Agenda, decisions and minutes

To receive any declaration of interest from a Member or Officer in respect of any item of business.

Declarations of interest were made as follows :-

Councillor H. E. Jones declared a personal interest with regard to item 16 on the agenda.

Councillor Alwyn Rowlands declared a prejudicial interest with regard to item 18 on the agenda.

No urgent matters at the time of dispatch of this agenda.

None to report.

To submit for confirmation, the draft minutes of the meeting of the Executive (Budget) held on 14^th February, 2017.

The minutes of the previous meeting of the Executive held on 14 February, 2017 were presented for confirmation.

It was RESOLVED that the minutes of the previous meeting of the Executive held on 14 February, 2017 be approved as a correct record.

To submit for information, the draft minutes of the Voluntary Sector Liaison Committee held on the 12^th January, 2017.

The draft minutes of the Voluntary Sector Liaison Committee held on 12 January, 2017 were submitted for information purposes.

It was RESOLVED that the draft minutes of the meeting of the Voluntary Sector Liaison Committee held on 12 January, 2017 be noted for information purposes.

To submit a report by the Head of Democratic Services.

The report of the Head of Democratic Services incorporating the Executive’s Forward Work Programme from the period April to November, 2017 was presented for the Executive’s consideration.

The Head of Democratic Services highlighted the changes to the Forward Work Programme as follows :-

Items new to the Forward Work Programme

Item 8 – Schools’ Modernisation – Strategic Outline Programme – Band B (2019-2024) scheduled to be considered by the Executive at its 12 June, 2017 meeting;

Item 9 – Safety Assessments of Walked Routes to Schools scheduled to be considered by the Executive at its 12 June, 2017 meeting;

Item 11 – Schools’ Modernisation – Llangefni Area – Statutory Consultation scheduled to be considered by the Executive at its 17 July, 2017 meeting;

Item 19 – Schools’ Modernisation – Llangefni Area – Outline Business Case scheduled to be considered by the Executive at its 30 October, 2017 meeting;

Item 20 – 2018/19 Budget scheduled to be considered by the Executive at its 6 November, 2017 meeting;

Item 22 – Corporate Scorecard – Quarter 2, 2017/18 scheduled to be considered by the Executive at its 27 November, 2017 meeting;

Item 24 – Transformation of the Library Service scheduled to be considered by the Executive at its 27 November, 2017 meeting;

Item 25 – Transformation of the Culture Service scheduled to be considered by the Executive at its 27 November, 2017 meeting.

Item rescheduled for consideration

Item 2 – Childcare Sufficiency Assessment rescheduled to be considered by the Executive at its 24 April, 2017 meeting.

It was RESOLVED to confirm the Executive’s updated Forward Work Programme for the period April to November, 2017 subject to the additional changes outlined at the meeting.

To submit a report by the Head of Corporate Transformation.

The report of the Head of Corporate Transformation was presented in relation to Quarter 3 for the financial year 2016/17.

The Portfolio Holder for Executive Business, Performance Transformation,

Corporate Plan and Human Resources stated that the Corporate Scorecard shows that the performance indicators for the Council’s sickness levels have seen an improvement in Quarter 3. If the strong performance in Quarter 3 is sustained into Quarter 4, then it is likely that the target of 10 days per FTE will be achieved.  However he suggested that the Council should consider naming the underperforming departments with high sickness levels within the Scorecard following the local government elections in May.

Councillor R. Meirion Jones, Chair of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee reported on the discussions on the Corporate Scorecard Quarter 3 which undertook at the Corporate Scrutiny Committee held on 13 March, 2017. He noted that the Corporate Scrutiny Committee sought clarification as to the roles of Scrutiny and the Management Boards, as referred to within the Corporate Scorecard at 1.3.1 of the report, with regard to the monitoring performance and securing continuous improvement.

The Chair said that the role of the Management/Programme Boards are to monitor transformation projects and do not have a role to monitor performance of the services of the Council on a day to day basis. He agreed with the Portfolio Holder for Executive Business, Performance Transformation, Corporate Plan and Human Resources that any service which underperforms in two quarters in succession needs to be scrutinised by the Scrutiny Committee in detail.

It was RESOLVED to note the areas which the Senior Leadership Team is managing to secure improvements into the future as per section 1.3 of the report along with mitigation measures outlined.

To submit a report by the Head of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer.

The report of the Head of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer was presented for the Executive’s consideration with regard to the operation of the Local Discretionary Housing Payment Policy (DHP) and the Department of Works and Pensions schemes during the financial year 2016/17 and any change for the future.

