Cabinet had the authority to withdraw a budget from the capital programme if the scheme had not been contractually committed within 18 months of being included in the capital programme.  In such instances a new bid would have to be submitted as part of the coming year’s budget setting process to reintroduce the scheme into the capital programme.  The following schemes remained contractually uncommitted 18 months after approval but the service had requested that the schemes remain in the Capital Programme and be slipped from 2008/09 into 2009/10. Appendices A and B had been based upon the assumption that this request would be approved.

 

·                    Day Services for Older People in Penarth - A review of the day service was still ongoing within the department and the existing funding would not be spent in the current financial year. It had been requested that the budget for the scheme of £250,000 be slipped into 2009/10 when the review should be completed. 

 

·                    Adult Respite Care – the current year allocation of £253,000 included £250,000 for the purchase of a property in order to provide day care facilities for adults with learning disabilities. Although a number of possible houses had been found, problems had arisen whilst attempting to progress with the sale. Slippage of the £250,000 had been requested while the service considered the most appropriate way forward to meet the respite care need.

 

Refurbishment of Barry Hostel - works had been completed on the scheme and total costs had come in below budget. It had therefore been proposed to reduce the current year budget to reflect the anticipated final spend of £28,000, a reduction of £42,000.

 

Committee was further informed that on 13^th October, 2008 WAG had announced the provisional 2009/10 General Capital Funding of £8,198,000 which had been unchanged from the current year.  The final settlement was expected to be announced by January 2009.  A Major Repairs Allowance which was the grant that provided Capital Funding to the Housing Revenue Account for 2009/10 had not as yet been announced by WAG but that Cabinet would be advised as soon the announcement was made.  An assumption had however been made at Appendix B to the report that the grant would continue at the current allocation of £2.7 million.  In addition to any WAG funding the Council would finance part of the Capital Programme from its own resources for example Capital Receipts and Reserves. 

For 2009/10 it was reported that no bids had been submitted by Social Services and in considering Appendix 2 of the report Members noted the current committed schemes and slippage requests that were made.  Members queried the provision of an extra care facility within the Vale and were advised that a recent proposal for land at a site that had been identified in Barry may not now go ahead due to the fact the site proposed would not be large enough to accommodate the services required.  It was therefore

 

RECOMMENDED - T H A T Cabinet be urged to identify suitable land for the provision of an extra care facility within the Vale of Glamorgan as a matter of priority.

 

Reason for recommendation

 

In order to ensure that land is identified/considered as a matter of urgency.

 

 

(ii)        References from Scrutiny Committee (Economy and         Environment): 25^th November, 2008

 

INITIAL REVENUE BUDGET PROPOSALS 2009/10 (DFICTP) -

 

As regards the revised budget 2008/09, details were appended to the report setting out the necessary transfers to the original budget which were required to be made.  The following table compared the amended original budget with the projected outturn for 2008/09:

 

 

 

It was reported that the projected outturn for Planning and Transportation was for a favourable variance of £118k. due predominantly to vacancies within the division and also savings within the Transportation and Supplies and Services budget.  In respect of Economic Development and Leisure, the projected outturn was for an adverse variance of £118k., largely due to the pressures on the Leisure Centre service from competition and increasing utility costs. Attention was drawn to the fact that the Leisure overspend could potentially reach £300k. Members were reminded that, should that be the case, the first £150k. had to met from within the Directorate but that the remainder (up to a further £150k.) would be met centrally. At present, the revised estimates show a deficit of £182k. for the service and as such £32k. has been vired from Policy in accordance with this resolution with the balance found from savings within the Division on employee costs and Supplies and Services budgets.  The projected outturn for Visible Services overall was for a balanced budget.  Details relating to the variances within the Divisions comprising Visible Services were contained within the report.  Members were again reminded however that, whilst the Waste Management and Cleansing Service was currently projecting an underspend for the current year, the position would likely be reversed in future years.

 

The Budget Strategy for 2009/10 outlined that services should prepare initial revenue budgets for next year based on the costs of providing the current level of service and approved policy decisions, including the cost of price increases and pay awards.  The Head of Accountancy and Resource Management indicated that whilst the provisional settlement represented a 3.9% increase over that awarded last year (circa £5½m.), committed growth plus inflation equated to some £8½m. Services would be expected to identify and achieve recurrent efficiency savings equivalent to at least 2% of their budget.  The costs of service development would need to be met from within the respective services from savings and, in addition, works might need to be prioritised to meet any higher priority demands.  Services had, therefore, been asked to identify any burgeoning revenue cost pressures.  A summary of the overall base budget for 2009/10 was appended to the report.  It was noted that Asset Rents, FRS17, Deferred Government Grant and Recharges related to notional accounting adjustments which have no effect on the Council overall and do not impact upon service delivery.  Budget adjustments had been made to reflect transfers of functions and responsibilities between services.  It was reported that inflation amounted to £736k. of which £397k. related to pay awards and £339k. for general price increases (although the difficulty in accurately projecting inflation figures in the current climate was accepted) and that the Committed Growth total of £332k. related to Landfill Tax annual increase. 

 

Also appended to the report was a list of the 2009/10 cost pressures as identified by the Service. Those cost pressures totalled £616k. and excluded the cost of redundancies which might be incurred in order to maintain the budget within the resources available. Particular consideration was given to  the topics indicated below as follows:

 

·                    Business Service Centre – the Director reported that the reduction in occupancy rates was currently being addressed

 

·                    Dyffryn Tea Rooms – the Director reported that option of franchising the operation was being actively pursued

 

·                    Dyffryn Visitor Centre – in response to the proposal that there be greater elasticity in admission charges, the Director indicated that proposals to increase attendance were being considered and that Members would receive the customary report on fees and charges in the new year (drawing attention also to the fact that the projected cost pressures in respect of both admission charges and Tea Room income had been based on last summer’s figures which had been particularly low given the inclement summer months)

 

·                    Dyffryn House – it was recognised also that occupation of the House would increase visitor numbers to the site; the Director reported that discussions were currently being held with the University of Wales in that respect

 

·                    Leisure Centres – particular concern was expressed in respect of the position in relation to the Council’s Leisure Centres and the projected loss of income.  A fundamental problem was the age of the buildings themselves (particularly Barry and Penarth), that pools were the most expensive facility to run (and that the recently opened pools on the eastern extremities of the Vale would attract existing and potential clients despite best efforts to be competitive), and that only limited funding was available for maintenance.  Whilst the gyms were well patronised and high income generators, the Director pointed out that the Centres also continued to offer loss-leader activities such as badminton and squash (as was expected from a Council run facility). Members also considered that a more strategic look at the long-term management of leisure facilities was required and consequently requested a detailed report identifying current and potential problems, remedial actions both taken and proposed to be taken, and realistic options as to the way forward.

 

It was also noted that increased energy costs were likely to have a significant impact across the Council and further work would be carried out in respect of the likely level of future energy prices by the Budget Working Group.  It was further noted that the 2008/09 Budget Review was supported by Cost Centre Analyses (CCAs) (also appended to the report) which provided details of each cost centre within a service area and should assist in identifying areas of lower priority and the potential for switching resources from lower priority activities to higher priority areas. 

