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Bank holiday information - Easter

Bank holiday information for our services, including opening times and emergency contacts. All recycling collections will take place on the usual days.

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 3 - Civic Centre, Swansea. View directions

Contact: Scrutiny 636292 

Items
No. Item

1.

Disclosure of Personal and Prejudicial Interests.

Minutes:

None

2.

Public Questions

Minutes:

None

3.

Welsh Language Standards Annual Report 2017/18 pdf icon PDF 115 KB

·         Clive Lloyd – Cabinet Member for BusinessTransformation and Performance

·         Julie Nicholas-Humphreys - Customer Services and Complaints Manager

Additional documents:

Minutes:

·         The Welsh Language Standards Annual Report 17/18 has already been to Cabinet

·         The standards were introduced for the public sector to comply with

·         There are variations between how Councils adhere to the rules

·         Swansea Council work within cost parameters to implement the standards the best they can

·         It should be day to day business for all services

·         Staff are far more aware of promoting the Welsh language now

·         There is a page on the intranet where staff can get common phrases and words

·         There will be a relaunch of the standards and the Welsh Translation Unit

·         Want to improve links with the Welsh Language Commissioner

·         Perhaps the word interpretation should be used rather than translation

·         The translation unit in Swansea has 12 people employed there which is a joint project with Neath Port Talbot Council as a 60/40 split

·         Around £42,000 of translation work is sent externally at the moment due to capacity issues but this is being reviewed

·         Welsh and English options should be completely equitable

·         Potential to commercialise the work of the Welsh Translation Unit going forward

·         There could also be wider opportunities with regional working

·         There will be a review of the Welsh Language Champion role

·         Need to ensure there are basic language skills e.g. phone greetings be bilingual to meet standards obligations

4.

Charges pdf icon PDF 289 KB

·         Chris Williams – Head of Commercial Services

Additional documents:

Minutes:

·         This is a repeat exercise – an item on charges came to the Panel last year

·         This item covers the whole of the Councils fees and charges

·         This item can be used as the start of the review process and enables the Panel to focus on any specific areas they want to

·         It is an aggregate set of data harmonised for review – each service area populates their own data

·         It is difficult to compare charges between local authorities as it is packaged differently between local authorities

·         Swansea Council seeks to be fair and transparent with charges

·         Charging is considered as part of the budget process

·         Swansea Council tries to ensure increases are not excessive in comparison to other Councils

·         There are areas where Swansea don’t charge and other Councils do such as garden waste

·         A question was raised over the charging policy for boats at Southend Pier – department will respond

·         There is a fair, reasonable and measured approach to charging

·         Potential new powers for Wales called ‘General Power of Competence’ will allow Councils to act in a more commercial way to generate income

·         Rather than the whole report – the charges item going forward can be limited to those which rise above inflation for any reason or any which are new or being changed substantially

 

5.

Exclusion of Public pdf icon PDF 111 KB

6.

Charges

Chris Williams – Head of Commercial Services

Minutes:

·         Discussed exempt items