It was RESOLVED :-

·           To approve the revised Local Discretionary Housing Payment Policy (DHP) Scheme from 4 April, 2017 for 2017/18 and subsequent years;

·           To ensure that total DHP spend for the financial year remains broadly in line with the amount allocated for the scheme by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

To submit a report by the Head of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer.

The report of the Head of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer was presented with regard to the funding of the restructuring costs within secondary schools.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance reported that the pupil population in four out of the five of the Council’s Secondary Schools has fallen over recent years. A proposal has been drawn up by one of the Headteachers to restructure the management of the school and would reduce the allowances which are paid to teachers who have undertaken additional responsibilities.  He noted that the teachers’ conditions of service require that pay protection will be required for a three year period. 

It was RESOLVED :-

·           To agree, in principle, to fund any pay protection costs that arise from the restructuring of the management of the Council’s Secondary Schools from central budgets;

·           That the pay protection is funded in 2017/18 from the Redundancy Contingency budget but, if this is insufficient, from the Council’s general balances;

·           That each school that requires support in meeting any pay protection costs must submit a formal plan detailing the proposed changes, pay protection costs and revenue savings to be achieved.  The plan must be in line with the principles set out in the restructure proposal already drafter and must be agreed with the Head of Learning and the Head of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer;

·           That the release of funding for individual schools is delegated to the Portfolio Holder (Finance) and the Portfolio Holder (Education) subject to the submission of a satisfactory business case by the School concerned;

·           The Council reserves the right to recover a proportion of funding allocated towards the cost of pay protection, should a school that has received funding through this decision decide to restructure again in the future e.g. as a result of increasing pupil numbers.

To submit a report by the Chief Executive.

The report of the Chief Executive was presented seeking the Executive’s approval of the draft Assessment of the Local Well-being for Anglesey.

The Anglesey and Gwynedd Partnership Unit Manager reported that a Joint Board between Anglesey County Council and Gwynedd Council has been established and lead on the work on preparing the assessment across both counties. The new Well-being of Future Generations Act (Wales) 2015 has established Public Services Boards for each local authority area to make sure that public bodies work together to create a better future for the people of Wales. A number of public drop-in sessions were held and there was an on-line questionnaire so that residents could express their opinion about their communities.

The aim of the research and the drop-in sessions was to enable the Board to draw up an assessment that would in the long run lead to a plan which would focus on improving the Well-being of Gwynedd and Môn. This is a draft of the assessments to create a Well-being Plan. It is important that the assessments are a fair reflection of our communities, and that it looks at the challenges and the opportunities ahead.

It was RESOLVED to note the contents of the Assessment of Local Well-being for the area of Anglesey Local Authority.

To submit a report by the Interim Head of Children’s Services.

The joint report of the Interim Head of Children’s Services (Operational) and the Interim Head of Strategic Services, Children’s Services was presented to the Executive with regard to the CSSIW Report on Inspection of Children’s Services in November 2016.

The Portfolio Holder for Housing and Social Services said that the service accepts the Recommendations within the CSSIW report and will work closely with CSSIW Inspectorate for the next 18 months to improve and enhance the Children’s Services on Anglesey. An Improvement Plan was set up before the inspection in November 2016 and resources has been put in place in the service and further resources will also be made if required. He noted that the Lead Inspector and Inspector from CSSIW addressed the Corporate Scrutiny Committee on 13th March, 2017 and Children’s Well-Being Panel on the 10th March, 2017.

The Assistant Chief Executive (Governance and Business Process Transformation) and Director of Social Services referred to the correspondence attached to the report by the Assistant Chief Inspector of CSSIW which identifies the challenging context the Children’s Services has faced over the last two years. However, she noted that it is important for the service to move forward. The services has been working on the Improvement Plan for over a year and major improvements have been made which is reported at Appendix 2 of the report. She further noted that a meeting with CSSIW will take place again at the end of the week to discuss the

Improvement Plan in some detail and she said that minor amendments will need to be made before it is published formally in due course.

Councillor R. Meirion Jones, Chair of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee said that detailed discussion took place at the Corporate Scrutiny Committee held on 13 March, 2017 when the Lead Inspector, Ms. Bobbie Jones and Mr. Marc Roberts a member of the CSSIW Inspection team addressed the meeting on the key findings of the inspection held in November 2016. The designated Director of Social Services and the Interim Head of Children’s Services also submitted a report on the finding of the CSSIW report and how the services will address the issues raised.  He noted that the Corporate Scrutiny Committee recommended that the Executive accepts the response of the Interim Head of Children’s Services as the basis for significant improvement in Children’s Services over the next 12 to 18 months. As part of an improvement programme a training and development plan is to be put in place from May, 2017 in order to support the Members to monitor and scrutinize progress and the distance travelled. The plan to also include training on performance monitoring of Children’s Services and in particular the quality of services and the experience of individuals receiving support and/or services i.e. the

voice of the user. That the remit and role of the Member Panel be further

developed to monitor and scrutinize progress and distance travelled with the

service improvement plan. This work-stream to include benchmarking against good practice.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

To submit a report by the Head of Housing Services.

