Agenda and minutes

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

Councillors R. Meirion Jones and Peter S. Rogers declared a prejudicial interest with regard to Item 6 and left the meeting during discussion and voting thereon.

To submit for confirmation, the draft minutes of the meeting of the County Council held on 29^th September, 2015.

The minutes of the meeting held on 29 September, 2015 were confirmed as correct.

The Chair made the following announcements :-

·           He welcomed the two new Assistant Chief Executive’s Dr. Caroline Turner and Mrs. Anwen Morgan to their first meeting of the County Council.

·           Congratulations were extended to the staff of the Environmental Services Department on winning the John Connoll 2015 award.  Councillor R.A. Dew – Portfolio Holder for Planning and Public Protection and Officers attended an award ceremony in London.

·           Congratulations were extended to Gwen Elin from Benllech on winning the Bryn Terfel Scholarship.  Gwen is a Bangor University student.

·           Congratulations were extended to Steffan Lloyd Owen from Pentre Berw on winning the Kathleen Ferrier Award.

·           Congratulations were extended to all those who were successful at the Winter Fair held in Mona recently and the Winter Fair at Llanelwedd.

·           Congratulations were extended to the Anglesey Young Farmers who competed at the Young Farmers Eisteddfod in Aberystwyth.

·           The Chair thanked the staff of Blaen y Coed and Gerddi Haulfre for decorating the Christmas Tree in the main foyer of the County Council.

The Chair stated that this will be the last meeting of the County Council for Mr. Arthur Owen, Corporate Director of Sustainability and Mrs. Gwen Carrington, Corporate Director of Community.  He thanked them both for their service to the Council.

The Chief Executive extended his appreciation to Mr. Arthur Owen and Mrs. Gwen Carrington for their service to the Council and wished them both well in the future.

Members of the County Council also extended their best wishes to Mr. Owen and Mrs. Carrington.

(a)   To receive a presentation from the Welsh Audit Office in relation to the above.

(b)   To receive a copy of the Welsh Audit Office Corporate Assessment.

The Chair welcomed Mr. Andy Bruce and Mr. Jeremy Evans from the Wales Audit Office to the meeting.  Mr. Bruce stated that Mr. Huw Lloyd Jones was unable to attend the meeting due to the loss of his mother recently.  Members and Officers of the County Council wished to express their deepest sympathy with Mr. Huw Lloyd Jones and his family. 

Mr. Bruce gave a summary of the key areas from the Corporate Assessment to the full Council.  He noted that the comments of the CSSIW and Estyn have been incorporated within this report i.e. –

·           The Council performed well against a high proportion of the 2013/14 national indicators, which cover a wide range of services;

·           Estyn judged that significant change and improvement had taken place over a comparatively short period, within the schools service and corporately;

·           The Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW) judged that, in 2013/14, the Council was in the early stages of implementing an ambitious transformation programme for both adults and children’s services; and

·           The Council continues to make progress in improving the Welsh language capability of its staff.

It was reported that the Welsh Audit Office has made no statutory recommendations during previous work this year and have made none within this report.  However, the Auditor General has made recommendations that may be relevant to the Council in his Local Government National Reports as follows :-

Proposals for improvement :-

·        The Council should review its improvement priorities to ensure that the scale of its ambitions is clear and that it reflects realistically the capacity and resources at the Council’s disposal.

·        The Council should ensure that its strategies for People, ICT and Asset Management are clearly linked to the Council’s Corporate Plan and the associated financial strategy.

·        The Council should :-

·      Further embed a culture of consistent corporate working among staff at all levels; and

·      Ensure that staff at all levels are held to account for complying with Council policies and the implementation of decisions.

·      In implementing its new procurement strategy, the Council should ensure that it develops and applies the skills necessary to better manage and monitor contracts with external suppliers of goods and services.

·      The Council should ensure a consistent approach to workforce planning and use the results to inform future reductions in staff.

·      The Council should address systematically and, where appropriate, corporately, the recommendations and proposals for improvement included in the :-

·      Wales Audit Office reviews of the Council’s arrangements to support the safeguarding of children and of the Anglesey and Gwynedd Joint Local Service Board;

·      Review of the ICT service commissioned by the Council;

·      Enforcement Notice issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office;

·      Performance Evaluation Report 2013/14 issued by the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales; and

·      Reports produced by Internal Audit.

Members of the County Council welcomed the Wales Audit Officer Corporate Assessment and congratulated the Leader of the Council, Senior Management Team and all members of the Council for the hard work in making good progress against its  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

To submit the report of the Head of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer as submitted and accepted by the Executive on 30^th November, 2015 together with appendices to the report.

The report of the Head of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer setting out proposals for the Council Tax Reduction Scheme for 2016/17 as recommended by the Executive at its meeting held on 9 December, 2015 was presented for the Council’s consideration.

It was resolved to endorse the recommendations contained within the report with regard to the Council Tax Reduction Scheme for 2016/17.

To submit the report of the Head of Function (Council Business)/Monitoring Officer.

Submitted – the report of the Head of Function (Council Business)/Monitoring Officer regarding the appointment of Community Council Members to the Standards Committee.

RESOLVED that Councillor John Chorlton – Holyhead Town Council and Councillor John Roberts – Llanfairpwll Community Council be appointed as Town/Community Council representatives on the Standards Committee with effect from the 18^th December, 2015 until 17^th December, 2019.

To submit the report of the Head of Planning and Public Protection as submitted and accepted by the Executive on 30^th November, 2015.

Submitted – the report of the Head of Planning and Public Protection in relation to the above. 

RESOLVED to adopt the reviewed management plan as required under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000.

To submit the following Notice of Motion by Councillor R Meirion Jones:-

“Following a question that was put to the Council on 14 May 2015, the Council decided to refer the issue of protecting house and dwelling names to the Council’s Language Task Group to form recommendations and a specific policy, to be submitted to the relevant committee, and the Executive Committee then resolved on 19 October 2015 to approve the policy on house and street names and numbering which promotes the island’s traditions and cultural heritage.

Following this the County Council is requested to declare its support to efforts within the Assembly and the Welsh Government to include a provision within the Historic Environment (Wales) Bill to protect the current common and historical names of buildings and landmarks, to include houses and dwellings, and that those details will form the basis of the list of place names in the authority’s area.”

Submitted – the following Notice of Motion by Councillor R. Meirion Jones :-

“Following a question that was put to the Council on 14 May, 2015, the Council decided to refer the issue of protecting house and dwelling names to the Council’s Language Task Group to form recommendations and a specific policy, to be submitted to the relevant committee, and the Executive Committee then resolved on 19 October, 2015 to approve the policy on house and street names and numbering which promotes the island’s traditions and cultural heritage.

Following this the County Council is requested to declare its support to efforts within the Assembly and the Welsh Government to include a provision within the Historic Environment (Wales) Bill to protect the current common and historical names of buildings and landmarks, to include houses and dwellings, and that those details will form the basis of the list of place names in the authority’s area.”

Councillor R. Meirion Jones stated that the Notice of Motion was on behalf of the Plaid Cymru Group as the Opposition Group. 

RESOLVED that the County Council declares its support to efforts within the Assembly and the Welsh Government to include a provision within the Historic Environment (Wales) Bill to protect the current common and historical names of buildings and landmarks to include houses and dwellings.