Agenda, decisions and minutes

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

No declaration of interest was made.

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 17 December, 2018.

The minutes of the previous meeting of the Executive held on 17 December, 2018 were presented for confirmation.

It was resolved that the minutes of the previous meeting of the Executive held on 17 December, 2018 be confirmed as correct subject to noting Councillor Richard Dew as present at the meeting.

To submit for adoption, the draft minutes of the Corporate Parenting Panel held on 10 December, 2018.

The minutes of the meeting of the Corporate Parenting Panel held on 10 December, 2018 were presented for adoption.

It was resolved that the minutes of the meeting of the Corporate Parenting Panel held on 10 December, 2018 be adopted.

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 February, 2019 to September, 2019 was presented for the Executive’s consideration.

The Head of Democratic Services updated the Executive as follows –

Items new to the Work Programme -

•           Item 1 – Toilet Strategy Consultation the decision on which is delegated to the Portfolio Holder and is scheduled to be issued in January/February, 2019.

•           Item 7 – Capital Strategy to be considered by the Executive at its 18 February, 2019 meeting.

•           Item 8 – Capital Budget, 2019/20 to be considered by the Executive at its 18 February, 2019 meeting.

•           Item 14 – Changes to the Constitution (Scrutiny Procedure Rules) to be considered by the Executive at its 18 February, 2019 meeting.

•           Item 23 – Discretionary Housing Payments Policy to be considered by the Executive at its 25 March, 2019 meeting.

•           Item 24 – Further Education Trust Annual Report to be considered by the Executive at its 25 March, 2019 meeting.

•           Item 25 – Housing Revenue Account Business Plan to be considered by the Executive at its 25 March, 2019 meeting.

•           Item 26 – Supporting People Commissioning Panel to be considered by the Executive at its 25 March, 2019 meeting.

•           Item 27 – Schools’ Modernisation (Report on objections to the refurbishment and expansion of Ysgol Llandegfan, closure of Ysgol Beaumaris and refurbishment of Ysgol Llangoed) to be considered by the Executive at its 25 March, 2019 meeting.

•           Item 28 – Schools’ Modernisation (Report on objections to the expansion of Ysgol y Graig and closure of Ysgol Talwrn) to be considered by the Executive at its 25 March, 2019 meeting.

•           Item 37 – Corporate Scorecard 2019/20 Quarter 1 to be considered by the Executive at its September, 2019 meeting

•           Item 38 – 2019/20 Revenue and Capital Budget Monitoring Report Quarter 1 to be considered by the Executive at its September, 2019 meeting.

Changes since the publication of the agenda and the report above –

•           Item 17 – School Transport Policy re-scheduled for consideration from the 18 February, 2019 meeting of the Executive to the 25 March, 2019 meeting.

•           Item 22 – Delivery of Leisure provision for future generations – Service request to re-schedule the item from the Executive’s 25 March, 2019 meeting to a later meeting on a date to be confirmed.

It was resolved to confirm the Updated Forward Work Programme for the period February to September, 2019 with the additional changes outlined at the meeting.

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

The report of the Head of Children and Families’ Services summarising the outcome of CIW’s re-inspection of Children and Families’ Services at the Isle of Anglesey County Council in October, 2018 was presented for the Executive’s consideration. Also presented was a copy of CIW’s re-inspection report.

The Chair and Portfolio Member for Social Services reported that CIW’s report following its re-inspection of Children and Families’ Services at the Council is a positive report which acknowledges the significant improvements made by Anglesey’s Children’s Services in a number of key areas since the original inspection in November, 2016. However, the report also identifies areas for further development and these will be the focus of attention for the Children’s Services Improvement Panel and will be clearly highlighted in the new Service Improvement Plan which is intended to take the service forwards. The Portfolio Member said that Children’s Services are a crucial component of Local Authority provision, and in Anglesey as in other areas of Wales, Children’s Services are facing a number of challenges; this was recognised by Council Leaders who shared their concerns about the future of Children’s Services and the financial pressures which meeting growing demand in Children’s Services are putting on Council budgets at a recent meeting of the Wales Local Government Association. The improvements achieved by Anglesey’s Children’s Services over the course of the last two years are as a result of Members and Officers working collaboratively with the objective being that these improvements should also lead to improved outcomes for children and their families. The positive impacts of a service that is performing well need to be reflected within communities and in the lives of looked after children and their families. The Chair thanked the Interim Head of Children’s Services for putting together the initial Service Improvement Plan after the 2016 inspection, the Head of Children and Families’ Services for taking the Plan forwards and the Chief Executive, Assistant Chief Executive/ Statutory Head of Social Services, and Strategic Leadership Team for their guidance and support. 

