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RESOLVED That the report be noted.
RESOLVED a) That the referral made by the Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee be noted. b) That Members of the Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee be referred to the HR Services report and meeting webcast for further information and to refer back for reconsideration if necessary. The Chair then presented the referral from the Governance and Audit Committee to the Committee for further consideration of the recruitment and retention challenges faced by the Authority. Councillor Jonathan Grimes again made reference to the discussions in the previous Agenda item and moved that Members of the Governance and Audit Committee be referred to the information contained within the HR Services report and meeting webcast; Seconded by Councillor Mike James. The vote, undertaken by way of a roll-call, was carried. The votes were recorded as follows: For the Motion: Councillors Steve Alderman, Aaron Carey, Jonathan Grimes, Mike James, Michael John, Huw Murphy, Bethan Price, Mike Stoddart, Jacob Williams and Michael Williams [10] There were no votes against or abstentions. RESOLVED a) That the referral made by the Governance and Audit Committee be noted. b) That Members of the Governance and Audit Committee be referred to the HR Services report and meeting webcast for further information and to refer back for reconsideration if necessary.
RESOLVED a) That the Committee scrutinised the Council’s Draft Annual Self-assessment for 2022-23 and considered the main issues arising. b) That clarification be sought on the membership arrangements of the Corporate Asset Management Group and report back to the Governance and Audit Committee at its next meeting. [Councillor Mike James left the meeting at this juncture]
RESOLVED That the Committee scrutinised the County Council’s Budget Outturn Monitoring Report for 2022-23 and considered the main issues arising.
RESOLVED That the Committee scrutinised the County Council’s Budget Quarter 1 Monitoring Report for 2023-24 and considered the main issues arising.
RESOLVED That the Minutes of the Partnerships Panel meeting which took place on 25 May 2023 be noted.
RESOLVED That the Forward Work Programme, as set out in the report, be approved with the addition of an item on the Budget Quarter 2 Monitoring Report 2023-24 for the next meeting.
Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Simon Hancock and Thomas Tudor.
There were no declarations made at this point in the meeting.
Moved by Councillor Jonathan Grimes; Seconded by Councillor Steve Alderman. The vote, by way of show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Minutes of the Meeting held on 8 June 2023 be approved as a correct record, in both English and Welsh.
The Chair stated that no public submissions or items of correspondence had been received for this meeting.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED That the report be noted.
The Committee considered a report by the Head of Human Resources providing an update of HR Services, including approaches to pay and grading, social care retention payments and future work strategy, since her appointment in April 2023. The Cabinet Member with responsibility forCorporate Improvement and Communities introduced the report, welcoming the new Head of Service to the meeting, and expressed his gratitude to the Chief HR Officer for her work in response to the Coronavirus pandemic and cost of living crisis. Before the COVID-19 outbreak, the Cabinet Member recalled much work was done to assess the organisational culture of the County Council, which led to the development of the purpose, learning and results concepts as values for the Authority. He added the staff survey, which received a 56% response rate, helped to benchmark the challenges faced by staff. The Head of Human Resources reported HR Services had recruited 472 new starters in the last year and a number of individuals had been promoted to higher positions within the Council following completion of a leadership development programme. As well as promoting equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace, she stated the Council continued to support the mental health and wellbeing of its staff and a large number of employees had trained to become Mental Health First Aiders. Furthermore, absence rates for Council staff were “very good” in comparison to many other local authorities across Wales and the UK. On the topic of social care retention payments, the Head of Human Resources explained the Professional Competence Payment (PCP) had been introduced entitling any social worker with three years post-qualification experience to apply for additional pay. At a time when recruitment has evolved into a global market, the Head of Human Resources observed the Council is now competing with international companies operating remotely and this has caused some challenges when seeking to recruit the best talent. She warned that pay had already fallen behind, and without the available budget, the Authority would continue to see this to be the case. The priority now, she added, would be for the Council to focus on becoming an “employer of choice”. The Committee debated the contents of the report and the key points were highlighted as follows: · Councillor Michael John raised questions in relation to apprenticeships and the staff recognition programme as a way of recruiting and retaining employees, and the reduction of European workers having an impact on social care recruitment. On the Council’s apprenticeship strategy, the Head of Human Resources replied the first three apprentices had started in ICT in the last two weeks, having received 45 applications for that opportunity. She went onto acknowledge that staff recognition