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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 5, Guildhall, Swansea. View directions

Contact: Scrutiny 637732 

Items
No. Item

1.

Disclosures of Personal and Prejudicial Interests.

Minutes:

·         None

2.

Prohibition of Whipped Votes and Declaration of Party Whips

Minutes:

·         None

3.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 325 KB

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

Additional documents:

Minutes:

·         Approved

4.

Public Questions

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

 

Minutes:

·         None

5.

Archives pdf icon PDF 299 KB

An opportunity for the Panel to discuss the Archive Service

 

  • Tracey McNulty – Head of Cultural Services
  • Kim Collis - County Archivist, West Glamorgan Archive Service
  • Cllr Robert Francis-Davies – Cabinet Member for Investment, Regeneration and Tourism

 

Minutes:

·         Archives is one of the few services which survived after the breakup of West Glamorgan

·         Based in Civic Centre Swansea but with a branch in Neath

·         There is a joint archives committee which is advisory and the focus is on the service itself which is very beneficial

·         Sits within Cultural Services within the Council

·         Meet with Neath Port Talbot (NPT) colleagues quarterly

·         The relationship between Swansea and NPT works very well

·         Records management is managed by legal services

·         Welsh Government has requirements on accreditation standards for archives

·         Archives hold magistrate court records on behalf of central government

·         Archives are records of institutions and individuals – they can be administratively important or culturally important

·         Archives are a hybrid service combining legal and cultural importance

·         Often used by the public for boundary disputes

·         Archives are a record of facts so are very useful in a world of conflicting perceptions of reality

·         Half of the records in archives have been donated

·         2.5 miles of shelving in the Civic Basement

·         Some high value items and one collection recognised by UNESCO

·         95% full and not in a position to accept a major collection

·         Ongoing practical working relationship with the University

·         Can’t digitise records and get rid of the original documents – part of people’s heritage

·         Local authority are custodians of collections on behalf of all society

·         Storage environment essential – must be temperature and humidity controlled, with protection against flood and fire. All of these are major risks

·         University have the same storage requirements and standards as us

·         15th busiest archive in the UK – all over the UK attendance figures are declining and hence we have kept our position in the UK league table as ours have declined at the same rate. 

·         people access online services in line with the expansion of online information

·         The service is very customer focused with very high satisfaction responses

·         Team also do outreach in schools, social media information, special events and portable exhibitions

·         These are very successful and inspiring

·         Team also produces publications, latest is on the post war re-building of Swansea)

·         Send data to CIPFA but Council is no longer a member of CIPFA due to budget restrictions

·         If only taking small items, there is about 5 years left of storage in Civic basement

·         Civic Centre is under review and Corporate Property along with Cultural Services are looking at future options for archives

·         Open to relocation to create a more sustainable service but must have proper storage – paramount for future generations and in line with the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act 2015

·         There needs to be a proper timescale and plan to create a more sustainable and public facing archive service

·         Does not necessarily have to be City Centre – just be correct storage conditions

·         Purpose built may be the only option due to the building specifications required

·         There is currently no specific project or dedicated timeline to address the issue of archives – budget restrictions

·         There needs to be proper plan in the event that the Council move from Civic

·         Suggestions a project board is in place to start to explore and apply for external funding now

·         The archive service and support needs to be in the same building as the documents themselves

·         No realistic scope to fully control the family history resources online due to the cost and infrastructure needed to load all of the information online initially

 

6.

Charges pdf icon PDF 530 KB

An update on Council charges

 

·         Chris Williams – Head of Commercial Services

·         Cllr Clive Lloyd – Cabinet Member for Business Transformation and Performance

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

  • Increases of charges are kept as reasonable as possible
  • Always looking for potential ways to produce additional income
  • Social services has a separate policy and separate legislation which governs its charges
  • Each department is responsible for its own fees and charges
  • There is lots of legislation which needs to be considered when a council sets its charges
  • Discussed boat charges and will send last year’s response to the Panel
  • Marina berthing fees discussed – who is this cost benchmarked with? Have these fees changed payment structure as no information is available for 15/16, 16/17 and 17/18. - Request info in letter
  • Swansea still offer free garden waste collection where other Councils do not
  • Council tax does not extend to pay for everything
  • Internal charging –open dialogue between departments is promoted to resolve issues if any arise
  • Moving toward digitalising payment services to reduce transaction costs

 

7.

Exclusion of the Public pdf icon PDF 235 KB

8.

Charges

An update on Council charges

 

·         Chris Williams – Head of Commercial Services

·         Cllr Clive Lloyd – Cabinet Member for Business Transformation and Performance

Minutes:

·         Exempt items discussed

9.

Work Plan 2019/20 pdf icon PDF 273 KB

Minutes:

·         Potential Commissioning Review scoping reports to go to panel

·         Potential for another completed Commissioning Review update in a future meeting

 

Letter to Cabinet Member pdf icon PDF 332 KB

Letter to Cabinet Member - Investment, Regeneration and Tourism pdf icon PDF 320 KB

Additional documents:

Cabinet Member Response - Business Transformation and Performance pdf icon PDF 480 KB

Cabinet Member Response - Investment, Regeneration and Tourism pdf icon PDF 312 KB