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The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
RESOLVED: To note the content of the report.
RESOLVED: To approve the Strategic Plan for 2026-2031.
RESOLVED: To note the projected full year outturn position for 2025/26 as detailed in the report.
RESOLVED: To agree the draft budget proposals for 2026/27, as presented in paragraphs 5 to 33 of the report.
RESOLVED: To note the current position of the General Reserve balance and the proposed Medium Term Financial Plan; and to note that a potential annual or in year increase to Local Authority contributions may be required moving forward upon approval from S151 Officers.
RESOLVED: To agree the proposed scale of Fees and Charges for 2026- 27.
Apologies were received from Cllr Bob Harris (Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council), Cllrs Margaret Lewis and Jon Shimmin (Cardiff Council) and Cllr Gareth Richards (Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council).
There were none.
The minutes of the 12th September meeting were approved as a correct record.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: To note the content of the report.
Laura Cotton (Glamorgan Archivist) presented the quarterly report describing the work of Glamorgan Archives for the period 1st September to 30th November 2025, and highlighted a number of key points. She reported that the archive had been working with the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Wales on a project to digitise and provide Ordnance Survey maps of Wales, and noted that it was always to the service’s advantage when someone else did the majority of the work. The annual Open Doors day had taken place, with excellent feedback from those who came to see behind the scenes. Tours were always fully booked and there was a waiting list, so open days could be done more regularly. Digital preservation work continued, with a key part of this being to marry up information in the catalogue to the digital system. Lots of information was being ingested by the new Preservica system, and they continued to work with the consortium across Wales and add more partners. The period from September onwards was always busy for school visits, and the archive was seeking to broaden the scope of schools who visited as they were understandably mostly Cardiff-based. The Archivist added that the archive had provided a number of letters of support to partner authorities, including Bridgend, Merthyr and RCT, as they sought funding from the Welsh government’s ‘Priorities for Culture’ revenue grant scheme. Work had started on collections relating to the Aberfan disaster, with Welsh government funding supporting the digitisation and cataloguing of these records in close partnership with Merthyr and the National Library of Wales. They were also cataloguing court records received at the end of the year from HM Courts and Tribunals Service, with some 600 boxes of records to work through. Some New Burdens funding had been allocated to this, specifically for re-boxing volumes and assigning reference numbers, and it was due to be concluded over the next few months. A Collections Week had been held in November, allowing them to focus on specific collections and catalogue a lot of local authority material, making the sort of progress with this that wasn’t always possible in the normal working week. On the topic of external funding, the archive had received a small grant of £4.5k from the Archives and Records Council Wales to create a zine showcasing its collections and promoting their services to new audiences. This was in addition to the Welsh government funding for larger projects, which included Priorities for Culture grants for disaster preparedness and digital preservation equipment, as well as for the implementation of digital preservation software. More funding had been received the day before the meeting, which she would outline in her next quarterly report. Work continued on populating place name authority files, which helped to index place names in the catalogue, with some 190 place name files edited this quarter, providing detailed information about each place’s administrative history. The archive would undergo its three-yearly audit in January, which was slightly overdue as the last one was in 2021. The Archivist added that one of the strongrooms had been used as a filming location by the BBC for Casualty in October, with a large crew on site for one day. This had been relatively disruptive, and so new fees and charges for visits of this kind would be added in a later item. S4C had also used the archive for filming for a couple of weeks in the last quarter. Further staff training had been completed recently, including a day of manual handling and first aid, and the last quarter had included mid-year personal reviews for all staff. The Archivist added that she had recently attended an online launch for revised archives accreditation standards, with a mid-point check-in last year when results were reported. Their next full application for accreditation was due in 2027, following a six year cycle, and she noted that the accreditation standards had changed slightly, in particular regarding digital preservation and diversity & inclusion. The former aspect was all sorted, and they would look at putting more of the latter in place. She noted that feedback from the Distance Users Enquiries Survey would come to the next committee meeting, having taken place from October to mid-December. It would be useful to figure out if distance users were getting the responses they needed, as they got a lot of enquiries from them. The archive was working collaboratively with neighbouring authorities, with Carmarthenshire Archives welcomed in recently for a demonstration of the Preservica software. The Crowd Cymru project continued, with further funding secured until November 2026. A collaborative application for funding for the Archives Revealed scheme was being made, specifically to catalogue records of theatre and performing arts collections, with records from St David’s Hall being put forward. This would be submitted soon and they would likely hear back in the summer. Moving onto the management of the building, the Archivist noted that quotes received for replacement lighting had been much higher than expected, and went beyond the budget set. She was keen to meet with the Welsh government and the council about this, and had put in an expression of interest to One Planet Cardiff to try and increase what was available. Work continued on electrical safety tasks, including the usual quarterly defect check, and they had pressure-washed the front of the building to make it look prettier. She added that their electrical equipment had all been PAT-tested in October, following the annual schedule. They were working on their annual health and safety objectives, this year focusing in particular on first aid, fire safety and training. Temperature and humidity readings in the strongrooms had been partly affected by faulty monitoring equipment but this had since been repaired, and the figures for September and November were stable. The Archivist summarised that it had been a busy quarter with lots of externally funded projects to juggle, and thanked the team for their work. Members thanked the Archivist for her report and highlighted the importance of the work done by volunteers. Members noted the time and effort needed to sort out large volumes of court records, and advocated sharing news about the archive more widely with their councils. RESOLVED: To note the content of the report.