was a challenge because of the constraints of public money, therefore, the Council needed to focus its approach on providing non-financial reward by simply saying ‘thank you’ to staff and praising good performance. She believed the ending of the Freedom of Movement between the UK and the EU had particularly impacted commissioned services who relied more on international workers. · Councillor Michael Williams sought clarification on employee turnover on page 34 of the officer’s report and was concerned that the rate of 14.45% was ‘rather high’. Furthermore, he was concerned that senior managers were seemingly taking on a greater number of roles and that, given the reduction in staff, asked whether the Council was fulfilling all of its statutory duties, particularly in Environmental Health. The Head of Human Resources responded that there would always be a lag in reporting figures for starters and leavers within the Authority, however, staff retention rates were not high in comparison to other organisations. In terms of workforce capacity issues affecting the Council’s ability to deliver statutory services, she stated she would need to raise the matter with the relevant Head of Service but was certain her colleagues would agree that they were meeting their statutory responsibilities. In recognising a shortage of Environmental Health Officers, she highlighted the Authority was seeking to develop a ‘grow your own’ graduate programme to address recruitment difficulties in this field. · In response to a question from Councillor Mike Stoddart regarding vacancy management and Birmingham City Council’s financial problems over its jobs pay and grading scheme, both the Head of Human Resources and Deputy Chief Finance Officer confirmed the budget covered a full complement of staff. The Chief HR Officer, who told the meeting she dealt with the Council’s equal pay claims in 2010, gave an assurance that there was ‘very robust internal maintenance’ in place and that a workforce panel, which includes trade union representatives, met quarterly to review all role allocations. · Councillor Jonathan Grimes requested updated figures on the number of staff working from home and what was being done to encourage more people back into County Hall, to which the Head of Human Resources advised the office occupancy rate was just under 40% at that time during the summer period. She advised the Council continually reviews hybrid working in line with the needs of its customers and each Director and Head of Service were responsible for ensuring that service standards were still being met. The challenge, she admitted, would be if more employees were to be asked to return the workplace as the Council does not have the office space conducive to welcome everyone back in. She pointed out that hybrid working was a strong preference for people who wished to work for the Authority and if office working were to be mandated it would detract some people from working for it. · Councillor Huw Murphy applauded staff and managers for having a low sickness absence rate of 11.8% and queried whether £2m spent on agency staff was on an upward or downward trajectory. The Chief HR Officer confirmed the Council’s spending on agency staff was in social care and following a downward trajectory. She informed the meeting that social worker pay was comparable to neighbouring authorities because of the introduction of the PCP payment and the ‘strong grow your own’ social training programme. Seven trainees were graduating this year and all of them had accepted jobs within the Council’s Adult and Children’s Social Care services, with another seven students in training. Turning to the reasons why social workers were choosing to leave the profession, the Chief HR Officer explained they were mainly lifestyle decisions, such as moving for family reasons. Social worker turnover amounted to 14%, which decreased to 11% with involuntary leavers and retirees. In social care, the turnover rate was 25%, which dropped to 8.5% with involuntary leavers. While no one had cited pay as a reason for leaving the care sector she continued, common reasons were due to shift work and an ‘inability to balance the work with their dependent care needs’. Moved by Councillor Michael John; Seconded by Councillor Huw Murphy. The vote, undertaken by a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the report be noted.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED a) That the referral made by the Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee be noted. b) That Members of the Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee be referred to the HR Services report and meeting webcast for further information and to refer back for reconsideration if necessary. The Chair then presented the referral from the Governance and Audit Committee to the Committee for further consideration of the recruitment and retention challenges faced by the Authority. Councillor Jonathan Grimes again made reference to the discussions in the previous Agenda item and moved that Members of the Governance and Audit Committee be referred to the information contained within the HR Services report and meeting webcast; Seconded by Councillor Mike James. The vote, undertaken by way of a roll-call, was carried. The votes were recorded as follows: For the Motion: Councillors Steve Alderman, Aaron Carey, Jonathan Grimes, Mike James, Michael John, Huw Murphy, Bethan Price, Mike Stoddart, Jacob Williams and Michael Williams [10] There were no votes against or abstentions. RESOLVED a) That the referral made by the Governance and Audit Committee be noted. b) That Members of the Governance and Audit Committee be referred to the HR Services report and meeting webcast for further information and to refer back for reconsideration if necessary.