 

Reference was also made in the course of subsequent discussion to Pont y Werin and links to the bridge within the Vale. The Director confirmed that the Council had committed £200k. to the structure (as contained in the Policy capital programme), that the Planning Committee was to consider a planning application imminently, that funding gap issues were still being negotiated with WAG, and that discussions were ongoing with SUSTRANS regarding links to the bridge (although the links related initially to the immediate area). As regards access from further a field, it was reported that those would be addressed later in the process and that, although a network of cycle routes had been agreed with SUSTRANS, there was currently no funding available for implementation of the same. 

 

All Scrutiny Committees were being consulted on the initial revenue budget proposals with the Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Resources) being the lead Committee.  Corporate Resources was to consider the matter on 2^nd December, 2008 prior to forwarding a composite response to Cabinet, the Members of which would make their final budget proposal no later than 25^th February, 2009.

 

RECOMMENDED –

 

(1)       T H A T the amended original budget for 2008/09 as set out in paragraph 8 of the report and referred to above be noted.

 

(2)       T H A T the Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Resources) receive the comments on the initial budget proposals as indicated above and refer the same to Cabinet.

 

(3)       T H A T a comprehensive report be made to this Committee identifying current and potential problems with the Council’s leisure centres (including a segmentation analysis of the income and outgoings), remedial actions both taken and proposed to be taken, and realistic options as to the way forward.

 

Reasons for decisions

 

(1)       To facilitate monitoring of the budget.

 

(2)       In order that Cabinet be informed of the comments of this Committee before making a final proposal on the budget.

 

(3)       In order to analyse the current situation and propose a realistic way forward.

 

 

 

INITIAL CAPITAL PROGRAMME PROPOSALS 2009/10 (DFICTP) -

 

Appended to the report were full details of the progress on the 2008/09 Capital Programme for the period ended 31^st October, 2008 as outlined below, it being noted that Cabinet had been requested to approve the following changes or, where appropriate, to refer the same to Council for approval:

 

Knap Shelter refurbishment - £50k. transferred under delegated powers

 

Network Rail Highway Bridge Strengthening - reduce current budget to £10k. and slip £10k. into 2009/10 and £543k. into 2010/11.

 

DyffrynGardensPhase 1 - reduce the current year budget to £190,000, slipping £536,000 into the 2009/10 capital programme.

 

Rural Local Regeneration Plan - reduced to £455,000.

 

Penarth Pier Pavilion - capital programme reduced to £10,000.

 

Rhoose and Llantwit Major Vale of Glamorgan Line - capital programme be increased by £2,000.

 

In accepting the report on the financial progress on the Capital Programme as at 31^st October, the Director explained in response to questions that the overspend on the access road to Dunraven Bay had arisen as a consequence of issues around land acquisition which had had a knock-on affect on the commencement of the contract, and that the position in relation to the current scheme regarding the Marcross cesspits remained deadlocked given the prohibitive cost of land acquisition.

 

As regards the 2009/10 Capital Programme, the provisional allocation, at £8,198,000 was unchanged from the current year.  It was noted that the final settlement was expected to be announced by January 2009.  The Major Repairs Allowance (MRA) (the grant which provided Capital Funding to the Housing Revenue Account (HRA)) for 2009/10 had not yet been announced.  An assumption had, however, been made in Appendix B to the report that the Grant would continue at the current allocation of £2.7m.  Appendix B outlined the proposed 2009/10 Capital Programme and indicated that net capital resources totalled £12,116,000.  The indicative 2009/10 Capital Programme for this Committee was shown in Appendix B and included allocations already approved by the Council and the slippage requests mentioned above.  Indicative Asset Renewal Budgets had also been included in Appendix B, the total for Visible Services being £800,000 and Leisure Services being £150,000.  It was noted that the Capital Programme contained just one new bid, namely Flood Prevention Schemes – matchfunding for WAG grant, and was dependent upon WAG approval of the grant.  Discussion ensued on other schemes contained within Appendix B, including progress in respect of the Knap Shelter development where the Director indicated that tenders for the completion of the scheme had already been invited, and that the developers in respect of Penarth Heights had accepted that the Council had made every effort to eradicate knotweed at the site.

 

Reference was also made to the Project Fund which, it was proposed, would be used to provide match funding for a fund towards the setting up of a Carbon Management Fund - a ring-fenced, sustainable fund to finance energy efficiency and renewal energy projects within the Council in line with the Council's Carbon Management Programme.  The fund would credited with the fund from the Salix Grant and the Council's match funding.  A minimum of 75% for investments funded by the Fund would be paid back into the Fund over an agreed period in order to finance further energy saving projects, such projects being prioritised on a capital cost per ton of CO_² saved on a lifetime basis. 

 

In addition to the capital bids shown in Appendix B, Appendix C listed those capital bids received which had been unsuccessful having been prioritised in accordance with the criteria set out in the Council's Capital Investment Strategy.  During the course of discussion, reference was made to the recently appointed Penarth Town Centre Task and Finish Group and to the priority 3 proposed for the £550k. bid for Penarth Town Centre Public Realm improvements over the next two years and the priority 4 proposed for Penarth Esplanade refurbishment, again over the next two years. In order for the work of the Group in regenerating/revitalising the town to succeed in a way that would be desirable, additional funding would be required.

 

RECOMMENDED - T H A T the Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Resources) be requested to re-prioritise the bids in respect of Penarth Town Centre Public Realm improvements and Penarth Esplanade refurbishment to facilitate their inclusion in the Capital Programme.

 

Reason for decision

 

To support the work of the Task and Finish Group.

 

 

MATTERS WHICH THE CHAIRMAN HAD DECIDED WERE URGENT -

 

RESOLVED - T H A T the following matters which the Chairman had decided were urgent for the reasons indicated be considered.

 

 

(iii)       References from Scrutiny Committee (Housing and Public          Protection): 26^th November, 2008

 

 

INITIAL REVENUE BUDGET PROPOSALS 2009/10 (DFICTP) -

Urgent by reason of the need to inform the Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Resources) of the comments on the initial Revenue Budget Proposals of the Scrutiny Committee (Housing and Public Protection)

 

The Council was required under Statute to fix the level of Council Tax for 2009/2010 by 11^th March, 2009 and in order to do so would have to agree a balanced Revenue Budget by that same date.  To be in a position to meet the statutory deadlines and the requirements for consultation as set out in the Council's Constitution, much of the work on quantifying the resource requirements of individual services needed to be carried out before the final RSG settlement was notified to the Council. 

 

The Council's Standard Spending Assessment represented the Welsh Assembly Government's view of the relative resources required to be provided for delivering a standard level of service in each local authority in Wales and its primary use was to allocate RSG to these authorities.  For 2009/10, the Council's provisional SSA had been notified as £195.170 million.

