Agenda and minutes

www.swansea.gov.uk/disclosuresofinterests

In accordance with the Code of Conduct adopted by the City and County of Swansea, no interests were declared.

To approve & sign the Minutes of the previous meeting(s) as a correct record.

Resolved that the Minutes of the meeting(s) listed below be approved and signed as a correct record:

1)              Cabinet held on 16 November 2017.

The Leader of Council made no announcements.

Questions must relate to matters on the open part of the Agenda of the meeting and will be dealt within a 10 minute period.

A number of questions were asked relating to Minute 99 “Sustainable Swansea – Fit for the Future: Budget Proposals 2018-2019 to 2021-2022”.

The Leader of the Council responded.

No questions were asked.

The Cabinet Member for Economy & Strategy submitted a report which sought consideration of the budget proposals 2018-2019 to 2021-2012 as part of the Council’s Budget Strategy Sustainable Swansea – fit for the future.

Resolved that:

1)              The Budget proposals summarised in the report and detailed in Appendix A and Appendix C as the basis of consultation be approved;

2)              The updated budget future forecast be adopted as the starting planning premise for the new medium term financial plan, which will be considered by Council on 22 February 2018;

3)              The approach to consultation and engagement with staff, trade unions, residents, partners and other interested parties set out in Section 7 of this report of the report be agreed;

4)       A report on the outcome of the consultation and final budget proposals be received by Cabinet at its meeting on 8 February 2018.

The Cabinet Member for Service Transformation & Business Operations submitted a report which outlined the corporate performance for Quarter 2 of 2017-2018.

Resolved that:

1)               The performance results be noted and reviewed to help inform executive decisions on resource allocation and, where relevant, corrective actions to manage and improve performance and efficiency in delivering national and local priorities.

The Cabinet Member for Stronger Communities submitted a report which set out the proposed allocation of Legacy Funding for approval.

He outlined the following amendments to the report:

a)              Page 65, Paragraph 3.3.  Amend the quoted figure to read “£261,819”;

b)              Page 68, Paragraph 5.1.  Amend the quoted figure for 2018/19 for the ‘Third Party Delivery Partners’ to read “£263,456”;

c)               Page 68, Paragraph 5.1.  Amend the quoted figure for 2018/19 for the ‘Single Employability Offer’ to read “£66,467”.

Resolved that:

1)              The amendments to the report listed above be approved;

2)              The proposals for the Legacy Fund contained within the report be approved in principle, subject to further guidance from Welsh Government.

The Cabinet Member for Health & Wellbeing submitted a report which sought permission to consult on proposed changes to charges for Social Services in 2018-2019 as part of the established annual review process set out within the Social Services Charging Policy.

Resolved that:

1)              Approval be given to consult on possible changes to charges for adult social care as part of the Council’s wider budget consultation - to include consideration of:

·                  Introduction of a charge for day services for older people;

·                  Introduction of a charge for day services for younger adults;

·                  Introduction of a charge for respite care at home;

·                  An increased charge for domiciliary care;

·                 An inflationary uplift for all other social care charges.

The Education & Skills Policy Development and Delivery Committee submitted a report which provided feedback on the progress to date in developing policy on education and skills to meet the challenges of the City Deal.

Resolved that:

1)              The feedback provided to date in developing policy on education and skills to meet the challenges of the City Deal were considered and the conclusions identified in this report be endorsed;

2)              The Leader of the Council, Cabinet Member, Chief Executive and Senior Officers raise the matters highlighted in this report in the relevant partnership arrangements that are in place and seek to introduce the governance arrangements outlined in this report when these are agreed as a way forward for the City Deal;

3)              The Cabinet Member for Children, Education & Lifelong Learning work with Officers to ensure that local arrangements are robust to meet the challenges and opportunities arising from the City Deal, including establishment of local partnership arrangements to feed into regional partnerships.

The Cabinet Member for Children, Education & Lifelong Learning submitted a report which provided an update on the progress in meeting the five recommendations in the Estyn Inspection Report.

Resolved that:

1)              The progress update on the five recommendations in the Estyn Inspection Report be noted.

Councillor R C Stewart (Chair) left the meeting.

Councillors C E Lloyd (Vice Chair) presiding

The Cabinet Member for Health & Wellbeing submitted a report, which provided an overview of the progress to date with the Adult Services Commissioning Reviews in relation to accommodation and housing related provision and day services for people with learning disabilities, physical disabilities and mental ill health, with a view to seeking arrangement of those Strategies.

Resolved that:

1)              The Strategies be approved and proceed to consultation via the budget consultation process.

The Cabinet Members for Health & Wellbeing and Children, Education and Lifelong Learning jointly submitted a report which, sought approval to extend the Childcare Offer to other wards across Swansea.

Resolved that:

1)              The proposals for the expansion of the Childcare Offer to the Phase 1 reserve areas (as detailed in paragraph 3.1 of the report) be re-affirmed;

2)              The proposals to Welsh Government for the expansion of the Childcare Offer to a Phase 2 (as detailed in paragraph 3.5 of the report) be approved;

3)              The full rollout to all areas follows Phase 2 in line with Welsh Government funding confirmation;

4)              The Director of People and Director of Place develop arrangements for the management of future capital funding opportunities.

The Cabinet Members for Children, Education and Lifelong Learning submitted a report which sought approval to extend the Workways+ project to 2022 and to approve the increase in grant allocation from the Welsh European Funding Office (WEFO).

Resolved that:

1)              The progress achieved by the project to date be noted;

2)              The Head of Financial Services, acting as the Authorising Contact for the Project, be authorised to accept the Grant Extension and Additional Funding Offer made by the Welsh European Funding Office (WEFO);

3)              Regular reports be made on progress to the External Funding Panel.