Agenda, decisions and minutes

The Executive, Committee Room, Council Offices, Llangefni and virtually via ZOOM, The Executive - Tuesday, 10th December, 2024 10.00 am

A number of council meetings are live-streamed.

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Venue: Committee Room, Council Offices, Llangefni and virtually via ZOOM

Contact: Ann Holmes 

Media

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The apologies for absence were presented and noted.

 

2.

Declaration of interest

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

Additional documents:

Minutes:

No declaration of interest was received.

 

3.

Urgent matters certified by the Chief Executive or his appointed officer

No urgent matters at the time of dispatch of this agenda.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

No urgent matters were reported but the Chair took the opportunity to thank everyone who had been working hard over the weekend in very difficult circumstances to respond to and deal with the impacts of Storm Darragh including the Council’s staff, contractors, members of the community, local farmers who had assisted with clearing debris from the roads and Scottish Power engineers who have been working to reconnect households to a power supply.

 

The Chief Executive added his thanks to those of the Chair’s and said that Team Môn had shown itself at its best in what had been a serious situation and he was confident that everyone concerned had done their best in the interests of Anglesey’s residents.

 

4.

The Executive's Forward Work Programme pdf icon PDF 238 KB

To submit a report by the Head of Democracy.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The report of the Head of Democracy incorporating the Executive’s Forward Work Programme for the period from January to August 2025 was presented for confirmation.

 

The Head of Democracy updated the Executive on items that were new to the Forward Work Programme and advised that since the publication of the agenda two items had been rescheduled, the one – Local Authority homes for older people, setting the standard charge – from February to January 2025 and the other – Independent sector care home fees for 2025/26 from January to February 2025.

 

It was resolved to confirm the Executive’s updated Forward Work Programme for the period January to August 2025 with the changes outlined at the meeting.

 

5.

Procurement Strategic Plan and Contract Procedure Rules pdf icon PDF 1 MB

To submit a report by the Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The report of the Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer incorporating the draft Procurement Strategic Plan and Contract Procedure Rules was presented for the Executive’s consideration and approval.

 

The report was presented by Councillor Robin Williams, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Member for Finance and Housing who outlined the background with the UK Government having revised the legislation in respect of procurement in the public sector with the Procurement Act 2023 due to come into force on 24 February 2025 which is later than the initial planned date of 28 October 2024. Also, Welsh Government has passed the Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Act 2023 which places additional responsibilities and duties on public sector organisations in Wales in relation to procurement. The Council commissioned an external company to review the Council’s preparedness for the change in legislation and to provide the Council with an action plan to ensure compliance which covers a number of areas including the overall strategy. The Strategic Plan sets out the Council’s approach to procurement and ensures that the way in which the Council commissions and sources its services, supplies and works is compliant with legislation, internal policies and processes, is ethical, open, fair, transparent and includes economic, social, labour and environmental factors in the process. Councillor Robin Williams said that the intention is to pursue local procurement where feasible, and he highlighted that in the region of a quarter of the Council’s contracts are with local firms and in some instances where the contract is with a company that is not local, local resources such as staff are part of the contract delivery.

 

He further reported that the change in procurement legislation required the Council to update its Contract Procedure Rules (CPRs) which set out the process on how to undertake a procurement exercise, the different procurement methods and when they should be used. The revised CPRs have been drafted to ensure they are flexible enough to allow officers to undertake procurement exercises in the most efficient and effective way while still ensuring that any procurement exercise is controlled and ensures that the Council achieves value for money.

 

The Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer advised that if the Strategic Plan and Contract Procedure Rules are approved then work on the action plan will continue under the oversight of a project team with staff training scheduled for January and February ahead of the implementation of the new legislation on 24 February 2025. He referred to the priority areas identified by the Plan as being leadership and culture, use of data and being commercially informed, social value and the environment, ensuring compliance and focusing on the local economy. The Plan sets out how these will be achieved and how success in these areas will be assessed and evaluated the intention being to report regularly on progress to the Leadership Team and annually to the Executive and to the Governance and Audit Committee.

 

 

 

 

Councillor Douglas Fowlie, Chair of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee was invited to report on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.

Housing Rents and Service Charges 2025/26 pdf icon PDF 514 KB

To submit a report by the Head of Housing Services.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The report of the Head of Housing Service seeking the Executive’s approval for increases to rent and housing service charges for 2025/26 was presented.

 

The report was presented by Councillor Robin Williams, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Member for Finance and Housing who reported that Welsh Government has announced an increase of up to 2.7% in social rent levels for 2025/26. The charges for services that the Authority provides during 2025/26 are based on actual costs incurred during 2023/24 and are shared equally among tenants and leaseholders utilising the services. As the Welsh Government Rent Policy does not provide any guidance on how to increase garage rent, the Council is therefore proposing to increase the garage rent by 10% or £1.00 per week to £11.02 per week. This will generate an income of £290k after deducting empty garages and will be used to create a strategic plan for the garages. Councillor Robin Williams referred to the Council’s garage rent charges as being significantly lower than the charges for container hire. He further highlighted that it is also proposed that representations be made by letter to Welsh Government to the effect that the annual rent uplift is not sufficient to enable the HRA to finance increased costs as a result of additional employer NI contributions announced in the October Budget, new WHQS 2023 standards and building cost inflation.

 

The Head of Housing Services supported the Portfolio Member in saying that the maximum 2.7% rent increases for 2025/26 allowed by Welsh Government Rent Policy is not enough to cover additional costs and expectations. Applying the 2.7% increase will lead to an increase of between £2.20 and £3.98 per week for all tenants. However, 2,931 of the Council’s tenants (74.5%) will face no additional hardship because of the rent increase and service charges as they are in receipt of full or part Housing Benefit or Universal Credit. The same 2.7% increase will be applied also to the Council’s 37 intermediate rent properties.

 

The Director of Function (Resources)/Section 15 Officer advised that Welsh Government’s five year rent policy ends at the end of 2025/26 and that the eleven treasurers of the stock retaining councils in Wales have entered into discussions with the Welsh Government officials who are leading on the new policy to raise concerns about rent levels being insufficient to cover the increased costs facing the HRA in 2025/26 and beyond. Welsh Government will be consulting on a new rent policy in the New Year and the Council as a stock retaining council will be working with Welsh Government on that process. One suggestion being made is that the Consumer Price Index should be replaced in the formula for determining rent increases by a measure of inflation that more accurately reflects the cost increases which the housing sector is facing. While it is accepted that social housing needs to be affordable for tenants, councils needs to ensure that the HRA remains financially viable.

 

The Chair in saying that he had taken the opportunity to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.