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Vale of Glamorgan Council

CABINET

 

Minutes of a meeting held on 21^st February, 2011.

 

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

 

 

C1213                        MINUTES -

 

RESOLVED - T H A T the minutes of the meeting held on 2^nd February, 2011 be approved as a correct record.

 

 

C1214                        DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST -

 

Councillor G.A. Cox declared an interest in Agenda Item No. 24 (i) in that his wife was an applicant to become an LEA Governor at Y Bont Faen Primary School.  Councillor Cox left the meeting whilst this item was under consideration.

 

 

C1215                        VALE OF GLAMORGAN LOCAL ACCESS FORUM -

 

The following minutes of a meeting held on 26^th January, 2011 were submitted:

 

Present:  Mr. F. Coleman (Chairman); Councillor A.M. Ernest (Vice-Chairman); Mr. G.D. Cubbin, Mrs. V.M. Hartrey, Mr. J.J. Herbert, Mrs. H. March, Mr. H.S. McMillan, Mr. R. Pittard, Mrs. L. Stuart and Mr. R. Traherne.

 

Mr. J. Wyatt, Mr. B. Guy, Mr. G.W. Teague and Ms. L Turner (Vale of Glamorgan Council).

 

	Action
(a)    Apologies for Absence -   These were received from Ms. A. Duddridge, Mr. M. Moss, Mr. M. Parry, Ms. A. Phillips, Mr. R. Simpson, Mrs. V. Warlow and Ms. S. Tindal (CCW).
(b)    The Vale of Glamorgan Local Development Plan (LDP) -   The Chairman welcomed Ms. Turner, Principal Planner within the Planning and Transportation Policy Division to the meeting.  Ms. Turner gave a presentation to the LAF, addressing the principal issues of:   ·            What is the LDP? ·            What are the main differences between UDPs and LDPs? ·            The LDP process ·            LDP progress to date and how to become involved in that process ·            How and when representations would be sought ·            Sections within the LDP of particular relevance to the LAF.   She drew particular attention to the requirement for increased community involvement in the preparation of the LDP, the increased emphasis on sustainable development, the need for policies to be evidence based, realistic and deliverable and to the relatively new concept of tests of soundness.  She stressed that any representation against the LDP would need to identify clearly which test(s) of soundness the objector felt had not been met.  She referred to the timetable for the production of the LDP having slipped from that originally envisaged but that the 6 week consultation period was anticipated in May/June 2011.  A second round of consultation would follow and the indicative timetable for the remaining stages showed adoption of the Plan in April 2013.    Subsequent questions included the potential implications of the Localism Bill on the content of the Plan, Ms. Turner commenting that, regardless of the Bill and its relevance to Wales, Community Councils were statutory consultees and reiterating the particular emphasis on community involvement in the whole process which it was anticipated would identify issues of local importance.  Regard had been paid in the preparation of the Plan to both the Council’s Walking and Cycling Strategy and Tourism Strategy.  In response to questions regarding regional and cross border issues, Ms. Turner referred to the emphasis within the process to collaborative working, indicating that this Council’s progress in the process was roughly on a par with that of Bridgend.   Other matters briefly touched upon included the need to ensure that the content of the LDP was deliverable and realistic, Ms. Turner commenting that there were extant funding streams which could be tapped into and stressing the flexibility built into the Plan which could accommodate such changes deemed necessary.   Following the conclusion of the question and answer session, the Chairman thanked Ms. Turner for her interesting presentation and informative responses.
(c)   Minutes -   AGREED - T H A T the minutes of the meeting held on 10th November, 2010 be approved as a correct record subject to Minute Nos. (c)(ii) and (d) being amended as indicated in the report.    The following updates were provided to Members:   (i)    The current position relating to the LAF and CCW in light of the information contained within the minutes concerning Ms. S. Tindal   Mr. Pittard raised the above matter, given that LAFs were statutory bodies and that CCW had a role to play in overseeing their work.  The Secretary, in response, indicated that Ms. Tindal had made it clear that she and CCW would remain open to queries from LAFS despite the current limited resources which had resulted in a restructuring of workloads.  Mr. Guy alluded to WAG proposals for a review and potential merger of various environmental bodies (including CCW).   The Chairman agreed to raise the issue at the next LAF Chairs meeting.   (ii)    Vale of Glamorgan Walking Festival -   Mrs. March asked whether the VOG Walking Festival would be taking place in 2011.  The Chairman stated that he had received a reply to his letter to the Leader in respect of financial assistance being made available for the event which indicated that the matter had been referred to the Finance Department.  Discussion ensued as to whether that was in fact the optimum way forward given the Festival had previously received funding from the Events Budget.  It was agreed that Mr. Guy should look into the matter and liaise with the appropriate departments.   (iii)    Penarth Town Trail   The Vice-Chairman notified the LAF that he had raised the matter of signage with the Cardiff Harbour Authority.  He had since been informed that there were plans for signposting within Cardiff Bay and the Marina, which would include the Penarth side of the river.    (iv)    Wales Coast Path   Mr. Pittard indicated that he was uncertain as to whether the £315k. referred to in the minutes was in fact European funding and inquired as to the position regarding marketing in the Vale.  It was agreed that Ms. Cottnam would prepare an update report for dissemination to all Members of the LAF with the minutes of the meeting.
(d)    Synopsis taken from the Notes of the Meeting of the Chairs of LAFs in Wales held on 12th October, 2010 -   The Chairman referred to the matter of a letter being sent to the WAG Minister in respect of ROWIP and CAIP funding, indicating that it had subsequently been deemed inappropriate to do so.
(e)    Synopsis taken from the Notes of the meeting of the NAFW held on 9th November, 2010 -   The Chairman expressed concern in relation to the way in which the involvement of community councils was being promoted at the NAFW.  Members agreed with the Chairman that this was a matter best dealt with by the Public Rights of Way Officer who had in fact already taken a report on the issue to the Council’s Community Liaison Committee.  Mr. Pittard then updated Members on the other topics discussed at the NAFW.   A copy of the manifesto addressed to all present and prospective members of the National Assembly was appended to the report.  The manifesto referred to the great concern of the NAFW in relation to the availability of future funding for the ROWIP and the All Wales Coastal Path and called for funding to be maintained beyond 2012.  To date, no information as to that future funding had been received.
(f)    Consultation on Level Crossings -   A copy of Mr. Teague’s response to the Law Commission in respect of the above had been circulated with the agenda.  The letter encompassed those points made by members of the LAF and Mr. Teague was congratulated on its content.  He agreed to investigate whether any other department within the Council had been involved in the consultation process, commenting that the consultation period had ended some time ago and that, in fact, the PROW Team had not been directly consulted by the Law Commission.
(g)    PROW Orders Update and Definitive Map Modification Order Tracking -   The LAF received a report in relation to both of the above matters. In response to a query as to the terminology used to describe the current position in respect of Definitive Map Modification Order tracking, officers were requested to make it clear in the report that the word “closed” related to the file having been closed. It was suggested that “completed” be used instead.  In response to a question as to ref. 53B-007, he confirmed that the appeal in relation to the application was still ongoing.
(h)    ROWIP and CAIP -   Mr. Teague updated the LAF on the contents of his report, commenting in respect of the ROWIP that   ·                feedback on the survey findings was anticipated shortly and that several alternative schemes had now been agreed with CCW to meet the consequential underspend ·                the track through Leckwith Woods had yet to be completed.   Mr. Teague agreed to submit a report on the details relating to the redevelopments at Leckwith Woods and its environs at the next meeting. The proposal made later in the meeting that a site visit be held at Leckwith Woods was welcomed.     As regards the CAIP, Mr. Teague confirmed that alternative options were being assessed to address the drainage issues at Porthkerry Country Park given the prohibitive costs of implementing the original scheme.  He drew particular attention to the substantial task of concluding the Highways Act s.25 Creation and Dedication agreements given the various landowners involved and the differing requirements of each.  Negotiations were still ongoing to secure future access arrangements and the use by right of de facto paths.  Discussion also briefly touched upon the crossing point over the River Ogmore and access issues relating to the route St. Mary Well Bay to Sully at Lavernock.
(i)    Timetable of Meetings 2010/11 -   AGREED -   (1)   T H A T meetings continue to be held on Wednesdays at 5.30 p.m. and that the following dates be agreed:   ·            20th April, 2011 ·            27th July, 2011 ·            9th November, 2011 ·            22nd February, 2012 ·            16th May, 2012.   (2)   T H A T it be noted that consideration would be given to amending the date of the meeting in November, if required, to accord with the date of the meeting of the NAFW.   (3)   T H A T consideration be given to scheduling site visits prior to the meetings in April and July.	Date subsequently changed to 16th November
(j)     Any Other Business -   (i)     Smart Coasts Scheme   Mr. Cubbin enquired as to why the Council had not signed up to the above cross border £3.7m. initiative which was designed to maximise the potential of the coastline on both sides of the Irish Sea.  Mr. Guy would look into the matter and update Members.   (ii)    Footpath No. 5, Sully   Mrs. Stuart referred to horses straying from the field adjacent to the Glebe Field onto the main road and footpath 5.  Discussion ensued on her query as to what could be done to prevent that situation, Mr. Teague agreeing to pass her details onto the Estates Section if the field in question was shown to be managed by the Council.   (iii)    Fieldfare Trust   The Chairman drew attention to the above body which was in the process of establishing phototrails on the web which provided a series of walking guides in various areas.   (iv)   Walkers Are Welcome Status   Mrs. March notified Members that Llantwit Major Town Council was actively pursuing Walkers are Welcome status.

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

RESOLVED - T H A T the minutes be noted.

 

Reason for decision

 

To be aware of the views of the Vale of Glamorgan Local Access Forum.

 

 

C1216                        CORPORATE PARENTING PANEL -

 

The following minutes of a meeting held on 26^th January, 2011 were submitted:

 

Present:  Councillor Dorothy Turner (Chairman), Cllr Anthony Hampton, Carol Davies (Operational Manager Children and Young People Services) Phil Evans (Director of Social Services), Caroline Rees (Head of Additional Learning Needs), Jenny Smith (Specialist Teacher – LAC), Mark Petherick (Minute Taker)

 

	Actions
(1) Apologies for absence.
Apologies were received from Councillor Katherine Kemp, Councillor Sophie Williams, Guest D, Bryan Jeffreys (Director of Learning and Development), Gareth Jenkins (Head of Children & Young People Services)
(2) Minutes of 17 November 2010
The minutes were agreed as a true record and were signed by the Chairman Cllr DT.   Matters Arising:    CR tabled a letter from Welsh Assembly Government on the School Effectiveness Grant, it was agreed that this will be placed on the agenda for the next meeting.   Action: agenda the School Effectiveness Grant Paper for discussion.   Point 6 Cllr DT indicated that it would be useful to have an Age Profile (anonymised) of children in our care.   Action: GJ to provide LAC profile information to be provided at the next meeting.   Point 9 Cllr DT enquired whether a comparison could be drawn with other councils as to how may staff are employed to undertake the functions carried out by our Children’s First Team.   Action:  GJ and JS to undertake this comparison and report back at the next meeting.	CR          GJ             GJ
(3) To receive declarations of interest.
No declarations were received.	Agreed
(4) RAISE Grant Update – Jenny Smith
JS confirmed that the RAISE grant would continue definitely for another year and hopefully for three years and will become part of the school effectiveness grant but will be ring fenced for Looked after Children.
(5) Personal Education Plans – Jenny Smith
JS presented to the panel on Personal Education Plans (PEP’s) by tabling an example of a pep attached. JS explained how the personal education plan process works  by outlining the following points;   Children First Team informed a child has come into care or changed schools. Children First Team add the child/young person data onto both ICS and EMS (Education Management System) and set up a due date.  Email sent to social worker/headteacher/designated LAC teacher reminding them the PEP needs to be completed within 20 days of the child coming into care or changing school.  A blank copy of the PEP and guidance notes are attached to the email.  There is a quarterly PI return on the number of Initial PEPs completed within 20 days.  Once a PEP has been received the date is entered onto ICS and a Review PEP date is then generated.  Review PEPs are carried out every six months. At the beginning of each month the Children First Team send out emails to schools, social workers etc for the reviews that are due the next month.  Every time the Children First Team receives a LAC Review invite they inform the IRO of that child’s latest PEP, whether it is in or out of date.  The Children First Team has worked with the Performance Management Team and is able to generate a report showing the most recent PEP for each child/young person.  This enables the team to address PEPs that are out of date.  There is an agenda item on Placement Panel expressly for PEPs.  The OM (CL) follows up all PEP reports that are brought to the meeting with Team Managers.
(6) Performance Indicators – Caroline Rees
The Chairman and panel agreed that this item would be placed on the agenda for the next meeting when more members are present to hear the detail of the report.   Action: CR to present the performance Indicators report update at the next meeting	CR
(7) Look after Children Awards Evening – Jenny Smith
JS discussed the Awards Evening with panel members in a feedback session.   All panel members agreed that the event was a resounding success and DT personally thanked JS for all her hard work and effort that went into the making the event a success.
(8)  AOB
No other business was reported   Proposed Agenda Items for the next meeting were also discussed to include;   1)      Personal Education Plans (PEPS) 2)      School Effectiveness Grant Paper 3)      Performance Indicators – Caroline Rees
7. Next Meeting Date
Wednesday 16 March 2011, 4:30pm :- Venue TBC

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

RESOLVED - T H A T the minutes be noted.

 

Reason for decision

 

To be aware of the views of the Corporate Parenting Panel.

 

 

C1217                        ALLOCATION OF FUNDING UNDER THE VOLUNTARY ACTION SCHEME 2011/12 (REF) (MIN. NO. 841) -

 

The Voluntary Sector Joint Liaison Committee, on 2^nd February, 2011 had been advised that a joint working group comprising the Council's Partnership Co-ordinators, other Council Officers and the VCVS Executive Director had met on 9^th November, 2010 to consider the applications received and to make recommendations to the Voluntary Sector Joint Liaison Committee as to the award of grants. 

 

The sum available for allocation, subject to the necessary funding being approved by Council, was £98,000.  The financial provision, if approved, would be held within the General Policy Revenue Budget.  Appendix A to the report had summarised the applications that had been received, and gave the officers views and recommendations in respect of each.

 

In considering the applications, the Voluntary Sector Joint Liaison Committee had

 

AGREED - T H A T Cabinet be requested to approve the grants under the Voluntary Action Scheme for 2011/12, 2012/13 and 2013/14 as detailed below:

 

Click here to view grants approved

 

Cabinet, having considered the request of the Voluntary Sector Joint Liaison Committee,

 

RESOLVED - T H A T the request of the Voluntary Sector Joint Liaison Committee be endorsed.

 

Reason for decision

 

Having regard to the recommendations of the Voluntary Sector Joint Liaison Committee.

 

 

C1218                        AMENDMENT OF THE VALE OF GLAMORGAN COUNCIL'S STREET TRADING POLICY (REF) -

 

The Licensing Committee, on 8^th February, 2011 had been requested to approve a resolution to be made under Schedule 4 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 to designate all streets within the Vale of Glamorgan as consent streets for the purposes of street trading.

 

Local Authorities had the power to control street trading within their area.  Local Authorities could resolve to designate streets under Schedule 4 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 and streets could be designated as any of the following:

 

·                         a licence street - normally used for formal markets with established stalls on a regular basis

·                         a consent street - normally used for more infrequent types of trading and provided the Council with a more flexible means of control

·                         a prohibited street - used to specifically prohibit street trading

·                         an undesignated street - the Council had no means of controlling street trading in undesignated streets.

 

The current position in the Vale of Glamorgan was that some streets were currently designated as consent or prohibited streets.

 

At a meeting of the Licensing Committee held on 10^th March, 2009, it had been resolved that Licensing Officers be instructed to begin the process of designating all the streets in the Vale of Glamorgan area as consent streets and to advertise this intention, as required by Schedule 4 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982. 

 

An advertisement had been placed in the Glamorgan Gem on 5^th and 12^th August, 2010 in line with the requirements of the Act.  Letters of consultation had also been sent to South Wales Police and the Highways Department.  No responses to the consultation letters had been received by the Licensing Section.

 

Licensing Committee had

 

RESOLVED -

 

(1)       T H A T Council be recommended to designate all streets in the Vale of Glamorgan as consent streets for the purposes of street trading in accordance with the provisions of Schedule 4 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982. 

 

(2)       T H A T the report be referred to Cabinet for information.

 

Cabinet, having considered the decision of the Licensing Committee,

 

RESOLVED - T H A T the decision of the Licensing Committee be noted.

 

Reason for decision

 

Having regard to the decisions of the Licensing Committee.

 

 

C1219                        OUTCOME AGREEMENT 2010 - 2013 (L) (SCRUTINY - CORPORATE RESOURCES) -

 

Cabinet were advised of the content of an Outcome Agreement that had been negotiated with the Welsh Assembly Government.

 

The Council had entered into three previous agreements with the Welsh Assembly Government.  These agreements were based on the premise that the Council and the Welsh Assembly Government shared common objectives and that agreements could be entered into to assist in achieving these objectives.  An incentive grant had been paid to the Council to incentivise achievement of targets, to the value of £1.2 million annually. 

 

The incentive grant would be paid on a sliding scale based on the extent to which actions and measures had been achieved, and the Council must be able to evidence collaboration in order to secure 100% of the grants.  Evidence must be provided annually for each activity/measure to show progress to received the incentive grants.  The Outcome Agreement differs from previous agreements, in which an incentive grant was paid in the first year for signing up to.  This year, the Council must achieve actions and measures in order to achieve a grant. 

 

Following long and complex negotiations with the Welsh Assembly Government, the Outcome Agreement had been finalised and a copy of the Agreement was attached at Appendices A and B to the report. 

 

This was a matter for Executive decision.

 

RESOLVED -

 

(1)       T H A T the Outcome Agreement with the Welsh Assembly Government be endorsed.

 

(2)       T H A T the relevant Service Plans and Ffynnon be updated to include actions and targets set out in the Agreement.

 

Reasons for decisions

 

(1)       In order to agree mutually beneficial targets that will secure the incentive grant from the Welsh Assembly Government.

 

(2)       In order for regular scrutiny of progress of actions and targets to be undertaken.

 

 

C1220                        TREASURY MANAGEMENT (L) (SCRUTINY - CORPORATE RESOURCES) -

 

Cabinet received an interim report on the Council's Treasury Management operations for the period 1^st April, 2010 to 31^st December, 2010, and considered the proposed 2011/12 Treasury Management and Annual Investment Strategy.