The Chair presented the referral for a breakdown of the percentage of staff working out of County Hall to the Committee from the Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee. Councillor Jonathan Grimes noted that the occupancy rate of County Hall of just under 40% had been covered in the previous Agenda item and moved that Members of the Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee be referred to the information contained within the HR Services report and meeting webcast; Seconded by Councillor Huw Murphy. The vote, undertaken by way of a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED a) That the referral made by the Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee be noted. b) That Members of the Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee be referred to the HR Services report and meeting webcast for further information and to refer back for reconsideration if necessary. The Chair then presented the referral from the Governance and Audit Committee to the Committee for further consideration of the recruitment and retention challenges faced by the Authority. Councillor Jonathan Grimes again made reference to the discussions in the previous Agenda item and moved that Members of the Governance and Audit Committee be referred to the information contained within the HR Services report and meeting webcast; Seconded by Councillor Mike James. The vote, undertaken by way of a roll-call, was carried. The votes were recorded as follows: For the Motion: Councillors Steve Alderman, Aaron Carey, Jonathan Grimes, Mike James, Michael John, Huw Murphy, Bethan Price, Mike Stoddart, Jacob Williams and Michael Williams [10] There were no votes against or abstentions. RESOLVED a) That the referral made by the Governance and Audit Committee be noted. b) That Members of the Governance and Audit Committee be referred to the HR Services report and meeting webcast for further information and to refer back for reconsideration if necessary.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED a) That the Committee scrutinised the Council’s Draft Annual Self-assessment for 2022-23 and considered the main issues arising. b) That clarification be sought on the membership arrangements of the Corporate Asset Management Group and report back to the Governance and Audit Committee at its next meeting. [Councillor Mike James left the meeting at this juncture]
The Committee considered a report by the Corporate Policy and Partnerships Manager on the Council’s Draft Annual Self-assessment for 2022-23. The Chair welcomed the report’s author, the Corporate Policy and Partnerships Manager, and the Corporate Planning Manager to the meeting and to contribute to the Agenda item. The Cabinet Member with responsibility forCorporate Improvement and Communities introduced the report stating that under the requirements of the Welsh Government’s Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021, the Council is required to produce an annual self-assessment of its performance. He stated the Committee’s views were being sought on the report before it was to proceed for consideration at Governance and Audit Committee and full Council. The Corporate Policy and Partnerships Manager outlined the main points of the report and welcomed questions from Members. The Committee then debated the report’s contents and the key points were highlighted as follows: · Councillor Michael Williams, making reference to page 17 of the officer’s report, queried membership of the Corporate Asset Management Group. He recalled a Member-led Strategic Asset Management Group had been established, however, was unaware of the formation of a new Corporate Asset Management Group, chaired by the Chief Executive and comprising senior key officers. The Corporate Policy and Partnerships Manager advised that Member representation fed into the Corporate Asset Management Group and agreed to follow this up further. On the existence of the previous Member-led body, the Cabinet Member for Corporate Finance understood the Deputy Leader had agreed for it to continue in some form, however, stated it would be separate to an officer-only body set up in accordance with best practice from the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA). Councillor Michael John Moved the recommendation within the report, with the addition that clarification be sought on the membership arrangements of the Corporate Asset Management Group and report back to the next Governance and Audit Committee; Seconded by Councillor Aaron Carey. The vote, undertaken by way of a roll-call, was carried. The votes were recorded as follows: For the Motion: Councillors Steve Alderman, Aaron Carey, Jonathan Grimes, Mike James, Michael John, Huw Murphy, Bethan Price, Mike Stoddart, Jacob Williams and Michael Williams [10] There were no votes against or abstentions RESOLVED a) That the Committee scrutinised the Council’s Draft Annual Self-assessment for 2022-23 and considered the main issues arising. b) That clarification be sought on the membership arrangements of the Corporate Asset Management Group and report back to the Governance and Audit Committee at its next meeting. [Councillor Mike James left the meeting at this juncture]
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED That the Committee scrutinised the County Council’s Budget Outturn Monitoring Report for 2022-23 and considered the main issues arising.
