Agenda and minutes

www.swansea.gov.uk/disclosuresofinterests

The Interim Head of Legal and Democratic Services gave advice regarding the potential personal and prejudicial interests that Councillors and / Officers may have on the agenda.

The Head of Democratic Services reminded Councillors and Officers that the “Disclosures of Personal and Prejudicial Interests” sheet should only be completed if the Councillor / Officer actually had an interest to declare. Nil returns were not required. Councillors and Officers were also informed that any declarable interest must be made orally and in writing on the sheet.

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

Councillors

1)            Councillors C Anderson, J A Hale, T J Hennegan and G D Walker declared a Personal Interest in Minute 93 “Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service – Presentation by Chief Fire Officer”;

2)            Councillors C Anderson, J C Bayliss, P M Black, J E Burtonshaw, R A Clay, U C Clay, A C S Colburn, D W Cole, A M Cook, S E Crouch, N J Davies, P Downing, C R Doyle, W Evans, E W Fitzgerald, F M Gordon, J A Hale, T J Hennegan, C A Holley, P R Hood-Williams, B Hopkins, D H Hopkins, L James, Y V Jardine, A J Jones, J W Jones, M H Jones, E J King, E T Kirchner, A S Lewis, D J Lewis, M B Lewis, R D Lewis, C E Lloyd, K E Marsh, P M Matthews, P N May, P M Meara, H M Morris, G Owens, D Phillips, C L Philpott, J A Raynor, T H Rees, I M Richard, C Richards, P B Smith, R V Smith, R J Stanton, R C Stewart, D G Sullivan, C Thomas, C M R W D Thomas, D W W Thomas, L G Thomas, M Thomas, L J Tyler-Lloyd, G D Walker, L V Walker and T M White declared a Personal Interest in Minute 97 “Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales (IRPW) Draft Annual Report 2017-2018 - Consultation”;

3)            Councillors C Anderson, J C Bayliss, P M Black, J E Burtonshaw, R A Clay, U C Clay, A C S Colburn, D W Cole, A M Cook, S E Crouch, N J Davies, P Downing, C R Doyle, W Evans, E W Fitzgerald, F M Gordon, J A Hale, T J Hennegan, C A Holley, P R Hood-Williams, B Hopkins, D H Hopkins, L James, Y V Jardine, A J Jones, J W Jones, M H Jones, E J King, E T Kirchner, A S Lewis, D J Lewis, M B Lewis, R D Lewis, C E Lloyd, K E Marsh, P M Matthews, P N May, P M Meara, H M Morris, G Owens, D Phillips, C L Philpott, J A Raynor, T H Rees, I M Richard, C Richards, P B Smith, R V Smith, R J Stanton, R C Stewart, D G Sullivan, C Thomas, C M R W D Thomas, D W W Thomas, L G Thomas, M Thomas, L J Tyler-Lloyd, G D Walker, L V Walker and T M White declared a Personal Interest in Minute 98 “Councillors’ Broadband and Telephone, ICT and Mobile Phone Allowances – May 2017 and Beyond”.

4)            Councillors J W Jones, M H Jones, R D Lewis, K E Marsh, P M Meara, J A Raynor and C Thomas declared a Personal Interest in Minute 101 “Councillors’ Questions”.

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

RESOLVED that the following Minutes be approved and signed as a correct record subject to Councillor L V Walton being added to the list of apologies for absence:

1)        Ordinary Meeting of Council held on 1 November 2016.

The Interim Head of Legal and Democratic Services submitted an information report setting out the written responses to questions asked at the last Ordinary Meeting of Council.

1)        Condolences

a)            Former Councillor David Raymond (Ray) Beech

The Presiding Member referred to the recent death of former Councillor Ray Beech.  He stated that former Councillor Beech had served the Gorseinon Central Electoral Ward of the former Lliw Valley Borough Council.

All present stood as a mark of sympathy and respect.

1)        Support for City Deal

The Leader of the Council referred to the support that the City Deal received from the Chancellor of the Exchequer during the November Budget announcement.  He stated that this complimented the support already given by the Welsh Government.  The City Deal was estimated to be worth £1.3 billion to the regional economy.

2)      Domestic Abuse – One Stop Shop

The Leader of the Council reminded Councillors that Swansea’s Domestic Abuse One Stop Shop had arranged an open day on Friday, 25 November 2016.  He stated that the shop was located on Singleton Street.  Further information regarding the shop can be found at http://swanseawomenscentre.co.uk/2015/blog/domestic-abuse-one-stop-shop

3)        United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) – Global Network of Learning Cities

The Leader of the Council stated that Councillor C E Lloyd had recently returned from China having attended UNESCO’s Global Network of Learning Cities.  He stated tht the City and County of Swansea had led on the Smart City initiative.

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 by members of the public.  The relevant Cabinet Member responded accordingly.  There were no questions requiring a written response.

No Public Presentations were received.

Chris Davies (Chief Fire Officer) gave a presentation on the work of the Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service.  A number of questions were asked of the Chief Fire Officer.

