Agenda and draft minutes
Venue: via Zoom
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APOLOGIES Additional documents: |
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DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST PDF 116 KB Members to declare any personal or prejudicial interests in any business identified to be considered at this meeting. Additional documents: Minutes: Councillor Meirick Lloyd Davies declared a personal interest in item 5, Budget 2021/22 - Final Proposals as he was on the Fire Authority Board. |
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URGENT MATTERS AS AGREED BY THE CHAIR 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: Minutes: No urgent matters. At this juncture, the Chair, on behalf of Full Council, offered congratulations to Ann Jones, Member of Senedd and a former Denbighshire Councillor on being awarded an OBE. Question put forward by Ceri Mair Davies on behalf of
Friends of the Earth Ruthin: “Could Denbighshire County Council provide a
full list of all properties, land, rooms, assets owned by Denbighshire Town and
County Councils that are currently under-utilised or un-occupied? Could Denbighshire County Council outline
exactly what is the process involved in a Community Asset Transfer and what is
the remit for organisations who can apply? (we would be happy to be sent a copy
of this document after the meeting if you would like to put us in touch with
the department and persons in charge of this)” The Lead Member for Finance, Performance and Strategic
Assets, Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill, responded as follows: “A schedule of vacant premises
in our property portfolio and a current list of vacancies within the commercial
portfolio can be provided. Our Asset Strategy ris not to
hold any building or property that is not required for our operational or
commercial reasons. Town and Community Council
buildings - we cannot provide those as we do not have that data. There is only data on Denbighshire County
Council assets. Underutilisation re: office
portfolio - we are aware where we have vacancies and have been working with
partners. NHS and the Coroner work from
County Hall and we are in the process of moving other groups into County Hall
also. All buildings are under-utilised
at the moment due to Covid and change in working patterns during the last 12
months. This will be reassessed when get
back to some sort of normality. In terms of the Commercial
portfolio which includes things such as farms and industrial units, these
are run on a commercial basis for generating income. There is a high rate of occupancy. Second question regarding
policies – there is no formally adopted policy for this. They are dealt with on a case by case basis,
working with Town and Community Councils and local groups. Normally it is a case of the Council being
approached by organisations to buy a property.
It would be based upon a business plan to clarify how buildings are
utilised, maintenance and running costs and generally done on a long term
transfer. There is an entire process we
go through to make sure people have applied with Local Government Act disposal
consent and an internal process to make decisions. The Lead Member for Waste, Transport and the Environment,
Councillor Brian Jones gave a statement regarding the recent flooding as follows: “Flooding last week by storm
Christophe was devastating for everyone affected and we want to express our
sympathies to those people who are now undertaking the long journey to recover. I have been out to the various
areas affected by flooding and next week going to see rural areas affected by
flooding. I want to pay tribute to the
highways staff who put in a lot of hours and work in preparing before the flood
and in some cases, councillors and all those who were involved. We need to look at what we can
do as a local authority and how best to protect communities going forward. At a recent Scrutiny Committee meeting it was mentioned about a Task and Finish Group to look at flood areas. We have already had an agreement for NRW and Welsh Water to be part of the Group and also want involved land and farm owners, and relevant local county councillors. This ... view the full minutes text for item 3. |
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To receive the minutes of the meeting of County Council held 8 December 2020 (copy attached). Additional documents: Minutes: The minutes of Full Council held on 26 January 2021 were submitted. PROPOSED by Councillor Alan James to accept the minutes, SECONDED by Ann Davies. A vote took place and a majority of Members agreed to accept the minutes with one Member voting against. RESOLVED that the minutes
of the Council meeting held on 26 January 2021 be confirmed as a correct
record. |
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BUDGET 2021/2022 - FINAL PROPOSALS PDF 149 KB To consider a report by the Head of Finance and Property (copy attached). Additional documents:
Minutes: At this juncture, Councillor Meirick Lloyd Davies declared a personal interest as he was a member of the Fire Authority Board. The Lead Member for Finance, Performance and Strategic Assets, Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill, introduced the Budget 2021/22 – Final Proposals report (previously circulated). The Council was legally required to set a balanced and deliverable budget before the start of each financial year and to set the resulting level of Council Tax to allow bills to be sent to residents. The Draft Local Government
Settlement for 2021/22 was received by the council on 21st December
and had resulted in a positive settlement of +3.6%, compared to the Welsh