 

The Council had also been provisionally advised that for 2009/10 it would receive from the Welsh Assembly Government, RSG of £111.733 million and Non-Domestic Rates (NDR) of £35.909 million.  Together these sums constituted the Council's Aggregate External Finance (AEF).  The AEF represented an increase of £5.487 million, which was equivalent to 3.9% over that received from 2008/09.  The provisional settlement also included resources of £140,000 in respect of new responsibilities for Learner Travel.  

 

In addition to the above, WAG had also announced that the Council would provisionally continue to receive a Deprivation Grant of £167,000 and an Improvement Agreement Grant of £1,252,000.  Both of these were unhypothocated grants but the Council was not guaranteed to receive the full amount of the Improvement Agreement Grant. 

 

As regards to the revised budget for 2008/09, details were appended to the report setting out the necessary transfers to the original budget which were required to be made.  The following table compared the amended original budget with the projected outturn for 2008/09:

 

 

	2008/09	2008/09	Variance
	Amended    Original	Projected	(+)Favourable
Directorate/Service	Budget	Outturn	(-) Adverse
	£’000	£’000	£’000
Legal, Public Protection and Housing Services
Legal, Democratic and Registrars etc	144	144	0
Public Protection	2,611	2,611	0
Private Sector Housing/Community Safety	3,095	3,095	0
Building Services	0	0	0
	5,850	5,850	0

 

It was reported that the projected outturn for Public Protection was showing an overspend of £26,000, due to increased costs of the Coroner's Service associated with toxicology and medical reports.  This would be shared between Cardiff County Council and this Council on the following basis £19,000 and £7,000 respectively.  The additional cost would be met from Public Protection's existing resources.  The projected outturn for Private Sector Housing/ Community Safety was showing a balanced budget as an underspend on Housing and Council Tax Benefit of £200,000 which was mainly attributed to a continuous improvement on recovering overpayments which enhanced the subsidy rate on grant receivable from the Department of Works and Pensions was being used to off-set a projected overspend on the Homelessness Budget.  The overspend had arisen by changes in legislation affecting the number of individuals the Council had a statutory duty to provide temporary accommodation.  The current economic conditions had also affected the general level of homelessness increasing the use of bed and breakfast type accommodation.

 

As for Building Services the revised budget for this area equalled the amended original budget.  The building maintenance twin hat service had managed to reduce employee costs by £65,000 whilst also taking on additional work related to the WHQS.  This had resulted in a reduction in a recharge to other clients of £270,000. 

 

The budget strategy for 2009/10 required services to prepare initial revenue budgets for the next year based on the cost providing the current level of service and approved policy decisions, including the cost of pay increases and pay awards.  Services were also expected to identify and achieve recurrent efficiency savings equivalent to at least 2% of their budget.  The cost of service development would need to be met from within the respective services from savings and, in addition, work might need to be prioritised to meet the higher priority demands.  Services had therefore been asked to identify any burgeoning cost pressures. 

 

A summary of the overall base budget for 2009/10 was attached at Appendix 2 and this had been arrived at by adjusting the 2008/09 budget for items such as budget transfers, inflation and unavoidable growth.  Matters relating to Asset Rents, FRS 17, Deferred Government Grant and Recharges had been deducted from individual Service Budgets to produce 'base' estimate.  Budget Transfers/adjustments had been made to reflect transfers of functions and responsibilities between services.  It was reported that inflation amounted to £191,000 of which £135,000 related to pay awards and £56,000 for general price increases.  It was noted that there was no committed growth for this service.  With regard to efficiency savings these had been previously reported and related to targets for savings.  The senior group accountant indicated that whilst the provisional settlement indicated an increase of £5.487m. in the Council's Aggregate External Finance over that awarded last year, committed growth plus inflation for the whole authority equated to £8.513m.

 

Also appended to the report was a list of cost pressures for 2009/10 which were not shown in a strict order of priority and totalled £309,000.  These related to the Coroner's Service and Homelessness Service.

 

It was also noted that increase energy costs were likely to have a significant impact right across the Council and a provisional cost pressure of £2.75 million was included within the Policy Budget.  There was also some uncertainty as to the likely level of future energy prices and further work would be carried out on this matter by the Budget Working Group.

 

All Scrutiny Committees were being consulted on the initial revenue budget proposals with the Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Resources) being the lead Committee.  Corporate Resources was to consider the budget proposals at its meeting on 2^nd December, 2008 prior to forwarding a composite response to the Cabinet, the Members of which would make their final budget proposals no later than 25^th February, 2009.

 

Cabinet's final budget proposals would be considered by the Council at its meeting to be held on 4^th March, 2009.

 

RECOMMENDED - T H A T the amended original budget for 2008/09 as set out in paragraph 8 of the report and the initial budget proposals for 2009/10 be noted.

 

Reason for recommendation

 

To facilitate the monitoring of the budget.

 

 

INITIAL CAPITAL PROGRAMME PROPOSALS 2009/10 (DFICTP) -

Urgent by reason of the need to inform the Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Resources) of the comments on the initial Capital Budget Proposals of the Scrutiny Committee (Housing and Public Protection)

 

Appended to the report were full details of the progress on the 2008/09 Capital Programme for the period ending 31^st October 2008 as outlined below, it being noted that the Cabinet had been requested to approve the following changes or, where appropriate, to refer the same to Council for approval:

 

·                    Harbour View buy-back of leases - reduce current year budget to £15,000, and slip in £257,000 into the 2009/10 Capital Programme.

·                    Neighbourhood renewal assessment capital programme reduced by £20,000 which reflected that the work had already been undertaken and funded from revenue monies.

 

On 15^th October 2005 the Welsh Assembly Government announced the provisional 2009/10 General Funding.  The provisional allocation was not changed from the current year at £8,198,000 and it was further noted that the final settlement was expected to be announced in January 2009.  The Major Repairs Allowance (MRA), which was the grant that provided capital funding to the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) for 2009, had yet to be announced by WAG. 

 

Set out in Appendix B to the report was the proposed 2009/10 Capital Programme, which had assumed that the current level of grant assistance in respect of MRA would continue at the current allocation of £2.7m. and included slippage amounts detailed above.  The net capital resources to fund the proposed schemes total £12.286m. for General Fund.  Indicative asset renewal budgets had also been included in Appendix B and were detailed as follows:

 

Education	£800,000
Social Services	£150,000
Visible Services	£800,000
Leisure Services	£150,000
Miscellaneous Buildings	£150,000

 

These constituted an un-earmarked general provision.  In addition, Directors had made specific bids, which had been classed as asset renewal by the Corporate Asset Management Group.  Due to the inclusion of the indicative asset renewal budget, these specific bids had been shown in Appendix C to the report and were listed as unsuccessful bids.  These had been prioritised in accordance with the criteria set out in the Council’s Capital Investment Strategy.

 

RECOMMENDED - T H A T the amended 2008/09 Capital Programme for the period ending 31^st October 2008 and the Initial Capital Programme Proposals for 2009/10 be noted and referred to the Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Resources) for consideration.

 

Reason for Recommendation

In acknowledgement of the budget proposals and to allow the matter to be further considered.”

