Agenda, decisions and minutes

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

No declaration of interest was received by any Member of the Executive.

Councillor Dylan Rees (not a member of the Executive) declared a personal but not prejudicial interest in item 10 on the agenda and proceeded to speak on the business under item 10 in the capacity of a Local Member.

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 held on 30^th April, 2018.

The minutes of the previous meeting of the Executive held on 30 April, 2018 were presented for the Executive’s confirmation.

It was resolved that the minutes of the previous meeting of the Executive held on the 30 April 2018 be approved as a correct record.

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 for the period from June, 2018 to January, 2019 was presented for the Executive’s approval.

The Head of Democratic Services reported as follows –

Items new to the Forward Work Programme

Item 17 – Protocol of the Statutory Director of Social Services scheduled to be considered by the Executive at its 16 July, 2018 meeting

Item 34 – Gambling Policy scheduled to be considered by the Executive at its 26 November, 2018 meeting

Items which have been re-scheduled from their original date

Item 4 – 2017/18 Capital Budget Monitoring Report Quarter 4 re-scheduled from the Executive’s 21 May, 2018 meeting to its 18 June, 2018 meeting.

Item 8 - CIW Inspection of Children’s Services in Anglesey: Improvement Plan Quarterly Progress Report re-scheduled from the Executive’s 21 May, 2018 meeting to its 18 June, 2018 meeting.

Item 24 – Transformation of Education and Anglesey Schools’ Modernisation Strategy re- scheduled from the Executive’s 18 June, 2018 meeting to its 17 September, 2018 meeting.

The Officer further reported that in addition to the above, and since the publication of the Forward Work Programme, the Transformation Service has requested that the Annual Delivery Document (Improvement Plan) 2018/19 be incorporated on the Forward Work Programme for the Executive’s 18 June, 2018 meeting.

The Chair referred to the Scrutiny Chairs and Vice-Chairs Forum with which she as Leader has meetings in order to discuss the Forward Work Programme, and she suggested that it would useful if a reference could be made to this Forum within the Work Programme in recognition of its contribution to the shaping of the programme.

It was resolved to confirm the Executive’s updated Forward Work Programme for the period from June, 2018 to January, 2019 subject to the additional change outlined at the meeting.

To submit a joint report by the Head of Function (Council Business)/Monitoring Officer and the Head of Regulation and Economic Development.

The report of the Head of Function (Council Business)/Monitoring Officer seeking the Executive’s endorsement of proposed changes to the Council’s Constitution prior to their submission for final approval by the Full Council was presented for consideration. The changes consisted of at Enclosure 1 Section A additional legislation to be added to the Scheme of Delegation to the Head of Service (Regulation and Economic Development) and at Section B legislation to be removed from the Scheme of Delegation to the Head of Service (Regulation and Economic Development). Additionally, the report contained a recommendation that some constitutional changes arising from new, amended or revoked legislation be delegated to the Head of Function (Council Business)/Monitoring Officer without recourse to the Executive and Full Council.

The Portfolio Member for Planning and Public Protection reported that adopting and delegating the powers at Section A of Enclosure 1 will enable the Council to operate a wider range of solutions whilst removing the legislation in Section B of Enclosure 1 is a good housekeeping exercise. At present, any changes to the Constitution require Executive and Full Council approval. It is requested that some constitutional changes such as that set out in the report be delegated to the Head of Function (Council Business)/ Monitoring Officer. The Portfolio Member said that it will remain that politically significant and local choice changes to the Constitution will be a matter for the Full Council, but that constitutional changes due to new, amended or revoked legislation will be delegated to the Head of Function (Council Business)/Monitoring Officer and this will include adding or removing reference to that legislation to or from the relevant Head of Service’s list of delegated matters. This would assist workloads for both Officers and the Executive/Full Council. Such reference is known to be included in the constitutions of other councils for the purpose of streamlining processes and ensuring that technical changes are implemented as smoothly and as quickly as possible.

It was resolved to recommend to the Full Council that –

•  The powers listed in Section A of Enclosure 1 to the report be adopted.

•  The Scheme of Delegation in the Constitution be amended to delegate the exercise of the powers noted in Section A of Enclosure 1 to the report to the Head of Service (Regulation and Economic Development).

•  The powers listed in Section B of Enclosure 1 to the report be removed from the Scheme of Delegation in the Constitution which delegates these powers to the Head of Service (Regulation and Economic Development).

•  The Council’s Head of Function (Council Business)/Monitoring Officer be authorised to make the necessary changes to the Scheme of Delegation, and any consequential amendments, to reflect the adoption, delegation and removal of the said powers.

•  The Council’s Head of Function (Council Business)/Monitoring Officer be authorised to make any future changes to the Constitution without requiring Executive or Full Council approval where those changes are as a result of legislative changes where additional/revised delegation to Officers is required in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

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

The report of the Head of Children’s Services seeking the Executive’s approval to recruit additional agency staff in Children and Families’ Services was presented for consideration.

The Portfolio Member for Social Services reported on the context to the request by saying that a crucial element of the Children’s Services Improvement Plan which was formulated in response to the CIW’s inspection of Children and Families Services in 2016 is the recruitment and retention of committed and qualified social work staff. Although much has already been achieved as documented within the report, the service continues to be on a journey of improvement and as part of this journey the service is now looking to appoint 7 Newly Qualified Social Workers (3 have already been appointed); 3 agency Social Workers and a Practice Leader to form a Practice Group to review legacy cases along with additional legal capacity to meet the demand arising from this review in terms of cases that may proceed to Public Law Outline or into care proceedings.

