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, L S Gibbard, D H Hopkins, E J King, A Pugh, R V Smith & A H Stevens declared a Personal Interest in Minute 141 “Revenue Budget 2023/24”.

 

2)              Councillor R V Smith declared a Personal & Prejudicial Interest in Minute 146 “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.

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 17 February 2023.

The Leader of Council made no announcements.

Questions can be submitted in writing to Democratic Services democracy@swansea.gov.uk up until noon on the working day prior to the meeting. Written questions take precedence.  Public may attend and ask questions in person if time allows. Questions must relate to items on the open part of the agenda and will be dealt within a 10 minute period.

Alec Thraves (Swansea Trades Union Council) asked questions in relation to Minute 141 “Revenue Budget 2023/24”.

 

The Leader of the Council responded.

No questions were asked.

Councillor C A Holley provided pre-decision feedback in relation to the 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 2022-2023 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.

 

4)              Cabinet recognises that cost overspends can now only reasonably be sought to be minimised, rather than eliminated, in current year by some targeted recovery action with a clear expectation of ‘tough’ rebasing choices to achieve a balanced budget for the 2023-24 budget round.

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 2024-2025 to 2026-2027 be recommended to Council as the basis for future service financial planning.

 

2)              The Director of Finance be delegated authority to make minor consequential amendments as required.

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 regarding the Revenue Budget for 2023-2024.

 

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 subject to the following Saving Proposals amounting to £901,000 outlined in Appendix D of the report being deferred, on a one off basis only, for one financial year and to be met from contingency:

 

Director	Head of Budget Service	Description	2023/24 £’000
Place	Cultural Services	Implementation of income generation agreement within the Grand Theatre Arts Wing	*75
Place	Cultural Services	Review contract agreement with Waterfront Museum	*100
Place	Cultural Services	Review the partnership agreement with Wales National Pool	*100
Place	Highways & Transport	Standardise charges in non-city centre car parks	*100
Place	Housing & Public Health	Decommission Nowcaster air quality monitoring system	*28
Place	Planning and City Regeneration	Revise Swansea Market Rent Charges	*50
Place	Waste, Parks & Cleansing	Remove 50% of additional funding for mechanical brush resource at leaf fall	*25
Place	Waste, Parks & Cleansing	Remove additional funding for litter bin replacements	*105
Place	Waste, Parks & Cleansing	Review breadth and scale of cleansing operations	*150
Corporate Services	Legal, Democratic Services & Business Intelligence	Review Democratic Services and Scrutiny support staff	*86
Corporate Services	Legal, Democratic Services & Business Intelligence	Review Information and Governance Unit and Welsh Translation Unit	*82

 

The amendments to be noted at Council in March 2023 with an asterisk against the relevant proposals to be funded from contingency.

 

2)       The Council Tax Reduction Scheme be increased by £250,000 to reflect changes to Council Tax.

 

3)       The Corporate Joint Committee (CJC) Levy be reduced by £3,000 as advised by the CJC being their final calculation.

 

4)       The contingency be added to by £1,095,000, to be shown as a reduced net draw from reserves.

 

5)       The Budget Requirement be increased by the net of that outlined in Paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 of the report, or £1,342,000.

 

6)       That £2,000 be added to Community Council precept received after the agreed deadline but accepted as a substitute precept by the Section 151 Officer.

 

7)       The Total Requirement be increased by the sum of the above (Paragraphs 5 and 6 of the report), or £1,344,000.

 

8)       £2,000 be added to the Total Financing Requirement by raising Community Council precepts by that sum.

 

9)       That the net of the above (Paragraphs 7 less 8 of the report), or £1,342,000 be added to the Total Financing Requirement for the City and County of Swansea.

 

10)     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 2023-2024 as amended above.

 

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

 

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

 

b)       Agreed a level of Council Tax for 2023-2024 to be recommended to Council at a substituted 5.95% instead of 4.95%.

 

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

 

a)               A Revenue Budget for 2023-2024.

 

b)       A Budget Requirement and Council Tax levy for 2023-2024.

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 2022-2023 and a Capital Budget for 2023-2024 to 2027-2028.

 

Resolved that:

 

1)       The revised Capital Budget for 2022-2023 and a Capital Budget for 2023-2024 – 2027-2028 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 2023-2024 for the Housing Revenue Account (HRA).

 

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

 

1)       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 submitted a report that proposed a revised Capital Budget for 2022-2023 and a Capital Budget for 2023-2024 – 2026-2027.