 

 

INITIAL HOUSING REVENUE ACCOUNT (HRA) BUDGET PROPOSALS 2009/2010 AND REVISED BUDGET 2008/09 (DLPPHS & DFICTP) -

Urgent by reason of the need to inform the Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Resources) of the comments on the initial HRA Budget Proposals of the Scrutiny Committee (Housing and Public Protection)

 

Appended to the report was the revised budget for 2008/09 and set out below was a summary table comparing out the original budget with the proposed revised budget.

 

	2008/2009 Original Budget	2008/2009 Proposed Revised Budget	Variance (+) Favourable (-) Adverse
Housing Revenue Account	£'000 (300)	£'000 (489)	£'000 189

 

The net decrease of £189,000 in the budget was due to a number of reasons.  The budget had been adjusted to reflect more accurately the capital financing charges following repayment of debt during 2007/08 (£170,000), an increase in rent income due to less Right-to-Buy (RTB) sales than anticipated (£98,000) during 2007/08 as well as 2008/09, an estimated increase in interest earned on HRA balances (£35,000), an increase in net rental income from properties being used to temporarily house the Homeless (£7,000) and a decrease in the central recharges (£108,000).  These savings had been used to offset an increase in the contribution to the Capital Programme of £106,000, a change made to the estimated HRA Subsidy repayable to WAG on £71,000, investments in office furniture and new PCs (£30,000) and other changes to planned expenditure amounting to £22,000.

 

Cabinet had approved the budget strategy and timetable for 2009/10 at its meeting on 31^st July 2008 as part of the 2008/09 - 2011/12 Medium Term Financial Plan (Minute No. C3160).  The Budget Strategy for 2009/10 was the same as that described in the previous report discussed earlier in the meeting under the Initial Revenue Budget.

 

Due to the nature of the HRA in that it was ringfenced and any growth had to be funded from the balance, no cost pressures had been formally identified.  A second Budget Review was being initiated during 2008/09 which would inform the 2009/10 budget process.  As part of the above Review, Cost Centre Analysis (CCAs) for all budget cost centres had been produced and whilst the budget review was more aimed at General Funded activities, CCAs for HRA funded activities had also been produced, which would in turn facilitate any Housing Revenue Account review.

 

Attached at Appendix B to the report was the CCAs for HRA funded areas.

 

The proposed 2009/10 budget was set out in Appendix A to the report.  The charges for rent and other services provided by the Housing Service were reviewed annually.  These would be subject to a future report once the information had been received from the WAG.  The new Rent Setting Policy previously approved by the Cabinet at its meeting on 1^st October 2008 (Minute No. C165 refers) had been incorporated into the initial budget proposals and would be implemented from 1^st April 2009.  The change in the budget was therefore itemised as follows:

 

2008/2009 Original Budget	Inflation / Pay Award	Committed Growth / Savings	Estimated Rent Increase	Additional Service Charge Income	Capital Expenditure from Revenue Account (CERA)	2009/2010 Proposed Budget
£000	£000	£000	£000	£000	£000	£000
(300)	396	(302)	(620)	(164)	4,065	3,075

 

The savings of £302,000 were due to a number of factors namely:

 

·                    £782,000 attributable to a reduction in the contribution to the Repairs Fund, as per the latest Business Plan, which reflected a decrease in the cost of planned and cyclical works.

·                    £61,000 saving due to the discontinuation of the Grass Cutting Service previously provided to elderly tenants free of charge.

·                    £170,000 decrease in the anticipated Capital Financing Charges for 2009/10 due to a repayment of HRA debt during 2007/08.

 

The above savings had been offset by:

 

·                    £63,000 increase in the expected HRA Subsidy payable to WAG during 2009/10, however this did not take into account any increases in the Management and Maintenance Allowance.

·                    £48,000 general budget adjustments.

 

In response to a question regarding the decrease in Right-to-Buy sales it was indicated that this had been factored into the current Business Plan however, the implications were that there were less capital receipts available with longer term negative implications for the Business Plan.

 

Having regard to the above and related issues it was

 

RECOMMENDED -

 

(1)       T H A T the revised budget estimate for 2008/09 be noted.

 

(2)       T H A T the initial budget proposals for 2009/10 be noted and referred to the Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Resources) for consideration.

 

(3)       T H A T the suggested increases for rents and other services be subject to a further report to this Scrutiny Committee once information became available from the WAG.

 

Reasons for recommendations

 

(1)       In acknowledgement of monitoring the budget for 2008/09.

 

(2)       To allow further consideration of the matter by the Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Resources) prior to the Cabinet making a final proposal on the budget.

 

(3)       In acknowledgement of statutory deadlines to notify tenants of new charges when as required by statute.

 

 

(iv)      References from Scrutiny Committee (Lifelong Learning): 1^st December, 2008

 

INITIAL REVENUE BUDGET PROPOSALS 2009/10 (DFICTP) -

Urgent by reason of the need to inform the Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Resources) of the comments on the initial Revenue Budget Proposals of the Scrutiny Committee (Lifelong Learning)

 

Committee were advised that the report before them on the Initial Budget Proposals for 2009/10 was submitted for consultation purposes.  Committee were also advised of the amended original budget for 2008/09 for services which formed part of the Committee’s remit.

 

Attached at Appendix 1 to the report were details of the necessary transfers to the original budget for 2008/09, which were required to be made as follows:

 

·                    Asset Rents - the main reason for this movement was due to revisions to the Accounting Code of Practice that required deferred Government grant income to be released to revenue services which offset the asset rent already charged.

·                    Recharges - adjustment required to reflect movement in charges between internal Council services.

·                    Budget Transfers - budget adjustments to reflect transfers of functions and responsibilities between services.

 

It was reported that, overall, the education budget was projected to balance as at the end of March 2009.  Particular pressures had been felt in respect of School Transport which was projected to overspend by £35,000 due to increased re-tendered contract costs, and the need to fund the costs of school efficiency measures such as the amalgamation of Romilly Infant and Junior Schools (£45,000).  The education budget had also had to absorb minor health and safety works which were the responsibility of the Authority and could not be accommodated within the Capital Programme.  These totalled £29,000.  All of these pressures had been funded from savings elsewhere in the budget.  Overspends were also projected for the Pupil Referral Unit (£34,000) and extra-district payments (£112,390).  However, in both cases these were offset by increased income from incoming placements from other authorities.  The education service currently had a number of vacant posts which would be filled once the re-structuring of the service was completed.  Any savings identified between now and the end of the financial year would be available to be re-directed into the School Investment Strategy or other reserves.

 

It was also reported that the Catering service was anticipated to outturn on budget.  However, external factors and requirements to meet WAG nutritional guidelines could affect the outturn for the service.

 

The Budget Strategy for 2009/10 outlined that in order to establish a base line, services should prepare initial revenue budgets for next year based on the cost of providing the current level of service and approved policy decisions.  This meant that the cost of price increases and pay awards should be included. 

 

Services were expected to identify and achieve recurrent efficiency savings equivalent to at least 2% of their budget, and Schools were expected to plan for efficiency savings of at least 0.3%. 