The Assistant Chief Executive (Governance and Business Process Transformation)/ Statutory Director of Social Services said that she was grateful to CIW both for their inspection work in 2016 and 2018 and their contribution to the Service’s improvement work by way of encouragement and support ensuring that the Service remained on the right pathway throughout the improvement process of the last two years. The Officer emphasised that work still remains to be done, and that improving Children and Families’ Services is a continual process. The areas for development identified by CIW are ones that the Service agrees with and has recognised, the feeling being that the Service is increasingly self-aware and knows where it is at, and where it wishes to be. The table in the report which provides the Service’s position on each of the 14 areas for development represents the kernel of a new Service Improvement Plan; it will be added to by the Service based on its understanding of the areas which  ...  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)/Section 151 Officer incorporating a review of the Treasury Management position and activity mid-way through the 2018/19 financial year was presented for the Executive’s consideration.

The Portfolio Member for Finance reported that the mid-year review report on the Council’s Treasury Management activities has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of CIPFA’s Code of Practice on Treasury Management; the report will also be presented to the Full Council under the terms of the Council’s Constitution.

The Head of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer said that the report had been considered and accepted without additional comment by the Audit and Governance Committee. The main points can be summarised as follows –

•           The Council held £6.089m of investments as at 30 September, 2018 details of which are contained in Appendix 4 to the report. Performance for the year to date in terms of investment return at £0.023m exceeds the budgeted return of £0.017m the reason being the increase in bank rate from 0.5% to 0.75% in August, 2018.

•           The projected Capital Financing requirement (CFR) for 2018/19 in £142m. This denotes the Council’s underlying need to borrow in order to fund capital expenditure and is financed both through external borrowing - £125.6m and internal borrowing - £16.4m made up of the Council’s cash balances. In January, 2019 borrowing from the PWLB (£5m) matured and was repaid along with borrowing from North Yorkshire County Council (also £5m); this provided an opportunity to re-structure the Council’s borrowings leading to borrowing of £15m consisting of £5m to make the repayment to PWLB; £5m to repay North Yorkshire County Council and £5m to re-balance the proportion of internal borrowing compared to external borrowing in order to increase the Council’s cash balances.

•           The Council sets Prudential Indicators as part of its Treasury Management Strategy for the year ahead; these are designed to control the Council’s borrowing ensuring that it does not borrow to a level that is unsustainable in the long-term. The indicators are referred to in section 7 of the report. It is not envisaged that there will be any difficulties in complying with the indicators in the current year. Table 7.5.1 of the report shows the balance between external and internal borrowing with the total sum of internal borrowing having been revised down from the original estimate of £27.467m to £16.409m as a result of reduced capital expenditure and the re-structuring referred to previously.

It was resolved to approve the Treasury Management mid-year review report 2018/19 and to forward the report to the Full Council without further comment.

To submit a report by the Head of Housing Services.

The report of the Head of Housing Services incorporating the Local Tenant Participation Strategy for the period 2018-23 was presented for the Executive’s consideration.

The Portfolio Member for Housing and Supporting Communities reported that Welsh Government expects Social Landlords to agree and publish a Participation Strategy for Housing Services. By providing a strategy that offers a range of methods to take part, tenants are able to choose how and when they wish to participate. The Portfolio Member said that it is important that the Council approves Tenant Participation as a significant strategy.

The Housing Service Manager (Strategy Commissioning & Policy) confirmed that Tenant Participation is regarded as important by the Housing Service. The Service uses a variety of methods to engage with tenants at different levels. The Officer said that progress towards achieving active tenant participation has been made in the last year.

It was resolved to approve the Local Tenants’ Participation Strategy.