Agenda and minutes

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Venue: Committee Room 1, Council Offices, Llangefni. View directions

Contact: Ann Holmes 

Items
No. Item

In the absence of the Chair, Councillor Dylan Rees the Committee’s Vice-Chair chaired the meeting. Councillor Richard Owain Jones was elected to serve as Vice-Chair for this meeting of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee.

 

1.

Declaration of Interest

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

Minutes:

No declaration of interest was received.

2.

Minutes of the Previous Meetings pdf icon PDF 267 KB

To present the minutes of the previous meetings of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee held on the following dates –

 

·                13 January, 2020

·                14 January, 2020 (extraordinary)

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The minutes of the previous meeting of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee held on 13 January, 2020 and the extraordinary meeting held on 14 January, 2020 were presented and were confirmed as correct.

3.

2020/21 Budget Setting Process - Final Draft Revenue Budget Proposals pdf icon PDF 2 MB

To present the report of the Scrutiny Manager and the Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer.

Minutes:

The report of the Scrutiny Manager on the context to the budget setting process was presented. The report incorporated at Appendix 1, the report of the Director of Function (Resources) and Section 151 Officer on the initial proposals for the 2020/21 Revenue Budget which had been submitted to the Committee at its 13 January, 2020 meeting. Attached at Appendix 2 was the report of the Head of Profession (HR) and Transformation Service summarising the main messages from the public consultation on the initial draft revenue budget proposals.

 

The Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer updated the Committee on the budget position following the announcement of Welsh Government’s final funding settlement on 25 February, 2020 as follows –

 

           Final Budget Settlement from Welsh Government

 

      That an initial standstill budget of £142.147m was approved by the Executive on 13 January, 2010. Since the completion of the initial budget proposals, further work has been undertaken to review and revise the standstill budget and some minor adjustments have been made totalling an additional £28k bringing the revised standstill budget requirement to £142.175m.

      That some Welsh local authorities as well as the WLGA have unsuccessfully made representations to Welsh Government requesting that a settlement floor be set so that no council would receive less than a 4% funding increase – whilst Anglesey’s funding increase was 3.8%, a 4% increase would have meant an additional £200k to the Authority.

      That Welsh Government on 25 February published its final settlement for Welsh Councils. The published figures were unchanged from the provisional settlement meaning that Anglesey will receive £101.005m as AEF for 2020/21. After taking the final settlement figure into account, the revised budget requirement of £142.175m would require £41.172m in Council Tax funding leading to a minimum increase of 4.58% in the level of Council Tax.

      That the proposed budget incorporates a number of assumptions as regards likely levels of income and expenditure in future years. There are therefore a number of risks inherent in the proposed budget. Two of the main risks are centred on the demand for services and on the staff pay award. There has been an increase in the demand for services over recent years especially in Adults’ Services, Children’s Services and specialist education services and these increases have put a financial strain on the Authority resulting in significant budget overspends. With regard to staff pay, the teachers’ pay award up to September, 2020 has been agreed and the required sum included in the budget proposals. The pay award for the period September, 2020 onwards has not and although a 2% increase has been allowed for, this may not be sufficient. The non-teaching pay award which is effective from 1 April, 2020 has not been agreed. The Employers have offered a 2% increase but the Unions are seeking a 10% increase. Additional funding has been included in the budget to cover a 2% pay rise. However, each 1% above this rate increases the annual cost by approximately £450k.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

4.

2020/21 Budget Setting Process - Final Draft Capital Budget Proposals pdf icon PDF 1 MB

To present the report of the Scrutiny Manager and the Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer.

Minutes:

The report of the Scrutiny Manager incorporating the report of the Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer on the initial proposals for the 2020/21 Capital Budget as presented to the Committee’s 13 January, 2020 meeting was presented. Attached at Appendix 2 was the report of the Head of Profession (HR) and Transformation Service summarising the main messages from the public consultation on the initial draft capital budget proposals.

 

The Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Office confirmed that apart from updating the figures for slippage from 2019/20 , the Capital Budget position remains unchanged from that reported at initial draft stage. The response from the public consultation to the draft Capital Programme by way of comments was limited with 53% of respondents in agreement with the proposals and 47% not in favour of them.

 

Having considered the report and the update provided at the meeting, the Committee resolved to reaffirm to the Executive its recommendation of the draft Capital Programme for 2020/21 updated for slippage.

5.

Item For Information - Library Service Annual Report 2018/19 pdf icon PDF 2 MB

To present the report of the Director of Education, Skills and Young People.

Minutes:

The report of the Direct of Education, Skills and Young People on the Welsh Government’s (MALD) assessment of the Library Services 2018/19 Annual Report and the issues arising was presented for the Committee’s information.

The Committee noted the following –

 

           That the Assessment showed the service to be performing well having met 11 core entitlements in full and 1 partially. Of the 10 quality indicators the Isle of Anglesey achieved 7 in full, 1 in part and failed to achieve 2 – a slight reduction on the previous reporting year. However, a change in the reporting/assessment process by MALD rather than a reduction in service has resulted in this change.

           That performance is broadly maintained in the sixth framework with improvements in some areas and reductions in others. A strong focus on children’s services is maintained as is support for the Welsh language and evidence a useful partnership ethos working both with other services in North wales and local providers.

           That the service continues to perform well in other areas covered by the entitlements, especially given limitations in resources and staff capacity.

The Committee noted the Welsh Government’s (MALD) assessment of the Library Services 208/19 Annual Library Report and the issues arising.

 

The Committee noted the Welsh Government’s (MALD) assessment of the Library Services 208/19 Annual Library Report and the issues arising.