Part of an issue followed across 2 meetings
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: To approve the Strategic Plan for 2026-2031.
The new Strategic Plan for 2026-2031 was presented to the Joint Committee for approval. The Glamorgan Archivist advised that the existing plan had been agreed in 2021, and the new one would run from April 2026 to March 2031, giving a higher-level overview of the vision for the service. The strategic plan itself was relatively short and suggested actions to take towards outcomes, and annual plans would be drawn together based on those outcomes. She added that the plan’s outcomes were relatively unchanged, as they had worked well for the service across the last five years. The annual plan for 2026/27 would come to the joint committee in March and could be much more specific, using the outcomes as a framework. There were six key outcomes, namely that: 1. User communities are able to access the service’s resources, no matter where they are in the world, through enhanced provision of digital services; 2. A wider range of people are aware of Glamorgan Archives and the work that the service does;; 3. People of all ages have developed knowledge and skills through engagement with Glamorgan Archives; 4. The legal and evidential value of archives is at the forefront of the service’s work; 5. Collections, that are relevant and representative of the area and local communities, are gathered, kept and shared using the best professional standards; 6. Resources are managed to the best possible advantage with all due consideration given to sustainability and value-for-money, whilst maintaining a flexible and agile service. Members noted that some language in the report referring to the Welsh Assembly needed to be changed to the Senedd. Members also noted the focus on digitisation as well as diversity and inclusion, and the need to identify any missing materials and make their progress as clear as possible. The Archivist responded that she had considered different ways of wording the outcomes to capture this, and had settled on ‘the service will take a proactive and inclusive approach to enhancing collections’ within the mission statement. RESOLVED: To approve the Strategic Plan for 2026-2031.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: To note the projected full year outturn position for 2025/26 as detailed in the report.
Members were provided with details of actual expenditure and income as at the 31st October 2025 (Month 7), against the approved 2025/26 Budget and projections for the full year outturn position. Paulina Delegiewicz (Accountant) reported that the headline position was balanced, with the net expenditure of £900k matching the approved budget with no variance. The projected expenditure of £1,603,484 was fully offset by higher income (projected to be £824,825, £700,009 above target) and £121k would be contributed to reserved. The bottom line was that the archive remained on budget thanks to strong grant and other income performance. Moving onto specific budget areas, the Accountant noted that there was a £33k overspend on employees which reflected the pay award, with additional costs partly funded by grants. Premises costs were overspent by £66k, due to planned repairs and replacements such as the external doors and intruder alarms. Supplies and services had a £418k overspend on a £42k budget, almost entirely grant funded, and conservation work was £15k over budget, covered by the Crowd Cymru and Aberfan digitisation grants. £309k had been spent on consultancy fees, directly linked to project work and grant funded, while £37k had been spent on hardware purchases and £11k on software licences. There was a £9k overspend in support services, mostly due to the audit in January, and income was £700k over target due to grant funding from the Welsh government totalling £543k and New Burdens funding of £132k. The hire of specialist rooms was also projected to generate £60k during the year, as well as £20k from digitisation work. Members asked about the situation with national non-domestic rates (NNDR) noting that a council review was being undertaken. Jessie Atkinson (Accountant) clarified that while the final position wasn’t yet clear, finance officers were assuming that the archive would continue to have to pay it, and that it would continue to increase. It was a significant charge, equating to about £200k against a budget of £900k), with the rateable value and multiplier (52p in the pound) set by Welsh government. The building had no eligibility for exemption, being in good condition and with repairs and improvements made, and its rateable value was unlikely to go down. The Archivist added that colleagues at other archives had raised the issue of how high their rates were, and that discussions were taking place about collectively challenging the Welsh government about the rates they paid. Some English archives had obtained reductions due to being in depreciating listed buildings, while shared buildings and museums saw big reductions. The Chair indicated that he would be happy to attend a meeting with other authorities about acting collectively regarding the rates Members explored future income expectations and heard that while officers took an aspirational approach, the projected budget could only reflect confirmed funding. Last year’s budget had been set before a lot of the external funding was even mentioned, and while they couldn’t predict everything they lived in hope. RESOLVED: To note the projected full year outturn position for 2025/26 as detailed in the report.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: To agree the draft budget proposals for 2026/27, as presented in paragraphs 5 to 33 of the report.
