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The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
RESOLVED 1. To approve the proposal to close Ysgol Bro Cynllaith from the 31st August 2025, with pupils to transfer to their nearest schools in Powys. 2. In accordance with the Scheme for Financing Schools, to introduce the following restrictions on Ysgol Bro Cynllaith: - Spend at the school is restricted to that included in its approved budget plan and no virement of funds between budget headings is permitted unless approved by the Authority; - Any staffing changes are subject to approval by the Authority; - Any contracts awarded for the supply of goods or services are subject to approval by the Authority.
RESOLVED 1. The Council supports the submission of the non-binding Expression of Interest, on behalf of itself, Carmarthenshire and Monmouthshire, to participate in the Home Office Asylum Dispersal Pilot. 2. All Members of the Council, and the Senior Leadership Team, participate in training and development on the full range of resettlement matters to help the Council be better able to enhance understanding across all of the communities in Powys of these complex matters. County Councillor Jackie Charlton joined the meeting at 11.11 am.
RESOLVED to approve the draft Welsh Language Standards Annual Report 2024-25 for it to be published on the Council’s website by 30 June 2025.
Apologies for absence were received from County Councillors DOCVARIABLE "MembersExcusesShortRoleList" \* MERGEFORMAT J Berriman (Chair), S Cox, R Devlin and DA Thomas. County Councillor J Charlton had a Ministerial meeting and would join the Cabinet that meeting had concluded.
The Chair was authorised to sign the minutes of the last meeting held on 13th May 2025 as a correct record.
There were no declarations of interest reported.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED 1. To approve the proposal to close Ysgol Bro Cynllaith from the 31st August 2025, with pupils to transfer to their nearest schools in Powys. 2. In accordance with the Scheme for Financing Schools, to introduce the following restrictions on Ysgol Bro Cynllaith: - Spend at the school is restricted to that included in its approved budget plan and no virement of funds between budget headings is permitted unless approved by the Authority; - Any staffing changes are subject to approval by the Authority; - Any contracts awarded for the supply of goods or services are subject to approval by the Authority.
Cabinet considered objections received to the proposal to close Ysgol Bro Cynllaith received during the statutory objection period. The objections and the Council’s responses were set out in appendix B to the report. County Councillor Aled Davies spoke as the local member. He questioned why the date of the Cabinet meeting had moved and said that he had not been given sufficient time to comment on the report. He had circulated his comments overnight to the Cabinet and these had been published in a supplementary agenda. Councillor Davies also criticised that he had not been informed that he had not been informed of changes to the Llangedwyn catchment. The Cabinet Member for a Learning Powys and officers responded to the questions Councillor Davies had asked in his submission. Officers acknowledged that the school was only been given a month’s notice, however, it was felt that transfer at the end of the summer term was preferable for pupils than moving to a new school at another time during the school year. If the decision was approved, school admission and transport officers would be at the school in the coming week to assist parents with making alternative arrangements for September 2025. Officers advised that as the objection report was being considered so late in the school term, it would not be possible to complete the required staffing processes before the end of the summer term. Therefore, it was expected that teaching staff would continue to be employed until the end of December 2025 at the earliest. Total costs for all staff currently employed at the school for September 2025 to December 2025 were estimated to be £67,836 to be funded from the Council’s Corporate Transformation budget. It was confirmed that there had been no representations from Ysgol Llanfyllin on a suggested Classroom in the Countryside model. This model had been discounted as an alternative as it did not address the issues facing Ysgol Bro Cynllaith. It was also confirmed that there were sufficient places in Ysgol Llanrhaeadr-ym- Mochnant to accommodate transferring pupils. There would be discissions with the school on how many pupils wished to go into the Welsh stream. It is recognised that if all pupils from Ysgol Bro Cynllaith transfer to Ysgol Llanrhaeadr ym Mochnant then a few year groups would be slightly over their Pupil Admission Number but officers would discuss this with the school once parents have made their preferences known – overall there is sufficient capacity in the school to accommodate all pupils from Ysgol Bro Cynllaith. Having considered the objections and the responses it was RESOLVED 1. To approve the proposal to close Ysgol Bro Cynllaith from the 31st August 2025, with pupils to transfer to their nearest schools in Powys. 2. In accordance with the Scheme for Financing Schools, to introduce the following restrictions on Ysgol Bro Cynllaith: - Spend at the school is restricted to that included in its approved budget plan and no virement of funds between budget headings is permitted unless approved by the Authority; - Any staffing changes are subject to approval by the Authority; - Any contracts awarded for the supply of goods or services are subject to approval by the Authority.
