Cabinet

Members were presented with the Forward Work Programme for the Cabinet. RESOLVED- That the Cabinet Forward Work Programme be approved.

The minutes of the meeting of the Conwy Harbour Advisory Committee held on 29 June 2022 were submitted. RESOLVED:- That the minutes of the meeting of the Conwy Harbour Advisory Committee held on 29 June 2022 be noted.

The Cabinet Member for Education presented the amended Conwy’s Welsh in Education Strategic Plan (WESP) 2022 – 2032 for approval, following Welsh Government feedback. Following a period of consultation and approval of the amended Conwy WESP by Cabinet, the Plan was submitted to Welsh Government for comment, with the Minister for Education, Jeremy Miles MS, strongly agreeing with the Council’s strategy and vision, with feedback as follows:- · A brief introduction to explain the content of the outcome · Update data with current information · Note any recent grants and policy developments and county plans updates · Refer to specific timetable and targets that will form part of the medium term action plan. The Education and Skills Overview and Scrutiny Committee considered the report on 19 July 2022 and supported the recommendations. Members supported the report and thanked the Officers for the work undertaken in producing the Plan. Welsh belonged to everyone and every pupil should have the opportunity to learn the language. RESOLVED- That the amended Conwy Welsh in Education Strategic Plan (WESP) be adopted.

The Cabinet Member for Finance, Revenue and Benefits advised Members that Local Authorities were required to hold prudent levels of reserves to aid their financial resilience and support financial sustainability. As at 31 March 2022, the Council’s useable reserves stood at £48.138m, an improvement from the position at 31 March 2021 when they stood at £30.450m. The Strategic Director - Finance and Resources had, in conjunction with Heads of Services, reviewed the earmarked reserves, to confirm the purposes for which they were held. These were detailed in Appendix 3 of the report. Members were asked to review the individual reserves to determine whether the reasons they had been set aside were appropriate, and confirm or otherwise, that they supported the basis of the specific reserve, and its use for that purpose. As part of the 2023/2024 budget setting process reserves and balances would be revisited. Reference was made to the comments of Audit Wales, which had consistently reported its concern over the Council’s low level of reserves and balances, as part of their financial sustainability assessments. The Cabinet Member drew Members’ attention to the comments of the Chair of the Schools Budget Forum, outlined in Appendix 4 of the report, in relation to school budgets. Members were also asked to approve the updated Reserves and Balances Policy. The Finance and Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee considered the report on 1 August 2022 and supported the recommendations. Members supported the recommendations and advised that every Cabinet Member would be ensuring that budgets were appropriate and, together, would work towards being a financially resilient Council. RESOLVED- (a) That the updated Reserves and Balances Policy, as set out in Appendix 2 of the report, be approved. (b) That Cabinet provide a view on whether the level and purpose of individual earmarked service and corporate reserves are appropriate. (c) That the earmarked reserves, as set out in Appendix 3 of the report, be approved.

The Cabinet Member for Finance, Revenue and Benefits presented a report, which provided information to Members about the quarter one financial activity on the total capital programme for the Council for 2022/2023. The total capital programme now stood at £107.029m. This was made up of the 2022/2023 original programme approved by Council on 3 March 2022 (£32.561m), the carry forward schemes from 2021/2022 approved by Cabinet on 12 July 2022 and the capital variation relating to the Parc Eirias levelling up scheme, which was approved by Council on 14 July 2022. An analysis per Service was set out in Table 1 and the proposed financing was set out in Table 2. Up to the end of June 2022, the Council had spent £3.286m against the budgeted schemes. Due to their nature, a number of larger schemes would be spent over more than one financial year and the Finance team was currently working with services to update the expected profile of the activity. This would be reported in the next quarter outturn report in the autumn. In the same vein, an exercise would also be undertaken to assess the impact of inflationary pressure, and its affordability, on the capital programme The Finance and Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee considered the report on 1 August 2022 and supported the recommendations. Members supported the recommendation and welcomed the review on the impact of inflationary pressures on the capital programme. RESOLVED- That the report reflecting the first quarter capital outturn position for 2022/2023 be accepted.