 

As a result of the Capital Finance Regulations the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) provided the Council with a General Capital Funding Grant and the Authority is also advised of a level of borrowing that the Assembly was prepared to fund via the Revenue Support Grant Settlement.  Should the Council wish to borrow in excess of this level to increase its capital expenditure, then it could.  However, it would either have to find the additional costs of borrowing through savings in other services or increases in Council Tax. 

 

In order to manage this increased flexibility, Part 1 of the Local Government Act 2003 required local authorities to have regard to the Prudential Code, which had been developed by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) as a professional code of practice. 

 

In March 2010, the Council adopted the CIPFA Treasury Management in the Public Services: Code of Practice (fully revised second edition 2009), which required the Council to approve a treasury management strategy before the start of each financial year.

 

The proposed Treasury Management and Investment Strategy for 2011/12 was attached at Appendix 1 to the report.  The Treasury Management Strategy itself covered a rolling period of three years and was intended to link into the Medium Term Financial Planning process.  The Investment Strategy covered the next financial year.  The document also included a number of statutory Prudential indicators that may be used to support and record local decision making. 

 

As at 31^st December, 2010, other than an investment with Barclays Bank (call account), the Authority had placed all its investments with the 'Debt Management Account Deposit Facility (DMADF).  The DMADF deposits were guaranteed by the UK Government.  Market uncertainties had to some extent now improved and it was proposed to review and consider options for investment of a portion of the Authority's funds during 2011/2012.  Priority would be given firstly to the security of the investment and secondly to its liquidity.

 

The Authority would continue to use credit ratings from the three main rating agencies Fitch Ratings Ltd., Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's to assess the risk of loss of investments.  The lowest available credit rating would be used to determine credit quality.  In addition, regard would be given to other available information on the credit quality of banks and building societies. 

 

The Council's Treasury Management advisors view was that the 'Fitch' individual and support credit rating indicator did not directly address the risk of loss of short term investments.  It was therefore proposed to move these indicators from the rating criteria for short term investments, potentially giving the Authority greater investment flexibilities.  In addition, it was proposed to increase the maximum investment limit for specified investments with UK and Foreign Institutions to £12 million. 

 

The Treasury Management Investment Strategy allowed for investment of up to £5 million with each individual UK Local Authority.  Currently, the Council was not using this option.  However, in order to potentially increase investment returns it was proposed to invest in UK Local Authorities in the future.  To provide additional security, it was proposed to include in the strategy an additional condition that a limit of £20 million in total could be placed with UK Local Authorities at any one time. 

 

The Authority's Investment Strategy approved the investment of funds in the UK Government which included Treasury Bills.  It was proposed to further investigate and potentially place investments in Treasury Bills during 2011/2012.

 

Where sums of money could not be invested in the money market either because it was received too late in the working day or for any other reason, certain contingencies were required to be included in the strategy.  In such exceptionally rare cases, it was proposed that:

 

·                         Either these monies be invested by the Council in compliant credit rated UK 'call bank accounts' even though exceeding the maximum investment limit.  Any excess over and above the approved limit would be withdrawn from that account and invested on the money market in the usual manner at the earliest opportunity.

 

Or

 

·                         The monies could be placed with the Co-operative Bank (the Council's bankers) until the next banking day even though the bank did not meet the minimum credit rating criteria and could result in exceeding the maximum investment limit.

 

In so far as the Council's Treasury Management operations entered into for the period 1^st April, 2010 to 31^st December, 2010 were concerned, all activities were in accordance with the Council's approved strategy on Treasury Management.  The following table set out the monies borrowed/repaid during the period:

 

Loan Type	Opening Balance	Received	Repaid	Closing Balance
	01/04/2010			31/12/2010
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
PWLB	97,768	0	(667)	97.101
Other Long Term Loans	6,010	0	0	6,010
Temporary Loans	225	0	(100)	125
Totals	104,003	0	(767)	103,236

 

·                         Loans borrowed from the PWLB were intended to assist Local Authorities in meeting their longer term borrowing requirements.  The above loans were all at fixed rates of interest.  The rate paid on each loan was largely dependent upon the original duration of the loan and the date taken out.

·                         Other long term loans represented those non-PWLB loans that were repayable at least one year or more from the date they were advanced.  The bulk of this debt was represented by two market loans of £2,000,000 and £4,000,000.  The balance of this debt was local bonds totally £9,800 and were made up on small individual sums that were invested with the Council for a number of years by members of the public.

·                         Temporary loans represented those loans that were borrowed for a period of less than one year.  They were borrowed on notice. 

 

External interests at an average rate of 5.61% and amounting to £4,512,962 had accrued on these loans for the first nine months of 2010/2011. 

 

The Council had made the following investments for the period 1^st April, 2010 to 31^st December, 2010:

 

Borrowing Institution	Opening Balance	Invested	Returned	Closing Balance
	01/04/2010			31/12/2010
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Banks	0	9,542	(2,978)	6,564
Debt Management Account Deposit Facility	91,475	1,386,175	(1,373,050)	104,600
Totals	91,475	1,395,717	(1,376,028)	111,164

 

Interest, at an average rate of 0.25% and amounting to £197,375 had accrued from these investments for the first nine months of 2010/2011.

 

This was a matter for Council decision.

 

RESOLVED -

 

(1)       T H A T the Treasury Management Interim Report for 1^st April to 31^st December, 2010 be endorsed.

 

(2)       T H A T the proposals as set out in paragraphs 10, 11, 12 and 13 of the report, and itemised above be endorsed for the 2011/12 financial year.

 

(3)       T H A T the proposed 2011/12 Treasury Management and Investment Strategy be endorsed and referred to Council for approval, including the following specific resolutions as set out in the Strategy Action Plan:

 

·                         The Authorised Limit for External Debt be set at £161,000,000 for 2010/11, £164,000,000 for 2011/12, £169,000,000 for 2012/13 and £172,000,000 for 2013/14.

·                         The Operational Boundary for External Debt be set at £146,000,000 for 2010/11, £149,000,000 for 2011/12, £153,000,000 for 2012/13 and £156,000,000 for 2013/14.

·                         The Director of Finance, ICT and Property be given delegated authority within the total Authorised Limit and Operational Boundary as estimated for individual years to effect movement between the separately agreed limits for borrowing and other long term liabilities.

·                         An upper limit be set on its fixed interest rate exposures for 2010/11 of £137,000,000, for 2011/12 of £139,000,000, for 2012/13 of £142,000,000 and for 2013/14 of £145,000,000 of its net outstanding principal sum on its borrowings / investments.

·                         An upper limit be set on its variable interest rate exposures as an absolute value for 2010/11 of +/-£134,000,000, for 2011/12 of +/-£144,000,000, for 2012/13 of +/-£142,000,000 and for 2013/14 of +/-£140,000,000 of its net outstanding principal sums on its borrowings / investments.

·                         An upper limit of £30,000,000 be set for total principal sums invested for over 364 days for 2010/11, 2011/12, 2012/13 and 2013/14.

·                         The amount of projected borrowing that is fixed rate maturing in each period as a percentage of total projected borrowing that is fixed rate for 2011/12 be set as below:

 

	Upper Limit	Lower Limit
Under 12 months	20%	0%
12 months and within 24 months	20%	0%
24 months and within 5 years	30%	0%
5 years and within 10 years	30%	0%
10 years and above	100%	0%

 

·                         The Prudential Indicators as set out in paragraph 4.1 and 4.2 in this Strategy be approved.

 

Reasons for decisions

 

(1)       To present the Treasury Management Interim Report.

 

(2)       The proposed amendments in paragraphs 10, 11, 12 and 13 of the report would give the Authority greater flexibility. 

 

(3)       The Treasury Management and Annual Investment Strategy is prepared as required by the Local Government Act 2003.

 

 

C1221                        FINAL PROPOSALS FOR THE REVENUE BUDGET 2011/2012 (L) (SCRUTINY - CORPORATE RESOURCES) -

 

Cabinet considered proposals in respect of the budget for the financial year 2011/2012 together with the savings targets for the period 2011/12 to 2013/14 with a view to making the final recommendations to Council.

 

Cabinet also considered a reference from Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Resources) of 15^th February, 2011, having agreed to receive the matter as urgent by reason of the need for the recommendations of the Committee to be considered in tandem with the final proposals for the Revenue Budget 2011/12.

 

Scrutiny Committee had:

 

RECOMMENDED -

 

(1)       T H A T the current funding arrangements for both Winter maintenance and Highway repairs and the actions proposed to improve those service areas be noted.

 

(2)       T H A T Cabinet be requested to reinstate a severe weather reserve within the Authority’s accounts for the 2011/12 period.

 

(3)       T H A T Cabinet be requested to make available additional funding in the current financial year for planned maintenance and that authority be sought to slip any underspend (if required) into the next financial year, and that, as recommended by the Budget Task and Finish Group, any savings which exceeded the overall required target for 2011/12 (estimated at £900k.) be invested in highways to improve the infrastructure and assist in repairs.

 

Reasons for recommendations

 

(1)       For information.

 

(2&3)  To ensure that a dedicated reserve is available for the remainder of the current financial year and during 2011/12 for severe weather events.”

 

The Council was required under statute to fix the level of Council Tax for 2011/2012 by 11th March 2011. The final decision on the budget cannot be delegated and must be made at a meeting of Council. This is scheduled to be held on the 28th February 2011.

 

Revenue Settlement

 

The Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) had provided the Council with final figures for next year’s settlement. This Council’s total Standard Spending Assessment (SSA) had been notified as £202.788M, which represented an increase of £331k over 2010/11. Included within the settlement are additional resources of £373k to compensate for loss of income in implementing WAG’s First Steps Improvement Package relating to charging for non-residential social care. Transfers into the settlement relate to expenditure that was previously paid as specific grant and are Social Services Performance Management Grant (£112k), Older Person’s Strategy Grant (£45k), Cymorth Core Costs (£250k), Children’s Court Fees Grant (£95k) and Children and Young Peoples Act 2008 Implementation Grant (£90k).

 

WAG required each local authority to compare its total budget for education to its Education Indicator Based Assessment (IBA).  It must then report on the reasons why it may have chosen to set a budget for education that differs from its IBA (£92.568M for the Vale). The report would need to be made available for consideration by the Council’s Schools Budget Forum, full Council and by WAG. A proposed draft of this report has been prepared jointly by the Director of Learning and Development and the Director of Finance, ICT and Property and was attached at Appendix A to the report.

 

The Council would receive from WAG Revenue Support Grant (RSG) of £121.681M and Non-Domestic Rates £28.951M. These amounts together constitute the Council’s Aggregate External Finance (AEF).  This was a decrease of £1.796M on the 2010/11 AEF. WAG has announced that the Improvement Agreement Grant allocated to the Vale is £1.250M. This is an unhypothecated grant (i.e. not earmarked for particular services). The Council is not guaranteed to receive the full amount of the Improvement Agreement Grant. The proportion of the grant eventually received in 2011/12 is determined by a ratings score of the Council’s performance in achieving its 2010/11 Improvement Agreement targets.

 

Anticipated Outturn 2010/11

 

Revenue monitoring to the end of December was taken to Cabinet earlier this month on the 2nd February 2011. This showed that whilst spending pressures exist, particularly in Social Services, there will be an estimated under-spend of £1,190k due mainly to savings on capital charges and support imbalances.

 

It is suggested that in light of the Council’s experience of recent winters and the damage to the Council’s highways, some of this money was set aside in a Severe Weather Reserve and the balance is transferred to the Visible Services Reserve. The sum proposed to set aside for severe weather is £550k which was based on the total of the expenditure in excess of the winter maintenance budget for the past 4 years. The remaining balance of £640k would then transfer to the Visible Services Reserve.

 

There was an anticipated surplus on Council Tax collection of £900k.  This sum meant that the transfer of £500k out of the General Reserve included in the original budget would now not be required and instead it was estimated that a net surplus of £400k would be transferred into the General Reserve.  The balance on the General Reserve was therefore anticipated to be £7.407M as at 1st April 2011.

 

General

 

Cabinet approved the Budget Strategy and Timetable for 2011/12 on the 21st July 2010 (minute no. C987).  Subsequently, the initial revenue budget proposals were considered by Cabinet on the 17th November 2010 (minute no. C1122) and by each Scrutiny Committee during November/December.

 

The comments made by each Scrutiny Committee were referred to the Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Resources), which is the Lead Scrutiny Committee on the budget.  The Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Resources) referred the matter to the Budget Task and Finish group and this was reported to Cabinet on the 19th January 2011 and referred for consideration by the Budget Working Group (minute nos. C1173, C1174).

 

The Budget Task and Finish Group noted the comments of all Scrutiny Committees and their view was that Cabinet have regard to the specific Scrutiny Committee recommendations in respect of savings options LPPH1, LPPH4, LPPH9, LPPH14, LPPH15, LD1, LD5, LD6, LD7 AND LD8 when making their final proposal for the budget. This was reported to and endorsed by Corporate Resources Scrutiny Committee on the 24th January 2011.  The minutes of the Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Resources) were referred to Cabinet on the 2nd February 2011 (minute no. C1202) where they were referred to the BWG. 

 

The Cabinet Budget Working Group (BWG) had noted all the Scrutiny recommendations and taken their responses into account in drafting the final budget proposals for Cabinet’s consideration.  Specific responses to Scrutiny recommendations as set out in the previous paragraph are:

 

Scrutiny Committee (Housing and Public Protection) comments re:

 

·                         LPPH1 (Licensing Income) a request was made to change the description of the saving and delete the word “increase” as the description was misleading (BWG - the wording of the saving has now been clarified, see saving reference P9 in Appendix E)

 

·                         LPPH4 (Supplies and services) further information on this saving was provided at the Scrutiny meeting (BWG - have nothing to add to the information provided at the meeting)

 

·                         LPPH9 (Staying Put) further information on this saving was provided at the Scrutiny meeting and a query was raised as to whether appropriate consultation had taken place which the Head of Service confirmed. (BWG - on the recommendation of the Budget Task and Finish Group the saving has been deferred to allow time to put in place mitigating actions)

 

·                         LPPH14 (private tenant removal expenses) further information provided at the meeting (BWG - have nothing to add to the information provided at the meeting)

 

·                         LPPH15 (S180 grant funding) further information on this saving was provided at the Scrutiny meeting and a comment made that the budget should be fully utilised as it could bring greater scales of economy by protecting current Council services provided by itself or voluntary organisations.  (BWG - noted the comment however in view of the scale of savings required the reduction of a budget to the level of current spending was considered reasonable)

 

Scrutiny Committee (Lifelong Learning) comments re:

 

·                         LD1 (Schools Savings) further information on this saving was provided at the Scrutiny meeting and concerns expressed at the level of saving (BWG - the level of saving now being proposed is significantly less than that presented to Scrutiny. Nevertheless it is acknowledged that the next 3 years will be challenging for Schools and measures are included in this report to address this matter.

 

·                         LD5 (Additional Learning Needs) further information on this saving was provided at the Scrutiny meeting (BWG - on the recommendation of the Budget Task and Finish Group the majority of this saving has been deferred to allow time to put in place safeguards and mitigating actions)

 

·                         LD6 (Youth Service) further information on this saving was provided at the Scrutiny meeting (BWG - on the recommendation of the Budget Task and Finish Group this saving has been reduced and is to be phased in)

 

·                         LD7 (Vacant Posts) further information on this saving was provided at the Scrutiny meeting (BWG  - have nothing to add to the information provided at the meeting)

 

·                         LD8 (School Transport) concerns were expressed that the saving in post 16 transport  was being proposed despite having previously been rejected (BWG – on the recommendation of the Budget Task and Finish Group the savings in post 16 transport has been rejected).

 

In arriving at these final proposals the views of the Schools Budget Forum had been very carefully considered. Education is a high priority for the Council and the Individual Schools Budget for 2011/12 included the protection set by WAG.

 

Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Resources) on the 3rd June 2010 approved the setting up of a Task and Finish Group to review the impact of the economic downturn on the Council and its services (minute no. 89).  The desired outcomes resulting from the review were seen as:

 

·                         Identifying and mitigating where possible the impact the economic downturn will have on Council services.

·                         Preparation of a detailed programme on the proposed impact on Council services.

·                         Maintenance of up to date information on the Council’s position.

·                         Ensuring relevant information / guidance is available for all.

·                         Maintenance of appropriate services for the council tax payer and service recipients.

 

A thorough review was conducted and the detailed work of the Group encompassed:

 

·                         Consultation exercises and interviews with stakeholders.

·                         Analysis, prioritisation and challenge of all budget cost centres.

·                         The preparation of a strategy for the way forward; and

·                         The formation of initial views of possible areas for savings.

 

The Group’s final report was presented to Corporate Resources Scrutiny Committee on the 24th January 2011 which considered the findings and made their recommendations for Cabinet’s consideration.  Cabinet on the 2nd February 2011 forwarded the recommendations of Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Resources) to the Budget Working Group to be included in their deliberations on the budget. 

 

The Budget Working Group were proposing that all of the recommendations of Corporate Resources Scrutiny Committee on the Budget Task and Finish Group’s report are accepted by Cabinet and Council. This includes the request to ensure that savings E16 (car park charges) and C1 (CCTV monitoring) are deferred to 2012/13 (see Appendix E for detail on saving). Their recommendations are consequently incorporated within the proposals and recommendations within this report.

 

The following section on the strategy for the achievement of savings is drawn largely from the Budget Task and Finish Group’s report. The main difference is that schools are included.

 

Financial Strategy for 2011/12 to 2013/14

 

To provide an appropriate back drop to the financial strategy the level of savings required over the Medium Term has been estimated.

 

The proposals in the report, if accepted would mean that savings totalling £7.24M would be required to balance next financial year’s budget.  The section of the report dealing with the Proposed Budget 2011/12 set out in detail how this figure was derived.

 

The level of savings required for 2012/13 and 2013/14 were based on forecasts of pay and price inflation and information provided by services on unavoidable cost pressures. As part of the provisional settlement WAG provided estimates of the Vale’s future Aggregate External Finance (the unhypothecated annual revenue support) for 2012/13 and 2013/14. This showed a decrease for 2012/13 of 0.04% and an increase of 1.3% for 2013/14. 

 

The following table summarises the overall position and additional detail on inflation and cost pressures was provided at Appendix B to the report:

 

Predicted Shortfall 2012/13 to 2013/14	2012/13	2013/14
	£’000	£’000
Net Predicted Reduction/(Increase) in AEF	50	(1,960)
Pay and Price Increases	3,140	4,040
Net Unavoidable Cost Pressures	4,180	3,140
Estimated Shortfall	7,370	5,220

 

The total shortfall for the period 2011/12 to 2013/14 was therefore £19.83M (the sum of £7.24M, £7.37M, and £5.22M)

 

The cost pressures in the previous table include increased costs falling on the General Fund of about £2M a year arising as a result of a potential stock transfer.  However, the ballot has not yet been held and should the stock transfer then the HRA balances will revert to the General Fund. It is proposed that should a stock transfer take place, every effort must be made to minimise the impact on the General Fund and that to protect vital services the balances transferring to the General Fund from the HRA be used to cover the shortfall until measures to reduce it can take effect.

