Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

Community, Finance and Strategic Leadership Scrutiny Committee - Monday, 13th January, 2025 2.00 pm

Venue: Multi-Location Meeting - Council Chamber, Port Talbot & Microsoft Teams. View directions

Contact: Alison Thomas  Email: a.thomas6@npt.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Chair's Announcements

Decision:

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

2.

Declarations of Interest

Decision:

There were no declarations of interest received.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest received.

3.

Budget 2025/2026 pdf icon PDF 611 KB

Decision:

Following scrutiny, the committee noted the report.

Minutes:

Members considered the report as circulated with the agenda pack.

 

The Chair reminded members that comments from the meeting will form part of the formal consultation response for the budget. Members are encouraged to put forward any alternative proposals which can then be considered once the consultation period has ended.

 

The Director of Strategy and Corporate Services provided an outline to the proposals contained within the report. The directorate delivers services that are critical in supporting all directors to deliver the corporate plan priorities that will improve the lives and residents of Neath Talbot Council. People, organisation development, legal services and digital services are all key enabling services and it's essential these services are as efficient and as streamlined as possible.

 

The directorate ensure that there are robust governance arrangements in place corporately, key strategic documents to lead on and deliver the Future of Strategic Workforce Plan, the Digital Data and Technology Strategy, the Procurement Strategy. All of these have a vast impact on how the Council operate.

 

The directorate also play a key role in support the work of the Freeport and City Deal and the Corporate Joint Committee.

 

The proposals put forward are a mix of transformational change in the way the directorate delivers its services. The directorate are always considering how value can be added to the services delivered by the directorate.

 

The directorate has the smallest overall budget, and over 90% of this relates to staff costs. Officers confirmed that the directorate are the only one to deliver the 5% budget savings target for 2025-2026 which is on top of cuts that have been made previously. The cuts equate to over £650,000. The directorate currently has 351 fulltime equivalents, of which 45 are currently funded either from reserves, grants or departmental recharges.

 

The proposals outlined in the report indicate that the directorate are losing 7.6 posts, together with some reduction in hours to other posts. The impacts of the loss of these posts has been articulated within the report, and it will have an impact on the ability to deliver effective and timely services in supporting other directorates.

 

Members considered the portfolio of Chris Owen, Chief Digital Officer.

 

Members noted that a large amount of savings was based on voluntary redundancies. Member queried if the voluntary redundancies are confirmed and if not, how confident are officers that there are enough volunteers to come forward.

 

Officers confirmed in terms of the three senior infrastructure operations engineer posts that those are all confirmed £156,906 is confirmed as a saving for 2025-26. The reduction in working hours of £9895 is also confirmed as a saving for 2025-26. With reference to the two Grade 9 and one Grade 5 voluntary redundancies, the process is still ongoing and are yet to be confirmed.

 

There are currently people considering the other voluntary redundancy posts, there are people who have come forward and are being considered. Once the details are back, the staff would need to confirm that they figures are acceptable and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

4.

Urgent Items

Any urgent items at the discretion of the Chairperson pursuant to Section 100BA(6)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

Decision:

There were no urgent items.

Minutes:

There were no urgent items.