 

The costs of service development were to be met from within the respective services from savings that they identified.  In addition, works may need to be prioritised within a service to meet any higher priority demands.  Services had therefore been asked to identify any burgeoning revenue cost pressures.

 

A summary of the overall base budget for 2009/10 was attached at Appendix 2 to the report.  This had been arrived at by adjusting the 2008/09 budget for items such as Budget Transfers, inflation and unavoidable growth. 

 

Inflation amounted to £610,000 of which £290,000 related to pay awards and £320,000 for general price increases.  These figures excluded inflation for Schools, which was dealt with under the Cost Pressures section of the report.

 

There was no Committed Growth for the Directorate. 

 

A list of the 2009/10 cost pressures as identified by Services was attached at Appendix 3 to the report. These were not shown in a strict order of priority, and totalled some £6.138m.  The total for all services was £13.646m. and some were likely to need to be met.  The rest excluded the cost of redundancies which may be incurred in order to maintain the budget within the resources available.  These costs could be significant. 

 

Increased energy costs were likely to have a significant impact right across the Council and a provisional cost pressure of £2.75m. was included within Policy.  There was some uncertainty as to the likely level of future energy prices and further work would be carried out on this matter by the Budget Working Group.  This would include the potential for energy saving measures to offset, to some extent, the pressure being exerted by increased prices.

 

The budget was presented to Committee for consultation purposes.  Corporate Resources Scrutiny Committee was the lead Scrutiny Committee and would consider the Initial Revenue Budget Proposals and any comments that other Scrutiny Committees had made.  The responses of Scrutiny Committee must be made no later than 23^rd December 2008.

 

Cabinet’s final budget proposals would be considered by Council at a meeting to be held by 4^th March 2009.

 

Discussions ensued on the content of the report, and the unanimous view of the Committee was that the budget allocation was inadequate. 

 

Concern was also expressed at the possibility that the following cost-pressure items may not be included within the budget:

 

·                    Teachers’ pay awards - £1,109,000

·                    Teachers’ threshold and leadership - £987,000

·                    Teaching-increments - £471,000

·                    Non-teaching pay award - £387,000

·                    Non-teaching increments - £355,000

·                    General inflation - £416,000

·                    £1,189,000 - closure of shortfall of overall education budget against Education SSA (of, at least, part of this amount).

 

Following further discussions, it was

 

RECOMMENDED -

 

(1)       T H A T the amended original budget for 2008/09 as set out in the table below be noted:

 

 

 

(2)       T H A T the following cost-pressure monies be allocated to the Lifelong Learning Directorate:

 

·                    Teachers’ pay awards - £1,109,000

·                    Teachers’ threshold and leadership - £987,000

·                    Teaching increments - £471,000

·                    Non-teaching pay award - £387,000

·                    Non-teaching increments - £355,000

·                    General inflation - £416,000

·                    Closure of shortfall of overall education budget against Education SSA - £1,189,000 (or part thereof).

 

(3)       T H A T the WAG Minister for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills and Minister for Social Justice and Local Government be invited to address a future meeting of the Scrutiny Committee (Lifelong Learning).

 

(4)       T H A T the request of the Schools Budget Forum be noted and drawn to Cabinet’s attention, namely:

 

·                    agree a commitment to develop a shared vision for the Education Service in the Vale

·                    demonstrate a commitment to fund Education at least up to IBA level

·                    agree to develop a joint strategy, the Budget Forum and the Council, targeted at the National Assembly, to address the chronic under funding of Vale schools.

 

 

Reasons for recommendations

 

(1)       To facilitate the monitoring of the budget.

 

(2-4)    To inform Cabinet of the comments of this Committee.

 

 

INITIAL CAPITAL PROGRAMME PROPOSALS 2009/10 (DFICTP) -

Urgent by reason of the need to inform the Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Resources) of the comments on the initial Capital Budget Proposals of the Scrutiny Committee (Lifelong Learning)

 

Committee were advised of the progress of the 2008/09 Capital Programme for the period ended 31^st October 2008 and considered, for consultation purposes, the initial capital proposals for 2009/10.

 

It was reported that the final estimates for the Rhoose Primary Accommodation Scheme had been received and were below budget.  Works were anticipated to be complete in April 2009 and it was proposed that the anticipated underspend of £110,000 be vired to the School Investment Strategy budget.  This proposal required the approval of Council.

 

For 2009/10, the Welsh Assembly Government had announced the provisional General Capital Funding.  The provisional allocation was unchanged from the current year at £8,198,000.  The final settlement was expected to be announced by January 2009.

 

In addition to funding from the Welsh Assembly Government, the Council would finance part of the Capital Programme from its own resources e.g. capital receipts and reserves.

 

The indicative 2009/10 Capital Programme was shown at Appendix B to the report and included allocations already approved by Council and the slippage requests referred to earlier in the report. 

 

In addition to the bids shown at Appendix B to the report, Appendix C listed capital bids received that were unsuccessful and which had not been put forward for inclusion in the 2009/10 Programme.  The Corporate Asset Management Group had prioritised schemes that fell within their remit. 

 

A Project Fund had initially been established to finance Revenue Projects with repayment of such advances (including interest) being credited back to the Fund.  It was proposed that the Project Fund be used to provide match funding for the grant towards the setting up of a carbon Management Fund, a ringfenced, sustainable fund to finance energy efficiencies and renewable energy projects within the Council in line with the Council’s Carbon Management Programme. The Fund would be credited with finance from Salix grant and the Council’s match funding.  A minimum of 75% investment financed by the Fund would be repaid into the fund over an agreed period in order to finance further energy saving projects.  The balance could be retained by service accounts as revenue savings.  Investment projects would be subject to evaluation.  Projects must deliver CO₂ and revenue benefits and must offer long term CO₂ savings.  Projects would be prioritised on capital cost per ton of CO₂ saved on a lifetime basis. 

 

Corporate Resources Scrutiny Committee was the lead Scrutiny Committee and would consider both the initial Budget Proposals and the comments that other Scrutiny Committees had made.  The responses of Scrutiny Committee were to be made by no later than 23^rd December 2008. 

 

Cabinet’s final Capital Programme proposals would be considered at a special meeting of Council to be held by 4^th March 2009. 

 

In considering the proposed Capital Programme, Members noted with regret that the following capital bids had been unsuccessful:

 

·                    Catering - Ventilock ventilation systems to school kitchens

·                    Penarth Library replacement roof covering.

 

In the case of the former, Members expressed the view that this may be required as a result of Health and Safety regulations.  In respect of the latter, Members expressed the view that to delay the work may lead to an increased cost falling upon the Authority at a later date.

 

RECOMMENDED -

 

(1)       T H A T the initial budget proposals as outlined in the report be accepted.

 

(2)       T H A T, should available funds become available, Cabinet be requested to agree the inclusion of the following schemes in the Capital Programme but in the event insufficient Capital Funds being available that (a) below be considered for funding from the Miscellaneous Properties Asset Renewal Budget:

 

            (a)       Ventilock ventilation systems in school kitchens

(b)       Penarth Library replacement roof covering

 

Reason for decision

 

(1&2)  In order that Cabinet be informed of the comments of this Committee before making a final proposal on the Capital Programme.