The report of the Head of Housing Services was presented to the Executive in

relation to the above.

The Portfolio Holder for Housing and Social Services said that Business Plan forms the primary tool for financial planning of the delivery and management of the Council’s housing stock. The Council, through its Housing Revenue Account (HRA) owns and manages nearly 3,800 properties and just over 700 garages across the Island. He noted that over £3m has been included within the revenue budget for repairs and maintenance works to housing stock and in addition £4.125m has been budgeted in 2017/2018 for a development programme of acquisitions and new build council housing on the Island. The Business Plan assumes a development programme of social housing of 30 units in 2017/18 and thereafter until 2030.

It was RESOLVED :-

· To approve the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Business Plan 2017-

2047, and in particular the HRA budget for 2017-2047 as set out within the Plan, for submission to Welsh Government;

· To approve the proposed Housing Capital Programme for 2017-2018, as set out in Appendix 3 of the report;

· To delegate authority to the Head of Housing Services and the Head of

Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer to make any amendments to the Business Plan prior to submission to Welsh Government.

To submit a report by the Head of Housing Services.

The report of the Head of Housing Services was presented to the Executive for consideration with regard to the interim Homelessness Strategy and Work plan for 2017/2018.

The Portfolio for Housing and Social Services said that local authorities are

required to form a Homelessness Strategy in order to prevent homelessness,

provide suitable support for people who are homeless or who are at risk of

becoming homeless. The local authorities of North Wales have expressed their intention to create a Regional Strategy with each Local Authority forming a Local Work Plan for a period of 5 years.

The Executive questioned whether a Regional Strategy for 5 years would address a large influx of people that will be coming to the Island with regard to the building of the potential Wylfa Newydd development and whether local people will be able to compete and afford private rented accommodation during the period of building Wylfa Newydd. The Head of Housing Services responded that negotiations have been undertaken with the developers of Wylfa Newydd and she assured that work will be undertaken to mitigate any effect of such large developments would have on the rented accommodation on Anglesey. She further said that the Authority has a Business Plan to build social housing until 2030 and the Council is working closely with the 3 Housing Associations to increase the housing stock on the Island.

RESOLVED to approve the interim Homelessness Strategy and Work Plan for the period 2017/2018, after which it is intended to present a Regional Strategy and Local Work Plan for a period of 5 years.

To submit a report by the Head of Regulation and Economic Development.

The report of the Head of Regulation and Economic Development was presented to the Executive for consideration with regard to a proposal to continue the collaborative arrangement for the delivery of a Joint Planning Policy Service for the Isle of Anglesey County Council and Gwynedd Council for a further 5 years.

The Portfolio Holder for Planning, Public Protection and Economic Development said that in June 2010 both Gwynedd and Anglesey Councils agreed to form a Joint Planning Policy Service. Preparing and delivering is the main output of the Planning Policy Unit’s work as every Local Planning Authority is required to produce a Local Development Plan. At the meeting of the Joint Local Development Plan Panel held on 24 June, 2016 it was agreed that it is an opportune time to review the current arrangements of the Joint Planning Policy service for Anglesey and Gwynedd Councils.

The Chair said part of the work of the Joint Planning Policy Unit is to prepare

Supplementary Planning Guidance’s for different topics. He noted that a new

Supplementary Planning Guidance with regard to Tourism Accommodation would be required as a matter of urgency.

The Executive considered that monitoring reports need to be submitted to the

Planning and Orders Committee and the Executive on a quarterly basis together with an Annual Report being submitted to the full Council on the work of the Joint Planning Policy Service.

It was RESOLVED :-

· To approve the proposal to continue to deliver the Joint Planning Policy Service for the Isle of Anglesey County Council and Gwynedd Council for a further 5 years;

· To authorise a Senior Officer from the Regulation Department and the

Legal Section to review and agree a new collaboration agreement in order to extend the period of joint working to include reviewing and agreeing arrangements for the administration, operation and management of the Joint Planning Policy Unit;

· That quarterly progress reports be submitted to the Executive and the

Planning and Orders Committee for information, with an Annual Report being submitted to the Full Council.

