Meetings
Every meeting of Swansea Council's committees. Meetings of the full Council, the Cabinet, scrutiny and planning committees get a plain-language summary once their minutes are published.
Loading
The Education Scrutiny Performance Panel met on 22 February 2024. The Panel agreed to send its views to the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills in a letter, and the 13 March meeting will move to a date in July 2024.
On 19 February 2024 the Education Scrutiny Performance Panel, a group of councillors that checks the council's education work, questioned officers about plans to bring Swansea's special schools together into one new school with up to 350 places, on a site next to Pen-y-Bryn Special School. The minute records no decision.
Cabinet met on 15 February 2024 to consider the council's main financial plans for 2024/25, including the revenue budget and the housing budgets, and several contracts, grants and school governor appointments. It recommended the 2024/25 revenue budget, the Council Tax level, the Medium Term Financial Plan and the Housing Revenue Account budget to full Council, and approved the capital budget and the other items.
The Scrutiny Programme Committee met on 13 February 2024 and considered a call-in of the Cabinet decision on the Customer Charter and Service Standards Framework. It resolved to write to the Cabinet Member recommending that the free school meals timescale be cut from 28 working days to 7 working days from confirmation of eligibility. It also noted reports on the Workforce Strategy and the Climate Change and Nature panel, and agreed membership of a new Community Growing working group; minutes for two letter items are not yet published.
The Panel met on 13 February 2024 to scrutinise the council's annual budget before Cabinet considered it on 15 February. The minute records no decisions.
The meeting considered the council's annual budget as it affects education, and received the panel's draft work programme and a list of recent school inspection reports. The Panel noted its points on the budget, including concern about falling school reserves and the Welsh Government funding settlement, and these will be passed to another scrutiny panel. It also noted that an extra meeting on 19 February has been arranged to look at school organisation, including merging special schools.
The Scrutiny Performance Panel, a group of councillors who check the council's work, considered draft budget proposals for Social Services on 12 February 2024. It agreed a set of views to send to Cabinet, which meets on 15 February, and noted a rise in the Social Services budget from £157m to £171m while raising concerns about several areas.
Cancelled
The Planning Committee met on 6 February 2024 to consider four planning applications in Swansea. They concerned new homes, a phase of a quarry site, a change of use to a hot food takeaway and 44 affordable homes. The minute records that all four were approved, with some conditions changed, and that one was approved subject to a Section 106 agreement (a legal agreement between the council and the developer).
The committee was due to consider a call-in of the Cabinet's decision of 18 January 2024 to adopt the Customer Charter and Service Standards Framework from 1 April 2024. A call-in asks scrutiny councillors to review a Cabinet decision before it is carried out. The committee deferred the item to 13 February 2024 because the lead senior officer was absent after a family bereavement.
The Scrutiny Performance Panel for Adult Services, a group of councillors that checks the council's care services, met on 30 January 2024. It heard an update on the Adult Services Transformation Programme and a presentation on Local Area Coordination, where Panel members opposed any loss of posts amid funding pressures. The minutes record no decisions by the Panel, and the Council has not yet decided on Local Area Coordination posts.
The Panel received a briefing from the Cabinet Member for Service Transformation, Councillor Andrea Lewis, and officers on public electric vehicle (EV) charging in Swansea. Members asked about lamp-post charging, supermarkets, community buildings and overnight charging. The minute records no formal decision, but the Cabinet Member agreed to write to supermarkets and consider contacting community groups, and officers agreed to look at overnight slow charging.
At its meeting on 25 January 2024, Swansea Council considered reports on children's rights, council tax support, council housing rents, polling places, its Constitution, a naming policy and a motion on Tata Steel. The main decisions were to approve corporate parenting pledges, keep the Council Tax Reduction Scheme unchanged for 2024/25, raise council housing rents in line with Welsh Government policy, approve final polling district proposals, adopt a Naming Policy and adopt a motion on Tata Steel job losses.
The Panel heard a presentation on child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) from Swansea Bay University Health Board. It also received an update from the Corporate Parenting Board, the council group that oversees care for children in council care. The minutes record no formal decisions, but the Panel noted progress and agreed several follow-up actions.