Agenda and minutes

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

No declaration of interest was received.

To present the minutes of the previous meetings of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee held on the following date and times –

·      15 January 2025 (morning)

·      15 January 2025 (afternoon)

The minutes of the previous meetings of the Corporate Scrutiny Committee held on the following date and times were presented and were confirmed as correct and progress against the actions agreed at both meetings was outlined and was noted.

15 January 2025 (morning meeting)

15 January 2025 (afternoon meeting)

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

The report of the Scrutiny Manager was presented for the Committee’s consideration. The report outlined the context to the 2025/26 Budget setting process along with the key issues and questions for Scrutiny in evaluating the Executive’s final draft revenue budget proposals. The report of the Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer summarising the final budget proposals including for comparison and context an analysis of Wales Council Tax rates for 2024/25 was attached at Appendix 1 to the report along with a summary of the response to the public consultation on the initial revenue budget proposals which was conducted from 22 January to 7 February 2025 at Appendix 2.

The report was presented by Councillor Robin Williams, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Member for Finance and Housing who provided a reminder of the diverse range of services which the Council provides for its communities and highlighted that the Council is legally required to set a balanced budget each year which means that what it plans to spend should be in line with what it receives in income. He referred to a number of comments from the public consultation which advocated using the Council’s reserves to make up the budget gap which the Council is facing and said that if that approach had been taken over the years then the Council would have depleted its reserves leaving it vulnerable if future unexpected costs arise. The Executive is therefore proposing a revenue budget based on a combination of budget savings (£3.9m), use of reserves (£2.0m) and Council Tax increase (9.5%) and to maintain the premium for second and empty homes at 100%. The Council is not an outlier as regards the proposed level of Council Tax increase with other councils in Wales proposing similar increases. Councillor Robin Williams referred to the public consultation exercise as having contained no surprises in terms of substance and priorities and no changes had been made to the proposals as a result. In light of this and given also that Welsh Government’s announcement of the final budget settlement is yet to be made the final draft proposals are unchanged from the initial proposals presented to this committee on 15 January, 2025.

The Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer confirmed that no amendments and/or adjustments had had to be made to the details of the initial draft revenue budget proposals and so the revenue budget proposal remains the same as that submitted for scrutiny on 15 January. It is a matter for Scrutiny to consider whether in reflecting on the outcome of the public consultation, it wishes to come to a different view on the proposal.

Councillor Geraint Bebb, Chair of the Finance Scrutiny Panel reported that the panel had met yesterday,18 February to consider the final draft revenue budget proposals for 2025/26. The panel considered the documentation presented to the meeting as well as the feedback from the public consultation and noted that in the absence of any additional information by Welsh Government regarding the final settlement no changes  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

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

The report of the Scrutiny Manager was presented for the Committee’s consideration. The report outlined the context to the 2025/26 Capital Budget setting process along with the key issues and questions for Scrutiny in evaluating the Executive’s final draft capital budget proposals. The report of the Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer to be presented to the 27 February 2025 meeting of the Executive summarising the proposed capital budget and programme for 2025/26 was attached at Appendix 1.

The report was presented by Councillor Robin Williams, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Member for Finance and Housing who reported that a capital budget of £39.309m is proposed with the programme and funding as set out in Table 3 of the report. In the course of the financial year the Council may receive additional grants for capital projects and should that be the case the budget will be adjusted accordingly.

The Director of Function (Resources)/Section 151 Officer referred to the Capital strategy that underpins the capital programme and he explained the main sources of funding for the programme as being the General Capital Grant from Welsh Government and supported borrowing. Although the General Capital Funding received from Welsh Government for 2025/26 is £401k higher than the allocation for the previous year which is the first significant increase the Council has received for a number of years, it does not make up for the erosion in the value of the funding that has taken place due to inflation and is insufficient to meet the Council’s capital expenditure needs in terms of maintaining and improving its assets. The Council can take out unsupported borrowing but all the associated costs with borrowing in this way must be covered by the Council’s own revenue. The Section 151 Officer provided an overview of the schemes in the capital programme for 2025/26 along with the Housing Revenue Account capital funding and expenditure position. He further explained that it is understood but not confirmed that Welsh Government may be intending to introduce a scheme to support councils to borrow to fund further expenditure on highways, the details of the scheme and amounts involved are under discussion but the indication are that it will be a scheme over two years.

