Venue: Siambr Hywel Dda - Council Offices, Caernarfon. View directions
Contact: Sophie Hughes 01286 679729
No. | Item |
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APOLOGIES Additional documents: Minutes: Cabinet Members and Officers were welcomed to the meeting. An apology was received from Dafydd Edwards (Head of Finance Department). |
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DECLARATION OF PERSONAL INTEREST Additional documents: Minutes: There were no declarations of
personal interest. |
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URGENT ITEMS Additional documents: Minutes: There were no urgent items. |
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MATTERS ARISING FROM OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY Additional documents: Minutes: There were no matters arising
from overview and scrutiny. |
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MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 4TH OCTOBER 2016 PDF 163 KB Additional documents: Minutes: The Chairman signed the
minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 14 October 2016, as a true record. |
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CLOSURE OF OFFICES AT FRONDEG, PWLLHELI AND BEACH ROAD, FELINHELI PDF 208 KB Cyflwynwyd gan: Cyng/Cllr. Dafydd Meurig Additional documents: Decision: Proceed
with the closure of Frondeg, Pwllheli early in the 2017/18 financial year and
to sell it on the open market as soon as possible in order to enable the
financial savings to be achieved in full by 2018/19, with the Department
bridging the deficit in the meantime. Allow
the use of up to £30,000 of the capital receipts from the sale of the building
to fund one-off re-location costs. Reduce
the space leased by the Council at Beach Road, Felinheli in order to reduce the
annual expenditure. Achieve
the remainder of the cut by leasing further space at Penrallt Offices,
Caernarfon. Minutes: The item was submitted
by Cllr Dafydd Meurig. RESOLVED Proceed with the
closure of Frondeg, Pwllheli
early in the 2017/18 financial year and sell it on the open market as soon as
possible in order to enable the financial savings to be achieved in full by
2018/19, with the Department bridging the deficit in the meantime. Allow the use of up
to £30,000 of the capital receipts from the sale of the building to fund
one-off re-location costs. Reduce the space
leased by the Council at Beach Road, Felinheli in
order to reduce the annual expenditure. Achieve the remainder
of the cut by leasing further space at Penrallt
Offices, Caernarfon. DISCUSSION Referring to the intention to move some of the larger Council committees from Frondeg to Neuadd Dwyfor, the issue
of parking arose, as the Penlan car park is very full, especially
during the summer. In response, it was noted that some
flexibility might be necessary when scheduling meetings, advising people to arrive in good
time. It was also noted
that the response of the
Dwyfor area Members to the plans had been positive and that
the only observation received so far was in regard to the parking. It was suggested that a shortage of parking spaces would encourage members to share cars and thus reduce
their carbon footprint. In response to a question
regarding the sale of Frondeg, it was confirmed that arrangements were in place to inform
other Council departments about this opportunity before placing the building on the open market. The proposal to relocate the Cylch Meithrin to the primary school was welcomed as this would improve the provision. It was also noted that moving Council committees to Neuadd Dwyfor would strengthen the use of this resource in future. Awdur: Dafydd Gibbard |
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REQUEST FOR RESOURCES FROM THE TRANSFORMATION FUND PDF 126 KB Cyflwynwyd gan: Cyng/Cllr. Mair Rowlands Additional documents: Decision: To
invest £50,000 on a one-off basis from
the Transformation Fund to develop an outline
business case to assess potential business options for the Leisure service. Minutes: The item was submitted
by Councillor Mair
Rowlands. RESOLVED To invest £50,000 on a one-off basis from
the Transformation Fund to develop an outline
business case to assess potential business options for the Leisure service. DISCUSSION In response to an enquiry as to what would next take place, it was explained that a business case would be created between now and the end of March and that a further report would be subsequently submitted allowing opportunity to consider any further necessary investment in relation to that business case. Awdur: Ian Jones |
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HUMAN RESOURCES ANNUAL REPORT PDF 657 KB Cyflwynwyd gan: Cyng/Cllr. Peredur Jenkins Additional documents: Decision: To approve the annual
report and adopt the People Plan. Minutes: The report was submitted by Cllr Peredur Jenkins. RESOLVED To approve
the annual report and adopt the People Plan. DISCUSSION Emphasis was placed on the fact that the People Plan did not belong to
the Resources Service but to the Council as a whole. The work that's under way in the department to promote well being and
development among staff was welcomed. An enquiry was made as to whether there was parity in the wages of men
and women and whether this was monitored and conveyed in a sensible way. Responding to this, it was explained that
this year, for the second time since adopting the pay agreement and the
introduction of the collective agreement in 2008, a request had been made to have
an independent consultant conduct an assessment of the Council's progress on
this. When the first assessment was
conducted three years ago, it was very positive; but it was acknowledged that
the situation was unavoidable and that efforts should be made within the
Council to close the gap. It was hoped
that the Council's actions over the past few years had closed the gap further
and that this would be reflected in the consultant's next report. It was further noted that this update could
be submitted to the Cabinet later on in the year. It was noted that it would be useful, when submitting future annual
reports, to see how many women worked at different levels within the Council,
what the barriers were and what the Council could do to help women overcome
those barriers. In response, the Chief
Executive referred to the figure in the report for the Corporate Leadership
Team'r remit which showed that 61% were women and 39% were men, reflecting the
opportunities. The Chief Executive noted that equal pay was a contentious issue, which
could sometimes be misinterpreted. He
emphasised that the Council's pay system awarded the exact same wage for the
same work through the use of an objective system of measuring the nature of any
post within the Council. Having said
that, a higher percentage of women who worked for the Council worked part time
and, as such, the average income received by women would be so much lower. This differed from the question of paying an
equal wage for the same work. It was
also noted that the Council had equal pay protection and that no application
had been received since before 2008 and that the protection set up in 2008 was
very robust. Surprise was expressed as to the substantial increase in the number of
posts that had been re advertised. In
response, it was noted that the aim of the annual report was to highlight such
matters in a comprehensible way and that it was important to obtain the data on
a regular basis in order to see the trends. It was suggested that it would be beneficial to know how much sickness leave was short term and how many illnesses lasted for more than four days. It ... view the full minutes text for item 8. Awdur: Geraint Owen |
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PERFORMANCE REPORT: CABINET MEMBER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT PDF 220 KB Cyflwynwyd gan: Cyng/Cllr. John Wynn Jones Additional documents:
Decision: To
accept and note the information in the report. Minutes: The report was submitted
by Cllr John Wynn Jones. RESOLVED To accept and note the information in the report. DISCUSSION Referring to the new arrangement of charging a fee for disposing
garden waste, it was suggested that people should be made aware of the fact that they
had other options, such as composting.
