Agenda, decisions and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillors Sasha Williams and Dyfrig Siencyn (Council Leader).

To receive any declarations of personal interest.

Manon Williams (Arfon Parent / Governor Representative) declared a personal interest in item 7 because she has children who attend a primary school in Gwynedd and benefit from free school meals. ⁠

The member was not of the opinion that it was a prejudicial interest, and she did not leave the meeting during the discussion.

To note any items that are a matter of urgency in the view of the Chair for consideration.

None to note.

The Chair shall propose that the minutes of the previous meeting of this committee held on 25th January, 2024 be signed as a true record.

The Chair signed the minutes of the previous meeting of this committee held on 25 January 2024 as a true record.

Cabinet Member – Councillor Dyfrig Siencyn

To consider a report on the above.

To accept the report and to note the observations and accept that mitigation measures are in place to respond to risks.

The Assistant Head of Economy and Community Department and Ambition North Wales officers were welcomed to the meeting.

Submitted – the report of the Leader that presented the Quarter 3 report of the Growth Deal and the Portfolio's Risk Register and invited the committee to scrutinise the performance of Ambition North Wales in implementing the Growth Deal and to accept that mitigation measures were in place to respond to the risks.

After the Assistant Head of Economy and Community Department said a few words at the beginning, the Senior Operations Manager gave a short introduction setting the context and summarised the information submitted in the written report. She explained, as we were nearing the end of the financial year, that the report looked further than Quarter 3, by looking back on the progress of the last year, and was also looking ahead to the coming year. The Low Carbon Energy Programme Manager then gave an overview of the Energy Programme. ⁠

The Senior Operations Officer apologised that Alwen Williams, Ambition North Wales Portfolio Director could not be present at the meeting.

Members were then given an opportunity to ask questions and submit observations. 

An enquiry was made as to how many of the 4,200 additional jobs referred to in the presentation would come to Gwynedd. In response, it was explained that the 4,200 jobs were across all projects and programmes. The answer was not at hand, but the figures could be provided to members.

It was emphasised that the number of jobs for Gwynedd, and possibly Conwy and the Isle of Anglesey, were of interest to members of this committee. It was noted that the Peblig Ward, Caernarfon was amongst the poorest 10% in Wales and that the Bevan Foundation's latest report on Poverty in Arfon noted that more jobs that paid well were needed in the area to tackle poverty. It was asked whether there was real hope that any plans would come to the Parc Bryn Cegin site in Bangor, especially with the advent of the Free Port in Anglesey and establishing a new Economic Investment Zone in the east. It was noted that Anglesey could offer many more incentives to businesses than we could offer in Gwynedd, and it was asked how we could ensure investment in this part of Wales.

In response, it was noted that:-

·         The Ambition North Wales officers collaborated very closely with the Isle of Anglesey Council within the partnership, and that there was a working relationship between the Leaders of both county councils through the Ambition Board.  It was noted that the Ambition North Wales Team received updates from the Isle of Anglesey Council on the Free Port.

·         The Ambition North Wales have now committed to a Joint Venture Agreement with the Welsh Government to carry out the Parc Bryn Cegin project and the Welsh Government had appointed a consultation team to take the project through the planning permission stage. Work was ongoing on the high-level costs and on amending the plan for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Cabinet Member – Councillor Beca Brown

To consider a report on the above.

To accept the report and to note the observations and ask the Education Department to provide language medium data on provision in the secondary schools to the members of the committee.

The Cabinet Member for Education and officers from the Education Department were welcomed to the meeting.

Submitted – the report of the Cabinet Member for Education detailing the action plans in response to the recommendations of the Category 3 Secondary Schools Scrutiny Investigation report.

The Cabinet Member set out the context noting that:-

·         She wished to thank the members of the Investigation for their work on the report and for bringing the recommendations forward.

·         Meirion Prys Jones was commissioned to collaborate with the Department to revisit the Gwynedd Language Policy and national changes would also drive this field, such as the effort towards a million speakers, the new curriculum, the new categorisation arrangement, and whether that would become statutory or not, and also The Welsh Language Bill, which still needed to complete its journey through the Senedd.