[During consideration of this item, Councillor Mike Stoddart declared an interest by virtue of his wife and daughter owning holiday homes and abstained from the vote. Councillor Bethan Price also declared an interest by virtue of owning a holiday home and abstained from the vote.] The Committee considered a report by the Deputy Chief Finance Officeron the Council’s Budget Outturn position for 2022-23. The Cabinet Member for Corporate Finance introduced the report, stating that it had been extremely difficult to project the outturn for the last year given the ongoing cost of living crisis and war in Ukraine. The approved revenue net expenditure budget for 2022-23 was £266.0m while the moratorium on non-essential spending on recruitment was in place for the majority of the year and had resulted in an improvement in the Council’s financial position. A projected overspend of £2.2m in November 2022 was reduced into an outturn underspend of £2.9m, or 1.1% below budget, after accounting for contributions to and from reserves. The Cabinet Member thanked all employees, officers, partner organisations in the voluntary sector and residents for their continued support of the Council and its services during these challenging times. He reported coming under budget by about one per cent was ‘a very positive result’. Reasons for the underspend were attributed to the £4.4m vacancy management saving from the recruitment freeze; slippage in the capital programme resulting in loan interest savings of £2.5m and further savings in minimum revenue provision, which was money allocated for the repayment of loans on maturity. Furthermore, the Council’s investment income was £1.45m higher than budget. The Cabinet Member then made reference to those services that were significantly over budget on page 123 of the report. These included Education Individual School Budgets (£754,000); Adults’ Social Care (£701,000); Housing Services (£200,000) Highways and Transportation Services (£130,000) and Central Corporate and Democratic Services (£94,000). He added inflation had started to reduce in the current year, but more slowly than predicted. The Committee then debated the report’s contents and the key points were highlighted as follows: · Councillor Huw Murphy drew attention to the increasing amount of Council Tax owed to the Authority from £3.2m in 2019-20 to £7.175m in 2022-23. He requested further information as to what measures were being taken to collect the arrears, to which the Deputy Chief Finance Officer confirmed additional debt recovery officers were working on behalf of the Authority to chase payment of monies owed. · Referring to the Authority’s consultation on Council Tax premiums that apply to second and long-term empty homes, Councillor Michael Williams felt the exercise had not been ‘widely advertised’ and expected a large response from those who may have a pecuniary interest in the matter. He felt the views of local people not involved in second homes would be ‘rather diminished’ as a result. Councillor Williams urged Cabinet to consider the Article 4 Direction that the Gwynedd planning authority was consulting on to control the use of housing as second homes in their area. He then discussed the effect of second homes on his ward, observing that the economic, cultural and social life of Tenby was suffering and the RNLI was struggling to get volunteers living close to the lifeboat station to crew the lifeboat. Moved by Councillor Michael John; Seconded by Councillor Jonathan Grimes. The vote, undertaken by a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Committee scrutinised the County Council’s Budget Outturn Monitoring Report for 2022-23 and considered the main issues arising.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED That the Committee scrutinised the County Council’s Budget Quarter 1 Monitoring Report for 2023-24 and considered the main issues arising.
The Committee considered a report by the Deputy Chief Finance Officeron the Council’s position as at Quarter 1 of the 2023-24 financial year. The Cabinet Member for Corporate Finance introduced the report stating the net revenue expenditure budget for this year was £287.6m, which was approved by Cabinet in March. The Quarter 1 projected outturn for the year was £292.4m and represented a projected overspend of £4.8m, which was ‘deeply concerning after only a single quarter’, the Cabinet Member remarked. In response to growing inflation, he went onto say that the Council budgeted using Office for Budget Responsibility figures that had predicted a faster reduction in inflation than had happened, with Consumer Price Index (CPI inflation) increasing to 7.9% and was 1.5% higher than budgeted at the end of the first quarter. Pay awards for teaching and non-teaching staff were yet to be agreed for this year, however, the Cabinet Member told the Committee current pay offers were still in line with budget projections. He also discussed the increased demand for the Council’s statutory services, with additional learning needs packages in schools amounting to £0.3m; Children’s Services, including out of County placements (£4.7m); Adults’ Social Care (£1.7m) and homelessness (£0.9m). Furthermore, the majority of schools had set budgets this year that exceeded the funding received in year with balances projected to