Agenda item

To consider the issues presented for 2025/26 and offer any comments and recommendations along with any additional matters that should be included.

DECISION:

To accept a draft report of the 2025/26 CYNGOR GWYNEDD SELF-ASSESSMENT

Observations:

·        That the content of the self-assessment is good, but there is room for improvement.

·        A need to insert a reference to legal challenges to which the Council is exposed.

·        Education Transport Policy 'being developed': a risk that the delay will have an impact on pupil attendance along with the practical shortcomings of school bus route problems.

·        The reference to the Visitor Levy highlights that the decision has been made despite the consultation period not having ended.

·        Those statements that are outdated need to be verified, e.g. the Language Policy has been approved and is not 'out for consultation'.

·        It needs to be highlighted that funding for the Pupil Immersion Units is challenging – lobbying is needed to ensure that the Units are fully funded by the Government.

·        Infrastructure in the rural areas of Dwyfor and Meirionnydd - note the challenge of trying to attract funding to improve the infrastructure.

·        Introducing a council tax premium – note the challenge of coping with the extra work of collecting and implementing the premium.

·        Improving Council Tax collection arrangements – note the challenge to improve performance compared to other Councils.

·        A need to evaluate educational achievements in literacy and numeracy. What is the challenge that has been set to achieve this?

·        Apprenticeship Scheme - assurance was needed that the scheme contributes to future workforce plans.

Cllr Nia Jeffreys (Leader of the Council), and Dewi Jones (Council Business Support Service Manager) were welcomed to the meeting.

A draft was presented of the main matters to be addressed within Cyngor Gwynedd's Self-Assessment 2025/26 for the Committee's consideration and asking them to offer any comments and recommendations along with any additional matters that should be included in the report. It was reported that the Self-Assessment was a statutory requirement under the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021 which also stated that the Committee needed to be involved in the self-assessment process.

Attention was drawn to the fact that the Council already collected a lot of evidence and published documents containing the type of information expected to be included within the self-assessment – documents such as (but not limited to) annual reports on Performance, Equality, Director of Social Services and Annual Statement of Accounts. It was also noted that there was a close link between the Self-Assessment and the Annual Governance Statement and as a result an attempt had been made to keep the self-assessment relatively concise to try to avoid duplication of work/information.

It was reported that, in March 2026, the Council received a Performance Assessment from a Panel made up of independent members. It was highlighted that a Panel Assessment needed to be carried out at least once within an electoral cycle and that it related to the duty to carry out annual self-assessments of performance with those documents forming the evidence base of the assessment. It was noted that the Council was working through the response received from the Panel and that the intention was to submit an action plan in response to those recommendations to the Committee in September/October.

It was highlighted that presenting the main issues at the beginning of the process was in response to the Committee's desire to have the opportunity to provide input earlier into the content of the self-assessment report. The Committee would also be able to provide observations/recommendations to the final draft report in September/October before it was submitted to the Cabinet in October/November and to the Full Council in December 2026.

Members expressed their thanks for the report.

During the ensuing discussion, the following observations were noted:

·        That the content of the self-assessment was good, but there was room for improvement.

·        A need to insert a reference to legal challenges to which the Council was exposed.

·        Education Transport Policy 'being developed': a risk that the delay would have an impact on pupil attendance along with the practical shortcomings of school bus route problems.

·        The reference to the Visitor Levy highlighted that the decision had been made despite the consultation period not having ended.

·        Those statements that were outdated needed to be verified, e.g. the Language Policy had been approved and was not 'out for consultation'.

·        It needed to be highlighted that funding for the Pupil Immersion Units was challenging – lobbying was needed to ensure that the Units were fully funded by the Government.

·        Infrastructure in the rural areas of Dwyfor and Meirionnydd - note the challenge of trying to attract funding to improve the infrastructure.

·        Introducing a council tax premium – noting the challenge of coping with the extra work of collecting and implementing the premium.

·        Improving Council Tax collection arrangements – the challenge to improve performance compared to other Councils.

·        A need to evaluate educational achievements in literacy and numeracy. What is the challenge that has been set to achieve this?

·        Apprenticeship Scheme - assurance was needed that the scheme contributed to future workforce plans.

RESOLVED:

·        To accept a draft report of the 2025/26 CYNGOR GWYNEDD SELF-ASSESSMENT