Minutes:
After
presentation of the report, Members raised the following points:
·
Should the Draft Budget for 2017/18 be approved
would this result in compulsory redundancies.
The Chief Executive advised that compulsory redundancies would be avoided
for 2017/18, however as the Workforce Agreement was no longer
in place there could be no guarantees going forward. The Early Retirement/Voluntary Redundancy
scheme was continuing to work however the number of staff taking part was
reducing year on year;
·
In relation to the proposed cut in the schools’ base budget, Members
expressed concern that some schools were already struggling financially and
that this may result in compulsory redundancies. The Chief Executive advised that
the cut in schools’ base budgets had been reduced and that as part of the
consultation process, discussions had been held with primary and secondary
schools regarding, for example, the level of sickness. A pilot scheme had been run in schools to
reduce the levels of sickness and this had appeared to have a positive impact.
In addition Members were advised that reserves in schools needed to be
carefully managed. Members were also
reminded that the teaching Trade Unions had refused year on year to sign up to
the Council’s Workforce Agreement. This
had resulted in the other Trade Unions refusing to continue with the Agreement
beyond 2016/17.
·
Members also referred to the Authority’s facilities at Margam Park, Pontardawe Arts Centre and Cefn Coed Museum. Concern
was expressed at the cuts in funding to both Pontardawe
Arts Centre (in the region of £30k) and Cefn Coed Museum (in the region of £10k). In relation to the Pontardawe
Arts Centre, Members were advised that officers were looking in to possible investment
streams and also at the opening/staffing hours compared with the Princess Royal
Theatre in Port Talbot. The Director of
Education Leisure and Lifelong Learning confirmed that he was confident in the
future of the Arts Centre. In relation
to the Cefn Coed Museum,
this would reopen for a 4 day week commencing in Easter, rising to 5 days per
week in May. In order to assist £10k had been put into specific reserves.
·
In relation to Crime and Disorder, Members asked the reason behind the
decision taken by the City and County of Swansea not to collaborate on
CCTV. The Director of Finance and
Corporate Services advised Members that Welsh Government had issued new
guidelines on the siting of cameras, which had resulted in the Authority
removing those units not in compliance.
(At this point in the meeting Cllr.M.Harvey
re affirmed his interest in this item and withdrew from the meeting during
discussion thereon).
Members expressed concern that Welsh Government was
supporting collaboration as a way of reducing costs while the savings to be
realised were minor. The Welsh
Government had today published its White Paper.
Details of the collaboration accountability arrangements would need to
be clarified by Welsh Government. The
Chief Executive would report further to Members in due course.
Members felt that a reinvestment into visible
services such as fly tipping, etc was necessary and
asked why the one off payment of £1.2m in 2016/17 had been reduced to £970k in
2017/18.
Members questioned why the Authority was not using
more of its reserves to underpin the budget, when the amount in reserves had
increased by £2m. Members asked what was
the acceptable range of reserves and were advised that it would be prudent to retain
around 5% of the budget, however as the austerity continued it was advisable to
retain the reserves in order to prop up the budget and maintain service
delivery going forward. Members were
also reminded that the reserves were utilised to respond to emergencies in the
County Borough, such as flooding.
In relation to sickness in schools, Members
commented that a review of sickness in schools would show that non- teaching
staff had the highest rate of sickness.
At this point Members asked if £1m of the reserves could be used to
offset the cuts to the school base budget and Cefn Coed Museum.
Following scrutiny, the majority of the Committee
was supportive of the proposals to be considered by Cabinet.