Agenda, decisions and draft minutes
Venue: Council Chamber, County Hall, Ruthin
Media
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No. | Item |
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APOLOGIES Additional documents: Decision: Councillor Tony
Thomas, Lead Member – Housing, Regulation and the Environment Minutes: Councillor Tony
Thomas, Lead Member: Housing, Regulation and the Environment |
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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: No declarations of interest had been raised. Minutes: No declarations of interest had been raised. |
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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. |
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To receive the minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 22 January 2019 (copy enclosed). Additional documents: Decision: RESOLVED that the minutes
of the meeting held on 22 January 2019 be received and confirmed as a correct
record. Minutes: The minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 22 January 2019
were submitted. Matters Arising –
Page 6, Item 4 Minutes (Matters Arising) – Cabinet 30 October 2018 (Gypsy and
Traveller Site Provision) – Councillor Peter Scott thanked the Leader for the
recent press release providing an update on the proposed gypsy and traveller
sites and confirmed he was looking forward to the provision report meeting with
the Corporate Director Communities the following week. In response to his request that the matter be
referred to scrutiny it was confirmed that the issue would be considered by
Communities Scrutiny Committee on 14 March 2019. RESOLVED that the minutes
of the meeting held on 22 January 2019 be received and confirmed as a correct
record. |
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EMPLOYMENT POLICIES PDF 134 KB To consider a report by Councillor Mark Young, Lead Member for Corporate Standards (copy enclosed) presenting a number of employment policies for adoption. Additional documents:
Decision: RESOLVED that Cabinet – (a) approves the
employment policies as detailed within the report for adoption within the
Council, and (b) confirms that
it has read, understood and taken account of the Well-being Impact Assessments
(appended to the report) as part of its consideration. Minutes: Councillor
Mark Young presented the report recommending adoption of six employment
policies which had been developed/revised in consultation with the recognised
Trade Unions. The six policies covered
the following – (1) Attendance
at Work Procedure (revised policy) (2) Reasonable
Adjustments Guidance (new policy) (3) Menopause
Policy (new policy) (4) Alcohol
and Substance Misuse Policy (revised policy) (5) No
Smoking Policy (revised policy) (6) Emergency
Leave contained within the Time off Work Policy (revised wording) Councillor
Young summarised the process prior to policies being submitted to Cabinet for
approval which included consultation via a Policy Working Group consisting of
representatives from Human Resources, Legal and the Trade Unions before
submission to the Local Joint Consultative Committee (LJCC) which included both
Employer and Trade Union representatives.
Feedback on the process had been positive from all parties and the LJCC
had recommended the policies to Cabinet for adoption. The
Lead Business Partner – Organisational Development provided a brief summary of
each policy, highlighting the proposed changes within existing policies and
need for new policies together with the reasons therefore, which included
legislative changes and clarity to ensure a correct and consistent approach. Cabinet
considered the report and noted that all policies had been subject to an
individual Wellbeing Impact Assessment.
Having been involved within the process Councillor Richard Mainon was keen for the policies to be adopted and he
commended the process and paid tribute to the hard work of all those involved
in bringing the policies forward. He
added that the full impact of the policies had been accurately reflected in the
Wellbeing Impact Assessments, including recognising any unintended consequences
as a result, and he clarified the element with regard to the Attendance at Work
Policy and potential loss of skills through ill health. RESOLVED that Cabinet – (a) approves the
employment policies as detailed within the report for adoption within the
Council, and (b) confirms that
it has read, understood and taken account of the Well-being Impact Assessments
(appended to the report) as part of its consideration. |
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To consider a report by Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill, Lead Member for Finance, Performance and Strategic Assets (copy enclosed) detailing the latest financial position and progress against the agreed budget strategy. Additional documents:
Decision: RESOLVED that Cabinet – (a) note the budgets
set for 2018/19 and progress against the agreed budget strategy, and (b) issues a statement to call on both UK and
Welsh Governments to recognise the difficulties of delivering statutory
services in the current financial climate and ask that they act to ensure that
essential services are funded such that they are sustainable for this and
future generations. 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 – ·
the net revenue
budget for 2018/19 was £194.418m (£189.252m in 2017/18) ·
an
overspend of £0.774m was forecast for service and corporate budgets ·
detailed
agreed savings and efficiencies worth £4.6m including those which had already
been achieved with the assumption that all service efficiencies/savings would
be delivered – any exceptions would be reported to Cabinet if required ·
highlighted
current risks and variances relating to individual service areas, and ·
provided a
general update on the Housing Revenue Account, Housing Capital Plan and the
Capital Plan (including the Corporate Plan element). Cabinet raised the following matters during
debate – ·
School Transport – reference was made to the
projected overspend in the school transport budget and to previous discussions
as to whether the budget would be best placed in Highways and Environmental
Services (HES) or Education and Children’s Services (ECS). The reasoning behind the decision to place
the budget in HES was reiterated given that ECS carried out the assessment
process to determine eligibility of a child for school transport but the
commissioning arrangement for those eligible for school transport was
undertaken in HES because of the expertise and skills set required for
negotiating the school contracts. HES also
provided a similar service for transport provision in other service areas
including Community Support Services.