average of 3.8%. The Final Settlement was expected on the 2nd March
but Welsh Government (WG) had indicated that there should be very few changes. As part of the settlement
there were ‘transfers in’ of £1.280m which had been passported
to the relevant service areas as in previous years: · 2020/21 Teachers' Pay Grant - £0.135m · Coastal Risk Management Programme £1.145m The final proposals to balance the 2021/22 budget were shown in the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) in Appendix 1. The main areas of growth and pressures were: · Pay pressures of £0.870m ·
Price
and energy inflation of £250k ·
Fire
Service Charge of £162k ·
Allowance
for increase in Council Tax Reduction Scheme of £350k ·
Schools
inflationary pressures are recognised amounting to £1.205m ·
Schools
investment in Additional Learning Needs £1.192m ·
Schools
investment in small schools’ sustainability £161k ·
Schools
demographic pressure of £718k ·
£2.4m
to recognise demand pressures and forecasts in Community Support Services as
part of the council’s long term strategy to manage care budgets ·
£0.750m
to recognise existing pressures in Education and Children’s Services relating
to Out of County Placements and Recoupment. ·
£250k
pressures in Waste Services had been recognised based on estimates of ongoing
year pressures ·
Impact
of previous decisions by Council/Cabinet (eg Rhyl
Flood Scheme, North Wales Economic Ambition Board): £0.276m ·
£389k
pressure for investment in Carbon Zero Target required in order to meet the
2030 target agreed by Council. ·
Investment
of £250k in the Ash Die-Back problem. This would make permanent the one-off
funding identified in last year’s budget. ·
In
light of the scale of the pressures and the Covid and
Brexit impact still unresolved, a contingency of
£683k had been included The pressures identified above
amounted to £9.903m. The impact of using £685k of cash in 20/21 (which had the
effect of just delaying the need to identify savings) meant that the total
shortfall amounted to £10.588m. A draft settlement of around 8% would have been
required in order to fund all these pressures. The net +3.6% settlement
generated £5.42m additional revenue leaving a funding gap of £5.167m. The following items were included in the
proposals in order to bridge that gap: · Fees and Charges Income Budgets had been inflated in line with agreed Fees and Charges policy which increased external income by £0.462m. · Operational efficiencies amounted to £690k mostly identified by services throughout the year and within Head Service delegated responsibility in consultation with Lead Members. · Savings of £0.781m had also been identified which changed service provision in some way and which were shared in detail with Cabinet and Council in the December briefings. · 1% (£0.733m) Schools efficiency target from Schools Delegated Budgets. As school budgets were devolved, it would be for each governing body to determine how the savings would be delivered. · It was recommended that the Council Tax increased by 3.8% which would generate £2.132m additional revenue. This compared to last year’s increase of 4.3% and 6.35% the year before that. · Finally, the Council ... view the full minutes text for item 5. |
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COUNCIL TAX REDUCTION SCHEME 2021/2022 PDF 146 KB To consider a report by the Head of Finance and Property (copy attached). Additional documents:
Minutes: The Lead Member for Finance, Performance and Strategic Assets, Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill introduced the Council Tax Reduction Scheme 2021/2022 report (previously circulated). The Welfare Reform Act 2012 contained provisions to
abolish council tax benefit in its current form across the UK. From 31 March
2013 council tax benefit ceased and the responsibility for providing support
for council tax and the funding associated with it, had been passed to the
Welsh Government. The Welsh Government, in partnership with local authorities
in Wales, introduced a new scheme to provide council tax support which was
adopted by the Council in January 2013. The Welsh Government had finalised both
sets of regulations on 2nd December 2019 and the new Council Tax Reduction
Schemes and Prescribed Requirements (Wales) Regulations 2013 and amendments
Regulations 2020 were required to be adopted by 31st January 2021. Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill proposed to accept the
Council Tax Reduction Scheme 2021/2022 report, seconded by Councillor Martyn
Holland. A vote took place and it was unanimously agreed to accept the report. RESOLVED that Members: ·
adopt
the Council Tax Reduction Schemes and Prescribed Requirements (Wales)
Regulations 2013 and the Council Tax Reduction Schemes (Prescribed Requirements
and Default Scheme) (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 in respect of the
2021/22 financial year. ·
approve
the discretionary elements of the scheme, shown in section 4.4, for 2021/22
financial year. |
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At this juncture (11.25 a.m.) there was a 20 minute
break. The meeting reconvened at 11.45 a.m. |
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To consider a report by the Head of Finance and Property and the Pay and Rewards Specialist (copy attached). Additional documents: Minutes: The Lead Member for Finance, Performance and Strategic Assets, Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill introduced the Real Living Wage report (previously circulated). County Council originally considered the implications of
paying the Real Living Wage in December, 2018 and then in January 2020
following the national pay negotiations.
