Wrthi'n llwytho
Does dim crynodeb o'r cyfarfod hwn eto. Caiff crynodebau eu hysgrifennu pan fydd y cyngor yn cyhoeddi'r cofnodion, sef ei gofnod swyddogol o'r hyn a benderfynodd cyfarfod. Maen nhw fel arfer yn ymddangos ychydig wythnosau ar ôl y cyfarfod.
Councillors: Rose Seabourne (Chair) Stuart Ashley Alfie Best Catherine Bonera Ron Burnett Nick Byrne Richard Clark (Deputy Leader) Lynda Clarkson Liam Cowles David Daniels Steven Evans Joanne Gauden Karl Gauden Elizabeth Haynes Jon Horlor Nick Horler Anthony Hunt (Leader) Gaynor James Jon James Janet Jones Mark Jones Peter Jones Rosemary Matthews Susan Morgan Jason O’Connell Amanda Owen Caroline Price Nicholas Simons Alan Slade Chris Tew Colette Thomas David Thomas Jayne Watkins David Williams Lucy Williams Nathan Yeowell Officers: Nigel Aurelius, Deputy Chief Executive Gareth Beer, Head of Economic Development, Asset Management & Property Delyth Harries, Monitoring Officer and Assistant Chief Legal Officer Jessica Gabriel, Planning and Commissioning Manager Robert Green, Head of Financial Services Dave Leech, Strategic Director, Adults and Communities Jason Lewis, Director Corporate Services Andrew Lovegrove, Strategic Director Resources Rob Murray, Principal Planner Jason O’Brien, Strategic Director, Children and Family Services Andrew Powles, Director of Education Dominique Redman, Team Leader Democratic and Member Services Tom Roberts, Business & Democratic Support Services Manager Andy Rothwell, Assistant Head of Education Chris Slade, Assistant Democratic and Member Services Team Leader Mark Thomas, Deputy Chief Officer Highways & Climate Change Stephen Vickers, Chief Executive Also in attendance: Lt Col Stephen Tannock, WO Govier + 1 Sailor RA, WO1 K C Hastings 104 RA, Craig Middle DRM Lynne Robinson, Lyn Garett and children from the Gypysy Traveller Forum at West Mon School Volunteers of Blaenavon Workmen’s Hall The Presiding Member invited Council to stand to observe a minute of silence in memory of former Torfaen County Borough Councillor Alan Jones who had recently passed away.
2.1 Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Fiona Cross and Norma Parrish.
3.1 The Monitoring Officer and Assistant Chief Legal Officer (MO&ALO) advised that she was not aware of any interests, however, if members were to ask questions about a specific matter during the meeting, they should consider whether they have an interest to declare at that time. She further advised that Andrew Lovegrove, Strategic Director Resources, would leave the meeting for Agenda Item 14, Section 151 Handover, as the report related to him.
4.1 Council confirmed the minutes of the Council meeting held on 22 October 2024 as an accurate record. Sue Morgan attended virtually.
5.1 Council noted the action sheet.
6.1 There were no petitions.
7.1 There were no public questions.
8.1 The Leader: - Shared the thoughts of Council on the passing of Alan Jones. He commented that he was a great friend, a valued colleague, and a fierce advocate of Blaenavon and its people. He was a fellow rugby fan who he often enjoyed conversations with, and he did a great deal for Blaenavon Rugby Club. He conveyed condolences to Alan’s family and friends. - Thanked staff who were working outdoors in the current winter weather, from Streetscene Staff to refuse collection. He commented that whilst councillors rightly pushed for service improvements and flagged issues as they arrived, they were hugely thankful for the difficult job that staff did. He also thanked residents for sorting their recycling and for making it as easy as possible for staff in the difficult weather conditions. - Welcomed the signing of the renewal of the Council’s Armed Forces Covenant, He invited Lt Col Stephen Tannock and his colleagues into the Council Chamber to formally sign the document which read ‘we the undersigned commit to honour the Armed Forces Covenant and support the Armed Forces Community, we recognised the value of serving personnel, both regular and reservist, veterans and military families contribute to the business of our country’ signed on behalf of the Armed Forces and Torfaen County Borough Council. - Presented a Civic Award to the volunteers of Blaenavon Workmen’s Hall in recognition of their outstanding commitment to the upkeep and running of the hall. He also recognised the work of other volunteers across the borough who were of great value to the community by helping in a similar way to keep important facilities running. - Welcomed Lynne Robinson, Lyn Garret and children from the Gypsy Traveller Forum at West Mon School who gave a presentation on the lifestyle of Gypsy Travellers and the discriminations they faced. The Gypsy Traveller children were congratulated for being fantastic role models, and for the amazing and inspiring work they did at West Mon School. They were also congratulated for their fantastic efforts in raising £200 through their poppy appeal. - Informed members of Pontypool documentary film, the first viewing of which was due to be shown on Friday at Woodlands Field Hall with doors opening at 7.00pm for a 7.30pm start, a raffle would also be held to raise money for Torfaen Play. He looked forward to seeing the story it would tell, and he welcomed members to the showing at Woodland’s Field Hall. 8.2 • The Chief Executive apologised for not being present in the Council Chamber today. He advised that he would be leaving the meeting at 11.30 am and that the Deputy Chief Executive would remain present throughout the meeting and in his absence.