 

If the above measure was adopted the estimated shortfall to be met by Services was estimated as £17.83M over the next 3 years.  However, the danger of shifts in inflation, changes to the WAG indicative budget, changes in legislation or demographic movements and changes to grant-funded schemes could increase these targets, particularly for 2013/14 and 2014/15.

 

Savings Targets

 

The target was challenging, however, cuts in service provision should only be considered as a last resort. Instead, services should make every possible effort to continue to achieve their objectives and outcomes by fundamentally rethinking how they are presently organised and delivered (e.g. implementation of shared services where there is a business case). Whatever model is adopted however, it is imperative that the services in question remain ‘fit for purpose’. This would entail ensuring that operational budgets were not cut unrealistically and that management structures at all levels, including the number of tiers, are reduced.

 

Consequently, over the next 3 years all services, with the exception of schools, should achieve a minimum total saving of 12% (4% per annum) either from efficiencies or savings which have a low impact on clients.  Whilst this was challenging, it should be achievable particularly as the target has been set at the Directorate level to allow prioritisation and flexibility between Services.

 

Schools would be required to meet the savings necessary to balance their budget to the WAG minimum target.  This was estimated as £5.2M for the 3 year period (£2.4M for 2011/12, £1.2M 2012/13 and £1.6M 2013/14)

 

A target of £1M had already been set for savings from Leisure Centres as a result of working with a private sector partner.  Consequently they had been excluded from the 4% target and the current £1M target was used instead.

 

In view of the need to find efficiencies at all levels within the organisation, in addition to the above, the Leader and Chief Executive were requested to review the senior management structure at chief officer level and find a further £200,000 saving.  The review should specifically include the Corporate Management Team.  This is in addition to the saving identified within the Social Services proposals contained in this report.

 

The table below specified the target for each Director, based on the above proposals:

Directorate	Savings Target 2011/12 to 2013/14
	£’000
Learning & Development –  Non Schools	1,926
Social Services	4,903
Environmental & Economic Regeneration	3,558
Legal, Public Protection & Housing Services	677
Finance, ICT & Property	878
Chief Executive	475
Review Senior Management	200
Total	12,617

 

The targets set out above total £12.6M and together with the £5.2M for schools meet the identified predicted shortfall in the budget over the next 3 years.

 

The assumptions used for predicting the future shortfalls assume fairly low pay awards and inflation rising in line with Government targets (the details are included in Appendix B to the report).  A 1% increase in pay and inflation above the assumptions would result in increased expenditure respectively of £1.4M and £0.6M.  Consequently, the Group also proposed that where inflation exceeds 2%, Directorates should identify additional savings to cover the increased costs.

 

If additional savings become necessary Directors and Heads of Service should strive to ensure that in the first instance these have a low impact on the client.  In the event that this was not possible and cuts in services become necessary then these should be sought from those areas that have a low risk and priority as identified in the CCA (included as Appendix C within the Budget Task and Finish Group report).

 

The table below identified for each Director the extent to which the target had been met and any remaining shortfall.  The table excludes schools as the identification of savings is a matter for individual schools and governing bodies.

 

Directorate	Target	Savings Identified	Shortfall
	£’000	£’000	£’000
Learning & Development (non schools)	1,926	1,926	nil
Social Services	4,903	2,453	2,450
Environmental & Economic Regeneration	3,558	2,763	795
Legal, Public Protection & Housing	677	677	nil
Finance, ICT & Property	878	840	38
Chief Executive	475	437	38
Senior Management	200	200	nil
Total	12,617	9,296	3,321

 

The measures set out below would assist Services in identifying further savings and Directors were exhorted to identify the specific measures needed to meet the target by June 2011.

 

Other Measures and Issues

 

Directors and Heads of Service should progress the following actions, identified by the Budget Task and Finish Group, in order to achieve further efficiencies:

 

·                         Eliminate non-essential expenditure (e.g. printing, publications, furniture, conferences, use of non-Council buildings for training purposes etc.).

·                         Develop a protocol for engagement of consultants and agency staff.

·                         Seek further ways to reduce the pay bill (e.g. voluntary reduction in working hours).

·                         The Director of Social Services work with the Vale Council for Voluntary Services and Citizens Advice Bureau to identify areas of duplication of service provision and where more joint working/alternative provision would generate savings.

·                         Build upon the current work to develop a robust programme for workforce planning.

 

In Section 3 of their report, the Budget Task and Finish Group identified a number of other areas where it was thought further investigation or action was required. The BWG endorses these and Directors and Heads of Service should progress them. In particular the following were recommended:

 

·                         Consideration of the merger of the Schools IT service into the Council’s ICT Department in order to achieve 10% savings.

·                         Reviewing the cost of insurances within the Council in order to consider ways the Council can reduce the cost of insurance corporately including schools.

·                         Consideration of an amalgamation of services for Cabinet Support, Scrutiny and Committee Services, Improvement & Development Team, Mayor’s Office and Members’ Services in order to achieve savings in the region of 10%.

·                         Transferring the responsibilities for the Human Resources (Council’s staffing) aspects of equalities within the Equalities Section to the Human Resources section Reviewing the Equalities Team in order to ascertain future savings.

·                         Reviewing the service areas under Social Services Business Management and Innovation.

·                         Reviewing Social Services training to consider the possibility of shared training with other local authorities and / or on a regional basis.

·                         The Director of Social Services to take a report to Community Care and Health Scrutiny Committee outlining arrangements for the transition of children into adulthood in particular with regard to their learning needs.

·                         A rationalisation of the Service Areas Planning Policy and Transportation, Policy and Conservation, Road Safety and Public Transport.

·                         A rationalisation of the service areas for Urban Regeneration, Business Development and Town Management.

 

The strategy for the schools budget was to set the Individual Schools Budget at the level set by WAG as a minimum target. More information on this is included in Appendix B to the report.  Nevertheless, the financial position for schools over the next 3 years would be challenging and the Director of Learning and Development should prepare a 3 year Service and Financial Plan for Schools and put in place arrangements to assist schools in delivering their service within budget.

 

The views of the Citizens’ Panel, arising from the consultation exercise conducted by the Budget Task and Finish Group, to progress incremental increases in council tax, over a reasonable period, was accepted by the BWG as a reasonable strategy. The period over which it can be achieved and the amount of each incremental increase will depend on the circumstances pertaining at the time future year’s budgets are set. The position for 2011/12 is set out in paragraph 89 to the report.

 

Details on the Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA) are set out in the Equal Opportunities Implications section of this report.

 

Some of the savings involve other organisations e.g. the voluntary sector. It would be necessary for managers to consult and give adequate notice to those affected by the savings.

 

The results of the Savings Challenge arising from ideas and suggestions put forward by Council staff should be progressed by Directors and Heads of service as a priority and staff are applauded for their contributions in this respect.

 

It was emphasised that progress to achieve the specific savings should have regard to maintaining the Council’s objectives and outcomes for the relevant client groups wherever possible.  Many of the recommendations contained within the report, if progressed, would require forward planning and a lead time before practical implementation.  Others would need to be ‘back ended’ in order to avoid impacting detrimentally on other service areas (e.g. any further reduction in Human Resources support at a time when staff and management in all services would be requiring assistance). 

 

This financial strategy would be subject to further consideration as part of the 2011/12 Medium Term Financial Plan which is due to be submitted to Cabinet in July 2011. This will also have regard to the Corporate Plan and many of the challenges facing the Council in the medium to longer term such as the waste agenda (particularly Prosiect Gwyrdd, recycling) Schools Investment Strategy, Social Services demographics and the Housing Business Plan. 

 

Proposed Budget 2011/12

 

The proposed budget for 2011/12 had been set broadly in line with the above strategy and a summary of the overall position was attached at Appendix C to the report.

 

Asset rentals were accounting adjustments reflecting charges to services for the use of assets. They do not constitute “real” expenditure and are reversed out and replaced by the cost of capital within Policy. Similarly FRS 17 changes are technical accounting adjustments to the costs of pension contributions, which are reversed out in Policy. Neither of these adjustments are therefore a part of the total expenditure of the Council.

 

Budget Transfers reflect the movement of functions and responsibilities between services. Primarily, these relate to budget transfers from:

·                         Human Resources to Education of £47k in respect of an allocation of costs of the Director of Learning and Development no longer required.

·                         Lifelong Learning to Education of £91k in respect of staff transfers.

·                         Lifelong Learning to Policy of £33k in respect of savings from the corporate senior management review.

·                         Planning and Transportation to Chief Executive of £12k in respect of reception services.

·                         Economic Development and Leisure to Chief Executive of £9k in respect of reception services.

·                         Visible Services to Planning and Transportation of £158k in respect of the Highways Development Section.

·                         Visible Services to Policy of £300k in respect of a one-off addition in 2010/11 for highway repairs.

·                         Visible Services to Policy of £15k in respect of savings from the corporate senior management review.

·                         Public Protection to Policy of £69k in respect of savings from the corporate senior management review.

·                         Private Housing to the Chief Executive of £125k in respect of the newly created Corporate Partnership section.

·                         Chief Executive to Policy of £18k in respect of arts grants.

·                         A transfer from Policy to Finance, ICT and Property and Chief Executive of £43k and £37k respectively in respect of an Oracle software licence.

·                         Policy to Human Resources of £44k in respect managing sickness

·                         Recharges related to movements in charges between internal Council Services.

 

An adjustment of £650k had been made to the 2010/11 base as there had been no pay award for the year (excluding Teachers)

 

Inflation amounted to £2.876M of which £0.97M related to pay awards and £1.906M for general price increases.  The figure for pay included the part year (April to September) effect of the final year of the Teachers 2.3% pay award. No other pay award was included except for those employees earning below £21k p.a. where an increase of £250 per employee had been assumed.  Since the original budget proposals were submitted to Cabinet the Council had been notified of an increase in the costs of insurance due to the number and costs of recent claims.  A sum of £333k had been included to provide for this. Inflation also included £325k for the increased costs of employer's superannuation contributions following the actuarial review.

 

Net growth amounts to £5.861M. The breakdown of the sum is shown in the report at Appendix D.

 

Savings total £8.14M and had been scrutinised in depth by the Budget Task and Finish Group.  The Group’s deliberations resulted in certain of the original proposals (or aspects of them) not being accepted, as they did not meet the criteria established as indicated in the Strategy.  For others, different options were chosen by the Group and/or mitigating actions identified to minimise the impact on the client.  The BWG accepted the savings and amendments proposed and noted that they were made on the basis of information and explanations provided by Officers and with a strict proviso that the mitigating actions were implemented.  The BWG wished to re-emphasise this and stressed that Officers must comply with the mitigations identified by the Budget Task and Finish Group.  The details were included at Appendix E to the report.

 

The appendix set out for each saving the description, amount, the service implications including any adverse impact, human resource implications and the latest financial year in which the saving should be realised.  Included within the Description is the original reference number e.g. LD2, that was used in the Initial Budget Proposals Report taken to Cabinet in November 2010 (where included).

 

The human resources implications stated the estimated reduction in established posts funded by the budget as measured in full-time equivalents (fte) and the estimated potential number of redundancies.  The main reasons for the difference between the two figures are vacant posts (or posts covered by agency staff) which result in a reduction of budgeted posts as expressed in fte but have no redundancy implications; and redundancies expressed as head count and not fte, so for example, if 1 fte post actually constituted 2 part-time staff the redundancies would be 2.

 

For 2011/12 the total savings identified in Appendix E to the report amounted to £8.14M.  This sum exceeded the sum required to balance the budget by £900k.  The surplus had been contributed by the Chief Executive; Finance, ICT and Property; Legal, Public Protection & Housing Services; and Environment and Economic Regeneration.  It was proposed that as the savings were low impact or derived from efficiencies that they be implemented.  Services that exceeded their target for 2011/12 should not be penalised and the additional savings accrued for 2011/12 would reduce the sum required from those services in future years, to contribute to their 3 year target.

 

The surplus of £900k thus generated for 2011/12 would be in effect a “one-off” and would be best used to fund similar “one-off” expenditure.  In line with the Budget Task and Finish Group’s recommendation the BWG propose that it should be used to invest in the Highways service to improve the infrastructure and assist in repairing the damage to roads, pavements etc. incurred through the recent bad weather. The Director of Environmental and Economic Regeneration to be requested to bring a report to Cabinet detailing his proposed use of the funds. This proposal is built into the budget and the Net Growth included in Appendix C to the report.

 

Services

 

Learning and Development

 

	Educ./ Schools	Librars	Lifelng Learn.	Cater.	Total
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Budget 2010/11	90,911	2,801	1,751	1,164	96,627
Transfers	138		-124		14
Recharges	-71	-11	-61	14	-129
Adj. for 2010/11 Pay	-190	-13	-6	-2	-211
Inflation	1,322	36	41	31	1,430
Net Growth	1,508				1,508
Savings	-2,824	-34	-115	-20	-2,993
Changes in Asset Rentals/FRS 17	279	-2	56	2	335
Budget 2011/12	91,073	2,777	1,542	1,189	96,581

 

The proposed budget for Education and Schools includes sums to cover the costs of pay awards (£677K) and price inflation (£645k).  The details of the net growth were shown at Appendix D to the report and savings at Appendix E.

 

WAG have built into the settlement protection for schools which is equivalent to 1% above the change in the Assembly’s revenue funding allocation from the UK Government. As the funding allocation was cut this means a reduction in funding but a lesser reduction than otherwise would have been the case. To fulfil WAG’s commitment Council’s need to ensure that their net Individual Schools Budget is reduced by no more than 0.33% after adjusting for changes in pupil numbers. This protection has been applied in the budget proposals in this report and more information on the exact calculation for the Vale’s schools is in Appendix A to the report.

 

Work was underway on job evaluation within schools with a view to implementing a new single status pay structure in 2011/12.  It was proposed that the increased payroll cost arising in the first year would be met by the Council from the Single Status Reserve.  This would assist schools in coping with the initial financial impact.  The first year cost of implementation in schools was not yet finalised but it was not anticipated to exceed £350k. 

 

In view of the future pressures facing the service and the shortage of funding, the Director of Learning and Development needed to build on existing work and prepare a formal medium term service and financial strategy specifically for education.  The strategy should identify the options necessary to keep the service within its likely resources and meet savings.  These should include the potential for reconfiguring schools.  The Director should also set out how he will provide support to schools in planning their own budgets over the medium term and achieve their savings.

 

It was suggested that the Schools Budget Forum be consulted before any final decision is made on the split of the funding between Central Education and the Schools. It was recommended that delegated authority be given to the Director of Learning and Development to determine the split in the light of that consultation, subject to the minimum WAG target for the ISB being met.

 

Social Services

 

	Children & Young Ppl	Adult Servs	Serv Strat	Total
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Budget 2010/11	13,067	32,276	288	45,631
Recharges	161	-182		-21
Adj. for 2010/11 Pay	-36	-46	-16	-98
Inflation	168	501	47	716
Net Growth	545	1351	162	2,058
Savings	-311	-1209	-114	-1,634
Changes in Asset Rentals/FRS 17	23	60	3	86
Budget 2011/12	13,617	32,751	370	46,738

 

The details of the net growth were shown at Appendix D to the report and included sums transferred into the general settlement. A sum of £150k had been included for the purchase of additional telecare equipment funded from the Project Fund.  The service would make repayments back to the fund from the savings derived by use of the equipment.

 

Savings were listed at Appendix E to the report and equate to the target set in the Financial Strategy.

 

The Assembly Government had recognised the pressures on Social Care and included within the settlement a similar level of protection to that of Education. Precise details on this and how it would be monitored had not been provided.  However, the proposals in this report should comply with WAG’s commitment as the net increase in the base budget for social services was 0.2% after excluding transfers into the settlement and new responsibilities. 

 

Environmental and Economic Regeneration

 

	Plan & Transp.	E.Dev & Leisure	Visible Servs		Total
	£’000	£’000	£’000		£’000
Budget 2010/11	3,106	7,263	20,343		30,712
Transfers	146	-9	-473		-336
Recharges	-24	74	140		190
Adj. for 2010/11 Pay	-28	-48	-79		-155
Inflation	41	70	351		462
Net Growth	50	250	1,178		1,478
Savings	-135	-612	-997		-1,744
Changes in Asset Rentals/FRS 17	4	45	624		673
Budget 2011/12	3,160	7,033	21,087		31,280

 

Income from planning fees was expected to fall, estimated as £100k, due to the current economic climate.  The Service would be expected to reconfigure its activities so that by 2012/13 this loss of income is covered.  However, as an interim measure, it was proposed that whilst the first £50k of any reduced income is met by the Service any additional loss of income in excess of this will be met corporately up to a maximum of £50k.

 

A saving was included in 2012/13 of £15k school crossing patrols.  The Director of Environmental and Economic Regeneration should bring a report to Cabinet on the outcome of the risk assessment before any existing patrols are withdrawn.

 

Leisure Services continued to experience lower income levels partially due to competition from the newly opened Sports Village.  The service was currently in the process of seeking a private sector partner.  However, the new arrangements would not take place until half way into 2011/12 and a sum of £150k was included to fund the loss of income until the new arrangement commenced.  A target of £1M had been set for savings from Leisure over the next 3 years.

 

Rent and service charge income for the lease of business premises, e.g. Business Services Centre, workshops is reduced from lower occupancy due to the downturn in economy. It is proposed to give an additional allocation of up to £60k to cover this, but that it be strictly ring-fenced for this purpose only and for a maximum of 2 years.

 

A sum was included within net growth for "one-off" investment in the Highways service to improve the infrastructure and assist in repairing the damage to roads, pavements etc. incurred through the recent bad weather. The Director of Environmental and Economic Regeneration should bring a report to Cabinet on the proposed use of this sum.

 

The full details of the net growth are included in Appendix D to the report and savings in Appendix E.

 

The Leader referred to the petition received in response to reports that the School Crossing Patrol Service at Cardiff Road, Murch, Dinas Powys was being withdrawn.  The Leader stated that the proposed savings in respect of School Crossing Patrols did not refer to any particular location and that it was a requirement that before any existing patrols were withdrawn that a risk assessment be carried out and a report be prepared for Cabinet.