·         She had complete faith in Meirion Prys Jones and his desire to convene a wide range of stakeholders to feed into the work, and wished to see the scrutinisers putting their ideas into the mix when the opportunity came.

·         Important work needed to be done surrounding bilingualism, bilingual learning and our expectations of that learning in Gwynedd. That would, in its turn, make our standpoint as a county, very clear to parents, and hopefully addressed what was noted in Recommendation 5.

·         There had been a lot of good collaboration with Gwynedd Language Initiative, Say Something in Welsh, Coleg Cymraeg and individuals such as Anni Llŷn and Tara Bandito to create community events and also in schools.

·         Progress in two specific fields had been difficult for the time being, namely the recommendations that dealt specifically with GwE, because the supporting schools landscape was being re-imagined, and the transitional schools, due to the challenging and unprecedented situation that had been, and continued, in one transitional school.

The Chair of the Investigation, Councillor Paul Rowlinson, thanked the Cabinet Member for her response to each of the Investigation's recommendation, noting some observations, as follows:-

Recommendation 1 - It was important that schools' language medium data was reconciled and checked when the Department was in a situation to do so as there was uncertainty at the moment whether it was collected on a regular basis between the different schools.

Recommendation 2 - It was very important to implement this recommendation when the new Education Language Policy was operational and they looked forward to seeing the outcome of Meirion Prys Jones' work on this. Everyone knew that Gwynedd was the foremost county in terms of Welsh-medium education, but because there was always a risk of being self-satisfied and of slipping back, it was important that this was implemented.

Recommendation 3 - They wished to thank the Department for writing to the WJEC and it was enquired whether any responses had been received to their letter.

Recommendation 4 - This was the key recommendation, and the Department was thanked for commissioning Meirion Prys Jones to collaborate with them.

Recommendation 5 - It was accepted that schools' arrangements must be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Cabinet Member – Councillor Beca Brown

To consider a report on the above.

To accept the report and note the observations.

Submitted - the progress report of the Cabinet Member for Education on the free school meals project as a result of extending the scheme across the primary sector.

The Cabinet Member set out the context and the members were then given the opportunity to ask questions and offer observations.⁠ 

It was noted that they wished to thank the Welsh Government for bringing this project to fruition, through an agreement with Plaid Cymru, and Cyngor Gwynedd was congratulated for distributing the scheme so quickly to every school in Gwynedd. The Service was also thanked for the work of adapting / upgrading the schools' kitchens, and especially to all kitchen staff and cooks for their hard work.

It was noted that there was no motivation for the parents of children eligible for free school meals to submit an application to the Authority because every child was now eligible for free school meals, and therefore the school or the county missed out financially. In response, it was noted that:-

·         The point was valid, but the application from parents was for general benefits, including school uniform grant, resources etc. instead of only being an application for school meals.

·         In terms of the way the Authority was funded, the schools received a sum of money per head for learners who were eligible for free school meals.

·         The review from last summer had highlighted that Gwynedd was the county with the lowest level of children eligible for these benefits.

·         A Team within the Department contacted families to ensure that everyone who was eligible to be registered for free school meals did so.

·         Some parents were not aware of free school meals, but more and more people had come to know about it by now.

It was noted that it was important to emphasise to parents that applying for free school meals opened the door to other advantages.

It was noted that it was encouraging to see from the report that some headteachers believed that pupils' behaviour, dedication and attainment had improved in the afternoons as a result of receiving school meals.

In terms of the challenge of recruiting staff to the Catering Service, it was enquired whether the plan to package jobs, for example, working in a school kitchen over lunchtime and providing care in the afternoon, had come to fruition. In response, it was noted that:-

·         Recruiting was complex as fields such as Education and Care tried to attract staff from the same pool of people.

·         The possibility of creating a purposeful plan to package jobs was very low in this difficult situation, but an element of that already happened as people chose to work in more than one job to increase their hours. However, it became more difficult to find people who were happy to travel from one work situation to another, and possibly without a car.

It was asked whether there was an intention to put political pressures on the Welsh Government to extend the free school meals project to the secondary sector.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.