9.1 The Presiding Member postponed this item as Superintendent Mike Richards was not present.
10.1 The MO&ACLO presented to Council the Annual Governance Statement 2023/24 for approval. In summary, she highlighted some of the key updates as follows: • Paragraph 5.18 referred to the testing that had taken place in relation to the business continuity processes. • Paragraph 5.7 referred to the introduction of cross-party scrutiny and focus groups, which assisted with the delivery of projects. • Paragraph 6.1 referred to the work of the Gwent Public Services Board and the decision to become a Marmot region. • Paragraph 9.15 dealt with the introduction of a Corporate Portfolio Board to strengthen the governance of change activity. • Paragraph 11 was the Review of Effectiveness. The Internal Audit Team continued to review the control environment of the council, and this year the overall opinion had slightly deteriorated from sound to reliable with scope for improvement. This was due to the following two factors: - the decline in the opinion of one of the core financial systems the HR system; and - the number of opinions with the full or substantial rating decreased from 82% to 75%. • There were no significant control issues that needed to be reported within the statement and there were no high priority recommendations identified in the work carried out. The Review of Effectiveness had concluded that the arrangements were effective. 10.2 Council unanimously agreed to approve the Annual Governance Statement referred to in the Appendix to the report.
11.1 The Head of Financial Services outlined the report which asked Council to consider and approve Torfaen County Borough Council’s Statement of Accounts for 2023/24. In summary, he commented as follows: • Despite a challenging year due to changes in personnel, general resource challenges, and use of a new system, the team had worked hard to ensure that key deadlines were hit and to reach a point where ultimately, a successful audit opinion was received. • The authority was one of the first in Wales to reach this point of sign off despite a longer than anticipated process this year, with thanks also being conveyed to Audit Wales colleagues for the way in which they had worked with the authority throughout the audit. • The external audit had substantially concluded. Final checks were still ongoing to ensure that all adjustments agreed with Audit Wales had been appropriately reflected within the final accounts document. • A Draft ISA260 Report had been issued and stated that an unqualified audit opinion was to be issued. Within the report there were uncorrected misstatements, this was normal, the items were not material and didn’t affect the audit opinion. These would be resolved in readiness for the production of the 2024/25 accounts. • Governance and Audit Committee had received and agreed that the accounts be placed before council for approval. • Following publication of papers to today’s meeting, there had been some minor immaterial changes as a result of final checks around asset valuations, however, these did not change the opinion of Audit Wales, and they were not items that impacted on the real resources available to the authority. There would be some minor amendments to the final audit report in terms of which items were uncorrected and corrected, critically ensuring that the level of uncorrected misstatements in aggregate remained under the authority’s materiality threshold, thus retaining the unqualified audit opinion. 11.2 11.3 11.4 Alice King, Audit Wales commented around the audit progress as follows: · With regards to the minor changes alluded to above, the final amendments had been agreed further to audit findings. This concerned the following key areas: - There were two previously reported uncorrected misstatements which the council had since subsequently decided to correct. These were listed as £1.396m and £822k, reported on page 164 of report pack and related to joint operations. - One additional corrected misstatement, and three additional uncorrected misstatements were identified in relation to non-enhancement of expenditure on assets incurred by the council in the year, which had not been impaired as required. - The misstatements that remained uncorrected, were not individually or cumulatively material and there was no overall impact to the general fund as a result of corrected or uncorrected misstatements. - The total uncorrected misstatements remained cumulatively below the materiality level that was set, and therefore the Auditor General intended to give an unqualified opinion. The Leader thanked Alice and the Head of Financial Services and his team for their hard work during the year. He recognised that the unqualified opinion should not be taken for granted and was achieved as a result of the hard work, skill, and speed in which the local authority had reached the current position, particularly in in comparison to other organisations. He also commented around the complex services and the financial accountancy of the council with a budget to manage a plethora of different services. He conveyed his thanks to the team who even with such uncertainty, had managed to achieve an unqualified audit opinion. The HoFS also referred to Appendix 4, Treasury Management Report, which provided an overview of the council’s investment and borrowing activity and confirms compliance with prudential indicators that were agreed as part of the Treasury Management Strategy for 2023/24. He explained that Governance and Audit Committee had scrutinised the report during the summer. 11.5 Council unanimously agreed that: a) The Council’s 2023/24 Statement of Accounts be approved. b) The Presiding Member at Council be authorised to sign the Statement of Accounts for 2023/24, alongside the Chief Financial Officer. c) The Chair of Governance and Audit Committee be authorised to sign the Letter of Representation, alongside the Chief Financial Officer. d) The Treasury Management Outturn Report for 2023/24 is approved.