 

Legal, Public Protection and Housing Services

 

	Legal & Democ	Public Protec.	Private. Housing	Total
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Budget 2010/11	314	2,647	3,368	6,329
Transfers		-69	-125	-194
Recharges	-154	61	96	3
Adj. for 2010/11 Pay	-21	-17	-13	-51
Inflation	28	27	19	74
Net Growth	20			20
Savings	-236	-218	-136	-590
Changes in Asset Rentals/FRS 17	4	1	-9	-4
Budget 2011/12	-45	2,432	3,200	5,587

 

Income from land charges was falling due to the current economic climate and whilst some expenditure had been reduced to offset this a pressure remained estimated at £40k.  The Service would be expected to reconfigure its activities so that by 2012/13 this loss of income was covered.  However, as an interim measure, it was proposed that whilst the first £20k of any reduced income was met by the Service any additional loss of income in excess of this would be met corporately up to a maximum of £20k.

 

The full details of the net growth were included in Appendix D to the report and savings in Appendix E.

 

General Policy & Support Services

 

	Fin, ICT& Prop	Human Resrcs	Bldg Serv	Policy	Chief Exec	YOS	Total
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Budget 2010/11	209	18	-1	21,845	-15	734	22,790
Transfers	43	-3		311	165		516
Recharges	-281	-14	5	282	-39	4	-43
Adj. for 2010/11 Pay	-76	-15	-14		-26	-4	-135
Inflation	184	13	6	-66	50	7	194
Net Growth				690	45	62	797
Savings	-758	-72			-299	-50	-1,179
Changes in Asset Rentals/FRS 17	112	7	4	-1,257	43	1	-1,090
Budget 2011/12	-567	-66	0	21,805	-76	754	21,850

 

A sum of £2.5M was included in the base budget for the cost of Single Status and Job Evaluation.  An additional sum of £500k was included for staff costs, consultancy and external legal advice with regard to dealing with equal pay claims and implementation of the new pay and grading structure.  These sums should be sufficient for the medium term.

 

It was proposed that a “one-off” revenue contribution to capital outlay was made of £250k to contribute to the increased costs of the School Investment Strategy.

 

Included within the Policy budget was income from WAG for the Improvement Agreement Grant (£1.25M).  Payment of the Improvement Agreement Grant was dependant on the achievement of targets contained within the Improvement Agreement the Council has with WAG.

 

The full details of the net growth are included in Appendix D and savings in Appendix E.

 

Reserves

 

Reserves are a way of setting aside funds from budgets in order to provide security against future levels of expenditure and to manage the burden across financial years. Funds no longer required may be transferred to the General Fund surplus and then set aside for other purposes or used to reduce Council Tax.

Whilst the Council presently benefited from a reasonable level of reserves, they were not inexhaustible and had taken years of prudent financial management to develop to their current level.  As part of the Budget process, an examination of the level of reserves was undertaken to ascertain their adequacy and strategy for use.  The reserves were examined with a view to their:

 

Level – whether the amount held in the fund is sufficient to requirements

Purpose – whether the need to hold the fund is still relevant.

 

The estimated level of General Reserve at 1st April 2011 was £7.407M.  The proposed budget for 2011/12 assumed a use of £500k General Reserve to fund revenue expenditure.  On this basis the general reserve was estimated to fall to £6.907M at the end of 2011/12.

 

All reserves were considered to be adequate and at an appropriate level.

 

Scrutiny Committee (Economy and Environment) on 20th July, 2010 requested Cabinet to consider setting up a feasibility fund to assist the development of all projects in order that the Council could be sure it would be able to spend any grant funding received for projects without delay.  This request was referred by Cabinet on the 1st September 2010 to the BWG (minute no.C1016).  An existing reserve of £1M currently exists to fund initiatives that will result in savings. It was suggested that this Invest to Save reserve could also be used to fund such feasibility studies where the intention is to secure grant funding.  Services would apply to the Director of Finance, ICT and Property if they wished to use the reserve in the first instance.

 

It was projected that the aggregate nursery, primary and secondary balances would be £1.448M in surplus at 31st March 2011.  This included 2 primary schools with a combined deficit of £51k and 1 secondary school with a deficit of £136k.  All schools with deficit balances had submitted a robust action plan for repayment over a period of up to 5 years.  The action plans were rigorously monitored by Central Education.

 

Attached at Appendix F to the report was a schedule showing the reserves and the anticipated balances at the 31st March 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014.  The appendix set out the title of the reserve together with its purpose.  A summary of the position was set out below:

 

Summary of Estimated Reserves Projected to 2013/14	Est.  Bal. 1/4/2011	Net Mov’t	Est. Bal. 31/3/2014
	£’000	£’000	£’000
General Reserve	7,407		7,407
Specific Reserves	42,835	-21,208	21,627
Total General Fund (excl Schools)	50,242	-21,208	29,034
Schools Balances	3,336	-1,434	1,902
Total General Fund Reserves	53,578	-22,642	30,936

 

The total budget shown at Appendix C to the report was £201.536M.  After adjusting for discretionary rate relief of £150,000, it was £1.402M below the Council’s SSA of £202.788M. The 2010/11 budget was £1.018M below the SSA.

 

The most significant reason for the growth in the disparity between budget and SSA is that whilst the Council’s SSA was increased by £331k, the amount of related funding received from WAG (AEF) decreased by £1.796M. The amount of Council Tax increase required to ensure the budget increases by the same percentage as SSA is 4.1%. The Council Tax increase required for the Council’s budget to match its SSA is 6.1%.

 

The Council’s SSA (and IBA) is an indication of the relative resources needed to provide a standard level of service. It is based on statistical data and formulae, any of which can be flawed in assessing need. It is used primarily as a method of distributing AEF. It is not an absolute indicator of a required spending level for a particular service in a particular area. It is for local councils to best determine their own spending priorities in light of local circumstances.

 

If the Council decided to budget at £201.536M, deducting from this Revenue Support Grant of £121.681M, redistributed non-domestic rates of £28.951M produces a requirement of £50.904M to be met from Council Tax.  Dividing this by the Council Tax Base of 55,100, gives a level of Council Tax for this Council’s purposes (excluding police and community council precepts) for Band D properties of £923.85. This is an increase over the current year of £29.52 or 3.3%.

 

The average of the Council Tax set by Council’s in Wales for 2010/11 at Band D was £939.29, whilst the Vale’s was £894.33.  The BWG considered the suggestion arising from the Citizen’s Panel consultation exercise to increase council tax over a reasonable period to the Welsh average as a means of reducing the level of service cuts. The BWG view is that the proposed increase in Council Tax at 3.3%, which is below the current level of inflation, is a reasonable compromise between the pressure on services and the financial pressures facing council taxpayers.

 

The proposed budget used £500k of General Reserve.  The use of reserves for funding recurrent expenditure is clearly not sustainable. Consequently, the strategy as set out in the Medium Term Financial Plan is to reduce the use of reserves to balance the revenue budget in future years.

 

The estimated balance on the General Reserve at 31st March 2012 is £6.907M.

 

In order for the Council not to be exposed to unacceptable risk it is essential that all Services maintain their expenditure within budget and that this is a major priority for Directors, Heads of Service, and all Managers.

 

Services’ budgets were generally under pressure. The continuing impact of the economic climate will increase this pressure particularly on Housing (homelessness), Social Services and Housing Benefit. The impact on homelessness is exacerbated by the shortage of suitable available social housing in the Vale.

 

There remained a particular risk in the Social Services budget as unforeseen circumstances can lead to increased demand for services. Provision has been made in the budget for a 2% increase in community care providers’ fees and each 1% increase above this incurs additional costs of about £200k per annum. Underlying pressure in Adult Community Care packages from demand and pressure on fees could approach £2M for 2011/12 and measures will need to be put into place by the Service to manage this issue and remain within budget.

 

The economic climate was also affecting the level of income received by services e.g. planning fees, land charge fees, leisure centre charges etc. It could also have an adverse impact on Council Tax income. The budget assumes a collection rate of 97%, for each fall of 1% in this rate the Council would lose about £509k of revenue.

 

A significant risk facing the Council remained Single Status and Job Evaluation. The pressures arose from 3 areas, namely, the increased on-going annual costs of the proposed pay structure, costs of any hardship and potential compensation. The exercise is considerably progressed and the Trade Unions have agreed to ballot their members in the Spring.  Sufficient sums have been included in the budget and reserves for the proposed pay structure, however it is not yet known whether the ballot will give a positive vote and that this will lead to a collective agreement. To provide Members with an idea of the size of the risk, a 1% increase on the annual pay bill (excluding teaching staff but including on-costs of National Insurance and superannuation) is about £0.8M. Should the sum set aside be insufficient to cover the eventual costs then Services will be required to find further savings to cover the increased costs. This is likely to result in reduced services for the public and has implications for jobs.

 

A number of equal pay claims had been received from employees, which the Council was currently contesting.  However, if the Council was unsuccessful or decided to settle, the costs of meeting these and related claims could be very significant.  It was intended that in this eventuality the Council would apply to WAG for a capitalisation direction equivalent to the amount of the expenditure, which would enable the Council to spread the costs of the claims over a period of years.  The success of the application was difficult to predict and in the current climate could well be turned down.  In this eventuality some reserves would need to be “unearmarked”.  Again meeting the costs of this was likely to result in reduced services and jobs.

 

The amount of savings required to balance the budget was challenging and a further risk is that price inflation has generally been provided at a rate of 2%. The Consumer Price Index for the year to December 2010 shows the annual increase to be 3.7%.

 

The budget proposals would have implications for the Council’s 6k employees (4k in full-time equivalents) and there will be a loss of jobs. 

 

The reduction for 2011/12, excluding schools, is estimated as 116.85 in full-time equivalents (fte) with an estimated potential 59 redundancies. The impact on individuals has been mitigated as a proportion of these savings have been found from posts currently vacant and others from natural wastage. The overall reduction in budgeted staff over the 3 years in Appendix E is 141.29 fte. The estimated number of potential redundancies over the same period is 86 although this figure needs to be treated with extreme caution due to changing circumstances over the period.  In addition the savings are over this 3 year period are some £3.3M short of the target and so the eventual loss of jobs is likely to be higher.

 

The Council has an Avoiding Redundancy Procedure that will be followed and includes a requirement for the Council to search for suitable alternative employment. The numbers of employees referred to are only those impacted by the budget and exclude those affected by restructuring proposals for other, more service driven reasons.

 

The above figures do not include the staffing implications relating to budget pressures within schools as the details need to be considered by individual Governing Bodies and supported by the Director of Learning and Development. There are, however, likely to be staff reductions and redundancies depending on each schools circumstances. Individual schools will also be impacted by whether they have growing or falling pupil numbers.  The Director of Learning and Development will need to establish the impact of the budget on employees in schools.

 

The Trade Unions will continue to be consulted on the details of any potential redundancies once known, as will the Government Department for Business Innovation and Skills in accordance with the Council’s own local procedures and statutory requirements.

 

In light of the staffing implications of the savings proposals it is essential to ensure that consultation with the trade unions is carried out in accordance with the Council’s Avoiding Redundancy Policy  and related legal requirements. Such consultation will be important given the anticipated number of redundancies over the 3 year period and the need to consider measures to reduce and mitigate the effect on staff. A bi-weekly “change forum” has been set up with the trade unions to help co-ordinate the consultation process and deal with cross Directorate issues. A similar approach, involving the Director of Learning and Development, needs to be considered in relation to schools to progress consultation in individual schools.

 

The numbers of potential redundancies over the next few years will also require the roll-out of a number of measures including the strengthening of the Council’s redeployment processes, the tightening of the Council’s vacancy control processes and, where appropriate the targeted search for voluntary redundancies/reduced hours.

 

Statement of Section 151 Officer on Robustness of Estimates

 

The Local Government Act 2003 requires that the Director of Finance, ICT and Property must report on the robustness of the estimates, which are to be approved by Council. This section constitutes that assurance.

 

In view of the uncertainties of the current and future economic climate there is increased risk facing the Council’s financial position and as a consequence services. This has been recognised and referenced within this report, where relevant, together with actions that can be taken to manage that risk.

 

Savings are regarded as achievable and have been carefully examined with risk and measures to mitigate identified. The role of the Scrutiny Budget Task and Finish Group has been particularly important in this regard. The recommendations in this report stress the importance of the mitigating actions being implemented.

 

Estimates in the budget report are robust subject to any reservations/ qualification or other commentary contained in the budget reports. All services’ expenditures are under pressure and there is always a risk that a service may overspend, particularly in light of unforeseen circumstances. 

A measure to guard against this will be to monitor the budget during the year, to identify problems as they arise and put in place remedial action. Cabinet, Scrutiny and Managers have a key role in reviewing and maintaining budgetary performance.

 

Reserves have been reviewed and are adequate to cover contingencies.

 

Part of the report was for Executive decision, the remainder required adoption by the Council.

 

RESOLVED -

 

(1)       T H A T Cabinet recommend to Council the following:

 

(i)         Fix the budget for 2011/12 at £201.536 million including a provision of £150,000 for discretionary rate relief to rural shops and post offices and charitable organisations.

 

(ii)        Approve the budgets for 2011/12 as set out in Appendix C to the report, the totals as follows:

 

	£’000
Education and Schools	91,073
Libraries	2,777
Lifelong Learning	1,542
Catering	1,189
Children & Young People	13,617
Adult Services	32,751
Service Strategy	370
Planning and Transportation	3,160
Economic Development and Leisure	7,033
Visible Services	21,087
Legal, Democratic & Registrars	-45
Public Protection	2,432
Private Housing/Community Safety	3,200
Finance, ICT & Property	-567
Human Resources	-66
Building Services	0
General Policy	21,805
Chief Executive	-76
Youth Offending Services	754
General Fund Reserve	-500

 

(iii)       Approve the recommendations regarding Net Growth set out in Appendix D.

 

(iv)       The relevant Directors progress the areas for savings detailed at Appendix E to the report, and that the year indicated be regarded as the latest in which the saving should be realised (unless specifically deferred as a mitigating action).

 

(v)        That the mitigating actions and measures identified in Appendix E to the report be mandatory on Services.

 

(vi)       Set the Council Tax for 2011/12 for its own purposes (excluding police and town and community council precepts) at the following levels:

 

Band	Council Tax £
A	615.90
B	718.55
C	821.20
D	923.85
E	1129.15
F	1334.45
G	1539.75
H	1847.70
I	2155.65

 

(vii)      The proposed draft report on Education Budget and IBA at Appendix A to the report be endorsed and the Director of Learning and Development make arrangements for it to be forwarded to the School Budget Forum and WAG.

 

(viii)     The Director of Learning and Development be given delegated powers to determine the amount of money to be allocated to the schools’ delegated budgets after consultation with the Schools Budget Forum, subject to the Individual Schools Budget (ISB) being no less than the Welsh Assembly Government’s target.

 

(ix)       The Strategy as set out in paragraphs 19 to 45 of the report be adopted.

 

(x)        The savings targets for 2011/12 to 2013/14 be as follows and that Directors identify the specific measures required to achieve them by June 2011 to be included in the Medium Term Financial Plan:

 

	£’000
Learning & Development	1,926
Social Services	4,903
Environmental & Economic Regeneration	3,558
Legal, Public Protection & Private Housing	677
Finance, ICT & Property	878
Chief Executive	675
Total	12,617

 

and where inflation exceeds 2%, Directorates identify additional savings to cover the increased costs.

 

(xi)       The Leader and Chief Executive reduce senior management structures achieving a minimum saving of £200,000 by 2012/13.

 

(xii)      Should a housing stock transfer take place, the balances transferring to the General Fund from the HRA be used to cover the consequential increased costs falling on the General Fund until measures to reduce it can take effect.

 

(2)       T H A T Cabinet approve the following:

 

(i)         A sum of £550,000 be set aside in a Severe Weather Reserve and a sum of £640,000 be transferred to the Visible Services Reserve, funded by the projected under spending on revenue in 2010/11 and that the budget be amended accordingly.

 

(ii)        A report be brought to Cabinet on the details of the use of the above £640,000.

 

(iii)       The Director of Learning and Development prepare a medium term financial and service plan report for the Schools Budget Forum including details of the support he will give to schools in keeping within their budgets, such report to be prepared by the end of April 2011.

 

(iv)       The increased employee costs for the first year of implementing job evaluation in individual schools be funded from the Single Status Reserve.

 

(v)        The Director of Environmental and Economic Regeneration  prepare a report for Cabinet detailing the proposed use of the additional  “one-off” funding of £900,000 for highways and infrastructure.

 

(vi)       The Director of Environmental and Economic Regeneration prepare a report for Cabinet on the outcome of the risk assessment before existing school crossing patrols are withdrawn.

 

(vii)      That saving E16 and C1 be not implemented until 2012/13.

 

(viii)     That the Director of Finance ICT and Property carry out the following and prepare a report for Cabinet:

 

·                         Consider the merger of the Schools IT service into the Council’s ICT Division to achieve 10% savings.

·                         Review insurances within the Council to consider ways the Council can reduce the cost.

 

(ix)       That the Chief Executive carry out the following and prepare a report for Cabinet:

 

·                         Consider an amalgamation of services for Cabinet Support, Scrutiny and Committee Services, Improvement & Development Team, Mayor’s Office and Members’ Services to achieve savings in the region of 10%.

·                         Review the Equalities Team in order to ascertain future savings and whether the responsibilities for the staffing aspects of equalities should transfer to the Human Resources Division.

 

(x)        That the Director of Social Services incorporate within his Change Plan a review of the service areas under Business Management and Innovation, and a review of the possibility of shared training on a regional basis.

 

(xi)       That the Director of Environmental & Economic Regeneration carry out the following and prepare a report for Cabinet:

 

·                         Investigate the rationalisation of the service areas of Planning Policy and Transportation, Policy and Conservation, Road Safety and Public Transport  to achieve savings.

·                         Investigate the rationalisation of the service areas for Urban Regeneration, Business Development and Town Management to achieve savings.

 

(xii)      The following areas be pursued by the Corporate Management Team:

 

·                         Eliminating non-essential expenditure (e.g. printing, publications, furniture, conferences, use of non-Council buildings for training purposes etc.).

·                         Developing a protocol for engagement of consultants and agency staff.

·                         Seeking further ways to reduce the pay bill (e.g. voluntary reduction in working hours, use of the voluntary/third sector).

·                         Building upon the current work to develop a robust programme for workforce planning.

 

(xiii)     The Director of Social Services engage with the Vale Council for Voluntary Services and Citizens Advice Bureau on their ideas for more efficient and effective involvement of the voluntary sector, eliminating any areas of duplication and identifying saving, as part of the new Social Services Change Plan and report back on progress in this regard to Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Resources).

 

(xiv)     The use of the Invest to Save reserve be extended to cover the cost of feasibility work where this would secure grant funding.