Members were provided with details of the proposed revenue budget for 2026/27. Paulina Delegiewicz (Accountant) outlined the headline position and key changes from 2025-26, noting that the Section 151 officers had had the opportunity to input and had raised no objections. The net budget for 2026/27 would be £900k, which represented a standstill budget compared to 2025-26 and a 1.1% decrease compared to 2024-25. £36k would be drawn down from reserves to facilitate the budget, with the general reserve balance at £207k following a £121k contribution. Employment costs were expected to increase 3% to £17k, while premises costs were projected to decrease by £33k. There were no changes to the transport budget, and supplies and services were down by £1k. Support services would see a decrease of £3k following reduced internal audit activity after the January audit was complete. The target for income was £119k, with a decrease of £4k projected, and a general reserve drawdown of £36k would lead to a balance of £328k in March 2026 and £292k in March 2027. The assumed 3% pay award was just an assumption at this stage, and utility costs were projected to rise, but grant funding was not factored in for prudence. She added that local authority contributions remained unchanged, with Cardiff paying the most at £288k, RCT £225k, Bridgend £126k, Vale £108k, Caerphilly £99k and Merthyr £54k. Invoices would be issued in one instalment in October 2026. RESOLVED: To agree the draft budget proposals for 2026/27, as presented in paragraphs 5 to 33 of the report.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: To note the current position of the General Reserve balance and the proposed Medium Term Financial Plan; and to note that a potential annual or in year increase to Local Authority contributions may be required moving forward upon approval from S151 Officers.
Members were provided with a draft Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) for the next four years, providing a revised budget proposal in a time of ever-increasing budgetary constraints. Paulina Delegiewicz (Accountant) noted that the report outlined both key assumptions and how service continuity would be maintained, seeking to ensure realistic budgets and maintain a minimum reserve balance. The key assumptions included a 3% pay award, similar utility and NNDR increases, frozen transport costs, support service costs increasing in line with the pay award, and stable commercial income including the hire of specialist rooms. Local authority contributions would be frozen next year and then increase by 2.2% in 2027-28 and in 2028-29, then 2.1% in 2029-30. For instance, Cardiff’s contribution would rise from £126k to £128.8k, and then to £131.6k. This would lead to the total contributions increasing from £900k to £960k by 2029-30. The budgeted drawdowns were projected to be £36k in 2026-27 and 2027-28, increasing to £46k in 2028-29 and £47k in 2029-30. The reserve balance would then be £161k as of March 2030, marking a gradual overall decrease, but subject to changes annually as necessary. Jessie Atkinson (Accountant) added that the MTFP provided guidance rather than being a binding document. RESOLVED: To note the current position of the General Reserve balance and the proposed Medium Term Financial Plan; and to note that a potential annual or in year increase to Local Authority contributions may be required moving forward upon approval from S151 Officers.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: To agree the proposed scale of Fees and Charges for 2026- 27.
Members were provided with the proposed scale of fees and charges to be implemented from 1st April 2026. The Glamorgan Archivist noted that this report came at the same time as the budget every year. Fees and charges had increased slightly over the last few years, and last year they were made exclusive of VAT rather than inclusive, leading to a larger jump, so they would be mostly kept the same for the forthcoming year. She noted a number of exceptions, which were highlighted in yellow in the appendices along with an explanation for each change. For instance, postage fees were dependent on what Royal Mail charged. New charges for boxes were still to be decided, while charges for research for media use had been increased. There was a new charge for using the location for filming (£500 per day) while the shelf storage charge in strongrooms had risen from £17.50 to £20 per year, which she noted was still very cheap overall. RESOLVED: To agree the proposed scale of Fees and Charges for 2026- 27.
13th March 2026, 2pm.
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