12.1 12.2 The Strategic Director, Children and Families, outlined the report providing an update to Council on the work of the education service to address the recommendations made in March 2022 Estyn Inspection report. In summary, he commented as follows: · The local authority was no longer in a category of requiring significant improvement. · Estyn had carried out a number of monitoring visits since March 2022 in order to monitor progress against the recommendations made. In reaching their determination progress had been significant enough to be recognised as good practice which will be referenced within Estyns’ Annual Report. This placed the authority in an excellent position in terms of sustainability and continued improvement. · The education service would continue to strive for improvement and the authority was thankful for Estyn’s collaborative approach throughout the process. He recognised the work of the Education Leadership Team, and staff within the entire education service who had driven service development forward. He also commented around the authority being in an excellent position to strive towards continuous improvement and he recognised that this couldn’t have been achieved without the work of education staff and cross directorate working across the entire council. 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6 Councillor Richard Clark, Executive Member Children, Families and Education echoed the above comments. He would continue bring education updates to members to ensure they were aware and engaged with progress. He believed that he had honoured his commitment in ensuring that all members had remained part of the process. He referred to the best practice being demonstrated and other local authorities making contact to seek advice. This was a starting point for education in Torfaen, and every effort would be made to continue to excel and improve. He thanked the Strategic Director, Children and Families, the Chief Executive, the Education Service and also councillors for the whole council approach and he looked forward to further improvements. The Leader thanked officers across the council, led by the Chief Executive for the whole council approach. He was encouraged by the report and he felt it was testimony to staff in schools, the Executive Member for Children, Families and Education, and leadership who had all been exemplary. He also thanked the Education Overview & Scrutiny Committee for their engagement and he commented that that the progress made in areas like this was achieved by relentless hard work and team work, and this was a credit to all who had been a part of it. He appreciated the openness from the department, who always gave timely and honest assessments of ongoing work and who were always patient in answering his questions which enabled him to drill down as much as possible as to progress being made in schools. He also commended the council’s approach to self-evaluation assessments, and he thanked officers involved in this. He referred to the progress made around attendance which also fed into the progress made, and he recommended that members take time to read the full report from Estyn which recognised huge improvements, and he looked forward to continuing with a focus on performance. He also thanked members for making schools a top priority and for making the decision to invest in education in recent years, and he highlighted that the authority was once below average in Wales in terms of revenue funding in schools, however, the authority was now near the top. The Presiding Member echoed the comments above and conveyed her personal thanks to scrutiny members and officers for their work. Members appreciated regular updates and felt it was important for this commitment to continue. The comments included in the Estyn Report around work done with those not in education, employment or training were also welcomed. 12.7 Council unanimously agreed to accept the report as an update of the progress made within education services across the Local Authority and acknowledge the findings of the Estyn monitoring visit.
13.1 The Principal Planner (PP) outlined the report seeking Council’s approval of the Revised Torfaen Replacement Local Development Plan (RLDP) 2022-2037 Delivery Agreement (DA) and submit this to the Welsh Government for their agreement 13.2 Council unanimously agreed to: 1) The Revised Torfaen Replacement Local Development Plan Delivery Agreement attached at Appendix 1 and submit this for the approval of Welsh Ministers. 2) Delegate any final minor amendments or factual corrections of the Revised Torfaen Replacement Local Development Plan Delivery Agreement to the Group Leader Planning Policy and Implementation prior to submission to the Welsh Government.
Andrew Lovegrove, Strategic Director Resources, left the meeting. 14.1 The Deputy Chief Executive outlined the report which sought to designate the Section 151 Officer of the Council as a result of the forthcoming retirement of the current post holder. He commented as follows: • He would be retiring with effect from 31 January 2025 and he had held the role of Section 151 Officer for close to 20 years. • Andrew Lovegrove had been appointed as Strategic Director Resources. He is a qualified accountant and a member of the CCAB Body, and the report proposed that Andrew assumes the designation as Section 151 Officer with effect from the 2nd December 2024 after the 2023/24 accounts have been signed off. • Should Andrew be appointed, he would become just the third Section 151 Officer of the local authority since Torfaen County Borough came in to existence in 1996. He believed that this stability had served Torfaen well. 14.2 The Leader commended the report to council, and he welcomed Andrew Lovegrove to the position as of 2 December 2024. He was thankful for the stability in which the authority operated and felt it was remarkable that over a 30 year period there had been only two Section 151 officers. 14.3 Council unanimously agreed that Andrew Lovegrove is appointed as the Section 151 Officer for the Council with effect from 2nd December 2024.
15.1 There were no motions on notice.
16.1 Member questions with replies are set out in Appendix A to these minutes.
17.1 Council unanimously agreed to note the Cabinet Decisions.
18.1 The next meeting was scheduled for Tuesday 17 December 2024 at 10.00am.
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.
Caiff datganiadau eu darllen o'r cofnodion unwaith y byddan nhw wedi'u cyhoeddi.
Yn rhestru cynghorwyr presennol y cyngor yn unig. Nid yw aelodau cyfetholedig, swyddogion a chyn-gynghorwyr yn cael eu dangos.