It was noted that there was room to take pride in the further increase in the percentage of recycled waste from 58.70% in 2015/16 to 62.75% by the end of July this year; and the Cabinet Member was asked to send a message to residents to thank them for their efforts. Awdur: Dilwyn Williams |
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PERFORMANCE REPORT: CABINET MEMBER FOR PLANNING AND REGULATORY PDF 197 KB Cyflwynwyd gan: Cyng/Cllr. Dafydd Meurig Additional documents:
Decision: To
accept and note the information in the report. Minutes: The report was submitted
by Cllr Dafydd Meurig. RESOLVED To accept and note the information in the report. Awdur: Dilwyn Williams |
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PERFORMANCE REPORT: DEPUTY LEADER PDF 320 KB Cyflwynwyd gan: Cyng/Cllr. Dyfrig Siencyn Additional documents: Decision: To
accept and note the information in the report. Minutes: The item was submitted
by Cllr Dyfrig Siencyn. RESOLVED To accept and note the information in the report. DISCUSSION Cllr Dyfrig Siencyn noted that, further to including the written report, he had met with Alun Davies, AM, and his officers and that
he looked forward to developing the relationship with the Minister in future. He also reported that he
had prepared a response to
the Government's draft strategy 'A Million Welsh Speakers by 2050' and that this
response had received the approval of the Language Committee and had been sent to the Minister. Cllr Mair Rowlands noted that she welcomed
the opening of the new Language Centre in Bangor and thanked the Council for all its support in
achieving this goal. A question was posed as to how
the impact of the language activities would be measured. In response, it
was noted that the aim was to increase people's confidence in using the Welsh language but that
measuring success or otherwise was no easy matter. At present, the Council was measuring the number of people who had attended various events. However, this was not a good measure as
it did not show whether this had led to an increase in
usage. Discussions were held with
language planners, but there would
be no easy answer to the question. It was important, nevertheless, that the Council continue to seek an answer and
do everything in its power to try to boost people's confidence in using
the Welsh language.
It was also suggested that, if it was difficult
to measure the impact, focus should rather be placed on depicting what
was meant by success. It was noted that the Language Charter had been extended throughout north Wales by now and that
the Government was looking forward to extending it across the whole
of Wales. Council
staff and schools were thanked for
their work on this innovative
plan and pride was taken in the fact
that the children of the county had been buoyed to prepare their own action plans for the Charter. The lack of consistency in the bilingual provision by train services
was referred to and a suggestion was made to send letters or
request a meeting with Welsh Government to pressure them to ensure that publications
on the trains and in stations
were bilingual and that the pronunciation
of Welsh place names was correct. Cllr Dyfrig Siencyn noted that he would like to congratulate Cllrs Elin Walker Jones and Mair Rowlands on their hard work in establishing Menter Iaith Bangor and wished them well for the new language centre. Awdur: Dilwyn Williams |
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PERFORMANCE REPORT: CABINET MEMBER FOR ECONOMY AND COMMUNITIES PDF 147 KB Cyflwynwyd gan: Cyng/Cllr. Mandy Williams-Davies Additional documents:
Decision: To
accept and note the information in the report. Minutes: The report was submitted by Cllr
Mandy Williams-Davies. RESOLVED To accept and note the information
in the report. DISCUSSION Pride
was taken in the fact that North Wales had been placed fourth on the Lonely
Planet's list of regions to visit and that there would doubtless be economic
benefits to the area as a result of this. It was also noted that Zipworld
was among the companies from Gwynedd in receipt of the Twf Wales 50 award
this year. It was noted that the Porthmadog Innovation Hub, which offers
new collaborative space for small
businesses at the Old Library for a reasonable
fee, was an innovative and highly valuable scheme. At the end of the meeting, the Chair noted that Sophie Hughes, who had been supporting the Cabinet for some time, had been appointed to a new post with the Language Commissioner. She was thanked for all her work and was wished well for the future. Awdur: Iwan Trefor Jones |