 

(xv)      Equality Impact Assessments for each proposed area of saving be undertaken by the relevant chief officer.

 

(xvi)     Consultation is undertaken with the recognised Trade Unions.

 

Reasons for the decisions

 

(1)      

 

(i)         Set 2011/12 budget in line with statutory requirements.

 

(ii, iii&iv)         Allocation of budget to services.

 

(v)        Reduce risk to services.

 

(vi)       Set Council Tax levels for 2011/12.

 

(vii)      So that the report can be presented to the Schools Budget Forum and WAG.

 

(viii)     Set out delegated authority in relation to allocation of Education and Schools budget.

 

(ix&x)  To put in place a strategy for achieving savings

 

(xi)       To rationalise the senior management structure.

 

(xii)      To reduce the impact on vital services.

 

(2)      

 

(i&ii)    To improve the highways and infrastructure.

 

(iii)       To put in place a coherent service and financial strategy for future years for Education and to assist schools in meeting cost pressures.

 

(iv)       To assist schools in implementing single status pay structures.

 

(v)        To identify the schemes to be carried out.

 

(vi)       To inform members of the risk assessment.

 

(vii)      To enable time for adequate arrangements to be put in place.

 

(viii - xiii)         To seek to identify further efficiencies.

 

(xiv)     To assist in securing grant funding.

 

(xv)      To monitor the impact on relevant groups of people.

 

(xvi)     To comply with Council policy and statutory requirements.

 

C1222                        FINAL CAPITAL PROGRAMME PROPOSALS 2011/12 (L) (SCRUTINY - CORPORATE RESOURCES) -

 

Approval was sought for the final capital programme proposals for 2011/12.

 

The initial capital budget proposals were considered by Cabinet on 17th November 2010 (minute no. C1121). They were subsequently referred to each Scrutiny Committee during November/December 2010 and their comments were passed to the Scrutiny Committee (Corporate Resources), which is the Lead Scrutiny Committee on the budget. The minutes and recommendations of Scrutiny were referred to the Cabinet on the 19th January 2011 and referred by them for consideration by the Budget Working Group (BWG). Subsequently the BWG noted all the Scrutiny recommendations and took responses into account in drafting the final budget proposals.  Specific comments are set out below.

 

Corporate Resources Scrutiny Committee, at its meeting on the 7th December 2010 (minute 714), considered the budget and the comments from other Scrutiny Committees. Their recommendations and the BWG response is set out below:

 

(1)       That, the initial budget proposals be noted, that the scheme in respect of Cross Common Road be reprioritised as a priority 3 and that all of the above comments be forwarded to Cabinet for further consideration. (BWG - revisited the prioritisation of the Cross Common bridge scheme and recommended that the scheme be considered from Visible Services additional revenue funding of £900k).

 

The BWG considered all the deliberations and concerns of the Scrutiny Committees. With regard to specific recommendations, other than those that were noted only, the BWG response is set out below:

 

Economy and Environment (30th November 2010) recommended that the following schemes under the unsuccessful bids be re-prioritised:-

 

(i)         Cross Common Road Bridge demolition and junction improvement.  Due to the issues raised by householders in the vicinity that flooding was a major concern, the bridge was narrow and serious accidents had taken place requested that the priority be moved from priority 4 to priority 3.  (BWG – see above)

 

(ii)        Llysworney By Pass - members advised that traffic issues at this site were immense and the by pass was essential.  It was requested that the scheme be given a priority 3 rating. However if the scheme is still not approved they urged the Director to consider an alternative solution ie. a one way system.  (BWG - confirmed the current priority and recommended that the Director of Environmental and Economic Regeneration consider alternative options to the proposals.)

 

(iii)       Penarth Esplanade Refurbishment - it was requested that the scheme be moved to priority 3 in light of the stage 1 Lottery bid that had been accepted. (BWG – no change to the current priority but consider funding once the pier pavilion scheme is completed). 

 

They also noted the report and requested that the comments of the Committee forwarded to Corporate Resources and Cabinet.

 

School Investment Strategy

 

The table shown in Appendix B to the report listed the schemes identified in the School Investment Strategy for the period 2011/12 to 2015/16.

 

Welsh Medium Seed Schools - the indicative capital programme included a 2011/12 budget of £2.5M for proposed new Welsh Medium provision at Barry and Llantwit Major. The scheme has needed to be extended to take account of future needs for the new intake and as such has been identified in separate phases. Barry is split into two distinct phases, an immediate start on phase 1, for September 2011 intake is currently seeking planning approval. Phase 2 is anticipated to commence in 2013/14 and will accommodate the needs of these pupils the following year. As the future needs for Llantwit Major are not determined at this stage, Cabinet were currently only requested to approve phase 1 costs. Should it be decided that a second phase is required, funding would need to be identified and Cabinet approval sought at a future date.     

 

Llantwit Major Comprehensive School Resource Centre – this 40 year old building is reaching the end of its economic life. The building is in poor condition, suffering from structural deterioration requiring major investment. Options have been considered to replace this accommodation, e.g. relocation within existing accommodation. However, the Education Service considers there is insufficient space to fully meet the accommodation needs. A permanent build solution has also been considered with an estimated cost of £750k but the preferred option is to accommodate some functions in the existing school buildings and provide a demountable building, at a cost of £300k, to meet the remaining needs of the school. The demountable building can be relocated to another site should funding become available for a new build to replace the existing school.

 

Penarth Learning Community – due to the considerable funding gap previously identified with this scheme the scope of the work has been reduced by some £6M and the total costs have been reduced from £57M to £51.028M. Whereas the previous capital budget has only included council funding required for this scheme, Appendix A of this report identifies the gross budget for the proposed works and profiles its expected progress over the period 2012/13 to 2015/16. Funding of the scheme is discussed below (para.11).

 

The Education Service had bid for funding for the Barry Comprehensive School Art Block. This two storey demountable building was badly deteriorated and nearing 25 years old.  A provisional estimate for replacing the building was £1.5M however funding was not identified.  Further work was required on options both to resolve the problem and identify sources of funding.

 

Funding the School Investment Strategy - the table shown in Appendix B indicates the funding available for the School Investment Strategy as outlined in the following paragraphs and Appendix A of this report.  Incorporated within the funding table is a revenue contribution to capital outlay of £250k from the 2011/12 Policy revenue budget.

 

Penarth Learning Community – WAG have made an in principle decision to approve 70% grant funding on this scheme. The Council is required to identify 30% match funding from other sources. Since the scheme was originally submitted the total cost has reduced to £51.028M, as set out in para. 8. The funding for the scheme has now been identified and a summary of the funding is shown below.

 

	£'000
Penarth Learning Community Funding  Requirement	51,028
2008/09 to 2010/11
WAG grant	1,254
Council funding	398
	1,652
2012/13 to 2015/16
General Capital Funding	5,662
School Investment Strategy reserve	908
Capital Receipts s106 Penarth Heights	4000 783
Potential prudential borrowing (annual capital charges to be met from existing Education revenue budget)	1,000
Total Council funding	12,353
WAG funding  (@ 70% of £49.376m assumed)	34,563
Contributions from other Councils using the facility	2,460
	49,376

 

As the previous table showed, it was anticipated that the 30% funding would include monies from internal reserves, general capital funding, £1M unsupported borrowing (as originally approved), capital receipts of £4M from sales of school land and contributions from other councils.

 

There was a risk that some of the capital receipts might not be realised in the required timeframe (or at all) and as such there was a real possibility that further prudential borrowing may be required until they are received.

 

The Capital Programme assumed that the £2.46M to come from other councils would be received as a capital contribution. If this was not the case the Vale would need to prudentially borrow for those sums and recoup the costs through increased charges for school places for those councils not making the capital contribution.  There was a potential risk that these revenue contributions could reduce should pupil places taken up by those councils fall.

 

As stated above there may be a need for additional prudential borrowing to be undertaken up to a maximum of about £6M (£7M in total).  The repayment of this level of debt can be met by Education revenue budgets although this would very severely constrain the Council's ability to fund any future schemes. This is of concern as the schemes listed in Appendix B to the report do not fully address the poor state of repair of some schools in the Vale.

 

The Education revenue budget could support circa £600k for capital charges on unsupported (prudential) borrowing and so the unsupported borrowing outlined in Appendix B to the report can be afforded (£1M borrowing costs about £80k p.a. in annual capital charges based on current interest rates).

 

The Vale is in the process of preparing a submission to WAG for capital expenditure required on schools under its 21st Century schools initiative. Any schemes included within the submission that are not included within Appendix B to the report will be heavily reliant on WAG grant to be able to proceed.  It is imperative therefore that the Council seek additional resources, such as receipts from the sale of land. These will be essential if WAG funding is not forthcoming or to “match” any grants WAG may provide (30% match funding was required for the Penarth Learning Community).

Capital Programme 2011/12

 

Appendix A to the report outlined the proposed 2011/12 Capital Programme.

 

Housing Improvement Programme – the Authority was currently balloting its tenants on a potential Housing Stock Transfer. The result of the ballot would not be known until Spring 2011 so the proposed Capital Programme, as shown in Appendix A to the report, excluded any expenditure on the Housing Improvement Programme, should tenants vote against stock transfer. The current Housing Business Plan indicates expenditure as follows:-

 

2011/12 £5.741M (of which, MRA of £2.7M is included in Appendix A)

 

2012/13 £14.356M

 

2013/14 £14.643M

 

2014/15 £14.936M

 

2015/16 £15.197M

 

The Major Repairs Allowance (MRA), which is the grant that provides capital funding to the Housing Revenue Account (HRA), for 2011/12 has now been announced by the Welsh Assembly Government and remains at £2.7M.

Included in the Capital Programme Proposals is a match-funding budget of £500k for the Castleland Renewal Area.  The 2011/12 grant offer from WAG has not yet been received by the Authority but Cabinet will be informed as soon as this is received.

 

As part of the Final Capital Programme Proposals 2010/11, and in recognition of the poor condition of the Authority’s highway network, Council on 3rd March 2010 approved an increase in the Highway Maintenance budget for 2010/11 and 2011/12 to £600k. This is reflected in Appendix A to the report.

 

A sum of £50k has been set aside in the Social Services capital programme for a feasibility study into the provision of an extra care facility and other accommodation requirements of adults requiring care. The study will look at options for provision and alternative sources of funding.

 

Dyffryn Estate - the sum of £1.5M has been set aside for major remedial works at the Dyffryn Estate which have been highlighted as being required following a recent survey of the estate. This sum is reflected in Appendix A to the report.

 

In addition to funding from the Welsh Assembly Government, the Council will finance part of the capital programme from its own resources, e.g. capital receipts and reserves. The table below details the General Capital Funding and internal resources required to fund the proposed schemes.

 

Analysis of Net Funding Required for the Indicative 2011/12 Capital Programme

General Fund                                                             £’000               £’000 Welsh Assembly Government Resources  Supported Borrowing                                                           4,620 General Capital Grant                                                          2,076                                                                                                                           6,696 Council Resources Capital Receipts                                                                          0 Reserves/Leasing                                                                 7,908                                                                                                                           7,908            Net Capital Resources                                                                                 14,604                          Housing              Major Repairs Allowance                                                       2,700 Housing Reserves                                                                    50                                                                                                                           2,750 Net Capital Resources                                                                                   2,750

 

The 2011/12 budgets would require the approval of Council.

 

RESOLVED -

 

(1)       T H A T the final budget proposals for the 2011/12 Capital Programme as set out in Appendix A to the report be recommended to Council for approval.

 

(2)       T H AT where budgets in future years, shown in Appendix A to the report, are highlighted in bold, Council formally approve these budgets now, while the remainder are indicative only.

 

(3)       T H A T The Director of Finance, ICT and Property, in consultation with the Cabinet Member responsible for Finance, be given delegated authority to make additions, deletions or transfers to or from the 2011/12 Asset Renewal budgets as appropriate. 

 

(4)       T H A T the Director of Finance, ICT and Property, in consultation with the Cabinet Member responsible for Finance, be given delegated authority to make additions, deletions or transfers to or from the 2011/12 Housing Capital Programme as appropriate.

 

(5)       T H A T Cabinet recommend that the Director of Environmental and Economic Regeneration consider the priority of improvements at Cross Common Road Bridge when preparing the report on use of the additional funding proposed for highways and infrastructure in the Revenue Budget report.

 

(6)       T H A T Cabinet recommend that the Director of Environmental and Economic Regeneration consider alternative options to the Llysworney by-pass scheme.

 

(7)       T H A T the policy for making minimum revenue provision in 2011/12 be approved and recommended to Council for approval. 

 

Reasons for the decisions

 

(1)       To set and approve future capital programmes.

 

(2)       To allow schemes that span more than one year to be fully approved.

 

(3)       To enable the Asset Renewal budgets to be managed efficiently.

 

(4)       To enable the Housing Capital budget to be managed efficiently.

 

(5)       To consider funding for the scheme.

 

(6)       To  consider alternative options for the scheme.

 

(7)       For Council to agree the basis of the MRP calculation for 2011/12.

 

 

C1223                        FINAL HOUSING REVENUE ACCOUNT BUDGET PROPOSALS 2011/2012 (L) (SCRUTINY - HOUSING AND PUBLIC PROTECTION) -

 

Cabinet considered the budget for the financial year 2011/12 and also considered the rents and service charges for the forthcoming rent year which begins on 4th April, 2011.

 

Each local housing authority was required under Section 74, of the 1989 Local Government and Housing Act to keep a Housing Revenue Account.  Section 76 of the Act requires Local Authorities to set a budget for their Housing Revenue Account (HRA) on an annual basis.  The budget must be such that the Housing Revenue Account is not in deficit at the year end.

 

During the course of the year, Local Authorities must review their HRA expenditure and income and if, on the basis of the information available the account is heading for a deficit, they must take steps as are reasonably practical to prevent this deficit. A Local Authority is not prohibited from being in deficit but will need to demonstrate that the deficit has arisen through exceptional circumstances and that it has revised its original proposals so far as reasonably practical to avoid the deficit.  Such a deficit shall be carried forward and must be made good the following year.

 

Each Local Authority should endeavour to have a working balance on the HRA, for any exceptional circumstances that may arise.

 

The level of rent increase is based on the Housing Subsidy Determination issued by the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG). The HRA Subsidy Determination was issued on the 10th February 2010 which provided an all Wales average rent increase of 5.6% (RPI+1%), for the Vale of Glamorgan this equates to an 5.52% increase.

 

Cabinet considered the initial budget proposals on 17th November 2010, Housing and Public Protection Scrutiny Committee on 1st December 2010 and Corporate Resources on 7th December 2010.

 

The Housing Revenue Account (HRA) was currently showing a favourable variance of £194k this is because there are some employee vacancies, an under spend on supplies and services and a favourable variance for external income. It is still expected that the HRA will outturn on target at a surplus of £2,236,000 as reported to Cabinet on 2nd February 2011. As the Housing Revenue Account is ring fenced any surplus or deficit at the year end will increase or decrease the Housing Revenue Account Balance.

 

Welsh Assembly officials had held meetings with Treasury officials to raise the issue of the inequity of the current HRA subsidy arrangements within Wales. In response to these meetings, the Assembly officials were to provide a paper by mid February 2011 evidencing the unfairness of the current arrangements and why Wales wishes to come out of the HRA subsidy system.

 

A WLGA meeting was held on 19th January 2011 at Cardiff County Hall to provide an update to authorities regarding these issues, and what might be the 'deal breakers' for dismantling the HRAs arrangements in Wales.

 

The meeting agreed that:

 

·                         No Authority should be worse off under any new arrangements; and

·                         Restrictions on borrowing should be minimal, to allow Authorities to invest and potentially build again.

 

The Government Housing Minister recently published (1st February 2011) details of the new financial deal for Council Housing in England. This new approach, developed in partnership with local government, will bring an end to the Housing Revenue Account subsidy system in place of a 'self-financing' housing system. The proposed date for implementation is April 2012.

 

The objective of the new self-financing approach is stated as to put councils firmly in control with the tools and incentives they need to manage their housing stock over the long term and to provide an opportunity to make the housing account much more transparent to tenants and general taxpayers. This will be achieved by a one-off settlement payment to or from Government, after which councils will retain all the rental income they collect.

 

The settlement payment to or from Government will be based on the valuation of each Local Authority's income and need to spend over 30 years compared with the notional amount of housing debt supported by Housing Revenue Account subsidy (the Subsidy Capital Financing Requirement). If the valuation is higher than the subsidy debt figure, the local authority will be required to pay the government the difference. If the valuation is lower, the Government will pay the difference to the local authority. Payments from Central Government will in most cases not go to local authorities directly, but will be used to redeem debt held by the local authority. The scale of the transactions required to implement self-financing is substantial and will require most authorities to borrow through the Public Works Loan Board (PWLB) to fund this settlement payment. The forecasts receipt to the Exchequer is £6.711billion.

 

Authorities had been set an indicative borrowing limit for this settlement payment, which is based on debt taken on plus the higher of Subsidy Capital Finance Requirement or 2010 opening Housing Capital Financing Requirement. Although abolishing the HRA subsidy system for a settlement payment is expected to benefit English authorities in the long term, it will be challenging for the first 5 years.

 

It was unclear if any model which may replace the Housing Revenue Account subsidy in Wales would follow the English Model. Due to the current uncertainty, it is also impractical to determine if a similar reform in Wales would prove beneficial in the short or long term to the Vale of Glamorgan Council.

 

The Budget Strategy for 2011/12 outlined that, in order to establish a baseline, services should prepare revenue budgets for next year based on the cost of providing the current level of service and approved policy decisions. This means that the cost of price increases and pay awards should be included.

 

Due to the nature of the HRA in that it is ring fenced and any growth had to be funded from the balance no Cost Pressures have been formally identified.  The budget is presented in the traditional objective analysis format.

 

The proposed 2011/12 budget is set out at Appendix A to the report.

 

·                         HRA (General) - This budget head relates to general expenditure such as insurance and audit fees and income from rents and service charges.  

·                         Housing Subsidy payable to WAG - This budget relates to the estimated amount of rent income that is paid to WAG.

·                         General Management - This budget head relates to the general management of the Council's housing stock, for work carried out within the Housing service, and for various issues relating to the Council tenancies excluding the repairs and maintenance function.

·                         Special Services - This budget relates to the running expenses and the cost of staff employed directly within the Housing service, in relation to functions such as elderly services, running the hostel etc. 

·                         Housing Repairs Fund Contribution - This budget relates to the repairs and maintenance service for the Council Housing Stock. 

·                         Central Support & Operational Building Charges - This budget relates to the services provided by other Departments within the Council, and the cost of office accommodation occupied by the Housing Services staff.