 

(Councillor A.D. Hampton spoke on this item with the consent of the Committee.)"

 

Having considered the references from Corporate Resources and all the Scrutiny Committees, Cabinet

 

RESOLVED - T H A T the references be noted and referred to the Budget Working Group.

 

 

C259              INITIAL REVENUE BUDGET PROPOSALS 2009/10 (REF) -

(Urgent by reason of the need to inform Cabinet of the comments on the budget of the Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Resources)

 

Cabinet received the following reference from the Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Resources) of the previous evening's meeting on 2^nd December, 2008. 

 

"The Council had been provisionally advised that for 2009/10 it would receive from WAG a Revenue Support Grant of £111.733m. and Non-Domestic Rates (NDR) of £35.909m.  Together these sums constituted the Council's Aggregate External Finance (AEF).  The AEF represented an increase of £5.487m. which was equivalent to 3.9% over that received for 2008/09.  The provisional settlement also included additional resources of £140,000 in respect of new responsibilities for Learning and Travel.  WAG had also announced the Council would provisionally continue to receive a Deprivation Grant of £167,000 and an Improvement Agreement Grant of £1,252,000.  These were both unhypothocated grants, however, the Council was not guaranteed to receive the full amount of the Improvement Agreement Grant. 

 

Appendix 1 to the report set out the necessary transfers to the original budget for 2008/09 which were required to be made and related to the following areas:

 

·               Asset Rents – The main reason for this movement is due to revisions to the  Accounting Code of Practice that requires deferred government grant income be released to revenue services which offsets the asset rent already charged.

·               Recharges - Adjustment required to reflect movement in charges between internal Council services.

·               Budget Transfers - Budget adjustments to reflect transfers of functions and responsibilities between services. Primarily, this relates to:

·               Transfers within Social Services have taken place to reflect savings and pressures within divisions but these have a nil net value. The reasons for these transfers are detailed later in the report.

·                A transfer of £135,000 net income has taken place from Private Housing to Social Services to reflect the transfer of client responsibility for the Vale Community Alarm System (VCAS).

·                A transfer from Policy to Economic Development and Leisure of £32,000 in respect of reduced income at Leisure Centres due to competition from the newly opened Sports Village, as agreed by Cabinet on the 13th February 2008.

·               A transfer from Private Housing to Chief Executive (Contact Centre) of £125,000 in respect of VCAS operational staff.

·                A transfer from Private Housing to Public Protection of £12,000 in respect of re-allocation of efficiency savings.

 

Consideration was also given to the amended original budget and estimated outturn for 2008/09 which was projected to outturn on target at the amended original budget.  It was also estimated that there would be a Council Tax surplus for 2008/09 in the sum of £700,000 and this would be transferred to the Council Fund at the year end.  In addition general reserves as at 31^st March, 2009 were estimated as £2.4m.  However, the prudent minimum level for the General Reserve was £4m. and consequently some specific reserves may need to be 'un-earmarked' and transferred to General Reserve at the year end.

 

Cabinet, at its meeting held on 31^st July, 2008 approved the Budget Strategy and timetable for 2008/09 as part of the 2008/09 - 2011/12 Medium Term Financial Plan (Min. No. C3160 refers).  The details of the Strategy was detailed in the report.  Services would still be expected to identify and achieve recurrent efficiency savings equivalent to at least 2% of their budget and Schools should plan for efficiency savings of at least 0.3%.  The target for Social Services would be £2m. as previously agreed in order to meet the requirements of the Social Services Change Plan. 

 

The cost of service development would need to be met from within the respective services from savings that they identify; in addition, works may need to be prioritised within a service to meet any higher priority demands.  Accordingly, services had therefore been asked to identify any burgeoning revenue cost pressures. 

 

A summary of the overall base budget for 2009/10 was attached at Appendix 2 to the report and this had been arrived at by adjusting the 2008/09 budget for items such as Budget Transfers, Inflation and unavoidable growth.  The number of Budget Transfers had also been made which reflected transfer of functions and responsibilities between services and these were detailed in the report.

 

It was noted that inflation amounted to £4.801m. of which £1.62m. related to pay awards and £3.181m. for general price increases.  These figures excluded inflation for schools, which was dealt with under Cost Pressures section of the report.  In addition, committed growth totalled £3.712m. and related to the following below items:

 

·                    Environmental and Economic Regeneration, Visible Services - £332,000 for Landfill Tax annual increase

·                    General Policy - net reduction in interest receivable of £535,000 as a result of the use of balances and a reduction in forecasted interest rates

·                    Chief Executive's - £845,000 use of reserves during the 2008/09 budget process

·                    Met from General Reserves - £2,000,000 planned use of balances for the 2008/09 budget.

 

With regard to cost pressures for 2009/10 these had been identified by services and were detailed in Appendix 3 to the report.  In total these amounted to £13.646m. and some were likely to be needed to be met.  These excluded the costs of redundancies, which may be incurred in order to maintain the budget within the resources available and these costs could be significant. 

 

Increased energy costs were likely to have a significant impact right across the Council and a provisional cost pressure of £2.75m. was included within the Policy budget.  There was some uncertainty as to the likely level of future energy prices and further work would be carried out on this matter by the Budget Working Group.  This would include the potential for energy saving measures to off-set to some extent the pressure being exerted by increased prices. 

 

In 2004/05 a Budget Review was undertaken, the details of which were set out in the report.  The outcome of this review was to put in place a financial strategy for the period leading up to the 2008 elections and this had been reflected in subsequent budget strategies to 2008/09 and as set out in the relevant Medium Term Financial Plans. 

 

The previous Review objectives still remained valid and it was proposed to initiate a further Budget Review during the current financial year that would inform the 2009/10 budget process.  This Review would be supported by Cost Centre Analyses (CCAs) and the details of which were set out in Appendix 4 to the report and provided details of each Cost Centre within a service area which included a number of factors.  These were also detailed. 

 

The results of the Budget Review would be included in the final Budget Report for 2009/10 anticipated to be presented to Cabinet in February 2009.

 

Discussion ensued regarding the cost pressures impacting upon schools and reference was made to the recommendations of the Scrutiny Committee (Lifelong Learning) who had requested funds to be made available to meet the cost pressures regarding the teacher's pay awards (£1,109,000); teachers threshold and leadership (£987,000); teaching increments (£471,000); non-teaching pay awards (£387,000); non-teaching increments (£355,000); general inflation (£416,000) and the closure of short fall of overall Education Budget against education SSA (IBA) - £1,189,000.  Whilst the Committee expressed the view that they were prepared to support in principle the Scrutiny Committee's (Lifelong Learning) requests regarding the cost pressures they were however, unable to support the Scrutiny Committee's request to fund in full or in part the closure of the shortfall of the overall education budget against education SSA given the likely detrimental impact on other services of the Council in doing so.  The Chairman referred to the historical underfunding of the Council since its inception and accordingly it was impossible to fund schools adequately until the issue of funding was addressed by the WAG.  It was therefore suggested that the Assembly Minister for Finance be invited to attend a future meeting of the Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Resources) to address the Committee's concerns regarding the general underfunding of education in schools in the Vale of Glamorgan. 