Cabinet considered a proposal to secure a capital budget to fund school site security and site safeguarding works to meet the Estyn inspection recommendation that the local authority addresses urgently important school site security issues. A budget of £1.75 million would enable all proposed projects to address school site security and safeguarding issues to be completed in 2025/26. £0.75 million of funding had been identified leaving a shortfall of £1 million to be funded by £400k from capital grants, £295k from the new revenue budget of £350k approved for 2025-26, with the remaining £55k of that budget vired to support the additional borrowing of £1.055 million. RECOMMENDED to Council 1. That a capital budget of £1.75m is approved to fund site safeguarding works on school sites. 2. That the budget is funded by £400k from capital grants, £295k from the new revenue budget of £350k approved for 2025-26, with the remaining £55k of that budget vired to support the additional borrowing of £1.055 million.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED 1. The Council supports the submission of the non-binding Expression of Interest, on behalf of itself, Carmarthenshire and Monmouthshire, to participate in the Home Office Asylum Dispersal Pilot. 2. All Members of the Council, and the Senior Leadership Team, participate in training and development on the full range of resettlement matters to help the Council be better able to enhance understanding across all of the communities in Powys of these complex matters. County Councillor Jackie Charlton joined the meeting at 11.11 am.
Cabinet considered whether to submit an expression of interest (EOI) to participate the UK Government’s asylum dispersal pilot scheme. The Home Office was seeking initial expressions of interest from local authorities to increase the availability of accommodation for both asylum seekers and local communities. Under the pilot, the Home Office would provide capital funding to local authorities to increase accommodation supply in the next 2-5 years, through purchase and renovation, or construction of new homes, including where practical on local authority owned land. Local authorities would then lease the properties, which it would own, to the Home Office at Local Housing Allowance rates for a 10-year term, after which time the properties would revert to local authority control, increasing the social housing stock. It was confirmed that this would have no effect on the Council’s housing waiting list. The scheme was welcomed by Cabinet members who noted that the council had a proud record of supporting refugees and it was RESOLVED 1. The Council supports the submission of the non-binding Expression of Interest, on behalf of itself, Carmarthenshire and Monmouthshire, to participate in the Home Office Asylum Dispersal Pilot. 2. All Members of the Council, and the Senior Leadership Team, participate in training and development on the full range of resettlement matters to help the Council be better able to enhance understanding across all of the communities in Powys of these complex matters. County Councillor Jackie Charlton joined the meeting at 11.11 am.
Cabinet received the Corporate Safeguarding Board activity report. In introducing the report, the Cabinet Member for Legal and Regulatory Services congratulated the officers and volunteers of the Powys Ukrainian Resettlement Team that had won the Wales Safer Communities Award in the Equality Inclusion and Cohesion Category.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED to approve the draft Welsh Language Standards Annual Report 2024-25 for it to be published on the Council’s website by 30 June 2025.
Cabinet considered the draft Welsh Language Standards Annual Report for 2024-2025. The report set out the Council’s work to comply with the Standards in delivering services to the public; forming policies and considering their effects on how people use Welsh; and using Welsh in its internal operations. It also included information on the number of complaints received during the financial year relating to our compliance with the Standards; the number of employees who have Welsh language skills; the number of staff who attended training courses during the year, and if offered a Welsh version of the course, the percentage of staff who attended the Welsh version; the number of new and vacant posts advertised and categorised where Welsh language skills were essential, desirable, needed to be learnt when appointed, or not necessary. RESOLVED to approve the draft Welsh Language Standards Annual Report 2024-25 for it to be published on the Council’s website by 30 June 2025.
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