The Chair welcomed all those present to this meeting of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee. On behalf of the Committee, he congratulated Dr Caroline Turner, Assistant Chief Executive (Governance and Business Process Transformation)/Statutory Director of Social Services on her appointment as Chief Executive of Powys County Council and in wishing her well in her new post, thanked her for her work for the Isle of Anglesey County Council.

The Chair also informed the Committee of a change to the business of the meeting in that he had consented to the deferral of  item 5 on the agenda (Schools’ Modernisation Programme: Strategic Business Case/Outline Business Case – Expand Ysgol y Graig and Close Ysgol Talwrn) to the Committee’s planned 10 December, 2018 meeting.

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

No declaration of interest was received.

To present the minutes of the previous meeting of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee held on 6 November, 2018.

The minutes of the previous meeting of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee held on the 6the November, 2018 were presented and were confirmed as correct –

Arising thereon –

The Chair confirmed that in line with the resolution made by the Committee at its 6th November meeting, a letter dated 14 November, 2018 had been sent to the Welsh Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Local Government and Public Services (with a copy to Simon Edwards of the Local Government Finance and Workforce Partnerships Division)  to convey the Committee’s concerns about the implications of the 2019/20 provisional revenue settlement for the Authority which would leave the Council with a considerable financial gap to make up. The Chair read out the letter in full which in summary urged the Welsh Government to –

•           Consider the implications of the provisional settlement on the overall financial position of the Council as part of the process of confirming of the final local government revenue settlement at the end of next month, and

•           Ensure additional funding for the Isle of Anglesey County Council in the final revenue settlement.

The Committee in noting the letter sought an update on the Council’s financial position in light of the announcement by the Welsh Government’s Finance Secretary earlier in the week of an additional £14.2m for local government in 2019/20.

The Head of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer said that the main change in the announcement was  the provision of additional funding to raise the funding floor so that no council will face a reduction in its settlement of more than 0.5%. Additional resources will also be made available in the form of grant funding to meet the costs of implementing the Teachers’ Pay Award as well as pressures in social care and children’s social services. Details of the additional money in terms of how it is to be distributed are not yet available – the Welsh Government’s draft budget for 2019/20 will in any case have to go through Welsh Government’s own scrutiny process meaning that there may be changes as part of that process before the final budget is announced in December.

The Leader said that although on the face of it the additional money is substantial, the amount of money each council will be allocated through formula will be much less – e. g. from the £2.3m additional funding to be made available nationally for children’s social services, Anglesey‘s share determined by formula would be around £45k.

To present the report of the Head of Profession (Human Resources) and Corporate Transformation.

The report of the Head of Transformation and Human Resources incorporating the Corporate Scorecard for Quarter 2 2018/19 was presented for the Committee’s consideration.

The Leader in reporting that overall the position of the Council against its operational objectives (as agreed collaboratively between the Senior Leadership Team, the Executive and the Shadow Executive) at the end of Quarter 2 is encouraging highlighted the following points for consideration –

•           That only 2 Performance Indicators – both in Adults’ Services – have underperformed, details of which are provided in section 2.4.3 of the report. With regard to PM20a – the percentage of adults who completed a period of re-ablement and have a reduced package of care and support 6 months later the small number of cases involved is a factor impacting on the performance data; in relation to PAM/025 (PM19) – the rate of people kept in hospital while waiting for social care per 1000 population aged 75+, it is anticipated that the newly commissioned patch based Domiciliary Care contract will make a significant positive impact on the Quarter 3 data. The SLT recognises the position and recommends the continuation of mitigation measures.

•           That Quarter 2 performance in relation to managing sickness absence has improved on Quarter 1 and although slightly below target compared with the same period for 2017/18 is better than the results of 2016/17. Sickness absence for Adults’ Services in Q2 has showed a great improvement with the performance being the best it has been over the last 3 years. Likewise the Learning Service has also demonstrated an improvement in sickness absence levels from those in Quarter 1. Both services have been prioritised by the SLT to improve their annual sickness rates further in Quarter 3. 

•           That with regard to Customer Complaints management, 29 complaints were received compared to 43 in Q2 in 2017/18 with 92% having been responded to within timescale. Within Social Services there were 4 Stage 2 complaints (Adults’ Services) and 26 Stage 1 Complaints (Children’s Services – 19 and Adults’ Services – 7). Of these complaints, a total of 50% have been responded to within timescale (Red on the Scorecard) with 13 late responses – 10 in Children’s Services and 3 in Adults’ Services. The SLT recommends that the indicators in Children’s Services continue to be monitored and that the Service be asked to re-evaluate its complaints management procedure to improve the rate of written responses within timescales.

•           That in respect of financial management, the 2018/19 budget is currently forecast to overspend by £2.660m by year end which in an increase on the total overspend in 2017/18. The services that are still experiencing significant budgetary pressures are similar to those in 2017/18, namely Children and Families’ Services and the Learning Service. The SLT recommends that regular scrutiny of corporate financial management is continued and the remedial actions are undertaken by the Heads of Service to assist the services in managing within the budgets they are able to control.

The Head  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

To consider adopting the following:-

“Under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, to exclude the press and public from the meeting during the 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”.

Item not considered.

To present the report of the Head of Learning.

Item deferred.