Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence.

Councillors John Pughe Roberts and Gethin Glyn Williams.

To receive any declaration of personal interest.

Councillor Dewi Wyn Roberts declared a personal interest in item 5 on the agenda - 'Local Conditions of Service' as his wife had received the letter and that the changes affected her financially.

The member was of the opinion that it was not a prejudicial interest, and he did not withdraw from the meeting during the discussion on the item.

To note any items which are urgent business in the opinion of the Chairman so they may be considered.

The Chairman shall propose that the minutes of the meeting of this committee, held on 10 May 2018, be signed as a true record.

The Chair signed the minutes of the meeting of this committee held on 10 May, 2018, as a true record.

To submit the report of the Head of Corporate Support.

The Chair noted that the item was before the Committee in response to a request received by two Committee members, Councillors John Brynmor Hughes and Angela Russell, to discuss the letter sent to Council staff informing them of the Council Cabinet's decision on 13 March 2018 to adopt adaptations to Council conditions of employment.

The Head of Corporate Support Department submitted the report, and noted that a letter had been sent to staff on 26 March to inform them of the Cabinet's decision, in his name as the Head of Department with responsibility for implementing the decision. He explained that a follow-up letter had been sent on 3 April apologising to staff for the tone of the letter and the choice of words used. He noted that the apology was sincere and that it needed to be done. He emphasised that an important lesson had been learnt about the need to be respectful.

Councillor Angela Russell thanked the Head of Department for his honesty. She noted that she was concerned about the letter's impact on staff morale. She asked whether an error had been made as a result of the impact of cuts with insufficient staff to undertake the work and the pressures placed on them. In response, the Head of Corporate Support Department noted, as he reported in the Corporate Support Cabinet Member's performance challenge meeting, that he was not going to hide behind a lack of capacity and that he acknowledged, that an error had been made. He emphasised that it would not happen again and that steps were now in place to ensure this.

Councillor John Brynmor Hughes noted that he was present at the Corporate Support Cabinet Member's performance challenge meeting and that he had accepted the Head’s explanation and the fact that lessons had been learnt and the promise that such a situation would never arise again.

In response to a question from a member regarding who had seen the letter prior to it being sent to staff, the Head of Corporate Support Department noted that a solicitor specialising in the field of employment, who represented the Monitoring Officer, had looked at the letter to verify that it was factually correct. He explained that the tone of the letter was a matter for him as the Head of Department.

A member enquired whether or not the Chief Executive had seen the letter. In response, the Head of Corporate Support Department noted that the Chief Executive had not seen the letter as it was an operational matter.

In response to a question from a member regarding how many staff had responded to the letter, the Head of Corporate Support Department noted that 50% had responded to the letter. He explained that the letter of apology sent to staff noted that if staff did not respond to the letter, and that they were present at work when changes to conditions of employment would come into force on 1 July 2018, their presence would confirm that they accepted  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To submit the report of the Head of Corporate Support.

The Council's Business Support Manager set the context, and noted that the role of the Committee was to satisfy itself that arrangements and processes were underway to ensure that improvement proposals of external reports were implemented, and that the Committee should not duplicate an investigation into matters that were within the remit of other scrutiny committees.

He referred to Appendix 1 of the report which included a chronological list of the inspections undertaken by external auditors between 2012/13 and 2017/18 along with their improvement proposals, and the progress made by the Council against these proposals since the Committee discussed the matter at its meeting on 30 November 2017. He explained that it was the relevant Department's observations noted under the 'Progress against improvement proposals' heading, with the independent opinion of officers from the Council's Business Support Unit noted under the 'Conclusion' heading. He noted that it was a matter for the Committee to decide whether or not they agreed with the conclusion that the work of realising the recommendation had been 'completed' or continued to be 'on-going'.

During the discussion, the following main points were noted by members:

·         The 'Annual Performance Appraisal of the Care and Social Services Inspectorate for Wales (CSSIW) 2013/14' report had been submitted quite a long time ago. Who completed health assessments for looked-after children and was a shortage of doctors a reason for the reduction in the performance percentage of registering with a GP within 10 days?

·         Progress regarding improvement proposals in the report noted above was a matter that needed to be addressed;

·         The Care Scrutiny Committee should be asked to consider scrutinising matters highlighted by the 2013/14 and 2014/15 CSSIW reports, the 'Helping People to Live Independently: Do Councils Do Enough?' report, along with the 'National Review of care and assistance to people with learning disabilities (Joint-review carried out by CSSIW and the Health Care Inspectorate)', and work undertaken to respond to the improvement proposals;

·         The Communities Scrutiny Committee should be asked to consider scrutinising matters highlighted in the 'Delivering with Less - the impact on environmental health services and citizens' report, and work undertaken to respond to the improvement proposals;

·         Confirmation should be received in terms of which committee should consider the 'Asset management [Land and Buildings]' report;

·         In terms of the 'Community Safety in Wales' report, if the matter was in this Committee's terms of reference, the Committee should receive a report on the matter;

·         An explanation should be received of why three improvement proposals under the 'People Strategy' report had not been completed.

