Agenda and minutes

www.swansea.gov.uk/disclosuresofinterests

In accordance with the Code of Conduct adopted by the City and County of Swansea, the following interests were declared:

1)            Councillors R Francis-Davies & A S Lewis declared a Personal Interest in Minute 129 “Local Authority Governor Appointments”.

2)            Councillor R V Smith declared a Personal & Prejudicial Interest in Minute 129 “Local Authority Governor Appointments” and stated that he had dispensation from the Standards Committee to Stay, Speak but Not Vote on matters relating to the Appointment of Local Authority Governors.

3)            Councillor E T King declared a Personal Interest in Minute 130 “West Glamorgan Regional Partnership Governance Framework”.

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 20 January 2022.

The Leader of Council made no announcements.

Questions must be submitted in writing to Democratic Services democracy@swansea.gov.uk no later than noon on the working day prior to the meeting. Questions must relate to items on the agenda. Questions will be dealt with in a 10 minute period.

No questions were asked.

Councillor C A Holley asked three questions in relation to Minute 119 “Revenue and Capital Budget Monitoring 3^rd Quarter 2021/22”.

The Cabinet Member for Environment Enhancement & Infrastructure Management responded. He stated that a written response would be provided in relation to:

Question 2 “Please provide a cost for each of the cycle paths”.

Councillor C A Holley provided pre-decision feedback in relation to the six budget reports.

Call In Procedure - Subject to Pre-Decision Scrutiny: This decision is exempt from the Authority’s Call In Procedure as “the decision has been subject to Pre-Decision Scrutiny and there is no material change in relevant information / evidence”.

The Cabinet Member for Economy, Finance & Strategy submitted a report that outlined the financial monitoring of the 2021-2022 revenue and capital budgets, including the delivery of budget savings.

Resolved that:

1)            The comments and variations, including the material uncertainties as set out in the report and the actions in hand to address them be noted.

2)            The virements set out in Paragraph 2.7 of the report and the use of the Contingency Fund set out in Paragraph 3.2 of the report be approved subject to any further advice from the Section 151 Officer during the year.

3)            Cabinet reinforces the need for all Directors to continue to minimise service overspending in year, recognising that the budget overall is currently balanced only by relying heavily on future likely (but far from assured) reimbursement from Welsh Government, centrally held contingency budgets and reserves, but equally recognising that the overspending is almost exclusively due to ongoing, broadly anticipated Covid pressures.

4)            The indicative options set out in Paragraph 4.1 of the report be noted in relation to potential underspend for the year with final actions to be confirmed at outturn.

Call In Procedure - Subject to Pre-Decision Scrutiny: This decision is exempt from the Authority’s Call In Procedure as “the decision has been subject to Pre-Decision Scrutiny and there is no material change in relevant information / evidence”.

The Section 151 Officer submitted a report that set out the rationale and purpose of the Medium Term Financial Plan, detailed the major funding assumptions for the period, and proposed a strategy to maintain a balanced budget.

Resolved that:

1)        The Medium Term Financial Plan 2023-2024 to 2025-2026 be recommended to Council as the basis for future service financial planning.

Call In Procedure - Subject to Pre-Decision Scrutiny: This decision is exempt from the Authority’s Call In Procedure as “the decision has been subject to Pre-Decision Scrutiny and there is no material change in relevant information / evidence”.

The Section 151 Officer submitted a report that set out the current position with regard to the Revenue Budget for 2022-2023.

The Leader of the Council proposed a number of amendments to the report. The amendments made were in light of the policy intention announced to seek to move to £10 per hour minimum pay at Council on 3 March 2022 and to look to minimise the Council Tax burden on households.

The Leader of the Council asked the Section 151 Officer if the amendments were appropriate and affordable.

The Section 151 Officer stated that the levy costs and Council Tax Reduction Scheme cost had in his view as a minimum to be met. However, the amendments could be made to the budget.

Resolved that:

1)        The outcome of the formal consultation exercise be noted and, any changes to the Budget Proposals in Appendix D of the report be agreed, together with the position regarding delegated budgets as set out in Sections 4.15 and 4.17 of the report.

2)        The current Total Funding Requirement identified in Section 4.6 of the report be noted and, in line with the potential actions identified in Sections 9 and 10 of the report, agree a course of action to achieve a balanced Revenue Budget for 2022-2023.

3)        In addition to a review of current savings proposals Cabinet:

a)         Reviewed and Approved the Reserve Transfers recommended in the report.

b)         To reflect a reduced Fire Authority levy to the final advised sum by £28,000.

c)         To reduce the central inflation provision by £1,092,000.

d)         To reduce Council Tax Reduction Scheme by £300,000.

e)         Making £1,420,000 base reduction to the revenue budget proposed and a consequential reduction in total council tax raised by the corresponding £1,420,000 reducing the recommendation on council tax to a 0.95% increase.

f)          Agreed a level of Council Tax for 2022-2023 to be recommended to Council.

4)        Subject to the changes identified and listed above, Cabinet recommends to Council for approval:

a)         A Revenue Budget for 2022-2023.

b)         A Budget Requirement and Council Tax levy for 2022-2023.

Call In Procedure - Subject to Pre-Decision Scrutiny: This decision is exempt from the Authority’s Call In Procedure as “the decision has been subject to Pre-Decision Scrutiny and there is no material change in relevant information / evidence”.

The Section 151 Officer submitted a report that proposed a revised Capital Budget for 2021-2022 and a Capital Budget for 2022-2023 to 2026-2027.