Councillor Geraint Bebb, Chair of the Finance Scrutiny Panel reported that the panel at its 18 February meeting had also considered the final draft capital budget proposals for 2025/26 and in scrutinising the details of the proposed capital budget had noted that there are no sources of significant capital funding available to the Council to fund any large scale projects apart from the HRA which is earmarked for HRA projects alone and cannot be used for any other purpose. He confirmed that the panel had resolved to support the final draft capital budget proposals for 2025/26 as presented and to recommend the same to the Corporate Scrutiny Committee.

The Portfolio Member for Finance and Housing and the Director of Function (Resources)/ Section 151 Officer responded to points raised by the committee  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

To receive a verbal report by the Chair of the Panel.

Councillor Geraint Bebb, Chair of the Finance Scrutiny Panel reported on the outcome of the Panel’s meeting on 18 January, 2025 to consider the final draft Revenue and Capital Budget proposals as referred to in the narrative under items 3 and 4 above.

To present the report of the Head of Housing Services.

The report of the Head of Housing Services which provided an update on progress to date on implementing the recommendations of the Scrutiny Task and Finish Group on Housing Services voids and allocations was presented for the committee’s consideration.

The report was introduced by Councillor Robin Williams, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Member for Finance and Housing as an interim report documenting actions taken to date.

The Head of Housing Services confirmed that a great deal of work had been undertaken since the establishment of the Task and Finish Group and that the group’s recommendations are receiving attention through the void turnaround improvement action plan as set out under annexe 2 to the report which charts agreed improvement tasks and timescales. The service is of the view that more time is needed to see the impact of the results achieved on performance indicators following the work of the task and the finish group and the resulting interventions put in place by the Housing Service.

The Portfolio Member and Head of Housing Services responded to matters raised in the ensuing discussion as follows –

• Acknowledged the importance of keeping prospective tenants informed about changes and/or progress related to their housing including timescales if they are waiting to take up a confirmed tenancy. Former council properties that have been reacquired by the Council will not be let immediately until all necessary works are completed to ensure they are up to standard upon allocation.
• Confirmed that additional resources have been put into the service to address the challenges identified by the Task and Finish Group and drive performance improvement against the indicators for void property turnaround and re-letting of properties. A Voids Supervisor has been appointed as has a Maintenance Information Systems Officer. An additional painter and decorator has been recruited along with two additional contractors to carry out major work on void properties. The status of void properties is tracked and monitored.
• Confirmed that the challenge of meeting the requirements of the new tranche of Welsh Quality Housing Standards 2023 as well resource limitations mean that there is little scope for addressing issues with private sector housing/substandard properties.
• Clarified that the discrepancy between performance between Quarters 1 and 2 with regard to the number of days taken to turnaround a void property (26 days and 49 days respectively) was due to the availability of resources and number of properties dealt with in the first quarter, with more properties coming through to be completed in the second quarter including properties that had been empty for a period of time involving more works thereby driving up the average turnaround/re-letting time.

Following discussion, it was resolved –

• To note the report as an interim report on progress to date following the recommendations made by the task and finish group on void turnaround and days taken to re-let properties.
• To note the void turnaround improvement action plan as set out under annexe 2 to the report.

Additional action - to ask the Head of Housing Services to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To present the report of the Scrutiny Manager.

The report of the Scrutiny Manager incorporating the Committee’s Forward Work Programme to April, 2025 was presented for consideration.

It was resolved –

• To agree the current version of the Forward Work Programme for 2024/25.
• To note the progress thus far in implementing the Forward Work Programme.