The Cabinet Member for Finance, Revenue and Benefits provided details of the revenue activity for the first quarter of the financial year, a forecast to the year end, as well as other relevant information available at this time. The report indicated that the Council was facing significant budgetary pressure in the current financial year, which was as a result of the significant increase in pay and price inflationary pressure, as well as other increasing demands on services. Further information on the pay settlement for non-teaching Council staff was provided as follows:- · Rather than a percentage offer, a cash offer of £1,925 had been made across the board. This would equate to an 11% rise for those at the lower end of the pay scale, with a 7.6% rise being the average for Conwy staff. · The offer had been rejected by the UNITE Trade Union, with the GMB and the UNISON Trade Unions balloting their members. · The pay offer would ensure that all Council staff were paid the Real Living Wage. · It was noted that Teachers had been offered a pay award of 5%. Fortunately, the Council had established earmarked reserves to assist in dealing with the pressures and, at this stage, they appeared adequate. However, any erosion of the Council’s reserve position would once again impact on the Council’s future resilience, and therefore work would need to be done across the budget to contain the pressures as far as possible. It was not recommended, at this stage, that Members took any firm decisions to allocate reserves to address pressures, as some of those pressures, in particular pay, should be allowed to play out as the year progressed. However, Members were asked to approve a virement of £1.261m from the homelessness budget into the pay pressures reserve, to reflect the advance payment for 2022/2023 homelessness costs, made in March 2022 and funded from the hardship grant. Members were assured that it was not a cut in the homelessness budget and the housing pressures within Conwy were acknowledged, including the possible impact on the future housing needs of Ukranian refugees as UK and Welsh Governments’ support came to an end. Members would also need to note the implications of the current year pressure on future years, which was significant. The Finance and Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee considered the report on 1 August 2022 and supported the recommendations. Discussion ensued as follows:- · The increase to staff on the lower scale receiving the Real Living Wage was welcomed. · All Services were working tirelessly to remain in budget. · The challenges of retention and recruitment of staff was noted. · In terms of the possible shortfall of £6m, it was noted that a 1% rise in Council Tax equated to revenue of £600k, so it was hoped that support would be forthcoming from the UK and Welsh Governments. · The Leader, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance, Revenue and Benefits would be lobbying both the UK and Welsh Governments in terms of future financial support. · The impact of inflation on residents and Council Tax rises was acknowledged. The Strategic Director – Finance and Resources, together with the Finance team, were thanked for the work undertaken in producing the report. RESOLVED- (a) That the transfer (virement) of £1.261m from the homelessness budget into the pay pressures reserve, to reflect the advance payment for 2022/2023 homelessness costs, made in March 2022 and funded from hardship grant, be approved. (b) That the latest financial assessment of the estimated budgetary position for 2022/2023 be noted. (c) That the significant uncertainties underpinning the financial assessment and the potential implications for future years’ budgets be noted and accepted.

Together with the Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Safeguarding, the Cabinet Member for Integrated Adult and Community Services presented an outline of the contents of the Director of Social Care’s Annual Report 2021-2022, which was produced in line with the statutory requirement under the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014. The report demonstrated how the Service had promoted well-being and accounted for the delivery of well-being standards. It reported on areas of new development and revisits of what the Service had said it would do during 2021-2022, rather than trying to capture all areas of work and pressure upon the Service. It was noted that feedback to inform the report had been collated from a variety of sources, including the community and service users, who were provided with an opportunity of defining future service provision. Care Inspectorate Wales provided annual feedback on inspection and performance evaluation activity within Conwy Social Services during the year, the progress that had been made in implementing recommendations from inspections and practice reviews, and outlined their forward work programme. The Social Care and Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee considered the report on 20 July 2022 and supported the recommendation. Congratulations were extended to all officers involved in collating and producing the report. The Leader echoed the comments of the Cabinet Members and the additional work that staff undertook during the pandemic was acknowledged. RESOLVED- That the Director of Social Care’s Annual Report 2021 – 2022 be approved and that the Local Authority’s improvement journey in providing services to people in their areas continues to be supported.

RESOLVED- That the Public and Press be excluded from the meeting under the provisions of Section 100A of the above Act during consideration of the following item as it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 14 of Part 4 of Schedule 12A to the Act and that in all the relevant circumstances, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.