Agenda, decisions and draft minutes
Venue: Council Chamber, County Hall, Ruthin
Media
Webcast: View the webcast
No. | Item |
---|---|
APOLOGIES Additional documents: Decision: There were no apologies Minutes: There were no apologies. |
|
DECLARATION OF INTERESTS PDF 116 KB Members to declare any personal or prejudicial interests in any business identified to be considered at this meeting. Additional documents: Decision: The following members declared a personal interest in agenda
item 6 – Councillor Mabon Ap Gwynfor – Governor Ysgol Bro Dyfrdwy Councillor Meirick Davies – Governor Ysgol Cefn Meiriadog & Ysgol Trefnant Minutes: The following members declared a personal interest in agenda
item 6 – Councillor Mabon Ap Gwynfor – Governor Ysgol Bro Dyfrdwy Councillor Meirick Davies – Governor Ysgol Cefn Meiriadog & Ysgol Trefnant |
|
URGENT MATTERS Notice of
items which, in the opinion of the Chair, should be considered at the meeting
as a matter of urgency pursuant to Section 100B(4) of the
Local Government Act 1972. Additional documents: Decision: No urgent matters had been raised. Minutes: No urgent matters had been raised. |
|
To receive the minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 26 September 2017 (copy enclosed). Additional documents: Decision: RESOLVED that the minutes
of the meeting held on 26 September 2017 be approved as a correct record and
signed by the Leader. Minutes: The
minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 26 September 2017 were submitted. RESOLVED that the minutes
of the meeting held on 26 September 2017 be approved as a correct record and
signed by the Leader. |
|
To consider a report, including a confidential appendix, by Councillor Bobby Feeley, Lead Member for Well-being and Independence (copy enclosed) seeking approval for the extension of 18 Learning Disability Community Living Contracts for a period of two years pending approval of future procurement arrangements for those services. Additional documents:
Decision: RESOLVED that Cabinet
approves two year extensions for each of the services as identified in Appendix
1 to the report. Minutes: Councillor
Bobby Feeley presented the report seeking approval for the extension of 18
Learning Disability Community Living Contracts for a period of two years
pending approval of future procurement arrangements for those services. The
report detailed the contractual arrangements for supporting individuals with
learning disabilities in supported living services together with the
legislative requirements of procuring such services. Future
commissioning plans consisted of two ongoing work streams – ·
Locally – potentially offering support
budgets to enable citizens to directly procure support from their preferred
provider, and ·
Regionally – Community Support Services was
working with the other North Wales Local Authorities and Betsi Cadwalader
University Health Board (BCUHB) to commence the process of tendering for a
Regional Framework for the provision of Domiciliary Care amongst other services
on a phased basis. The
new regional framework would provide an improved and robust system and it was
proposed to extend the current contracts for a period of up to two years in
order to allow sufficient time to progress with the regional procurement
process. Since the report had been
written Children’s Domiciliary Care had also been included in the tendering
process as follows: Phase 1 – Standard Domiciliary Care, Phase 2 – Children’s
Domiciliary Care, Phase 3 – Enhanced Domiciliary Care, and Phase 4 – Supported
Living Settings (subject of the report).
