CABINET - 26 JULY 2011
MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE CABINET HELD IN THE COMMITTEE ROOMS 1/2/3 CIVIC OFFICES, ANGEL STREET, BRIDGEND, ON TUESDAY, 26 JULY 2011 AT 2.30PM
Present:
Councillor M E J Nott - Leader and Chairperson
Councillors:D Sage
H J David
A E Davies
L C Morgan
P J White / -
-
-
-
- / Deputy Leader
Cabinet Member - Resources
Cabinet Member - Children and Young People
Cabinet Member - Wellbeing
Cabinet Member - Communities
Officers:
J Farrar / - / Chief Executive
D MacGregor / Assistant Chief Executive - Performance and Section 151 Officer
P A Jolley / - / Assistant Chief Executive - Legal and Regulatory Services and Monitoring Officer
L Fradd / - / Corporate Director - Communities
H Anthony / - / Corporate Director - Children
D Sutherland / - / Head of ICT and Property
S Cooper / - / Head of Social Care
M Shephard / - / Head of Healthy Living
J Monks / - / Democratic Services Officer - Committees
694 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies for absence were received from A Harris - Corporate Director -
Wellbeing as she was on annual leave.
695 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
The following Members declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 13 - Representation on Outside Bodies as they are Members of Bridgend College Corporation: Councillor A E Davies and Councillor H J David
Councillor Davies also declared a personal interest under Item 13 as she is a Member of SACRE.
696 WALES AUDIT OFFICE CORPORATE ASSESSMENT
The Chief Executive presented a report, to introduce to Members the findings of the Wales Audit Office (WAO) on the Authority’s progress with planned improvements . The report reflects the outcome of the Auditor General’s corporate assessment for the current year which was summarised in Appendix 1 to the report. She advised Members that WAO would be attending full Council on the 27th July 2011.
The Chief Executive was pleased that the annual assessment had shown the Authority was continuing to improve, was developing its medium and long term thinking and was forward looking in translating ideas into actions.
She advised that good progress had been made from last year in the areas identified for improvement, notably the medium term financial plan which the WAO and the Council’s Auditors had considered for some time. Other points which were suggested were not formal recommendations but had been identified by the Auditor General for the Authority’s consideration was as follows:
· Conduct regular tracking of performance against individual savings proposals to assess whether the Council has delivered its plans and to make sure that all proposals deliver the maximum return for taxpayers.
· Improve Members’ understanding of the budget process to enable a more constructive challenge to assumptions made within the budget.
· Provide more consistent performance information across the Council to help decision making, and improve financial management through closer monitoring of non-financial performance.
· Ensure that relevant success measures are in place for all improvement actions.
The Chief Executive concluded by saying that the points would enable Members to engage more fully with the budget process.
The Leader praised the report, which he hoped would be endorsed by Council.
RESOLVED: That Cabinet received the corporate assessment produced by the Wales Audit Office and agreed that it be presented to Council at its meeting on the 27th July 2011.
697 BUDGET MONITORING – QUARTER 1 - 2011/12
The Assistant Chief Executive - Performance presented a report to update Members on the Authority’s financial position as at 30 June 2011. He advised that this was the first budget monitoring report for the year and the overall position reflected an anticipated potential overspend of around £½m; which he stressed was not something to be alarmed by at this stage in the year. Fluctuations during the course of the year and underlying pressures had been taken into account, and through discussions with managers, action was being taken. He illustrated this particularly with regard to Looked After Children (LAC); this was due to the increased numbers of Looked After Children which had exceeded the budget allocation for 2011/12 identified in the Medium Term Financial Plan.
He emphasised that it was important for the Authority to look forward and the budget process for 2012/13 had already been set in motion. Council had agreed the Three Year Plan and he informed Cabinet that these underlying processes would be considered and reviewed over the next few months in liaison with Cabinet to decide where changes were needed. With reference to the anticipated overspend on the Safeguarding and Family Support Service, it had been agreed to invest extra resources on a temporary basis to assist the service managing pressures with LAC and enable extra cases to be managed. He concluded by saying that the Capital Programme at present was proceeding as planned and that the revenue variations were mapped out in detail in the report.
The Cabinet Member - Resources advised that as well as considering the total value, it was important to consider the projected overspend in the context of the Authority’s total budget. He explained that there was time to bring spending back in line with the budget as it was only the first quarter and he was confident that senior management would take the necessary action to alleviate some of those pressures and ensure that planned savings were delivered.
RESOLVED: That Cabinet:
(1) Noted the projected revenue and capital outturn position for 2011/12.
(2) Considered the impact of the underlying budget pressures and delays in achieving budget savings on the Medium Term Financial Plan
698 ALIGNMENT OF WIDE AREA NETWORK SERVICES WITH WELSH GOVERNMENT PUBLIC SECTOR BROADBAND AGGREGATION
The Head of ICT and Property presented a report in order to seek Cabinet approval to contractually commit to the Welsh Government procurement process for Public Sector Broadband Aggregation (PSBA) a Welsh Assembly Government led collaborative national communications service.
PSBA was created in conjunction with other major Welsh public sector organisations as a national information and communications platform to enable greater efficiency and collaborative potential to support the delivery of improved services for the people of Wales.
In July 2006, a notice describing the procuring authority’s requirement for “an information communication and technology network and associated services for Welsh public services” was placed in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU). It stated that services were being procured by the contracting authority for itself and other authorities.
