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The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
RESOLVED: (a) That the Forward Work Programme be approved, as amended; (b) That the Facilitator, in consultation with the Chair of the Committee, be authorised to vary the Forward Work Programme between meetings, as the need arises; and (c) That the progress made in completing the outstanding actions be noted. (d) That Internal Audit be asked to add Direct Award Contracts to the Audit Programme.
RESOLVED: That the Committee note the report and progress of the School Modernisation programme.
RESOLVED: (a) That the Committee reviewed the Council’s Corporate Risk Register report, in particular risk REY01 Financial Viability of Schools; and (b) That the Committee be assured of the arrangements in place to manage risk REY01 Financial Viability of Schools.
Councillor Teresa Carberry declared a personal interest in Agenda item – School Modernisation Update, as a School Governor to a school identified in the report. The Committee were advised that they had a standing personal declaration as school governors, if they had included this information on their Code of Conduct form.
The Minutes (agenda item 3) of the meeting held on 7 February 2025 were presented for approval. That the minutes of the meeting held on 7 February 2025 be approved as a correct record.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: (a) That the Forward Work Programme be approved, as amended; (b) That the Facilitator, in consultation with the Chair of the Committee, be authorised to vary the Forward Work Programme between meetings, as the need arises; and (c) That the progress made in completing the outstanding actions be noted. (d) That Internal Audit be asked to add Direct Award Contracts to the Audit Programme.
The Overview & Scrutiny Facilitator presented a report (agenda item 4) to consider the Committee’s current Forward Work Programme and progress with actions. Councillor Andrew Parkhurst asked if a high level report could be provided on the concerns that had recently been raised by two Trade Unions, alongside the response by the Cabinet Member, on the impact of budgets set by the Council on individual schools. The Chief Officer (Education & Youth) asked that Councillor Parkhurst e-mail her following the meeting in order to better understand what information was to be included in the report Councillor Parkhurst also referred to the response which had been circulated to the Committee in relation to his questions on Direct Award Contracts and asked if responses could be provided to the following questions:- · Out of the 24 suppliers provided to the Committee which 3 were Direct Award Contracts; · Does this mean the remaining 21 suppliers went through the normal procurement process; · If the 21 suppliers went through the normal procurement process why was it not possible for the remaining 3 to go through this process; · The Committee were told that the reason the Direct Award Contracts were made was because of the short timescales, therefore presumably it was possible for 21 contracts to be managed in the short timescale. What was the reason why the remaining 3 could not. · Within the response from Officers it states ‘Normally all goods and services over £25k would require a contract’. Does the use of the word ‘normally’ imply that some contracts over £25k do not have a contact in place. · Are there contracts in place for all the UPFSM contracts over £25k, in particular Direct Award Contracts. · Would like to know what the contracts are for. Presume that NEWydd provide the food so not clear what the contracts are for, as some are for considerable sums. · In the response from Officers, it explains that a Team Manager can approve a Direct Award Contract up to the value of £250k, therefore what value were the 3 Direct Award Contracts. · In view of the response from officers, could the Council award a multi-million pound contract without competitive tenders, if the Cabinet, Chief Executive, Section 151 Officer and Monitoring Officer all agree? In response to a number of questions around school data and legislation around how this was presented, the Chief Officer (Education & Youth) suggested that advice on the Welsh Government legislation be shared with the Committee following the meeting. Following comments made by Councillor Dave Mackie it was agreed that a short report be presented to a future meeting around the year on year trend analysis on pupil school numbers. Councillor Parkhurst proposed an additional recommendation, that Internal Audit be asked to add Direct Award Contracts to the Audit Programme. The recommendations, as outlined within the report, together with the additional recommendation shown above, were supported. RESOLVED: (a) That the Forward Work Programme be approved, as amended; (b) That the Facilitator, in consultation with the Chair of the Committee, be authorised to vary the Forward Work Programme between meetings, as the need arises; and (c) That the progress made in completing the outstanding actions be noted. (d) That Internal Audit be asked to add Direct Award Contracts to the Audit Programme.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: That the Committee note the report and progress of the School Modernisation programme.
The Chief Officer (Education & Youth) and Senior Manager, School Planning and Provision jointly presented the report (agenda item 5)to inform the Committee of progress of the School Modernisation Programme across a wide number of projects. It was suggested that a future meeting of the Committee be held at the Mynydd Isa Campus New Build. Following questions raised by Councillor Dave Mackie, the Chair suggested that a report on Child Sufficiency Assessments be added to the FWP for the joint meeting with the Social & Health Care OSC, scheduled for 26th June. In response to questions raised by Councillor Parkhurst around the life expectancy and fire ratings of the buildings within the Croes Atti development, the Senior Manager suggested that information on the life expectancy of the buildings along with technical background information showing how the buildings met fire regulations be provided following the meeting. Councillor Parkhurst also asked when the consultation process would commence and if a copy of the table setting out the ranking of schools requiring modernisation and improvement could be provided. RESOLVED: That the Committee note the report and progress of the School Modernisation programme.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED: (a) That the Committee reviewed the Council’s Corporate Risk Register report, in particular risk REY01 Financial Viability of Schools; and (b) That the Committee be assured of the arrangements in place to manage risk REY01 Financial Viability of Schools.
The Chief Officer (Education and Youth) introduced the report (agenda item 6)which outlined the specific risks for the portfolio, with REY01 being identified as a red risk which related to financial viability of schools. Councillor Dave Healey asked that the Committee agree a principle for future budget settlements that a funding floor be introduced for schools who could be more severely financially impacted than others due to the Council’s own funding formula, similar to the funding floor established by Welsh Government for Local Authorities. The Chief Officer (Education & Youth) said that the Chief Executive and Section 151 Officer would need to provide advice on this. It was suggested that this matter be considered as part of the report to the Committee on the impact of budgets set by the Council on individual schools. RESOLVED: (a) That the Committee reviewed the Council’s Corporate Risk Register report, in particular risk REY01 Financial Viability of Schools; and (b) That the Committee be assured of the arrangements in place to manage risk REY01 Financial Viability of Schools.
There were no members of the press or public present. (The meeting started at 2pm and ended at 4.28 pm) …………………………………………… Chair
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