reduce by £4.9m to only £1m. Not only was this position unsustainable, the Cabinet Member cautioned, but would need to be continually reviewed with school staffing structures and organisation over the medium term as well. Referring to the slippage in the Council’s 2022-23 Capital Programme that had resulted in reduced borrowing costs and higher investment balances than budgeted, the Council Member anticipated these would have a beneficial effect on budgeted investment income and underspend on capital finance costs of £3.5m for the year. However, to catch up on the capital programme, he advised the Council would need to borrow at higher rates to fund investment, leading to further pressure on capital financing costs in 2024-25 and beyond. A review of capital financing costs, with a 15-year timeline, was underway. The Cabinet Member forecasted a rise in the potential funding gap to £37.3m over the remainder of the Council’s Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) to 2026-27, with £20m in respect of next year alone which was an increase from £15.9m since the budget was set in March. To balance the 2023-24 budget, the Cabinet Member informed the meeting that the Council received a higher-than-expected 7.9% increase in funding from Welsh Government, in addition to the Council Tax rise it approved of 7.5% and made £8m of savings. Although these savings were rated as green in the Authority’s ‘traffic light’ system of reporting, meaning they were the least difficult to implement, he admitted the savings were still proving challenging to realise with 65% being on track for delivery, 14% at medium risk of delivery and 13% at serious risk of not being met. The Cabinet Member understood that Welsh Government intends to allocate a 3.1% increase in funding for 2024-25, which would leave the Council with an estimated £20m shortfall. Even if the Authority was to approve a further 7.5% rise in Council Tax, he warned budget savings of £14.1m would still be required. The likelihood would be that those savings rated red or amber last year would need to be made. The Committee then debated the report’s contents and the key points were highlighted as follows: · Councillor Michael Williams sought clarification on interest rates for loans provided to local authorities by the Public Works Loan Board (PWLB). The Deputy Chief Finance Officerexplained if the Council was to take a loan for treasury management that day for a period of 50 years, the rate would be 5.29%. · Councillor Mike Stoddart queried the use of food and energy price inflation in budget planning, to which the Cabinet Member for Corporate Finance advised it was a measure most local authorities use, however, agreed to follow this up further with the Director of Resources. The Deputy Chief Finance Officer elaborated further on this point, stating that the Council applies the inflation rate relevant to the service area in question, and reiterated that CPI inflation was one of the factors for the increased projected overspend and last year’s higher-than-budgeted staff pay awards. · Councillor Michael John expressed concern that a number of schools had set budgets this year in excess of their income. While recognising this was expected to occur during the first year of the MTFP, Councillor John understood schools were told to use their financial reserves and feared many schools may struggle to set budgets as a consequence. Moved by Councillor Michael John; Seconded by Councillor Jonathan Grimes. The vote, undertaken by a show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Committee scrutinised the County Council’s Budget Quarter 1 Monitoring Report for 2023-24 and considered the main issues arising.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED That the Minutes of the Partnerships Panel meeting which took place on 25 May 2023 be noted.
The Committee received the Minutes of the Partnerships Panel meeting of 25 May 2023. Moved by Councillor Steve Alderman; Seconded by Councillor Michael Williams The vote, undertaken by way of show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Minutes of the Partnerships Panel meeting which took place on 25 May 2023 be noted.
Y penderfyniad fel y'i cofnodwyd
RESOLVED That the Forward Work Programme, as set out in the report, be approved with the addition of an item on the Budget Quarter 2 Monitoring Report 2023-24 for the next meeting.
The Chair outlined the items scheduled for the November meeting and mentioned that reports providing updates on the activities of Electoral Services and on the position of the Capital Programme would be listed on the Agenda. The Committee would also consider the Council’s position as at Quarter 2 of the 2023-24 financial year in November. Moved by Councillor Mike Stoddart; Seconded by Councillor Steve Alderman. The vote, by way of show of hands, was carried. RESOLVED That the Forward Work Programme, as set out in the report, be approved with the addition of an item on the Budget Quarter 2 Monitoring Report 2023-24 for the next meeting.
Rhaid i gynghorwyr ddweud pan fydd ganddyn nhw gysylltiad personol â rhywbeth sy'n cael ei drafod, fel swydd, eiddo neu aelod o'r teulu. Mae buddiant sy'n rhagfarnu yn ddigon cryf i'r cynghorydd adael yr ystafell fel arfer a pheidio â chymryd rhan.
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