It was then requested that the Council received a further report in
January 2021 to consider the current situation and if there was a differential
between the National Pay Award and the Real Living Wage whether or not to pay
the Real Living Wage to its staff in the following financial year. There are two levels of living wage. The National Living
Wage which is set by Government and all employers are legally obliged to pay,
and the real Living Wage which is assessed and set by the Real Living Wage
Foundation in November each year. Recent local government pay awards had sought to ensure that
the lowest pay grades would be paid above the real living wage rate. Subsequent
increases in the level of the real living wage have resulted in Grade 1 and the
bottom point of Grade 2 falling below that rate. The Council currently has 725
staff who are paid below the current real living wage level. Employers had six months
following the November announcement to implement the increase in the real
living wage level and given the wider financial situation the Council were in
regarding Covid, if implemented in year it would add additional pressure. Therefore, it was stated it would be
advantageous to utilise the six-month period and implement it in the next
financial year having regard to the national pay award. Following a brief discussion,
Councillor Graham Timms proposed further recommendations as follows: (i)
To backdate to April 2020 the Real Living Wage
amount for those who would have lost out at the last pay deal at a cost of
approximately £17,000 per annum (ii)
For the financial year 2021/2022 DCC pay the
Real Living Wage as set in November 2020 to all staff who would be below it and
that would cost £37,500, and (iii)
Propose the Lead Member for Finance bring back a
report to Council with a costing and a route map of how the Council could
become an accredited Real Living Wage Employer. Councillor Graham Timms
proposed the additional recommendations seconded by Councillor Barry Mellor. The Strategic HR Manager
explained the second recommendation could raise issues between Grades as it
would affect pay relativities and have potential equal pay implications.Work
would need to take place to assess the risk caused to the Council prior to
agreement. Members agreed that officers
would need to do work of what the consequences would be financially in
2021/2022 which would be dependent on pay awards which may or may not be agreed
during that time. Therefore, it was agreed that
the following two recommendations be put forward to vote: (i)
All council employees receive the real living
wage for the financial year 2020/2021 which would involve backdating the pay of
those on spinal column point 1 who are on £9.25 per hour, up to £9.30 per hour
which would cost £17,500, and (ii)
The Lead Member bring back a report to Council
with a costing and a route map as to how the Council could become an accredited
real living wage employer. Both Councillors, Graham Timms
and Barry Mellor, the original proposer and seconder, agreed to this. A vote took place on the amendment
to the recommendation and it was unanimously agreed. Therefore, following agreement to the amendment, a vote took place on the substantive recommendation and it ... view the full minutes text for item 7. |
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Notice of Motion put forward by Councillor Glenn Swingler for consideration by Full Council (copy attached). Additional documents: Minutes: Councillor Glenn Swingler put forward the following Notice of Motion on behalf of the Plaid Group for consideration by Full Council: That
Denbighshire County Council: Calls
for the decision date on the intended restructuring of the Homelessness Service
with the loss of 9 posts to be postponed from February 1st 2021 until the
reasoning behind this proposed major internal reorganisation has been examined
by a council Scrutiny Committee. Following
discussion, Councillor Glenn Swingler confirmed that he would withdraw the
Notice of Motion. |
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COUNTY COUNCIL FORWARD WORK PROGRAMME PDF 254 KB To consider the Council’s forward work programme (copy attached). Additional documents: Minutes: The Head of Legal, HR and Democratic Services introduced the Council’s forward work programme (previously circulated). Future meetings to be confirmed: (i) Real Living Wage Accredited Employer (ii) Flooding – Investigation Report RESOLVED that subject to
the above, that the Council’s forward work programme be approved and noted. |
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The meeting concluded
at 1.10 p.m. |