The Assistant Chief Executive (Governance and Business Process Transformation) and Statutory Director of Social Services said that the number of children coming into care has doubled in the last four years thereby leading to a significant increase in the work required to support these placements. Although the number of children in the Authority’s care has since stabilised and levelled out it remains a matter of being aware of the continuing pressure on the service because of this increase and consequently of the number of staff that is required to provide appropriate support for these children and young people. The Officer referred to the request being made as having three elements to it namely –

•  To retain the 7 Agency Social Workers who are currently filling 7 vacant posts within the department for a further period until the end of October when 3 Newly Qualified Social Workers (NQSWs) will be able to take caseloads (Cost £56,658).

•  To appoint 7 NQSW to the Fieldwork Teams in October, 2018 (3 of whom have  already been appointed as referred to above) and to support these by going over establishment of 4 agency workers for 12 months. (Cost £123,686). The service continues to advertise for permanent social workers and has had some success in this endeavour although the appointments made have not been numerous. However, during its latest round of recruitment the service did appoint the 3 Social Work students to which reference has been made who will qualify in October, 2018 as NQSWs. There were four other candidates who were appointable during that process but they will not qualify for a further six months. Given the current social work recruitment difficulties throughout England and Wales it is unlikely the service will be able to recruit enough experienced social workers to fill the existing vacancies. The service will therefore seek to nurture and develop its own social workers but as NQSWs their caseloads will be limited initially and they will not be able to take  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

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

The report of the Head of Function (Resources) and Section 151 Officer setting out the provisional outturn for the Revenue Budget for the 2017/18 financial year was presented for the Executive’s consideration.

The Portfolio Member for Finance reported that it was disappointing to report that the outturn for 2017/18 is an overspend of £1.762k against a budget of £126.647m (1.39% of the Council’s net budget). This is despite the Authority delivering savings of £1.55m over the same period and means therefore that £1.77m has been taken out of the General Reserves in order to balance the budget thereby taking the level of usable reserves down close to the £6m threshold recommended by the Section 151 Officer and approved by the Council. Should the overspend be repeated in 2018/19 then that could lead to a further depletion of the Council’s general reserves. The most significant service demand pressures have been seen in Education and Children’s Services as has been reported throughout the year. An increase in demand in specific budgets within Adult Social Care over the final quarter has led to a higher overspend at outturn in Adults’ Services than was forecasted at the end of Quarter 3. Council Business is also £181k overspent at outturn which is an improvement on the end of the Quarter 3 prediction and which is due mainly to agency fees owing to maternity cover and long-term sickness absence. The Portfolio Member said that additionally he wished to draw attention to the summary of contingency budgets under Appendix C and specifically to the overspend on the salary and grading contingency budget as a result of meeting voluntary redundancies agreements; however these will lead to long-term savings for the Council.

The Head of Function (Resources) and Section 151 Officer said that the main pressure areas where the overspends are the highest are known and have been well documented throughout the year. Other emerging risk areas in Quarter 4 which could carry on into 2018/19 are increasing homelessness costs and the Leisure section which is having difficulties achieving income targets. In mitigation, Corporate Finance has underspent by £655k for the year; this includes an underspend of £258k on the Council Tax Reduction Scheme and an underspend of £449k on capital financing costs. With regard to the Council’s general reserves, the Officer said that the point is approaching where consideration will have to be given to developing a strategy as part of the MTFP to restoring the reserves to the £6m level; depending on if and by how much the Authority overspends in 2018/19, and how far below the £6m threshold the Council’s general reserves dip as a consequence it will need to consider over what length of time it proposes to build the reserves back up to an acceptable level and then factor this into subsequent budgets. The Council’s approach in previous years of setting aside reserves to cope with unplanned for financial pressures has helped it in 2017/18 and will likely do so again in 2018/19.

The  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

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

The report of the Head of Function (Resources) and Section 151 Officer setting out the performance of the Housing Revenue Account for the period from 1 April, 2017 to 31 March, 2018 was presented for the Executive’s consideration.

The Portfolio Member for Finance reported that the revenue position for 2017/18 shows an underspend of £933k mainly due to lower capital financing costs. The capital outturn expenditure was £3,607k below the budget mainly due to unforeseen delays in the council house development programme. Any underspend is available to be spent in 2018/19. The

 Housing Revenue Account is ring-fenced and its reserves cannot be transferred to the General Fund.

It was resolved –

•  To note the position set out in respect of the financial performance of the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) for Quarter 4 2017/18 and,

•  To note also that the outturn is subject to the usual year end audit process meaning the figures are provisional at this stage.

To consider adoption of 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”.

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

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

The report of the Chief Executive with regard to the Llangefni Golf Course and Driving Range was presented for the Executive’s consideration. The report referred to the current position with regard to the running and management arrangements of the Golf Course; it summarised the outcome of an options appraisal exercise in relation to the future of the Golf Course and set out recommendations for a resulting course of action.

Councillor Dylan Rees spoke on the matter as a Local Member and made representations to the effect that any plans for the area should have regard to the regeneration needs of the town of Llangefni.

It was resolved to proceed in accordance with the recommendations of the report.