·                         Capital Expenditure from Revenue Account (CERA) - This budget relates to a contribution made from the revenue account towards capital expenditure.

·                         Capital Financing - This budget includes debt charges for any capital works undertaken relating to the Housing Revenue Account.

 

Scrutiny Committee (Housing & Public Protection) on the 26th May 2010 recommended to Cabinet that it consider the appointment of an additional senior Occupational Therapist (OT) to reduce the number of voided tenancies and ensure that adapted properties were allocated appropriately. Cabinet on the 23rd June 2010 (C928) referred the matter to the Budget Working Group. The Budget Working Group's response is that £30k has been set aside for 2011/12 to fund one-full time Occupational Therapist post on a temporary basis to March 2012.

 

Rent increases were based on the Subsidy Determination issued by the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG). The Subsidy Determinations specify a guideline rent increase; any increase over and above this will be subject to Housing Benefit Rent Rebate Limitations, which means that the HRA will be liable for a proportion of the additional increase. Therefore it is important that rent increases are kept within this guideline. 

 

Rent Levels - The increase recommended by the Welsh Assembly Government for subsidy purposes equates to an increase of 5.52% on guideline rent, by taking this increase and then applying the transitional limits still in place following rent harmonisation, the average rent increase per property type would be as detailed below. 

 

Type	Present Average Rent (50 Week Basis)	Proposed Increase (50 Week Basis)	Proposed Average Rent (50 Week Basis)
Bungalow	£70.31 per week	£4.32	£74.63
Flat	£63.71 per week	£2.71	£66.42
House	£77.07 per week	£4.61	£81.68
Maisonette	£69.20 per week	£3.40	£72.60

 

Garage Rents - The rent of freestanding garages is currently £5.72 per week.  It is proposed that rent for all garages are increased 5.52% to £6.04 per week.  This percentage increase is in line with the recommended increase to dwelling rents.

 

Hostel - The current charge for persons accommodated at Hafan Treharne, Barry is £128.75 per week, it was proposed that the weekly rent charge should increase to £135.86 per week.  As rooms at the hostel are classified as HRA dwellings, the rents charged are also subject to Housing Benefit Rent Rebate Limitations, which means that hostel rents must not increase by more than the guideline rent increase issued by WAG, i.e. 5.52%. 

 

28 Evans Street, Barry - This property, owned by the Council, is let to Llamau Housing Trust and comprises of six units of accommodation.  The current weekly charge is £429.25. It was proposed that the charge be increased by a maximum of 5.52%, in line with the recommended increase for the Hostel.  The weekly charge will therefore be £452.94 per week.

 

Sheltered Housing Guest Suites - It was proposed that the charges for guest room facilities are increased by 5.52% (in line with the rent increase) to £10.12 per person per night for double occupancy and £14.48 for single occupancy.

 

The charges in the following paragraphs were not affected by the HRA Subsidy Determinations, but were based on the agreed Service Charge Policy which stated that charges would be based on the best estimated cost of providing the service in the forthcoming year, using prior year's information and any known contract costs:-

 

Heating - The cost of providing heating to sheltered properties had increased.  It is proposed that the charge be increased from £8.21 per week to £9.15 per week.

 

Warden Management & Support Charge - It is proposed that the Warden Management and Support charge be increased from £9.19 per week to £9.44 per week.  Where tenants were eligible, the support charge element which had increased from £6.26 to £6.68 per week would be paid through the Supporting People Grant (SPG).

 

Vale Community Alarm Service (VCAS) - This was a charge which formed part of the inclusive rent, but was separately identifiable.  It had been agreed to increase the VCAS charges by 5.52% (in line with the rent increase).

 

Sewerage Treatment Plants - The charge to owners of all purchased and private dwellings connected to Council owned and maintained treatment plants were currently £282.64 per annum.  Based on the average charge payable if the properties were connected to the main sewerage system it is proposed that these dwelling were charge at a similar sewerage rates to the Water Schedule 2011-12 issued by Dwr Cymru Welsh Water, which was expected to be issued on the 14th February 2011.

 

In summary the change in the controllable budget was itemised as follows:-

 

2010/2011 Original Budget	Inflation / Pay Award	Committed Growth / Savings	Estimated Rent Increase	2011/12 Proposed Budget
£000	£000	£000	£000	£000
(4,079)	15	634	(772)	(4,202)

 

The committed growth of £634,000 was due to a number of factors:

 

·                         A increase in Housing Repairs of £500,000

·                         A increase in HRA Subsidy payable to WAG £74,000

·                         A reduction in HRA interest on balances as a result of low interest rates £100,000

 

These had been partially offset by:-

 

·                         Other budget adjustments totalling £40,000

 

This was a matter for determination by the Council.

 

RESOLVED -

 

(1)       T H A T the final budget proposals for 2011/12 as outlined below be recommended to Council:

 

	Proposed Budget 2011/12
	£'000
HRA General	(14,487)
HRA Subsidy Payable to WAG	5,075
General Management	865
Special Services	845
Housing Repairs Contribution	3,500
Central Support & Operational Buildings	1,561
Capital Expenditure from Revenue Account (CERA)	280
Capital Financing	185
Net Expenditure / Income	(2,177)
Working Balance Brought Forward	(10,839)
Working Balance Carried Forward	(13,016)

 

(2)       T H A T the increase suggested for rent and other services be approved and recommended to Council, as set out in paragraphs 20-29 of the report.

 

(3)       T H A T the following charges for 2011/12 financial year be recommended to Council:-

 

50 Week Basis	Current Charges	Proposed Charges
Heating	£8.21 per week	£9.15 per week
Warden Support Charge	£6.26 per week	£6.68 per week
Warden Management charge	£2.93 per week	£2.76 per week
VCAS: - Piper - Communicall	£3.51 per week £3.99 per week	£3.70 per week £4.21 per week
Grounds Maintenance	£1.15 per week	£1.17 per week
Cleaning of communal areas	£1.82 per week	£1.63 per week
Lighting of communal areas	£1.25 per week	£1.03 per week
Laundry Facilities	£0.11 per week	£0.11 per week
Window Cleaning	£0.22 per week	£0.24 per week
CCTV	£0.37 per week	£0.35 per week
Lift Maintenance	£0.73 per week	£0.32 per week
Door Entry	£0.36 per week	£0.40 per week
Intercom	£0.20 per week	£0.49 per week
Sewerage Treatment Plants	£282.64 per annum	Based on the Rateable      Value (RV) from the Water Schedule 2011-12

 

(4)       T H A T all changes to rents and service charges be implemented from 4th April 2011 and that increase notices be sent to tenants 28 days in advance of the new charges coming into effect. 

 

Reasons for the decisions

 

(1)       As required by statute.

 

(2)       In order that new rent levels are set within the specified Welsh Assembly Government guidelines, and that the budget accurately reflects any changes necessary.

 

(3)       In order that new charges are approved in time for any administration changes to be carried out.

 

(4)       In order to meet the deadline to notify tenants of the new charges as required by Statute

 

 

C1224                        DRAFT EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY SCHEME, ACTION PLAN AND EQUALITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT (HRE) (SCRUTINY - CORPORATE RESOURCES) -

 

Approval was sought for the draft Equality and Diversity Scheme, Action Plan and Equality Impact Assessment (attached at Appendices A, B and C respectively) prior to proceeding to external consultation on each of the documents. 

 

For a number of years, the Council had had in place separate race, gender and disability equality plans in response to numerous pieces of legislation and the associated public sector duties.  The legislation had been harmonised and strengthened in the Equality Act 2010. 

 

In this context, it was considered to make sense for the Council to amalgamate its schemes.  It would be easier for one scheme to be understood, implemented and managed.  It also allowed the Council to identify actions that related to more than one equality strand. 

 

The public sector duty would become effective from 1^st April, 2011. 

 

The public sector duty for Wales proposed that public authorities would be required to have an equality scheme in place no later than 2^nd April, 2012.  This would give public authorities 12 months to develop equality objectives and any other necessary arrangements.  These arrangements included:

 

·                         identifying the information held and which was not held, and saying how this information was to be published

·                         assessing things that are or could be done by the Authority to comply with the general of specific duty

·                         assessing and monitoring the likely impact of proposed policies and practices on the Council's ability to comply with the duty and how reports on this would be published

·                         promoting amongst employees knowledge and understanding of the duties and using appraisal systems to identify training needs.

 

It was proposed that schemes would not be restricted to a specific timeframe and should be kept under review. 

 

The Council's intention was to publish a single equality scheme by April 2011, to develop equality objectives and review arrangements in the forthcoming year with a view to incorporating these into the scheme by April 2012. 

 

The Council could retain its current schemes in their existing format, but a new gender scheme would need to be put in place and it was considered to be inefficient and challenging to operate three schemes rather than one.  A single scheme would provide a streamlined approach with the added benefit of being able to tackle multi-strand issues.

 

This was a matter for Executive decision.

 

RESOLVED - T H A T the draft Equality and Diversity Scheme, Action Plan and Equality Impact Assessment be approved for external consultation.

 

Reason for decision

 

To establish an approved single Equality and Diversity Scheme and Action Plan by April 2011.

 

C1225                        HOUSING STOCK TRANSFER - APPOINTMENT OF POST BALLOT CONSULTANTS (HCS) (SCRUTINY - HOUSING AND PUBLIC PROTECTION) -

 

Cabinet were informed of the need to appoint external consultants to assist the Council and Heritage Coast Homes with post ballot work in transferring the Council's housing stock to the Registered Social Landlord in the event of a 'Yes' vote by tenants.

 

The Welsh Assembly Housing Transfer Guidelines, 2009 outlined the following in relation to the appointment of advisers:

 

'The Local Authority and the Shadow Board of the new organisation will need to employ advisers to provide advice on the post ballot process.  Whilst there may be a perceived benefit in using the same advisers pre and post ballot to provide continuity, it is essential that arrangements are put in place to ensure that there is a clear separation of interests and that no conflict can arise'. 

 

The formal ballot with tenants was to take place in March/April 2011 and would be administered by the Electoral Reform Service.  The result of the ballot would be known in April 2011. 

 

Advice from Tribal (Lead Consultants to the Council) suggested that the Council and Heritage Coast Homes should proceed to advertise for post ballot consultants as soon as practicable in the New Year - so that the appointments would be made immediately after the result of the ballot were known (and subject to a 'Yes' vote by tenants), and because of the amount of post ballot work before the transfer could proceed, the advisers would need to commence on sight shortly after the ballot results. 

 

The following advisers would be required by the Council:

 

·                         A Legal Adviser would be required to prepare and negotiate the transfer agreement with the new Registered Social Landlord (Heritage Coast Homes).

·                         An Independent Staff Advisor would be required to keep staff informed at every stage throughout the development of the new organisation, to draw up a management change plan and to explore and advise on any Service Level Agreements.

·                         A Lead Adviser who would assist a Council in project management, commercial considerations and other project advice.  It was noted that Tribal, appointed as Lead Adviser during the pre ballot work, would continue to act on behalf of the Council post ballot (accepted tender included both pre and post ballot work).

 

The following advisers would be required by Heritage Coast Homes:

 

·                         A Lead/Financial Adviser to provide high level support and expertise including finalising the Business Plan and financial projections.

·                         A Legal Adviser to assist with all aspects of the transfer including the transfer agreement, conveyancing issues and staffing issues etc.

 

There was also a requirement, in accordance with the Welsh Assembly's Transfer Guidelines that other advisers be also appointed to assist in the transfer process i.e.

 

·                         Funding Adviser to assist the Board with appointing funders, advising on borrowing strategy (treasury management) and assisting with negotiations to achieve the best possible funding terms.

·                         Business Plan Auditor - it was a requirement for WAG registration that there was an independent auditor of the Business Plan and funders would expect to see an independent validation of this plan.

·                         VAT Adviser - to advise on the VAT shelter scheme and other VAT related issues.  This would generally be a joint appointment with the Council.

·                         Funders Valuer - to provide a valuation report to funders for loan security purposes.

·                         Funders' Lawyers - these would be mandated by the appointed funders, and paid for by Heritage Coast Homes out of set-up costs, to draw up the loan agreement in negotiation with HCH and its legal advisers. 

 

Other advisers and support may also be required in addition to those above and these would be considered during the post ballot period.  Delegated authority was sought for the Director of Legal, Public Protection and Housing Services, in consultation with the Director of Finance, ICT and Property, to appoint these advisers/additional support as required.

 

This was a matter for Executive decision.

 

RESOLVED -

 

(1)       T H A T authority be granted to the Director of Legal, Public Protection and Housing Services, in consultation with the Leader and Cabinet Member, to appoint a Legal Adviser and an Independent Staff Adviser to the Council for the Housing Transfer project in the event of a 'Yes' vote.

 

(2)       T H A T authority be granted for the appointment of a Lead/Financial Adviser and a Legal Adviser by Heritage Coast Homes in the event of a 'Yes' vote. 

 

(3)       T H A T delegated authority be granted to the Director of Legal, Public Protection and Housing Services, in consultation with the Cabinet Member and Director of Finance, ICT and Property to appoint further advisers/additional support as necessary which would be funded from post ballot costs from the Welsh Assembly

 

Reasons for decisions

 

(1)       To enable external advisers to be appointed to the Council so that they can commence post ballot work after the ballot results.

 

(2)       To enable external advisers to be appointed to Heritage Coast Homes so that they can commence post ballot work after the ballot results.

 

(3)       To appoint further advisers/additional support as necessary.

 

 

C1226                        EVENT GRANT SCHEME (TL) (SCRUTINY - ECONOMY AND ENVIRONMENT) -

 

Approval was sought for the setting up of a procedure/criteria for administering funding for events in the Vale of Glamorgan. 

 

The Council currently provided funding for a number of events in the Vale of Glamorgan, and currently had two separate funds available to use:

 

·                         The Corporate Events Budget - used to fund both Council events and the Events Grant.

·                         The devolved Events Grants - all events grants had previously been administered by the Director of Finance, ICT and Property.  In April 2008 a decision was made to hand over the events element of the grants budget to Leisure and Tourism.

 

In order to administer both of these budgets efficiently it was deemed important to have a clear procedure and decision making process for allocation all future grants. 

 

As agreed by Cabinet, the Events Grants Budget was currently supporting the following events over three years:

 

	2009 - 2010	2010 - 2011	2011 - 2012
Cowbridge Food Festival	£7,500	£5,000	£2,500
Tall Ships Youth Trust	£10,000	£10,000 (TBC)	£10,000 (TBC)
Vale of Glamorgan Agricultural Show	£5,000	£2,500	£2,500
Rotary Barry Fireworks	£5,000	£5,000	£5,000
Penarth Bonfire Night	£1,500	£1,500	£1,500
Totals	£29,000	£24,000	£21,500

 

In the financial year 2010/2011 the Corporate Events Budget had supported the following events:

 

Valeways Walking Festival	14 - 16 May	£2,500
Barry Transport Festival	6 June	£1,000
St Donats Beyond the Border Festival	2 - 4 July	£10,000
All Wales Ploughing and Hedging Championships	18 September	£5,500
The Vintage Steam Weekend, Barry	25 September	£1,500
Cowbridge Reindeer Parade	28 November	£2,000
St Athan Christmas Light Switch On	30 November	£1,000

 

At present, funding for events was given on an ad hoc basis with no formal eligibility criteria set out.  It was suggested that an event funding application form and qualification criteria be created to ensure best use of all budgets.  Copies of the application forms were attached at Appendices A and B of the report.

 

A Grant Assessment Panel would be made up of the Cabinet Member for Tourism and Leisure, Events Officer, Tourism and Marketing Manager and the Operational Manager for Leisure and Tourism.

 

This was a matter for Executive decision.

 

RESOLVED -

 

(1)       T H A T an application procedure and decision making process be put in place for the funding of events in the Vale of Glamorgan.

 

(2)       T H A T all event funding applications should meet an eligibility valuation criteria.

 

(3)       T H A T a Panel be established to consider all event funding applications.

 

(4)       T H A T all successful grant recipients complete a Deed of Grant prior to receiving any funding.

 

Reasons for decisions

 

(1)       To provide a clear process for all event organisers to apply for funding.

 

(2)       To protect and ensure best use of the Corporate Events Budget.

 

(3)       To ensure that all proposed events fit within the Council's Strategic aims and deliver added value to all the Vale of Glamorgan's events programmes.

 

(4)       To ensure that all grant recipients acknowledge the Vale of Glamorgan Council support on all marketing material and on the event site.  That all successful applicants present their event to the Vale of Glamorgan Council's Events Liaison Panel.

 

 

C1227                        ARTSCONNECT BUSINESS CASE (LT) (SCRUTINY - CORPORATE RESOURCES) -

 

Approval was sought for the establishment of a regional shared service for the arts within South East Wales involving the following local authorities:

 

·                         Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council

·                         Bridgend County Borough Council

·                         Caerphilly County Borough Council

·                         Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council

·                         Rhondda Cynon Taff County Borough Council

·                         Torfaen County Borough Council

·                         Vale of Glamorgan County Borough Council.

 

Cabinet had agreed in June 2010 to join in principle a collaborative art service called 'Arts Connect'. 

 

The benefits identified for a single shared Arts Service were grouped as follows:

 

·                         Financial - more for less by realising the efficiencies of 10% net and to provide one single source to apply for external funds

·                         Leadership - a single vision which shared aims, a new seamless service design and management structure, a more focussed and strategic Arts Development Service drawing upon the wide expertise, co-ordinated services such as marketing, box office, events, sponsorship and external funding

·                         Profile of the Arts - a stronger 'pulling power' creating a critical mass, resulting in greater influence at regional and national level

·                         Customer/Citizen - enhanced focus on audiences, citizens, communities, artists, increased level and range of participatory opportunities, improved level of engagement with local people and communities

·                         Employees - access to a wider range of specialist skills, utilising the experience and expertise from a wide range of staff

·                         Governance - one regional arts programme that would be effective and sustainable into the future.

 

The Business Case and proposed staffing structures were contained within Appendices 1 and 2 attached to the report.  It was proposed that the shared arts service be hosted by Rhondda Cynon Taff and that an Arts Connect Leadership Group, made up of representatives from each partner authority manage and monitor the work of the shared service.  Whilst it was accepted that competing strategic priorities and conflicts could arise, a regional approach was key to delivering a varied and vibrant arts programme in the area.  The Group would also approve the work programme for the shared arts service and measure performance against strategic targets.

 

It was proposed that the seven Councils be part of the shared service for an initial period of three years.  This would enable the shared arts service to become established and demonstrate its worth.  However, partners would be allowed to withdraw at the beginning of each financial year within the agreed notice period.