A member enquired whether or not there was a time-scale to complete the work of responding to improvement proposals. The Council's Business Support Manager noted that a time-scale to complete the work of responding to recommendations would be considered  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To submit the report of the Head of Finance.

The report was submitted by the Senior Finance Manager, she set the context and elaborated on the content of the report that had been submitted to Cabinet on 22 May 2018. She noted that the final financial position of the Council’s departments for 2017/18 confirmed that there was effective financial management by the relevant Cabinet Members, department heads and budget managers.

She drew attention to the Cabinet's decision:

"1.1 To consider and note the final financial position of the Council’s departments for   2017/18.

1.2 To approve the amounts to be carried forward (the “Revised Over/(Under) Spend” column of the summary in Appendix 1), namely -

1.3 To approve the following recommendations and virements (as explained in Appendix 2):

·         Transfer £457k, equivalent to the supporting delivery of social services grant over the winter period to a specific fund to support the flexibility and facilitate transformation in the field of Adults in future.

·         Harvest (£37k) of the underspend, namely the sum above (£100k) for Adults, Health and Well-being, to be used to assist the departments who overspend this year.

·         The Children and Families Department to receive one-off financial support of £676k to alleviate the majority of the 2017/18 overspend, allowing them to move forward to face the challenges of 2018/19.

·         Transfer £207k to eliminate the Education Department's overspend, whilst transport policies and arrangements are being reviewed.

·         Highways and Municipal Department to receive one-off partial financial support of £203k to limit the overspend to be carried forward by the Department to £100k, to assist them with facing the challenge of 2018/19.

·         Transfer £378k of the Environment Department's 2017/18 underspend to a specific fund, relating to buses and routes costs, to be used in 2018/19.

·         Harvest (£89k) of the Environment Department's underspend, namely the sum above (£100k), to be used to assist the departments that overspend this year.

·         Harvest (£894k) of the net underspend on Corporate budgets (on Council Tax Reduction, bids and budgets returned by departments and on other headings), and transfer to assist the overspending departments in 2017/18.

·         Transfer £66k from the Financial Strategy Support Fund, namely the balance required, to support the departments that overspend.

1.4   To approve the virements from the specific reserves as outlined in Appendix 3 following    a review of the reserves, namely:

·         Harvest (£2.915m).

·         Assign £2.749m to the Council Plan.

·         Assign £166k to waste issues."

The Cabinet Member for Finance noted that the financial position was generally very acceptable. He explained that relevant Cabinet Members had explained reasons for the overspend in the Children and Families Department and the Highways and Municipal Department at the Cabinet meeting on 22 May 2018. He  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To submit the report of the Head of Finance.

The report of the Head of Finance Department was submitted, providing details of the end of year review of the capital programme.

The Senior Finance Manager set the context and elaborated on the content of the report that had been submitted to Cabinet on 22 May 2018. It was noted that the Council had succeeded in spending over £23m in 2017/18 on capital programmes, and £11m had been funded through attracting specific grants. It was confirmed that £15.6m of the expense budget would slip from 2017/18, compared to a slippage of £9.9m at the end of 2016/17. No loss of grant funding was caused to the Council where schemes had slipped.

         A member enquired whether or not the Council had to immediately spend the grant receipts that had been received in the last quarter of 2017/18 to restore roads and transport. In response, the Head of Finance Department noted that councils were allowed to carry funding forward and that most of the funding would be spent in 2018/19.

         In response to a question from a member, the Head of Finance Department noted that there was evidence that more funding was received at the end of the financial year; if Welsh Government had not spent all of the funding earmarked for specific projects, they would transfer the money to local councils.

         The Cabinet Member for Finance thanked him for the work and he congratulated Council departments on their success in attracting grants for the benefit of Gwynedd residents.

RESOLVED to note the situation and the relevant risks in the context of the Council’s capital programme.

To submit the report of the Head of Finance.

The report of the Head of Finance Department was submitted which reported on the latest situation on realising the saving schemes.

         The Senior Finance Manager set the context and elaborated on the content of the report that had been submitted to Cabinet on 22 May 2018. She noted that 108 of 122 of the 2017/2018 savings schemes had been fully or partly realised. In financial terms, she confirmed that 81% of the savings had been realised.

         On 13 February 2018, she noted that the Cabinet had decided to combine several individual schemes from the Adults, Health and Well-being Department to work streams that were realising savings from the same budgets. It was anticipated that this would enable the Department during 2018/19 to make substantial progress towards realising the savings that had slipped.

         She reported that the prospects of realising 2018/19 savings schemes were generally promising.

RESOLVED to note the situation and the relevant risks in the context of the savings overview.