Resolved that:

1)        The revised Capital Budget for 2021-2022 and a Capital Budget for 2022-2023 – 2026-2027 as detailed in Appendices A, B, C, D, E, F and G of the report be approved.

Call In Procedure - Subject to Pre-Decision Scrutiny: This decision is exempt from the Authority’s Call In Procedure as “the decision has been subject to Pre-Decision Scrutiny and there is no material change in relevant information / evidence”.

The Section 151 Officer submitted a report that proposed a Revenue Budget for 2022-2023 and a rent increase for properties within the Housing Revenue Account (HRA).

Resolved that the following budget proposals be recommended to Council for approval:

1)        Rents be increased in line with the new Welsh Government policy as detailed in Section 3 of the report.

2)        Fees, charges and allowances be approved as outlined in Section 4 of the report.

3)        The Revenue Budget Proposals as detailed in Section 4 of the report.

Call In Procedure - Subject to Pre-Decision Scrutiny: This decision is exempt from the Authority’s Call In Procedure as “the decision has been subject to Pre-Decision Scrutiny and there is no material change in relevant information / evidence”.

The Section 151 Officer and Director of Place jointly submitted a report that proposed a revised Capital Budget for 2021-2022 and a Capital Budget for 2022-2023 – 2025-2026.

Resolved that the following be recommended to Council for approval:

1)           The transfers between schemes and the revised budgets for schemes in 2020-2021 be approved.

2)           The budget proposals for 2022-2023 – 2025-2026 be approved.

3)           Where individual schemes in Appendix B are programmed over the 4 year period described in the report, then these be committed and approved and their financial implications for funding over the 4 years also be approved.

The Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care & Community Health Services submitted a report that was the latest annual review of social services charges, improvements undertaken in year and a proposed list of charges to apply in 2022/2023.

Resolved that:

1)              The findings of the annual review of charges report be accepted.

2)              An inflationary increase of 3% be applied to all social services charges to come into effect on 1 April 2022.

3)              The list of social services charges to apply from 1 April 2022, for the year 2022/2023 be approved for publication.

The Cabinet Member for Climate Change & Service Transformation submitted a report that sought adoption of a strategy for the management of trees on / affecting land / property in Council ownership and setting out the Council’s duties in relation to protected trees.

Resolved that:

1)              The Tree Management Strategy be agreed.

2)              A mapping exercise be carried out to identify potential sites / zones for planting on Council owned land subject to future funding and maintenance availability.

The Poverty Reduction Policy Development Committee submitted a report that sought adoption of a strategy that embeds the promotion of affordable credit. Councillor P Downing presented the report.

Resolved that:

1)            The Promoting Affordable Credit Policy attached as Appendix A of the report be adopted.

The Cabinet Member for Climate Change & Service Transformation submitted a report that sought:

i)                 Retrospective approval for Land and Building Development Fund bids.

ii)               Retrospective approval for an Integrated Care Fund bid.

iii)              To commit the schemes to the Capital Programme in line with the Council’s Financial Procedure Rules.

Resolved that:

1)              The Land and Building Development (LBDF) funding bids set out in Section 2.2 of the report be approved.

2)              The Integrated Care Fund (ICF) bid set out in Section 3.3 of the report be approved.

3)              Authority be delegated to the Director of Place, the Chief Legal Officer and Chief Finance Officer to enter into any agreements necessary to ensure the delivery of the projects and to protect the Council’s interests.

4)              Authority be delegated to the Director of Place and the Chief Finance Officer to recover all expenditure associated with the delivery of the projects from Welsh Government.

5)              Any further decisions relating to the funding above will be delegated to the Director of Place and the Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Service Transformation, and schemes are detailed and approved via the annual HRA Capital Budget report.

The Local Authority Governors Appointment Group submitted a report, which sought approval of the nominations submitted to fill Local Authority (LA) Governor vacancies on School Governing Bodies.

Resolved that:

1)              The following nominations recommended by the Director of Education in conjunction with the Cabinet Member for Education Improvement, Learning & Skills be approved:

The Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care & Community Health Services submitted a report that sought approval to adopt a Governance Framework for the West Glamorgan Regional Partnership.

Resolved that:

1)              The Governance Framework for the West Glamorgan Regional Partnership attached as Appendix 1 of the report be approved.

The Cabinet Member for Investment, Regeneration & Tourism submitted a report that sought approval to comply with Financial Procedure Rule 7 “Capital Programming & Appraisals) – to commit and authorise the addition of new schemes to the Capital Programme.

Resolved that:

1)              It be noted that the grant application set out in the report has been approved by Welsh Government as part of the 2021/2022 capital bidding round for the Welsh Government Transforming Towns Programme.

2)              The relevant schemes and their financial implications be approved and the schemes be authorised to be to be added to the Capital Programme.

3)              The inter authority agreement which has been prepared to protect the Council’s position as lead Authority in distributing the funding received from Welsh Government to deliver the schemes on a regional basis be noted and approved.

4)              Authority be delegated to the Head of Planning and City Regeneration in consultation with the Chief Legal Officer to enter into the agreement on behalf of the Council.

The Section 151 Officer submitted a report that provided information and sought the adoption of a temporary Retail, Leisure and Hospitality Rates Relief Scheme relating to Business Rates, which has been introduced by Welsh Government for the financial year 2022/2023.

Resolved that:

1)              The details of the Scheme set out in the report be noted.

2)              The Rate Relief Scheme outlined in the report for 2022-2023 be adopted.