School transport was an acknowledged budget pressure which needed to be
resolved wherever it was located and it was agreed that any further review or
discussion in that regard should be undertaken with officers outside of the
meeting ·
Council Funding – the Leader referred to the
continuing service pressures facing local authorities and reported that the
Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) continued to lobby the Welsh
Government with a view to investing in core services and provision of a longer
term financial plan to aid future planning.
Whilst the Council was proud of its record in terms of investment in
services such as education and social care and in transforming services and
building resilience, the viability and sustainability of local services was
under threat due to the prolonged and sustained cuts to local government
funding. The work carried out by the
WLGA on behalf of local authorities in Wales was acknowledged but Cabinet felt
there would also be merit in issuing a statement highlighting the financial
difficulties and to call for adequate funding provision to ensure the future
sustainability of essential services.
Reference was also made to the forthcoming UK Government spending review
to determine the settlement for Wales following which the Welsh Government
would determine the budget allocations for those devolved functions, including
local government, at which point there may be further opportunity to influence
budget decisions and lobby on behalf of residents In
responding to questions from non-Cabinet members regarding various overspends
in service departments Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill advised that – ·
all services would be expected to balance
their own budgets in-service where possible and the measures to address the
overspend relating to the SC2 project had been detailed within the report – the
SC2 project was part of the major Rhyl Waterfront and Waterpark project worth
over £20m and in that context the overspend was comparatively small ·
an additional £750k had been allocated to
Community Support Services for 2018/19 and together with £366k of the
Sustainable Social Services Grant and the planned use of reserves, a break-even
position had been projected · the projected overspend in Education and Children’s Services could not be addressed in-service and therefore corporate ... view the full minutes text for item 6. |
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CABINET FORWARD WORK PROGRAMME PDF 351 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 it was noted that the following item would be
added to the future work programme for March – Gypsy and Traveller
Accommodation. RESOLVED that Cabinet’s Forward Work Programme be noted. At this point in the
proceedings Councillor Richard Mainon
left the meeting. |
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EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC RESOLVED that under Section 100A of the Local Government Act
1972, the Press and Public be excluded from the meeting for the following item
of business on the grounds that it would involve the likely disclosure of
exempt information as defined in Paragraph 14 of Part 4 of Schedule 12A of the
Act. Additional documents: |
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APPOINTMENT OF CONTRACTORS TO THE NORTH WALES CONSTRUCTION FRAMEWORK 2 To consider a confidential report by Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill, Lead Member for Finance, Performance and Strategic Assets (copy enclosed) recommending the appointment of contractors to the North Wales Construction Framework 2. Additional documents:
Decision: RESOLVED that the named
contractors detailed in paragraph 3 of the report be appointed to the North
Wales Schools and Public Buildings Contractor Framework. Minutes: Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill presented the
confidential report recommending the appointment of named contractors to the
North Wales Construction Framework 2 (NWCF2) to be used for major construction
works over £250k. The first iteration of the NWCF agreement had
expired in May 2018 and had proved extremely successful. The report detailed the merits of the
collaborative approach across the six North Wales local authorities, led by
Denbighshire, which included significant cost and time savings. The intention was to operate the second
framework for a four year period from March 2019 (with a break clause to review
after 2 and 3 years). The recommended
contractors had been evaluated according to the scoring and weighting
methodology detailed within the tender documents. Cabinet agreed there were a suitable number of
contractors in each Lot to provide competition and were pleased to note the
increase in the number of local contractors across the region within the
framework. In response to questions
Councillor Thompson-Hill and officers elaborated upon the extensive engagement with the construction industry and lessons learnt
exercise to ensure best practice for the second framework. Assurances were also provided in terms of monitoring
and auditing individual projects and maximising the delivery of community
benefits. Cabinet congratulated officers on the success
of the first framework and on the awards won in that regard together with the
work undertaken to ensure even greater success and benefits for the second
framework in terms of the local economy, employment opportunities and community
benefits. RESOLVED that the named
contractors detailed in paragraph 3 of the report be appointed to the North
Wales Schools and Public Buildings Contractor Framework. The meeting concluded at 11.05 hrs. |