To submit, for information, the statutory financial declarations (subject to audit) for 2017/18.

The Senior Finance Manager set out the background and context of the report. Attention was drawn to the fact that unaudited draft accounts were being submitted here for information, with the final version to be submitted for the Committee's approval at the meeting on 27 September 2018. She reported that a link to the statement had been sent to all Council members on 20 June and that the statement was subject to an audit from the Deloitte company, the Council's external auditors which had been appointed by the Wales Audit Office since 18 June.

The Senior Finance Manager expanded upon the content of the Statement of Accounts.

The Cabinet Member for Finance referred to the Transformation / Invest to Save Fund and noted that it had been a strategic fund to deliver in accordance with the Council Plan and approximately £5m had already been earmarked. She explained that the purpose of the Financial Strategy Support Fund was to bridge expenditure before some of the savings schemes were delivered.

In response to a question by a member regarding the Transformation / Invest to Save Fund, the Head of Finance Department explained that the funding was for Council priorities which had been noted in the Council Plan. He elaborated that £50,000 had been allocated for the 2018-19 financial year in order to realise the 'Increasing the Benefits of Major Events' scheme. He explained that Council Departments would come before the Cabinet with more detail on ideas to deliver the plan's priorities.

The Head of Finance Department noted that the Senior Finance Manager and the team of accountants had undertaken most of the work on the Statement of Accounts, and that he had verified the Statement. He reported that a Pension Fund's Statement of Accounts for 2017/18 prior to an audit would be submitted to the Committee at its meeting on 19 July 2018.

The Cabinet Member for Finance thanked the Finance Department officers for their accurate and detailed work, and noted that the Wales Audit Office praised the Council's accounts and that he hoped that they would do the same this year. He took the opportunity to thank Council officers for their response to difficult financial requirements.

The Chair reiterated the above observations and expressed his gratitude for the work.

RESOLVED to accept and note the 2017/18 Statement of the Council’s Accounts (subject to an audit).

To submit the report of the Senior Manager Revenues and Risk.

The Senior Revenue and Risk Manager set out the background and context of the report.

It was noted that the Governance Arrangements Assessment Group had considered the Core Principles and Sub-principles in the CIPFA / SOLACE Framework, Delivering Good Governance in Local Government 2016, and had created a Governance Risk Register. Attention was drawn to the fact that the Governance Risk Register identified risks in 22 different governance fields, and noted the controls in order to mitigate the risks. It was noted that action plans for the areas of high or medium priority had been noted in the statement.

A member gave thanks for the work. She referred to the impact assessment under the heading 'Lawfulness'; although she recognised that the document was on a high strategic levels, she noted that she was of the view that the assessment was fairly restrictive and focused on the role of the Monitoring Officer and formal decisions. She noted that a number of matters were being raised at Committee meetings regarding compliance with acts across the Council, for example, in the fields of Health and Safety and Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults.

In response to the above observations, the Senior Revenue and Risk Manager noted that an attempt was made to avoid duplicating information under various headings. He explained that matters in the fields of Health and Safety and Safeguarding Children and Vulnerable Adults were being addressed under the 'Risk Management' heading. He emphasised that a Governance Statement was before the Committee and that performance matters were being included in the Council’s Annual Performance Report.

The Senior Revenue and Risk Manager referred to the 'Internal Control' heading, and noted that the boundary regarding the role of members in terms of scrutiny and audit was unclear and that the development of a training programme was needed so that members could receive guidance. He noted that a report on the matter would be submitted to the Committee on 19 July.

RESOLVED:

(i)     to approve the Annual Governance Statement for 2017/18;

(ii)    to recommend that the Council Leader and the Chief Executive sign the statement.

To submit the report of the Senior Finance Manager.

The Senior Finance Manager submitted the report regarding the final accounts of Gwynedd Harbours for the year 2017/18 in line with the statutory requirements under the Harbours Act 1964. It was noted that the accounts included Aberdyfi, Barmouth, Porthmadog and Pwllheli harbours. 

It was noted that Gwynedd Harbours, due to its turnover not exceeding £2.5m, was considered to be a small local government body as defined in the Accounts and Audit (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2018. It was explained that completion of a statements of accounts form provided by the Wales Audit Office satisfied the statutory requirements and that production of full statutory financial statements were not required.

It was reported that the accounts and the form would soon be the subject of an audit by Deloitte, Gwynedd Council's external auditors which had been appointed by the Auditor General for Wales, and an amended version would be submitted to a meeting of the Committee on 27 September 2018 should there be any changes.

RESOLVED:

(i)     accept and approve the information in the appendices, namely -

·         Income and Revenue Expenditure Account 2017/18 - Appendix A; and

·         Statements of Accounts form for 2017/18, for audit - Appendix B.

(ii)    authorise the Chair to sign the statements of accounts form 2017/18.