Councillor R C Stewart, Leader of the Council gave thanks for the presentation.

Steve Barry, Wales Audit Office, presented the report which detailing the City and County of Swansea’s Annual Improvement Report 2015-2016 from the Auditor General Wales.

The Finance and Strategy Cabinet Member thanked Steve Barry for attending and answering questions.

RESOLVED that:

1)           The Wales Audit Office Annual Improvement Report 2015-2016 be received and noted;

2)        The action already taken and planned to address the areas of improvement as part of the Council’s performance improvement process be noted.

The Next Generation Services Cabinet Member submitted a report which sought to establish a strategy for the provision of additional council housing.

RESOLVED that the draft strategy and action plan be endorsed for implementation.

The Finance and Strategy Cabinet Member presented a report which detailed the calculation of the Council Tax Base for the City and County of Swansea, its Community / Town Councils and the Swansea Bay Port Health Authority for 2017-2018.  The Council is required to determine the Council Tax Bases for 2017-2018 by 31 December 2016.

RESOLVED that:

1)         The calculation of the Council Tax Bases for 2017-2018 be approved;

2)        In accordance with the Local Authorities (Calculation of Tax Base) (Wales) Regulations 1995, as amended, the calculation by the City and County of Swansea Council for the Year 2017-2018 shall be:

The Head of Democratic Services submitted a report which informed Council of the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales (IRPW) Draft Annual Report 2017-2018 and outlined the determinations proposed by the IRPW.  The report also contained a draft response to the consultation.

RESOLVED that:

1)        The comments outlined in Appendix A of the report be adopted as the Authority’s response to the IRPW’s consultation in relation to their Draft Annual Report 2017-2018.

The Head of Democratic Services and Chief Transformation Officer submitted a report reviewed the “Councillors ICT - May 2012 and Beyond” policy thereby ensuring that Councillors are provided with an ICT provision suited to their needs and is compliant with the determinations of the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales (IRPW).

The Head of Democratic Services referred to paragraph 3.1 of the report and stated that the IRPW had confirmed that it was appropriate to provide a support payment to the Community / Town Council representative of the Standards Committee.

Following discussion a number of paragraphs within Appendix A of the report were amended.

RESOLVED that:

1)            The current arrangements for Councillors to purchase their own ICT equipment be continued;

2)            Access to Office 365 to enable cloud technology for more resilient, secure information sharing system, subject to successful pilot be noted;

3)            The Councillors’ ICT Allowance as outlined within the report be noted;

4)            The Councillors’ Broadband and Telephone Allowance as outlined within the report be noted;

5)            The Councillors’ Mobile Phone Allowance as outlined within the report be noted;

6)            The section relating to Councillors’ Self Service be noted;

7)            The proposed Co-opted Member ICT Allowance and the proposed Co-opted Member Broadband and Telephone Allowance be approved;

8)            Council’s decision to ensure that all Scrutiny agendas, reports etc. utilise the Modern.gov Software by May 2017 be noted;

9)            An amended report be forwarded to Cabinet with the Council’s recommendations.

Note: Councillor D Phillips asked the following question:

“The IRPW has indicated that Councillors required adequate support from the Authority to conduct their duties which included adequate telephone, e-mail facilities and electronic access.  In line with this principle the Authority should try to negotiate a position with HMRC whereby Members are taxed on an agreed level of personal use rather than on the whole allowance”.

The Head of Democratic Services stated that a written response would be provided following negotiations with HMRC.

The Transformation and Performance Cabinet Member submitted a report which sought approval of the nominations / amendment to the membership of Council Bodies.

RESOLVED that the membership of the Council Bodies listed below be amended as follows:

1)            Development Cabinet Advisory Committee

Remove Councillor J C Bayliss.

Add Councillor P M Matthews.

The Presiding Member, Interim Monitoring Officer and Head of Democratic Services jointly submitted a report which sought to make amendments in order to simplify, improve and / or add to the Council Constitution in relation to the following areas:

1)        Part 4 – Financial Procedure Rules;

Following discussion the change listed in the report was amended slightly so as to clarify that debts over £10,000 must be signed off by all three listed.

RESOLVED that Financial Procedure Rule 11.6 be deleted and replaced with the following:

“Debts which are not recoverable must be written off.  The Chief Financial Officer must approve all write off of debts up to £10,000. Debts above £10,000 must be written off with the approval of the Chief Financial Officer, the Head of Legal and Democratic Services and the Cabinet Member responsible for the relevant service”.

1)         Part A ‘Supplementary Questions’

Ten (10) Part A ‘Supplementary Questions’ were submitted.  The relevant Cabinet Member(s) responded by way of written answers contained in the Council Summons.

There were no supplementary question(s) required a written response.

2)        Part B ‘Questions not requiring Supplementary Questions’

One (1) Part B ‘Questions not requiring Supplementary Questions’ was submitted.

The Chair of the Scrutiny Programme Committee submitted an information report setting out the Scrutiny Dispatches - Quarterly Impact Report.