Venue: GwE Offices, Bryn Eirias, Abergele Road, Colwyn Bay, LL29 8BF
Contact: Annes Sion 01286 679490
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ELECT VICE-CHAIR Minutes: Coun. Meirion Jones (Anglesey County Council) was elected as
Vice-chair for 2019/20. |
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APOLOGIES To receive any apologies for absence. Minutes: Apologies were
received from Coun. Julie Fallon (Conwy County Borough Council), Coun. Huw
Hilditch-Roberts (Denbighshire County Council), Coun. Ian Roberts (Flintshire
Council), Dr Lowri Brown (Conwy County Borough Council), Claire Homard
(Flintshire County Council), Ian Roberts (Wrexham County Borough Council), Dr
Gwynne Jones (Anglesey Council), and Gareth Williams (Chair of GwE Advisory
Board). |
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DECLARATION OF PERSONAL INTEREST To receive any declaration of personal interest. Minutes: No declaration of personal
interest was received by any member present.
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URGENT ITEMS To note any items that are a matter of urgency in the view of the Chairman for consideration. Minutes: There were no urgent matters. |
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MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING 8 JULY PDF 85 KB (copy enclosed) Minutes: The Chair signed the minutes of
this committee held on 8 July as being correct.
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THE JOINT COMMITTEE'S FINAL ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2019 AND RELEVANT AUDIT PDF 105 KB Dafydd L
Edwards to submit
– ·
The Statement of Accounts post-Audit; ·
The
Wales Audit Office’s report; ·
Letter of Representation. (Deloitte
video link) Additional documents:
Minutes: DECISION The documents
presented were accepted, noted and approved, i.e.: ¾
‘ISA260’ report by the Auditor General for
Wales, and ¾
the Statement of GwE Accounts for 2018/19
(subject to audit). A recommendation was
made for GwE's Management Board meeting to include an agenda item to agree
specifically on the distribution of the Education Improvement Grant, on an
annual basis. DISCUSSION The report was
presented, noting that it encompasses the accounts presented to the Joint
Committee in July. It was noted that the accounts have remained relatively
unchanged since that meeting. An error was noted in the English version of the
report to the Joint Committee. It was explained that the financial figures in
the Statement of GwE Accounts remain unchanged, however that the language has
been changed slightly. The Senior Manager
from Deloitte Auditors noted that the accounts were of a high standard, and
that no major changes needed to be made. Council staff were thanked for their
work. The recommendations made by Deloitte were highlighted, namely for GwE's
Management Board to include an agenda item to agree specifically on the
distribution of the Education Improvement Grant, on an annual basis. Deloitte were
thanked for their work. |
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EFFICIENCY SAVINGS TARGET PDF 74 KB Arwyn
Thomas to request
approval from the Joint Committee to confirm the efficiency savings target implementation plan. Minutes: DECISION Changes to the permanent staffing structure were confirmed,
meaning that savings can be made to meet the target of £206,485. DISCUSSION The report was presented, noting that savings from previous years are
to be found, as well as the savings target established when setting the budget
for 2019/20. It was noted that GwE has found the efficiency savings by changing
the permanent staffing structure. One of
GwE's Assistant Directors was said to have been appointed to a new role in a
local authority, and had left his post at the end of August 2019. GwE's
Managing Director said that he was eager not to appoint a replacement Assistant
Director, and for the work to be distributed between the remainder of GwE's
senior management. It was noted that a meeting of North Wales’ Chief Executives was due to
be held in November, which will give an indication of the local authorities'
financial contributions and GwE's budget for 2020/21. Comments arising from the
discussion: GwE was thanked for looking at the historical savings target
and for ensuring that it is settled before facing GwE's financial challenge by
2020/21. The wide-ranging possibilities as regards local authorities' 2020/21
settlement were noted. GwE's situation
in 2020/21 will hopefully become clearer by Christmas |
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GwE BUDGET 2019-20 - QUARTER 1 REVIEW PDF 119 KB Arwyn
Thomas and Dafydd L Edwards to update Joint Committee members on the
latest financial review of GwE's budget for the
2019/20 financial year. Additional documents: Minutes: DECISION The report was accepted. DISCUSSION The report was presented, noting that the budget reflected the situation prior to amendments following the previous report which met the savings target. Following those amendments, it was confirmed that expenditure will give a balanced
reflection of the budget
and reflects a satisfactory
financial situation in 2019/20. |
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2019-20 BUSINESS PLAN - QUARTER 1 MONITORING PDF 83 KB Arwyn
Thomas to present the Level 1 Business Plan – Monitoring Quarter 1
Report to the Joint Committee Additional documents: Minutes: DECISION The monitoring report for quarter 1 was accepted. DISCUSSION The monitoring report for quarter 1 was presented. It was noted that the Business Plan had already been approved
by the Joint-Committee. It was noted
that the Plan sets out the priorities across the region. GwE's expenditure was said to be on track. |
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DISCUSSION PAPER - REPORTING ON PERFORMANCE FROM SEPTEMBER 2019 ONWARDS PDF 99 KB Arwyn
Thomas to report on performance from September 2019 onwards. Additional documents: Minutes: DECISION The principles noted
in the report were accepted, as was the need to produce a set of questions for Welsh Government, WLGA and Estyn seeking
clarity on how best to use
performance data and information
to improve learner and school performance. DISCUSSION The report was presented,
noting that past performance reports tended to look at key stage performance,
however that it is now on new
territory. Reference was made to a joint publication by Welsh Government,
WLGA and Estyn noting the expectation
for local authorities and regional
consortia to support schools
to make appropriate decisions about their curriculum to avoid restricting learner choices. It was also said that
the publication noted that evaluating individual school performance, rather than producing
aggregated data at a local authority level, is more useful than supporting and challenging individual schools with their
improvements. The implications
of this were sought. New interim measures were said
to be in place for Key Stage
4 this year. Although 2019 data is currently available regarding historical performance measures, calculating first entry rather than the best result renders
any comparison with previous years
invalid. It
was therefore noted that it is not possible to look back and see
trends, which poses thequestion as to what should be presented to scrutiny committees. It was explained that every authority
needs to have data, however that this
raises many questions. Comments arising
from the discussion: ¾
The need to discuss this further
was noted - would Welsh Government consider running workshops in order to secure
national understanding and consistency. ¾
In terms
of scrutiny, would it be an idea to hold
a regional meeting with Scrutiny chairs,
local authority heads of education and GwE to ensure regional understanding and consistency. It
was explained that some scrutiny meetings
within the authorities are scheduled to meet soon - perhaps
there may be a need to withhold in terms of reporting
back on performance.
¾
The need was noted to produce a set of questions for Welsh Government, WLGA and Estyn seeking
clarity on how best to use
performance data and information
to improve learner and school performance, prior to WLGA's conference next week so
that answers can be given at the conference. |