In the absence of the Chair, Councillor Aled Morris Jones who was not present because of a close family bereavement, the Vice-Chair, Councillor Dylan Rees chaired the meeting.  Councillor John Griffith was elected Vice-Chair for this meeting of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee.

In welcoming all those present to the meeting, the Chair extended a particular welcome to his first meeting of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee to Mr Dyfed Wyn Jones as a Parent Governor representative of the primary schools sector.

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

No declaration of interest was received.

A decision made by the Executive at its meeting held on 29 April, 2019 in relation to the Anglesey Further Education Trust Annual Report and Accounts 2017/18 which has been called-in by Councillors Peter Rogers, Shaun Redmond, R.Llewelyn Jones, Kenneth Hughes and Bryan Owen.

The documentation is attached as follows –

·        The decision published on 2 May, 2019

·        The call-in application

·        The Anglesey Further Education Trust Annual Report and Accounts 2017/18 which were presented to the meeting of the Executive on 29 April, 2019.

A decision made by the Executive at its meeting held on 29 April, 2019 to approve the Annual Report and Accounts of the Anglesey Further Education Trust for 2017/18 was called in by Councillors Peter Rogers, Kenneth Hughes, Robert Llewelyn Jones, Bryan Owen, and Shaun Redmond. The Executive’s decision, the call-in request and the report by the Head of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer to the meeting of the Executive on 29 April, 2019 incorporating the Annual Report and Accounts of the Anglesey Further Education Trust for 2017/1 were presented.

Councillor Peter Rogers as Lead Call-In Member, explained the reasons for calling in the decision made by the Executive on 29 April 2019 as set out in the call-in request form which were as follows –

•           The almost flippant way the Executive passed the report

•           The report presented to the Executive paid attention to bad debts and financial losses in the accounts due to continuing ongoing repair costs

•           No evidence of actually supporting further education for young people during their final years or having left school, to support their training needs

Councillor Peter Rogers said that he was concerned by the almost cursory way in which the Executive had approved the Annual Report and Accounts of the Anglesey Further Education Trust for 2017/18 at its meeting held on 29 April, 2019 with few questions being asked about what the figures showed in terms of the performance of the Trust and whether it was meeting its aims and objectives of assisting current and past pupils with finishing their education and/or further education and training. Councillor Rogers referred to the history of the Anglesey Further Education Trust and its founding principles and said that he was concerned that the accounts show that income from the land and smallholdings which form part of the David Hughes endowment is not being optimised with the Trust making a financial loss in 2017/18 due to repair costs. With more attentive management greater revenue could be generated from the land and properties and put to the educational use for which the Trust was established.  Councillor Rogers highlighted that the 2014/15 Annual Report states that grants from the Trust Fund stopped a number of years previously and he questioned whether the grant funding application forms are being circulated as they should in April of each year. Whilst the Executive as part of its decision on the matter is engaging in a review of the Trust which he believed is the latest in a number of modifications that has taken place over the years, and has asked for a progress report within 6 months, that time could be spent in inviting applications for funding, distributing the money and thereby helping the young people in the way the Trust intended.

Councillor Rogers referred also to the governance of the Trust as summarised in the Annual Report noting that the Isle of Anglesey County Council is the sole trustee of the Anglesey Further Education Trust Fund and that the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.