The Panel considered briefings on reducing disadvantage in schools, the School Improvement Service and cookery in schools. The minutes record no decisions on these, and the Panel's views were set out in a letter to the Cabinet Member dated 12 December 2023. The Panel also noted its work plan and agreed to add a briefing on Religion, Values and Ethics education.
Cabinet, the group of councillors who run the council, met on 16 November 2023. It approved nine nominations to fill local authority governor vacancies at schools, and a £1,458,714 capital scheme for learners with additional learning needs (ALN), funded by a Welsh Government grant. The public were also excluded from two items of closed business, which the papers provided do not describe.
On 14 November 2023 the Scrutiny Programme Committee considered reports on anti-social behaviour, children's rights, corporate safeguarding, bus services and a scrutiny performance panel. It agreed that the anti-social behaviour inquiry's final report should go to Cabinet on 21 December 2023. It also agreed to write letters to Cabinet Members on children's rights, safeguarding and bus services, and to receive a children's rights update every two years.
The panel looked at the Q1 2023/24 budget monitoring report, which forecasts a service overspend of £13.477m, and at the Skyline leisure project on Kilvey Hill, now costed at £40m. The minutes record no decisions by the panel. The Copr Bay update and part of the Skyline update were held in private, and their minutes have not been published.
Council met on 9 November 2023. It approved the Annual Review of Performance 2022/23 for publication, agreed a new No Casino Resolution to take effect on 7 December 2023, and approved changes to the Councillors ICT Allowances Policy. It also set up a nine-member Petitions Committee and adopted an amended motion on bus service cuts. Councillors also asked written questions, which are not summarised here.
The Planning Committee met on 7 November 2023 to consider planning applications. Members resolved to approve two applications: a change to planning conditions at Cefn Hengoed Leisure Centre in Bonymaen, and detailed plans for homes and a commercial unit at Riverside Wharf, Swansea Waterfront.
Cancelled
The Panel discussed the Director of Social Services' Annual Report 2022-23 and a briefing on Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), a legal process for authorising the deprivation of liberty of an adult who lacks capacity to consent to care, such as in a care home. The replacement law, Liberty Protection Safeguards, has been delayed by several years.
The minutes record no decisions. Panel members asked questions and made comments, and the reports asked councillors to receive, endorse or note the material.
Members approved the report for submission to Welsh Government and received the Planning Annual Performance Report for information, which shows the service's 2022-23 results against national measures.
Cabinet met on 19 October 2023 and considered eight substantive items. It approved the closure of the Oracle Fusion project with a £500,000 reserve, the Local Nature Recovery Action Plan, the Destination Management Plan 2023-2026, nine local authority school governor nominations, and an extra £850,000 to keep city centre parking offers until 31 March 2024. It also approved in principle the transfer of several sports and leisure sites to community groups.
Councillors agreed the Scrutiny Annual Report 2022/23 and the membership of panels and working groups; the minutes record that the Committee would write to the Chair of the Public Services Board and to Cabinet Members with its views, but the text of those letters is not in the minutes. The Committee's views on the Oracle report are recorded in the minute as a resolution to write to Cabinet Members.
The Panel considered two reports: the Audit Wales report on how the Council set its well-being objectives, and the annual report on Swansea's library service against the Welsh Public Library Standards. The minutes record that both items were noted and no decisions were taken. For each item, the report asked the Panel to review the material and give its views.