To submit a joint report by the Head of Highways, Waste and Property and the Head of Regulation and Economic Development.

The joint report of the Head of Highways, Waste and Property and the Head of Regulation and Economic Development was presented to the Executive for

consideration with regard to establishing an Environmental Enforcement Trial.

The Portfolio Holder for Highways, Property and Waste Management said that the Council is considering entering into a 12 month trial with a company to issue fixed penalty notices for environmental crimes including littering, dog fouling and flytipping.

The Head of Highways, Waste and Property said that a private waste enforcement company known as Kingdom carries out the issuing of fixed penalty notices for littering and dog fouling for several local authorities. He noted that if the trail to issuing fixed penalty notices for littering, fly-tipping and dog fouling is successful then considering needs to be given to extending the contract to issue Penalty Notices for On-Street and Off-Street Parking.

Councillor Peter Rogers having requested to address the meeting said that the area of Newborough is experiencing dire parking issues and there is a need to include the issue of Penalty Notices for On-Street and Off-Street Parking within the contract with the private enforcement company Kingdom as a matter of urgency.

It was RESOLVED :-

· To authorise the Council to enter into a 12 month trial with Kingdom to

issue fixed penalty notices for environmental crimes including littering, dog fouling and fly-tipping, based on Option 3 noted in the report, with an option to extend for a further 12 months, subject to the agreement for both parties;

· To authorise the Head of Highways, Waste and Property and the Head of Regulation and Economic Development to appoint designated Kingdom enforcement staff as Authorised Officers of the Council to enable them to carry out enforcement work including issuing of relevant fixed penalty notices;

· To authorise the relevant Head of Service to use any income generated

from the issuing of fixed penalty notices for the purpose of meeting their service environmental objectives;

· If after the initial three month period of the trial the service considers the pilot scheme is proceeding well, then the trial can be extended to include providing Penalty Notices for On Street and Off Street Parking subject to legal opinion with regard to TUPE obligations.

To submit a report by the Head of Learning.

The report of the Head of Learning was presented to the Executive for

consideration with regard to all local authorities expected to present the Welsh in Education Strategic Plan to the Welsh Government.

The Head of Learning said that over the past few months the Welsh in Education Strategic Plan has been subject to consultation with the Council Language Forum, the schools and other expected stakeholders and there was an opportunity for the public and relevant organisations to respond. The Strategic Plan was modified in light of the consultation and it was agreed to add the Action Plan for delivering the Welsh in Education Strategic Plan objectives. She said that Mr. Alun Davies A.M., the Minister for responsibilities for Lifelong Learning and Welsh Language has announced in the last week that he is to hold an emergency review of Welsh in education. She noted that she considered that it is anticipated that this matter will have to been reviewed to comply with the ambitions of the Welsh Government to aim for 1 million Welsh speakers by 2050.

Councillor R. Meirion Jones the Shadow Portfolio Holder for the Welsh Language said that the only way the Welsh Government is to achieve 1 million Welsh speakers by 2050 is affording children the opportunities in both the Welsh and English language equally within schools.

It was RESOLVED :-

·           To approve the Welsh in Education Strategic Plan 2017-2020;

·           To approve the Action Plan for delivering the Welsh in Education Strategic Plan objectives;

·           To approve the review of the Anglesey Education Language Policy in light of the Welsh in Education Strategic Plan and the Isle of Anglesey County Council’s  language policy.

To submit a report by the Head of Learning.

The report of the Head of Learning was presented for consideration by the Executive with regard to the lowering of the age of admission at Ysgol Brynsiencyn.

It was RESOLVED that the age of admission to Ysgol Brynsiencyn be lowered so as to admit pupils part time from September 2017.

To consider adoption of the following:-

Under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, to exclude the press and public from meeting during discussion on the following item on the grounds that it may involve the disclosure of exempt information as defined in Schedule 12A of the said Act and in the attached Public Interest Test.

RESOLVED to adopt the following:-

“Under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, to exclude the press and public from the meeting during discussion on the following item on the grounds that it may involve the disclosure of exempt information as defined in Schedule 12A of the said Act and in the attached Public Interest Test.”

To submit a report by the Head of Learning.

The report of the Head of Learning in relation to progress to date on the outsourcing of Council’s heritage assets was presented to the Executive for consideration.

It was RESOLVED :-

·           To accept the update report on outsourcing of heritage assets;

·           To agree that Officers may continue to negotiate the outsourcing of heritage assets with interested parties with a view to the Executive making a final decision in November, 2017;

·           To approve the Business Plan for Oriel Ynys Môn and that a monitoring report on the performance of the Oriel be submitted every six months to the Executive.