No slippage to timescales were anticipated as a result of the addition
and the community living contracts could be terminated earlier than the two
year extension if the process was completed sooner. The Contracts Officer confirmed that all
contracts were outsourced and that BCUHB was on board and part of the
process. The first phase of tendering
was closed and matters continued to progress within timescales. Cabinet
noted the reasoning behind the recommendation to extend the current contracts
rather than re-procuring at this time due to the cost of undertaking two
different tenders for the same service provision and likely confusion of market
providers. It was also noted that the
proposed framework would create efficiencies in the amount of staff time
involved in tendering for services and ensure quality and value for money when
awarding contracts. On that basis
Cabinet was satisfied with the approach to extend the contracts to fit with the
timescales for a new regional framework and agreed to approve the interim
arrangements. Councillor
Joan Butterfield raised questions regarding children’s services. The Contracts Officer clarified that phase 2
related to children’s domiciliary care and the community living element would
be dealt with as part of phase 4, elaborating upon the expected timescales for
service provision. She also confirmed
that the completed contract and service specification could be made available
to members. RESOLVED that Cabinet
approves two year extensions for each of the services as identified in Appendix
1 to the report. |
|
To consider a report by Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill, Lead Member for Finance, Corporate Plan and Performance (copy enclosed) detailing the latest financial position and progress against the agreed budget strategy. Additional documents:
Decision: RESOLVED that Cabinet – (a) notes the budgets set for 2017/18 and
progress against the agreed budget strategy; (b) approve the transfer of the £35k
underspend within the Business Improvement and Modernisation Service to the
EDRMS Reserve in order to help extend the digitisation project, and (c) support the submission of a Full
Business Case for Ysgol Llanfair new school building and facilities to the
Welsh Government as detailed in Appendix 4 to the report. Minutes: Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill presented the
report detailing the latest financial position and progress against the agreed
budget strategy. He provided a summary
of the Council’s financial position as follows – ·
a net overspend
of £0.002m was forecast for service and corporate budgets ·
service
efficiencies worth £0.902m having already been agreed as part of the budget
with the assumption that all would be delivered – any exceptions would be
reported to Cabinet if required ·
highlighted
current risks and variances relating to individual service areas with
particular emphasis on the overspend in social care budgets which continued to
be monitored carefully and were currently being considered as part of the
budget process for 2018/19, and ·
provided a
general update on the Housing Revenue Account, Housing Capital Plan and the
Capital Plan (including the Corporate Plan element). Cabinet was also asked to approve the transfer
of £35k to the EDRMS reserve to help extend the digitalisation project and to
support submission of the full business case for Ysgol Llanfair new school
build to the Welsh Government. The following matters were raised during debate
– ·
it was
clarified that an element of the funding costs had been retained through the
contract for the Rhyl Harbour Development and Rhyl New School projects which
would be released following completion of the final snagging elements ·
with
regard to the pressures and projected shortfall in income for the Major
Projects Team (Highways and Environment) Councillor Brian Jones advised there
may be future opportunities for the team which were currently being
explored. A report on the Highways
Maintenance Strategy would be submitted to Performance Scrutiny Committee in
December ·
Councillor
Emrys Wynne sought clarity and assurance regarding the all-weather provision
for the new schools at the Glasdir site.
Councillor Huw Hilditch-Roberts agreed to look into the detail of
provision and report back to Councillor Wynne thereon. He also gave assurances that no changes had
been made to the original scheme with regard to that provision in an attempt to
save costs ·
Councillor
Mabon ap Gwynfor queried the capital expenditure of £33k for Ysgol Bro Dyfrdwy
as detailed in the Corporate Plan and Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill agreed to
look into the matter and report back to him directly thereon ·
in terms
of investment in the school estate future projects would be forthcoming via
Band B funding from the 21st Century Schools Programme and outside of that as
part of the schools general maintenance budget – the process for block
allocations of capital plan funding was explained together with the
categorisation and prioritisation based on works required ·
reference
was made to the significant pressures on Children’s Services given the
volatility in placement costs and it was clarified that there were separate
budgets for Children’s Services and Education.
There had been a significant increase in the number of placement days
provided in the current year and the previous year had also seen an
increase. Prior to that the budget had
been underspent hence the decision to make a small budget saving and create a
placement reserve which had been used in the current year together with a
further cash contribution to mitigate the pressures. It was proposed to increase the base budget
in this area which would be discussed further as part of the 2018/19 budget
process. The Corporate Director Communities
advised that those specialised placements had been scrutinised individually by
the Corporate Parenting Panel and she reminded members of their corporate
parenting responsibilities and of the opportunity for them to attend Panel
meetings. There was also a lengthy debate on the financial situation in schools and questions were raised regarding the schools ... view the full minutes text for item 6. |
|
CABINET FORWARD WORK PROGRAMME PDF 282 KB To receive the enclosed Cabinet Forward Work Programme and note the contents.
Additional documents: Decision: RESOLVED that Cabinet’s
Forward Work Programme be noted. Minutes: The Cabinet Forward Work Programme was
presented for consideration and members noted the addition of the following
items – Budget Proposals 2018/19 – January Capital Plan 2018/19 – January Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Project – to
be confirmed RESOLVED that Cabinet’s
Forward Work Programme be noted. The meeting concluded at 11.05 a.m. |