 

Having regard to the above and related issues it was

 

RECOMMENDED -

 

(1)       T H A T this Scrutiny Committee notes the amended original budget for 2008/09 as set out in the table at paragraph 8 of the report. 

 

(2)       T H A T the Director of Social Services be requested to take appropriate action to ensure that any potential over commitment of the 2008/09 budget is curtailed. 

 

(3)       T H A T this Scrutiny Committee notes the initial Revenue Budget proposals for 2009/10, subject to the following recommendations below and these be referred to Cabinet.

 

(4)       T H A T the recommendations of the Scrutiny Committee (Social Care and Health) of 24^th November, 2008 be noted subject to the Scrutiny Committee's previous recommendations on this matter as earlier indicated in the meeting.

 

(5)       T H A T the recommendations of the Scrutiny Committee (Economy and Environment) of 25^th November, 2008 be noted including their comments relating to the H.R.A.

 

(6)       T H A T the recommendations of the Scrutiny Committee (Housing and Public Protection) of 26^th November, 2008 be noted, including their recommendations relation to the H.R.A.

 

(7)       T H A T the recommendations of the Scrutiny Committee (Lifelong Learning) of 1^st December, 2008 be endorsed subject to the Cabinet being advised that this Scrutiny Committee did not support the inclusion of cost pressure relating to the closure of the shortfall of the overall education budget against education SSA (IBA) - £1,189,000.

 

(8)       T H A T the WAG Minister for Finance be invited to address a future meeting of the Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Resources) regarding the general underfunding of schools within the Vale of Glamorgan.

 

 

Reasons for recommendations

 

(1)       To facilitate monitoring of the budget.

 

(2)       To contain expenditure within the budget.

 

(3-7)    To inform the Cabinet of this Scrutiny Committee's comments on the Initial Revenue Budget proposals before making a final proposal on the budget.

 

(8)       To allow the Scrutiny Committee to scrutinise the Assembly Minister for Finance regarding funding arrangements for schools within the Vale of Glamorgan."

 

In considering the above reference and the recommendations, Cabinet

 

RESOLVED - T H A T the reference, the appendices and the recommendations be noted and referred to the Budget Working Group.

 

 

C260              INITIAL CAPITAL PROGRAMME PROPOSALS 2009/10 (REF) -

(Urgent by reason of the need to inform Cabinet of the comments on the budget of the Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Resources)

 

The Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Resources) had considered the Initial Capital Programme Proposals for 2009/10 at its meeting on 2^nd December, 2008 and referred the following to the Cabinet for consideration:

 

"Details of progress on the 2008/09 Programme for the period 1^st April to 31^st  October, 2008 and the Initial Capital Programme Proposals for 2009/10 were submitted.  Progress on the Capital Programme as at 31^st October, 2008 was appended to the report.  In respect of amendments to the 2008/09 Capital Programme, it was noted that Cabinet had approved the following changes to the Capital Programme and where indicated were referred to Council for approval:

 

Directorate of Lifelong Learning -

 

·                    Rhoose Primary Accommodation - anticipated underspend of £110,000 be vired to the School Investment Strategy budget.

 

Directorate of Social Services -

 

·                    Refurbishment of Barry Hostel - reduce the current year budget to reflect the anticipated final spend of £28,000 a reduction of £42,000.

 

 

Directorate of Legal, Public Protection and Housing Services -

 

·                    Harbour View buyback of leases - reduce current year budget to £15,000 to cover legal fees and that the balance of £257,000 be slipped into the 2009/10 Capital Programme.

·                    Neighbourhood Renewal Area Assessment - reduce current year's Capital Programme by £20,000.

 

Directorate of Environmental and Economic Regeneration -

 

·                    Knap Shelter Refurbishment - transfer of £50,000 under delegated powers from the General Asset Renewal Budget to this scheme in order to accommodate the full cost of the works.

·                    Network Rail Highway Bridge Strengthening - reduce the current year budget to £10,000 and slip a further £10,000 into the 2009/10 Capital Programme and the balance of £543,000 into the 2010/11 Capital Programme.

·                    Vehicle Renewals Programmes - reduce the current Capital Programme by £204,000 to £673,000 to reflect revisions in the existing vehicle replacement programme for 2008/09.

·                    Dyffryn Gardens Phase I - reduce current year budget to £190,000, slipping £536,000 into the 2009/10 Capital Programme.

·                    Rural Local Regeneration Plan - reduce the current year Capital Programme to £455,000 in order to reflect a more realistic spend now achievable on this scheme.

·                    Penarth Pier Pavilion - reduce the current year's Capital Programme to £10,000 in order to reflect the potential spend achievable on the scheme should HLF bid be approved.

·                    Rhoose and Llantwit Major Vale of Glamorgan Line - increase the current year's Capital Programme by £2,000 in order to conclude remedial works and electrical checks on this scheme.

 

Policy

 

·                    Disabled Access Audit and Improvements - reduce the current year budget to £388,000 slipping £156,000 into the 2009/10 Capital Programme.

·                    OneVale - certain budgets set aside for the establishment of OneVale were no longer required due to changes in specifications.  The sum of £157,000 was no longer required and could be removed from the current Capital Programme.  Other works needed to be progressed in 2009/10 and as such the amount of £316,000 be slipped into the 2009/10 Capital Programme.

·                    Glamorgan Records Office - slip £365,000 into the future Capital Programme.

·                    CASH Grants - reduce the current year budget by £33,000 in order to reflect the likely spend on this budget.

·                    Office Accommodation - reduce the current year's budget to £248,000 and slip the remaining £196,000 into the 2009/10 Capital Programme.

 

Cabinet had the authority to withdraw a budget from the Capital Programme if the scheme was not contractually committed within 18 months of being included in the Capital Programme.  There were a number of schemes that remained contractually uncommitted 18 months after approval but services had requested that these schemes remain in the Capital Programme and be slipped from 2008/09 into 2009/10 the details of the schemes were set out in Appendix A - B of the report and were based on the assumption that such requests would be approved.

 

Day Services for older people in Penarth were subject of a Review which was still ongoing within the Department and the existing funding would not be spent in the current financial year.  It had been requested that this scheme of £250,000 be slipped into 2009/10 when it was anticipated this Review would be completed. 

 

Adult Respite Care - there was currently an allocation of £253,000 which included £250,000 for the purchase of a property in order to provide day care facilities for adults with learning disabilities.  Although a number of possible houses had been found, problems had arisen whilst attempting to progress with the sale.  Slippage of £250,000 had been requested while the service considered the most appropriate way forward to meet the respite care needs. 

 

On 15^th October, 2008 the WAG had announced the provisional 2009/10 General Capital Funding.  The provisional allocation was unchanged from the current year at £8,198,000 and the final settlement was expected to be announced in January 2009.