This was followed by a competitive dialogue procedure and a further notice was placed in August 2007. At the conclusion of the dialogue, invitations to tender were issued, with an award of contract being made to Logicalis on the 31st August 2007 to provide enhanced broadband.
The contract enables and requires the delivery of services under it to government departments and legal entities exercising statutory functions, and establishes a process by which orders for such services may be placed by eligible organisations.
A review to align the Authority’s Wide Area Network with the PSBA is within the current ICT Strategy for 2009 - 2012.
The PSBA team, which is comprised of officers from the Welsh Government and personnel from Logicalis UK, undertook a structured engagement process with the Authority to find the most cost effective use of the shared infrastructure. The proposal runs for a period of five years and the annual revenue costs amount to the same as those incurred by the current Wide Area Network (WAN), but provides greater resilience and additional services.
He advised that the achievement was in the installation charges which are profiled into the annual revenue costs.
The Cabinet Member - Resources commented that an excellent contract for the Authority had been negotiated resulting in a new network with more facilities at no extra cost, which would provide better services to schools. He added that the IT infrastructure was critical to service delivery across the board.
RESOLVED: That Cabinet authorised the Head of ICT and Property to sign the PSBA agreement.
699 SUPPORTED BUS SERVICES
The Corporate Director - Communities presented a report, for Cabinet to consider the proposals for the use of four criteria as a mechanism to define and measure the value or benefit of supported bus services in relation to the cost of their provision, and to apply those measures to prioritise services to identify which one the Authority will support.
She advised that the Authority provides financial subsidies for routes not provided on a commercial basis by private operators, which is regarded as an important role to enable access to employment, facilities and services throughout the Borough.
The existing Supported Bus Services contracts expire at the end of 2011 and a re-tendering process is currently underway. Due to the rising cost of fuel, it is likely that the cost of providing the existing services will be considerably higher; coupled with the fact that the grant for the service from the Welsh Government has been reduced by almost £13k. The Authority will therefore be unable to retain all of the currently provided service within the budget available, which means prioritising to ensure the most valuable are retained.
The Corporate Director - Communities advised that four criteria had been devised in order to measure the value and benefit of all the bus services in a fair and equitable way. The four criteria are detailed under paragraphs 4.2, 4.3 and 4.4 of the report.
The Cabinet Member - Communities explained that it had been important in applying the criteria to ensure it was done fairly across the Authority.
The Cabinet Member - Resources advised that the Authority would still be providing a subsidy of approximately £1m to bus services throughout the Borough once the review was concluded and some reductions were made.
RESOLVED: That Cabinet:
(1) Noted and approved the use of the four criteria detailed in the report as a mechanism to be applied to define and measure the value or benefit of supported services in relation to the cost of their provision and to apply these measures to prioritise services to identify which will be supported by the Council with the allocated budget.
(2) Approved that in the event that services achieve the same score a further assessment using the two additional criteria as detailed in the report be applied.
(3) Approved that due to the high cost per passenger the Rail-feeder Bus - Maesteg to Caerau Park service be reviewed and if viable to introduce either a reduced service or alternative facilities.
700 SCHOOL MODERNISATION PROGRAMME: THE DECISION OF THE WELSH MINISTER WITH REGARD TO THE PROPOSAL TO CLOSE SARN NURSERY SCHOOL AND CHANGE THE AGE RANGE OF BRYNCETHIN PRIMARY SCHOOL FROM 4 -11 TO 3 -11
The Corporate Director - Children presented a report, the purpose of which was to inform Cabinet of the decision by the Welsh Minister for Children, Education and Lifelong Learning to approve the proposal to close Sarn Nursery and change the age range of Bryncethin Primary School from 4-11 to 3-11, to which an objection was received during the statutory notice period.
Approval had been sought from Cabinet to proceed with the implementation of the proposal from 1 September 2011 as set out in the ministerial determination.
The background to the proposal was detailed under paragraphs 2 and 3 of the report.
The Corporate Director - Children advised that the ideal position would be to extensively remodel Bryncethin Primary School in order to provide nursery accommodation, depending on the outcome of the Authority’s bid for 21st Century Schools band A funding to extend the facility. She explained that the original proposal was to amalgamate the two schools, but the school would initially have to operate as a split-site school which would incur some costs. If temporary nursery accommodation was required, then planning approval would need to be in place by 31 March 2012. The capital to provide for the temporary accommodation had been allowed for in the budget.
The decision from the Minister was to approve the proposal with a modification to the implementation date to September 2012 rather than this year. The Minister’s decision is detailed under paragraph 4.3 of the report.
The Corporate Director - Children advised that the Welsh Government was keen to ensure that parents were made aware of the proposal.
The Cabinet Member - Children commented that she was pleased the Minister had agreed to the proposals, allowing the Authority to continue with its policy.
RESOLVED: That Cabinet:
(1) Noted the decision, and condition relating to planning permission, of the Welsh Minister to close Sarn Nursery School as from 31 August 2012 and change the age range of Bryncethin Primary School from 4-11 to 3-11 as from 1 September 2012.
(2) Approved the implementation of the proposal as from 1 September 2012.
701 RESPONSE TO OUTSTANDING RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE HOMELESS RESEARCH AND EVALUATION PANEL (REP) FINAL REPORT
The Corporate Director - Children presented a report for Cabinet to provide Cabinet with information to assist in its consideration of outstanding recommendations:
· Whether the Council, in partnership with other agencies, can facilitate the establishment of parent support groups, through which parents, particularly of older teenagers, can compare experiences and share solutions to challenging behaviour, and