 

Currently, Rhondda Cynon Taff leads the Arts Connect Change Management Programme on behalf of all of the local authority partners.  Once established as the new regional shared service, all partners' arts service staff, including the Arts Development Officer in the Vale, would be seconded into the new structure on their existing terms and conditions of employment subject to full consultation with H.R., Trade Unions and staff. 

 

Staff would apply to be seconded into the structure, according to the requirements of the new service, by identifying suitable posts based upon their existing job descriptions.  The posts within the new structure would therefore be ring fenced to existing staff employed by each of the partners within their current arts service.  Where redundancies were unavoidable, in order to achieve the level of efficiencies required, re-deployment would be the first option within the partner authorities.  In the event of any redundancies arising, the costs would be borne by the relevant partner authority concerned to whom the displacement staff belonged.

 

Specific responsibilities would be as indicated below:

 

All partners:

 

·                         responsible for costs of facilities (not staff) both day to day maintenance and capital expenditure

·                         can close facilities and look to reduce contributions for future financial years, if a decision is made by January prior to closure in April

·                         manage the displacement costs of staff not seconded to Arts Connect.

 

Arts Connect:

 

·                         to manage all programmes and events within the area

·                         to manage all staff

·                         to manage all costs within the budget (excluding building costs)

·                         report as required to the management board

·                         all revenue grant applications would be made through Arts Connect with the support of all partners.

 

Rhondda Cynon Taff Council:

 

·                         co-ordinate and monitor all budgets for Arts Connect

·                         provide the required financial, legal and HR advice for Arts Connect including the governance arrangements for the management board.

 

The timescale for implementing the regional shared service (originally 1^st April, 2011) had slipped, due to discussions regarding Human Resources issues.  It was now expected that the collaboration would commence in the latter half of 2011. 

 

Cabinet was requested to support the draft Business Case for the new shared service, and to endorse the benefits for the Council from such a partnership.  The proposal therefore was for the Vale of Glamorgan Council to commit in principle to a new partnership in 2011/12 to be known as Arts Connect.

 

This was a matter for Executive decision.

 

RESOLVED -

 

(1)       T H A T the establishment and membership of a regional shared service for the Arts, covering partner authorities in South East Wales, including the Vale of Glamorgan, be agreed 'in principle'.

 

(2)       T H A T the draft Business Case, including the proposed Arts Connect staff structure be noted.

 

(3)       T H A T Rhondda Cynon Taff County Borough Council act as the lead authority for this arrangement, and that officers be authorised to enter into negotiations with partners, with a view to establishing a shared service function.

 

(4)       T H A T a further report be brought before Cabinet in January 2012 reviewing the progress of the Project.

 

Reasons for decisions

 

(1)       To ensure actions are taken to increase collaboration in the arts and to improve services.

 

(2)       To establish the principles upon which the collaboration will be established.

 

(3)       To progress the collaboration.

 

(4)       To review progress on the Project.

 

 

C1228                        SCHOOL INVESTMENT STRATEGY: WELSH MEDIUM SEED SCHOOLS (ELL) (SCRUTINY - LIFELONG LEARNING) -

 

Cabinet were updated on the position with the Welsh Medium Seed Schools and were requested to agree that the required capital funding be included in the Capital Programme 2011/12 - 2015/16. 

 

On 18^th November, 2009, Cabinet had resolved:

 

·                         That the proposed strategy to increase the number of places in Welsh Medium Education to meet anticipated demand from September 2010 onwards be approved.

·                         That the commencement of statutory consultation with stakeholders in respect of the establishment of seed schools in the Barry and Llantwit Major areas to meet an increase in demand for Welsh Medium primary education reception places be approved.

 

Consultation had been undertaken from 22^nd February, 2010 until the end of April 2010.  Following the end of the consultation, amendments had been made to the original proposals in response to feed back received and the Council then published two Statutory Notices.  During the two month objection period, seven objections had been received, one on a range of issues from NASUWT, and six relating to the Barry Seed School, primarily on access and traffic issues.  If just one objection were received, the proposals had to be referred to the Minister for decision.  The Vale's proposals were submitted on 6^th August, 2010.  In making a decision, the Minister would, in the first instance, address whether the Council had consulted reasonably with staff, parents, governors, other schools, the neighbourhood, Trade Unions, bordering local authorities, local Councillors and other stakeholders which the Council saw as being reasonable consultees. 

 

Formal notification of the Minister's approval of the proposals to establish the Welsh Medium Schools in Llantwit Major and Barry and a statement of information were received on 17^th January, 2011.  The planning applications would be considered at the meeting of the Planning Committee on 3^rd March, 2011.

 

The Capital Programme for 2010/11 included £890,000 for establishing the schools.  It was originally intended that this funding would cover the estimated costs of installation and grounds works including highways costs with lease costs for the demountable buildings being funded from within the Learning and Development Revenue Budget.  Subsequent quotes obtained for the provision and installation of the buildings showed a significant increase in leasing costs as compared with current costs resulting the option of upfront purchase of the buildings providing better value for money in the medium to long term particularly as these buildings could be utilised elsewhere after the provision of permanent replacements for the seed schools.

 

The demountable buildings would provide a complete 210 place primary school plus nursery, fully meeting current building regulations and educational needs including the Foundation Phase and ICT provision.  The buildings would include seven classrooms, nursery, assembly/dining hall, administration and staff areas, storage and toilets.  When no longer required, the buildings could be dismantled and re-located to an alternative site.  The anticipated life expectancy of demountables was 30 years.

 

£2,500,000 to fund the initial phases of the schools had been included in the proposed Capital Programme 2011/12 - 2015/16 pending completion of work on detailed costings for the provision of two 210 place schools.  A revised capital budget estimate (subject to tender) for the Welsh Medium Schools profiled over six years was provided at Appendix C to the report.  The profiling of capital costs was based on the assumption that the schools would grow at the rate of one class a year with each school providing a nursery and 210 places at the end of the six years. 

 

The first phase of the Barry school would provide accommodation for Key Stage 1 (nursery through to Year 2) in 2011/12.  Further accommodation would be required from September 2014 assuming that the intake for each year group was sufficient to warrant a classroom per year group.  The first phase of the Llantwit Major school would provide accommodation for nursery and reception in 2011/12.  The second phase would provide classrooms for year groups 1 and 2 in 2012/13 with further accommodation required from 2014/15.  The Llantwit scheme had been split into three phases as initial pupil numbers were less certain than for Barry where the pupils due to join a reception year group in September 2011 are already registered with Welsh Medium Nurseries in the area.  There was a possibility that the intake numbers at Llantwit would enable mixed year groups to be taught in fewer classrooms enabling phase two to be delayed by a year.

 

Due to uncertainty over future pupil numbers, it was important that contracts are tendered in separate phases to allow for any fluctuation between estimated and actual numbers and the resulting impact on accommodation requirements.  As demand in Barry could be predicted in more certainty, it was highly likely that both phases of the project would be completed in line with the profile.  In view of this it was recommended that the full £3,879,000 funding be included in the Capital Programme 2011/12 - 2015/16.  As demand in the Llantwit area was less clear, there was a possibility that the school would grow at a slower pace which would delay the need to increase the capacity of the school to the full 210 places.  The permanent replacement of the Llantwit Seed School was included in the 21^st Century Schools Strategic Outline Programme as part of the Llantwit Learning Community proposal.  There was a possibility that the permanent replacement be provided before the full 210 places were needed.  In view of this, it was recommended that funding for the Llantwit School be sought in two stages with £1,246,000 required for phases 1 and 2 being included in the Capital Programme for 2011/12 - 2015/16 and approval for phase 3 sought at the later stage once requirements were clearer.

 

The estimates included £1,357,000 for highways works which was considered to be the worst case scenario.

 

For the reasons outlined above, it was recommended that a funding commitment of £5,125,000 be included in the Capital Programme 2011/12 - 2015/16 to cover all phases of the Barry School and phases 1 and 2 of the Llantwit School.  £890,000 funding was included in the Capital Programme for the current year with a further £2.5 million included in the proposed Capital Programme 2011/12 - 2015/16 resulting in a balance of £1,735,000 to be funded.

 

The proposed Capital Programme included £10 million for the School Investment Strategy between financial years 2011/12 and 2014/15.  £7.5 million was required for Penarth Learning Community (PLC) over this period, but £0.5 million of this would be funded from S106 funding for Penarth Heights and a further £1 million would be met from Prudential borrowing leaving a net funding requirement of £6 million for PLC.  This was based on the assumption that the remaining £4.5 million funding for PLC was met from capital receipts generated from the sale of land.  This would leave a balance of £4 million funding within the School Investment Strategy which would cover the additional £1,735,000 required for the Welsh Medium Primary Schools as well as funding the planned maintenance programme which covered all Vale Schools according to priority.

 

Subject to planning permission being approved, it was estimated that capital funding of £202,000 would be required in 2010/11 resulting in slippage of £688,000.  The slippage, the £2,500,000 included in the proposed Capital Programme and the £1,735,000 from the School Investment Strategy Reserve would require re-profiling over financial years 2011/12 - 2015/16 to reflect the estimated spend. 

 

It was reported that, since the production of the report, the figures quoted in the report with regard to the Capital Programme had been amended.  The latest position was in the report also before Cabinet entitled 'Final Capital Programme Proposals 2011/12', and considered earlier in the meeting.

 

This was a matter for Executive decision.  However, the funding commitment within the Capital Programme was subject to the approval of Full Council.

 

RESOLVED -

 

(1)       T H A T the position with establishing the Welsh Medium Seed Schools in Barry and Llantwit Major and the capital funding implications for the period 2011/12 - 2015/16 be noted.

 

(2)       T H A T the slippage to future years of any underspend on this project be approved.

(3)       T H A T the figures contained within the report considered earlier in the meeting entitled 'Final Capital Programme Proposals 2011/12' be considered by Council.

 

(4)       T H A T the contract be tendered in separate phases to allow for fluctuation between the estimated pace of growth and actual growth in pupil numbers and the resulting need for additional classrooms and facilities.

 

(5)       T H A T approval be sought for funding for phase 3 of the Llantwit Welsh Medium Primary School once the rate of growth in pupil numbers is more certain.

 

Reason for decision

 

(1)       Members are aware of the Welsh Assembly Government's decision on the Council's statutory notice to establish 2 Welsh Medium Primary Schools in Llantwit Major and Barry and the estimated cost of implementation.

 

(2)       The slipped funding will be contributed to the overall capital funding requirement.

 

(3)       Having regard to the amended figures which had been subsequently included within the report on the 'Final Capital Programme Proposals 2011/12' reported to Cabinet as part of a separate report.

 

(4)       Better value for money will be obtained by providing additional accommodation which meets actual space requirements ensuring that surplus capacity is minimised.

 

(5)       The requirement for further capital funding to expand the school is dependent on demand for places which is not clear at present.

 

 

C1229                        ARRANGEMENTS FOR CHARGING FOR PRE-APPLICATION PLANNING ADVICE (PT) (SCRUTINY - ECONOMY AND ENVIRONMENT) -

 

Cabinet considered the introduction of fees for pre-application planning advice for specific types of development and were requested to review the hourly rate for providing general planning information and advice.

 

Section 93 of the Local Government Act 2003, which was enacted in Wales in 2006 provided power for authorities, as defined in the Local Government Act 1999, to charge for discretionary services.  Discretionary services were those services that an authority had the power but not a duty to provide.

 

Currently, the authority provided a free pre-application advice service to all.  In the financial year 2009/10 the Development Control Group received 500 requests for pre-application advice.  Requests for such advice were encouraged to be in writing to keep proper records, but advice was also provided by phone or in meetings.  The extent of advice provided was limited by the staff resources available and the need to complete programmed work, for which a planning fee had been paid, or to process appeals or enforcement complaints which had to be completed to set statutory deadlines.  Planning fees were paid for most planning applications, lawful development certificates, most prior notification submissions and High Hedge complaints.

 

Requests for advice on whether planning permission would be granted needed to be researched and detailed responses provided.  This is similar to part of the work involved in assessing a planning application (where a fee would have to be paid). 

 

Not all proposals that were the subject of pre-application discussions resulted in the submission of a planning application and associated fees.  It was not uncommon for a developer to propose a very major scheme and insist that it needed to be considered by senior officers at several different meetings but then not to progress with the proposal.  Furthermore, such advice could be totally ignored by developers.

 

Research had been undertaken into charging for pre-application advice by the Planning Advisory Service (PAS), a government funded organisation.  This research had found that Councils in England consider that charges have focussed the minds of agents they deal with.  Other Councils were particularly pleased that when they introduced pre-application charging there was an appreciable reduction in time wasting enquiries creating more time for officers to undertake more productive elements of their work. 

 

Cabinet noted that the trend for charging for pre-application advice was increasing in Wales with Bridgend, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Denbighshire and Brecon Beacons National Park recently introducing pre-submission charging schemes. 

 

It was proposed that charges apply to major developments such as new residential developments, change of use of buildings over 1000m², new buildings and extensions over 1000m², mixed used developments over 1000m², other large scale/complex applications such as a small wind farm, and minor developments such as 1-9 dwellings, change of use of buildings under 1000m², new buildings and extensions to non-residential buildings between up to 1000m² in size, mixed use development less than 1000m² and advertisements.

 

Charges would not apply to the provision of advice relating to householder development, heritage proposals, Council proposals or partnership/joint venture enterprise, Town and Community Council proposals, developments necessitated as a consequence of permitted development rights being removed, District Valuers queries, Tree advice or a development for a known profit making community facility scheme by a registered charity or voluntary sector organisation.

 

Attached at Appendix B to the report was a random sample of other authorities which showed wide variations in the charges applied for pre-application advice.  The proposed fees for the Vale of Glamorgan would be towards the bottom end for written responses.  The fees for meetings was not as straight forward as several authorities calculated their fees as the 'written response' with an additional hourly rate for meetings as a combined service package for the service.

 

The current proposal would be based on the time and costs involved in responding to requests for written advice and a request for a meeting, which was likely to require written confirmation.  In the case of referring significant or strategic skills the ability to agree a charge 'up front' for a programme of pre-application advice over a period a time was built into the schedule.

 

The advantages of charging for pre-application advice were:

 

·                         Additional revenue stream to the authority to help safeguard and sustain the service provided, at a time of financial constraints.

·                         The maintenance of a pre-application advice service and an intention to provide an improve pre-application advice service to serious developers which in turn led to improved planning applications and better quality developments in the Council's area.  The provision of chargeable advice was preferred to the withdrawal of provision of advice.

·                         The elimination of many serial/time wasting enquiries creating more time for officers to undertake more productive elements of their work for the community.

 

Attached at Appendix A to the report was a draft pre-application charging advice note detailing the charging arrangements that the Council could use.  The advice also covered costs for undertaking research and planning histories and in respect of other information.

 

Finally, it was also recommended that the standard fee already charged for planning enquiries relating to searches or information provision to £50 per hour to reflect the work involved and the need to raise fee income to sustain the work of the Division. 

 

This was a matter for Executive decision.

 

RESOLVED -

 

(1)       T H A T subject to consultation with the Planning Committee, the introduction of fees for pre-application planning advice in accordance with the principle and schedule attached at Appendix A to the report be approved.

 

(2)       T H A T the increase in the fees charged for general planning enquires relating to searches or information provision from £30 to £50 an hour be approved.

 

(3)       T H A T a progress report be brought before Cabinet in February 2012.

 

Reasons for decisions

 

(1)       To seek authorisation to commence charging fees for pre-planning application advice in accordance with the Local Government Act 2003.

 

(2)       To cover the costs of providing general planning information to companies and the public.

 

(3)       To review progress.

 

 

C1230                        COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURE LEVY (CIL) (PT) (SCRUTINY - ECONOMY AND ENVIRONMENT) -

 

Approval was sought to commence the preparation of a Community Infrastructure Levy, and to ensure delivery of the CIL by the deadline date of 6^th April, 2014.

 

The CIL was a mechanism for charging developers a set fee to provide infrastructure in the local authority area.  Section 216 of the Planning Act 2008 as amended by Regulation 63 of the CIL Regulations defines 'infrastructure' for the purposes of CIL as including:

 

·                         roads and other transport facilities

·                         flood defences

·                         schools and other educational facilities

·                         medical facilities

·                         sporting and recreational facilities

·                         open spaces.

 

CIL was not intended to replace S106 Agreements.  It would subsume many of the matters and issues that were currently addresses through S106 Agreements.  S106 Agreements, would remain in force and would deliver site specific and local matters that could not otherwise be realised through the CIL.  The principle uses for S106 Agreements would be the delivery of affordable housing (which is expressly omitted from the definition of infrastructure in the CIL Regulations) and the mitigation of the direct effects of proposed developments. 

 

The principle implications for the Council in preparing CIL were resources and funding.  The preparation of CIL would require corporate backing and a corporate desire to be realised.  The component parts of the final CIL Charging Schedule would comprise matters originating from service areas throughout the whole Council.  Whilst the planning service was leading on the preparation of CIL, as it would be realised through the planning application system the CIL Charging Schedule would be a corporate document that would help to realise the Council's aims and objectives in developing the Vale of Glamorgan. 

 

In order to ensure that all forms of infrastructure were considered in the CIL, it would be necessary for all relevant service areas to identify their infrastructure needs and to provide robust costs for the delivery of that infrastructure.  The information and costings provided for the CIL must be robust enough to stand up to the domination at the formal independent examination (similar to that held for the LDP).  All of this would require a significant investment in terms of officer time and work for service areas across the Council. 

 

In addition, it may be necessary to seek expert advice and input to the process, which would obviously have a significant cost implication. 

 

A further source of costs in respect of CIL preparation lay with the statutory consultation and examination elements laid out in the CIL Regulations.  CIL would be the subject of two formal consultation exercises and be subject to an independent examination.  These processes would have a significant cost implication, particularly in respect of the examination as this would require the commissioning of an independent examiner to hold the hearings.  To minimise costs, it may be possible to combine the CIL examination alongside the LDP examination, but much would depend upon timeframes in the preparation of both. 

 

It was noted that the Council could seek to recover the cost of setting up and administering CIL once the charging system was in place and contributions were received from it.  The amount of CIL proceeds that a charging authority could use to finance its CIL administrative expenses was restricted in the CIL Regulations to a maximum of 5% of total receipts.

 

In preparing CIL, the Council would need to identify the infrastructure that would be encompassed within CIL.  In determining this, it would be necessary to consider the development aspirations of the LDP and Council priorities as well as the general and statutory infrastructure requirements stemming from appropriate development.  For example, flood risk issues could be included as infrastructure if regeneration of areas at risk of flooding was in accordance with the LDP and a Council priority.  In this way, CIL could assist in delivering development in accordance with the LDP that may not otherwise take place and could assist the Council in achieving its development priorities.