 

The Major Repairs Allowance (MRA), which was the grant that provided Capital Funding for the Housing Revenue Account (HRA), for 2009/10 had not yet been announced by the Welsh Assembly Government.  The Cabinet would be advised as soon as possible as the announcement was made and an assumption had been made in Appendix B to the report that the grant would continue at the current allocation of £2.7m. 

 

The indicative 2009/10 Capital Programme was set out in Appendix B to the report and included allocations already approved by Council and the slippage requests mentioned earlier in the report. 

 

Indicative Asset Renewal Budgets had been included in Appendix B as follows:

           

Education	£800,000
Social Services	£150,000
Visible Services	£800,000
Leisure Services	£150,000
Miscellaneous Buildings	£150,000

 

The above constituted an un-earmarked general provision.  Directors had made specific bids which had been classed as asset renewal by the Corporate Asset Management Group.  Due to the inclusion of the indicative Asset Renewal Budget, these specific bids had been shown as a separate heading in Appendix C to the report which listed the unsuccessful bids.  Specific Asset Renewal Schemes would be reported to future meetings of Cabinet for approval and the bids included in Appendix C would be considered at that time. 

 

The amendments with regards to Disabled Facilities Grants supported borrowing transfer, as outlined in the supplementary report to Cabinet on 19^th November, 2008 which were incorporated into the report. 

 

In addition to Capital Bids shown in Appendix B, Appendix C listed capital bids received that were unsuccessful and not been put forward for inclusion in the 2009/10 programme.  The Corporate Asset Management Group had prioritised schemes that fell within their remit.  The details of the criteria for prioritisation was detailed in the report.

 

Council on 12^th October, 2005 approved the School Investment Strategy.  It approved that the School Development Budget be increased by £1,000,000 from 2008/09 onwards.  This has been reflected in Appendix B to the report.  It had also approved that the £9m. one-off School Building Improvement Grant and £1.4m. of existing usable capital receipts be utilised for the School Investment Strategy.  These budgets had also been included in Appendix B to the report and approval was also given for capital receipts generated by schools to be ringfenced for the Investment Strategy at £2.65m. and that unsupported borrowing of up to £7.3m. could be undertaken. 

 

A £500,000 bid had been received for the Dinas Powys Bus Prioritisation Lane which was 100% Transport Grant funded, although grant approval had not yet been received.  Whilst the scheme had no costs to the Council, it was proposed that this was not included in the Programme at this stage as it was not certain whether approval would be received.  Should grant funding be approved, Cabinet had delegated authority to include the scheme in the Capital Programme.

 

The Project Fund initially established to finance capital and revenue projects to initially finance a project with the payment of such advances (including interest) being credited back to the fund.  It was proposed that this Project Fund be used to provide match funding for a grant towards setting up of a Carbon Management Fund, a ring-fenced, sustainable fund to finance energy efficiency and renewable energy projects within the Council, in line with the Council's Carbon Management Programme.  The fund would be credited with finance from Salix Grant and the Council's match-funding.  A minimum of 75% of investments financed by the fund would be repaid back into the fund over an agreed period in order to finance further energy saving projects. 

 

Having considered the initial budget proposals contained in the report, the comments of the other Scrutiny Committees referred to previously and the views expressed at the meeting it was

 

RECOMMENDED -

 

(1)       T H A T the Initial Capital Programme Proposals for 2009/10 be noted subject to recommendations (2) - (6) below and referred to Cabinet.

 

(2)       T H A T the recommendation of the Scrutiny Committee (Social Care and Health) of 24^th November, 2008 be endorsed.

 

(3)       T H A T the recommendation of the Scrutiny Committee (Economy and Environment) of 25^th November, 2008 be not supported as these did not meet the Council's criteria for Priority 1 and 2 schemes; however, Cabinet be requested to consider funding the Capital Bids in respect of Penarth Town Centre Public Realm Improvements and Penarth Esplanade refurbishment from available funding (if any) contained within the Asset Maintenance Scheme.

 

(4)       T H A T the recommendations of the Scrutiny Committee (Housing and Public Protection) of 26^th November, 2008 be noted.

 

(5)       T H A T the recommendations of the Scrutiny Committee (Lifelong Learning) of 1^st December, 2008 be endorsed.

 

(6)       T H A T Cabinet be requested to support those schemes that were contained in Appendix A and B of the report which remained contractually uncommitted.

 

Reasons for recommendations

 

(1-6)        In order that Cabinet be informed of the comments of this Committee before making a final proposal on the budget."

 

Having considered the reference, Cabinet

 

RESOLVED - T H A T the reference and the appendices be noted and referred to the Budget Working Group.

 

 

C261              EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC -

 

RESOLVED - T H A T under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 4 of Schedule 12A (as amended) of the Act, the relevant paragraph of the Schedule being referred to in brackets after the minute heading.

 

 

C262              EQUAL PAY (DFICTP & DLPPHS) (EXEMPT INFORMATION - PARAGRAPHS 15 AND 16) (SCRUTINY - CORPORATE RESOURCES) -

 

The report provided Cabinet with details of the progress on equal pay and the Council's initial defence in response to equal pay claims.  The report outlined the initial decisions to be taken to respond to developing the White Book defence.  The White Book related to the NJC for manual worker terms and conditions prior to the harmonisation of the terms and conditions and the introduction of Single Status (Green Book) NJC terms and conditions.  The issue presented was whether the evaluation of many claimants jobs under the White Book Job Evaluation Scheme (JES) which had taken place in different predecessor authorities to their alleged comparators, and was conducted in or around 1987 by most authorities in Wales had been applied to all local authorities across Wales in the same manner. 

 

Discussions had been ongoing regarding the 'White Book' JES and its implications for the ongoing equal claims litigation and in view of the fact that due to local government re-organisation in 1996 it was doubtful that claimants could rely on one single JES for all claimant and comparative posts.  The fact that the White Book JES pre-dated local government re-organisation clearly indicated that the current authorities could not have carried out a single JES in relation to all of the jobs for which they had been responsible since local government re-organisation.  It had therefore been agreed by all parties that the matter be tested at a preliminary hearing review at the Cardiff Employment Tribunals during March/April 2009.  The estimated costs for the hearing were substantial and although the result of the decision from the White Book hearing would not be binding on many of the authorities it could provide some principles and guidance which would affect the other local authorities' defences.

 

This was a matter for Executive decision.

 

RESOLVED -

 

(1)       T H A T the contents of the report on equal pay be noted.

 

(2)       T H A T approval be granted for the Council to cost-share in line with a maximum commitment with other Welsh authorities in respect of litigation for the White Book defence which would be progressed with four test cases from Welsh authorities at an approximate cost of £18,180. 

 

(3)       T H A T the Director of Legal, Public Protection and Housing Services access where appropriate external advice to protect the interests of the Council.

 

Reasons for decisions

 

(1,2&3)           To ensure that the Council was prepared to defend its position in relation to equal pay claims.