 

Resolved that the following be recommended to Council for approval:

 

1)         The transfers between schemes and the revised budgets for schemes in 2022-2023 be approved.

 

2)         The budget proposals for 2023-2024 – 2026-2027 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 Care 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 2023/2024.

 

Resolved that:

 

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

 

2)              Subject to the approval of the Council Budget for 2023/2024, an inflationary increase of 10% be applied to all social services charges to come into effect on 1 April 2023.

 

3)              Subject to resolution 2, the list of social services charges apply from 1 April 2023, for the year 2023/2024 be approved for publication.

 

4)              Cabinet reinforces the need for the Council’s debt policies to be applied.

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:

 

1)	Clydach Primary School	Morrison Frew Sarah Hooke
2)	Danygraig Primary School	Alison Jones
3)	YGG Pontybrenin	Alun Millington

 

The Cabinet Member for Economy, Finance & Strategy submitted a report that sought consideration of additional discretionary powers available to the Authority under the Welsh Government’s Cost of Living Support Scheme to provide financial support to householders considered to be in need of assistance with living costs.

 

Resolved that:

 

1)              The details of the mandatory scheme set out in the report be noted and further that they have already been implemented.

 

2)              The details of the discretionary powers relating to the Cost-of-Living Support Scheme be noted.

 

3)              The details of the current discretionary scheme previously approved by Cabinet on 21 April 2022, and which have already been implemented, be noted.

 

4)              Any taxpayers who have been identified as eligible for a payment under the current discretionary scheme but have not registered for that payment as required by Sunday, 19 February, will have any remaining discretionary sums they are eligible for paid directly to their Council Tax account.

 

5)              The following categories and amounts be approved as additional discretionary payments to be made under the Cost-of-Living Support Scheme:

 

a)              £150 will be paid to the Council Tax account of taxpayers not eligible for the main scheme Cost-of-Living Support Scheme who, as at 15/2/2022, were entitled to a Council Tax disregard awarded in respect of:

 

·                 An adult with a Severe Mental Impairment (SMI) resident in their property.

·                 A carer for another adult resident in the property, the other cared for adult living in the property not being their partner.

 

b)              £150 will be paid to the rent account of Council tenants who were excluded from eligibility for the main scheme Cost-of-Living Support Scheme due to having a Class N (Student) exemption on their Council Tax account.

 

c)              A payment of £150 is to be paid to the rent account of Council tenants who are in rent arrears and were identified as eligible for the main scheme Cost-of-Living Support Scheme but who failed to register for the payment before the deadline of 30 September 2022.

 

d)              A payment of £55 is to be paid to all households occupying domestic dwellings in Council Tax Band E who were not eligible for a payment from the Main Scheme Cost-of-Living Support Scheme.

 

e)              The maximum payment to one household from the Cost of Living Support Scheme as a whole (including both Main Scheme and Discretionary Scheme elements) will remain at £300.

The Cabinet Member for Economy, Finance & Strategy and Cabinet Member for Investment, Strategy & Tourism jointly submitted a report that sought approval to implement the UK Government Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF) and to approve the outline of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund Regional Investment Plan and implementation approach including Swansea as Lead Authority for the South West Wales region.

 

Resolved that:

 

1)              The implementation of the Shared Prosperity Fund as outlined in the report, with Swansea acting as Lead Authority for South West Wales be approved.

 

2)              Authority be delegated to the Director of Place, the Director of Finance and the Chief Legal Officer to finalise and enter into any appropriate agreements between local authority partners as necessary to deliver the SPF.

 

3)              The scope of the proposed Swansea SPF Anchor projects as set out in paragraph 4.6 of the report be approved.

 

4)              Authority be delegated to the Leader of Council in consultation with the relevant Cabinet Member, Director of Finance, Director of Place and Head of Service for Planning and City Regeneration to approve external grant awards above £25,000.

 

5)              Authority be delegated to the Director of Place, Head of Service for Planning and City Regeneration and Economic Development & External Funding Manager, in consultation with the relevant Cabinet Member to approve applications for external grants up to the value of £25,000.

 

6)              Authority be delegated to the Director of Place in consultation with relevant Cabinet Member, to make decisions on the internally delivered projects within the Council e.g., minor project adjustments.

 

7)              Further FPR7 reports will be brought back to Cabinet in line with the Council’s Constitution for additional capital projects arising out of Shared Prosperity Fund.