 

CIL would differ from S106 funding insofar as it could be pooled to deliver an infrastructure project that did not necessarily directly relate to the development from which it was sourced. 

 

Whilst CIL could assist in delivering appropriate development, the level of CIL charged would relate to the ability of development to contribute towards infrastructure.  A recent case (July 2008) set out the requirement for local authorities to consider viability in assessing the level of affordable housing they were seeking on development sites.  It was a corollary of this that anything that may affect the level of affordable housing delivered by a site i.e. additional S106 contributions, should also take account of the viability of sites.  CIL could have a significant impact and as such would need to take viability into account when setting its level.  Given the potential scope of matters that could be included in the CIL it was likely that the total cost of the infrastructure would far exceed the level of contribution that development sites could sustain.  Consequently, the level of CIL would be set in consideration of site viability and the Council would prioritise the infrastructure that CIL would deliver. 

 

This was a matter for Executive decision.

 

RESOLVED -

 

(1)       T H A T, subject to consultation with the Planning Committee and Scrutiny Committee (Economy and Environment) agreement in principal be granted to commence preparing a Community Infrastructure Levy for the Vale of Glamorgan.

 

(2)       T H A T Cabinet receive a further report on this matter prior to the Community Infrastructure Levy's finalisation.

 

Reason for decision

 

(1&2)  To ensure that the development set out in the Local Development Plan is brought forward with appropriate infrastructure.  The cost and resource implications of preparing CIL is outweighed by the implications of not securing developer contributions towards necessary infrastructure.

 

 

C1231                        RHOOSE POINT - LAND TRANSFER MATTERS (PT) (SCRUTINY - ECONOMY AND ENVIRONMENT) -

 

Cabinet received a report which:

 

·                         updated on issues relating to land transfer at Rhoose Point

·                         sought authority for the Director of Legal, Public Protection and Housing Services to complete the transaction to allow land at Rhoose Point to be transferred to the Council.

 

On 21^st July, 2010, Cabinet had resolved as follows:

 

(1)       That the current position on land transfers and drainage and highway adoption at Rhoose Point be noted.

 

(2)       That delegated authority be granted to the Director of Environmental and Economic Regeneration, in consultation with the Cabinet Members for Visible and Building Services and Planning and Transportation, to negotiate and agree in principle, the terms and deeds of variation with the Administrator acting on behalf of the infrastructure developers at Rhoose Point (Crofton Ltd) for all outstanding land transfers on the development. 

 

(3)       That on acceptance of the 'agreement in principle' with the Company, the full terms of deeds of variation be reported to the Planning Committee for formal acceptance.

 

(4)       That delegated authority be granted to the Director of Environmental and Economic Regeneration and the Cabinet Members for Visible and Building Services and Planning and Transportation, to use all remaining funds from the planning Agreement at Rhoose Point, for matters related to the development at Rhoose Point.

 

A key issue in the progression of matters relating to Drainage and Highway Adoption at Rhoose Point related to the need to transfer the land, including the lagoon to this Council.

 

Since reporting the matter in July 2010, and the consideration of the matters by Planning Committee and the Scrutiny Committee (Economy and Environment), negotiations had continued between legal advisers acting on behalf of the Administrator and the Council, and it had been recently confirmed that the land transfer now needed to be settled to allow the transfer to be completed. 

 

The Administrators had indicated that the Company (Cofton Land and Property (Cardiff) Limited and Cofton Land and Property (Projects) Limited) were unable to transfer land to the Council under the terms of the existing Section 106 Agreements as the liability represented an unsecured claim.  Cabinet had been advised that with variations to the terms of these Agreements, it was possible that transfers could be progressed. 

 

To this end, officers had made a without prejudice offer to the Company of £20,000 in view of all outstanding Section 106 obligations to compensate the Council for obligations that had not yet been discharged.  The transfer document as now drafted made reference to this sum and the fact that the Council could exercise discretion in how it used the £55,000 previously paid towards the cost of constructing changing rooms at the site.

 

In terms of making progress, the Director of Legal, Public Protection and Housing Services was now required to seal the transfer documents and provide authorisation to Eversheds (the solicitors acting on behalf of the Council) to progress the matter to conclusion.  Although the provision of £20,000 was a reduction in the monies that should be payable under the remaining clauses of the Section 106 Agreement (which stood at circa £35,000), it nevertheless represented a very reasonable settlement in order to allow progress to transfer the land.  Indeed, there was very little prospect of seeing anything other than a very small percentage of that owed should the matter progress through other legal channels. 

 

The transfer documents as drafted would therefore set out the Council's acceptance of £20,000 in lieu of the outstanding Section 106 payments and would set out the Administrators willingness to allow the Council flexibility in how it used the £55,000 already received under the terms of the Section 106 Agreement.  This represented a cost effective and efficient means of progressing this matter and a reasonable way forward to the Council and to the residents. 

 

The £75,000 (£55,000 and £20,000) would be held in the Section 106 obligation budget to be used for matters relating to Rhoose Point. 

 

This was a matter for Executive decision.

 

RESOLVED -

 

(1)       T H A T the current position regarding land transfer at Rhoose Point be noted.

 

(2)       T H A T subject to consultation with Planning Committee, the Director of Legal, Public Protection and Housing Services be authorised to conclude the transfer of land to the Council, in accordance with land transfer documents now completed.

 

Reasons for decisions

 

(1)       To ensure Cabinet is appropriately informed.

 

(2)       To allow the land to be transferred into the ownership of the Council as envisaged under the terms of the Section 106 Agreement dated 27^th March, 1996.

 

 

C1232                        CREATIVE RURAL COMMUNITIES - RURAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN BUSINESS PLAN 2 (2011 - 2013) (EDR) (SCRUTINY - ECONOMY AND ENVIRONMENT) -

 

Approval was sought for the acceptance of Business Plan 2 and associated projects of the Vale of Glamorgan Rural Partnership in order to delivery Axes 3 and 4 of the RDP. 

 

The Rural Local Development Strategy was an integrated strategy for the regeneration of the rural Vale.

 

The core themes for the LDS developed after comprehensive community consultation and having addressed the opportunities offered by the Rural Development Plan for Wales were:

 

1.         community capacity building

2.         developing the roles of women and young people in rural regeneration

3.         business networking and co-operation

4.         access to and provision of basic services in rural communities

5.         making the best use of local resources.

 

The Council submitted seven projects for approval as part of Business Plan 2 of which five had been approved totally £3,536,100. 

 

1.         Pride in our farming families (total project cost £430,000) -

 

The project would provide grant support to farming businesses to develop new diversification opportunities with a strong link to maximising the tourism opportunities afforded by the Vale.

 

2.         Pride in our services (total project cost £1,332,100) -

 

The aim of this project was to ensure the provision of, and access to, local services by providing the necessary support to both retain and enhance services in rural villages. 

 

3.         Pride in our villages (total project cost £405,000) -

 

The aim of this project was to enhance local pride and distinctiveness in villages/communities by implementing a holistic approach to physical regeneration. 

 

4.         Pride in our heritage (total project cost £649,000) -

 

·                         Support to add value to existing events and resurrect events that celebrate the heritage of the rural Vale.

·                         Co-ordinated activity to encourage young people to engage in heritage, including for example the encouragement of 'virtual events' utilising ICT.

·                         Grant support for the refurbishment of publicly accessible built heritage within the Vale. 

 

5.         Pride in the Vale (total project cost £720,000) -

 

Two key aims had been identified for development under Pride in the Vale, namely:

 

(a)       community engagement

(b)       slow tourism.

 

Approval was also sought to enter into an agreement with Bridgend Council to deliver a community grown food co-operation project.  Bridgend Council would be the lead project sponsor with the service level agreement being set up between the two Councils.  The aim of the project was to engage local people in the growing of food through a shared interest and understanding.

 

This was a matter for Executive decision.

 

RESOLVED -

 

(1)       T H AT subject to the Leader and Director of Finance, ICT and Property agreeing the content of the formal funding letters for each project when available, the grants offered under Axes 3 and 4 of the Rural Development Plan for Wales be accepted and the schemes progressed.

 

(2)       T H A T subject to the Leader and Director of Finance, ICT and Property agreeing the content of the funding agreement when available, the Director of Legal, Public Protection and Housing Services be authorised to sign a revised overall funding agreement for Axes 3 and 4 with the Welsh Assembly Government.

 

(3)       T H A T match funding to the value of £740,420 be underwritten.

 

(4)       T H AT an agreement be entered into with Bridgend Council (who will act as project sponsor) to jointly deliver a community grown food project.

 

(5)       T H AT the part time (25hr) temporary post of Community Grown Food Officer be created (Scale 6 subject to job evaluation).

 

(6)       T H AT subject to the Council being awarded the contract as delivery body as part of the procurement exercise currently underway, in addition to extending current RDP project staff contracts until 31^st December, 2013 that the recruitment of the following new temporary project related posts take place:  Grants Officer (part time SO1- subject to job evaluation), Footpath and Cycleways Development Officer (full time SO1 - subject to job evaluation), 1 additional Senior Rural Regeneration Officer (part time SO2).

 

(7)       T H A T in addition to extending current RDP Partnership and LAG staff contracts until 31^st December, 2013 the following new temporary posts are created until December 2013:  Finance Assistant (full time Scale 2/3- subject to job evaluation) and Programme Development Officer (full time PO2 - Subject to job evaluation).

 

Reasons for decisions

 

(1)       In order to achieve Council Regeneration objectives.

 

(2)       In order to accept the grant offer terms as the Welsh Assembly Government has indicated that it may wish to revise the funding agreements.

 

(3)       In order to progress full approval from the Welsh Assembly Government.

 

(4)       In order to allow Bridgend Council to submit the project funding application.

 

(5)       In order to allow the delivery of the community grown food project.

 

(6)       In order to progress the delivery of the project.

 

(7)       In order to progress the management of the programme.

 

 

C1233                        ALL WALES POLICY AND PROCEDURES FOR THE PROTECTION OF VULNERABLE ADULTS FROM ABUSE (SCS) (SCRUTINY - SOCIAL CARE AND HEALTH) -

 

Cabinet were advised of progress in achieving All Wales procedures for the Protection of Vulnerable Adults and were requested to adopt new procedures by the Vale of Glamorgan Council.

 

There were four regional Adult Protection Fora in Wales.  Currently, every region had its own version of procedures for the Protection of Vulnerable Adults.  Representatives from each Forum and from each police force in Wales had been working to draw together into one document the best of the four manuals and to update the material.  The South Wales Adult Protection Forum had been particularly influential in this process, keen to establish a robust set of procedures that built effectively on the existing South Wales manual.

 

The manual was intended to guide the safeguarding work of all those concerned with the welfare of vulnerable adults, employed in the statutory or independent sectors, in health, social care, the police, the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales or other services.  It set out expectations which should be regarded as best practice and which signatory agencies would agree to work to achieve. 

 

The manual was a welcome initiative and it would ensure uniform practice across Wales.  A similar document already existed in relation to child protection and this had been effective in standardising agency approaches to safeguarding and in promoting effective partnership working. 

 

The manual differed from the four documents it replaced in a number of ways but notably in providing more guidance in areas such as:

 

·                         ensuring that alleged victims and/or their advocates were central to and fully engaged in the process

·                         specifying the roles of agencies and workers

·                         clarifying the processes to be used in investigating allegations which did not involve criminal acts.

 

The manual was detailed, reflecting the complexity of adult protection work.  In addition to the policy and procedures, it provided standard documentation, although the format may vary according to the software in use.  The South Wales Adult Protection Forum Policy and Practice Sub-Group were looking in detail at the documentation pack to ensure consistent delivery across the region. 

 

There was a range of other supporting documents.  These included as hyperlinks in the manual so that practitioners could get access to additional information such as government guidance and good practice examples.

 

Following ratification, the manual would be launched on 1^st April, 2011.  The Policy and Practice Sub-Group of the South Wales Adult Protection Forum was currently considering the options for regional and/or local launch events as well as training for key individuals involved in delivering the procedures. 

 

To ensure that all relevant staff received appropriate information and training with regard to the procedures, regional workshops would be offered for Designated Lead Managers who were responsible within statutory agencies for managing and co-ordinating the response to adult protection referrals.  Additionally, all statutory organisations would arrange investigation training for those staff involved in this process.  With regard to Social Services staff in the Vale of Glamorgan, the Directorate's training programme for 2011/2012 made provision for these sessions.  For groups of staff across the Council who were not involved directly in managing cases which required action under the procedures, awareness raising would be achieved through wide dissemination of the manual and the use of internal communication channels such as Staff Net.

 

This was a matter for Executive decision.

 

RESOLVED - T H A T the new All Wales procedures for the Protection of Vulnerable Adults be adopted.

 

Reason for decision

 

To ensure that the Council promotes best practice in delivering statutory responsibilities for safeguarding vulnerable adults.

 

 

C1234                        COMPLAINTS OF MALADMINISTRATION AGAINST THE COUNCIL (MO) (SCRUTINY - ALL) -

 

The report advised Cabinet of the outcome of investigations conducted by the Commissioner for Local Administration in Wales into allegation of maladministration against the Council.  The relevant Scrutiny Committee was itemised against the detail of each investigation.

 

This was a matter for Executive decision.

 

RESOLVED - T H A T the report be noted.

 

Reason for decision

 

To inform the Cabinet and Council.

 

 

C1235                        MATTER WHICH THE CHAIRMAN HAD DECIDED WAS URGENT -

 

RESOLVED - T H A T the following matter which the Chairman had decided was urgent for the reason given beneath the minute heading be considered.

 

 

C1236                        APPOINTMENT OF LEA GOVERNORS ADVISORY PANEL

Urgent by reason of the need to ensure compliance with the six month rule contained within the Policy for the appointment of LEA Governors

 

The following minutes of the meeting held on 15^th February, 2011 were submitted:

 

Present:  Councillor A.D. Hampton (Chairman); Councillors J. Clifford, N.P. Hodges, Mrs. K.A. Kemp and M.R. Wilson.

 

Also present:  Councillors Ms. M.E. Alexander, Mrs. J.E. Charles and Ms. M. Wright.

 

 

(a)       Apology for Absence -

 

This was received from Councillor Mrs. V.L. Ellis.

 

 

(b)       Declarations of Interest -

 

Councillors A.D. Hampton and M.R. Wilson withdrew from those parts of the meeting where they themselves were Governors, or had applied to become a Governor.

 

 

(c)        Guidance Regarding Appointments Process -

 

RECOMMENDED -

 

(1)       T H A T the Guidance Notes regarding the Appointments Process be noted.

 

(2)       T H A T it be noted that Members were precluded from taking part in the consideration of vacancies at schools where they themselves were a Governor or they knew the applicant.  Substitutes were permitted in those cases.

 

 

(d)       Dates of Meetings of the Advisory Panel -

 

RECOMMENDED - T H A T the following schedule for the next two meetings of the LEA Governor Appointment Panel be agreed:

 

Advert	Closing Date	Panel Meets	Cabinet meets
Thurs 13 October 2011	Thurs 3 Nov 2011	Tues 15 Nov 2011 at 4.30 p.m.	Wed 16 Nov 2011
Thus 6 Sept 2012	Thurs 27 Sept 2012	Tues 9 Oct 2012 at 4.30 p.m.	Wed 10 Oct 2012

 

In order to avoid delays and expense in appointing Governors to fill vacancies on Governing Bodies during the intervening period between meetings of the Panel, it was also

 

RECOMMENDED - T H AT the Term of Office of Governors whose Term of Office expires prior to the meeting of the Panel be extended to the date of the next meeting of the Panel.

 

 

(e)       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 items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 4 of Schedule 12A (as amended) of the Act, the relevant paragraphs of the Schedule being referred to in brackets after the minute heading.

 

 

(f)         Applications for the Appointment of Current LEA Governors' Vacancies (Exempt Information - Paragraph 12) -

 

It was agreed that an application form, received after the closing date be received.

 

The Panel, having considered the criteria for the appointment of LEA Governors and the applications received,

 

RECOMMENDED - T H A T the following appointments be made:

 

School	Appointment
Albert Primary	Mrs. J.M. Warren
All Saints C/W Primary	Mrs. S.R. Williams
AshgroveSchool	Councillor Mrs. J. Birch
Barry Comprehensive	Mrs. A. Forte
BarryIslandPrimary	Ms. Linda Ware
Cadoxton Primary	Mrs. S.K. Davies
Cogan Primary	Mrs. J. Griffiths
Colcot Primary	Mr. L.O. Rowlands
Dinas Powys Infants	Mrs. J. Davies
Eagleswell Primary	Mr. P. Tooze
Gwenfo C/W Primary	Ms. J.A. Thomas
Llanilltud Fawr Primary	Dr. D. Worsfold
Murch Junior	Mrs. S. Holmes
Oak Field Primary	Mr. L.O. Rowlands
Pendoylan C/W Primary	Dr.N.M.Davies
Romilly Primary	Mrs. L. Sokolski
Victoria Primary	Councillor Mrs. J. Birch
	Mrs. A.J. Reynolds
Wick and Marcross C/W Primary	Mrs.M.E.Cornelius
Y Bont Faen Primary	Mrs. S. Cox
Ysgol Erw'r Delyn	Dr. Cosslett
Ysgol Pen y Garth	Mrs. E.M. Elias Jones
Ysgol StCurig	Mr D. Horgan
	Mrs. M. Thomas

 

- - - - - - - - - -

 

RESOLVED - T H A T the recommendations be adopted.

 

Reason for decision

 

To give effect to the recommendations.

 

 

C1237                        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 items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part 4 of Schedule 12A (as amended) of the Act, the relevant paragraphs of the Schedule being referred to in brackets after the minute heading.

 

 

C1238                        FRAMEWORK AGREEMENTS FOR PROVISION OF EXTERNAL LEGAL SERVICES (LPP) (EXEMPT INFORMATION - PARAGRAPH 14) (SCRUTINY - CORPORATE RESOURCES) -

 

Authority was sought for the Council to enter into framework agreements for the provision of legal services from private sector solicitors or barristers.

 

This was a matter for Executive decision.

 

RESOLVED -

 

(1)       T H A T authority be given to Bridgend County Borough Council to execute the solicitor framework agreements, as detailed in the report, on behalf of the Vale of Glamorgan Council.

 

(2)       T H A T subject to the barrister chamber rates being acceptable to the Director of Legal, Public Protection and Housing Services, authority be given to Bridgend County Borough Council to execute the barrister chamber framework agreements on behalf of the Vale of Glamorgan Council.

 

Reasons for decisions

 

(1&2)  In order to put in place arrangements to execute the solicitor and barrister chamber framework agreements.