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The Committee scrutinised the final 2025-26 budget outturn and the Quarter 1 budget monitoring report for 2026-27. It endorsed the draft Annual Self-Assessment Report 2025-26 before it goes to Council, and noted reports on the Transformation and Innovation Board and the Social Partnership Annual Report. It also approved its forward work programme with three changes to timing.
The Committee considered a call-in of Cabinet's decision of 6 July 2026 to award a contract worth up to £4,950,000 to ICS.AI UK Ltd for AI technology, and to give the Director of Resources delegated authority over future AI collaboration. A call-in is a request for a scrutiny committee to look again at a decision before it takes effect. The Committee upheld decision (a), which awards the contract. It referred decision (b), the delegated authority, back to Cabinet with revised wording that sets financial limits on it.
The Committee chose Councillor Steve Alderman as Vice-Chair, the deputy to the Chair, for the year ahead. It also noted a report on financial services, endorsed the Welsh Language Standards Annual Report 2025-26 and the Overview and Scrutiny Annual Report 2025-26, and approved its Forward Work Programme. The minutes record no declarations of interest.
The Committee noted reports on Quarter 3 budget monitoring, corporate performance, the Partnerships Panel, a backlog of Valuation Office Agency appeals, and the action log. It added a procurement review and Manorbier School insurance cover to its work programme, and referred the number of children in elective home education to the Schools and Learning Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
The Committee considered four items on 20 January 2026: an update on the Celtic Freeport, the draft council budget and medium term financial plan for 2026-27 to 2028-29, treasury management arrangements, and the Corporate Safeguarding Board annual report. It noted the Freeport update, the draft budget and the treasury arrangements, and accepted the safeguarding report. The budget goes to Cabinet on 9 February and to the full Council on 20 February 2026.
The Committee considered the Quarter 2 budget monitoring report, the Strategic Equality Plan annual report, quarterly performance data, minutes of two regional partnerships and draft minutes of the Partnerships Panel. It noted most reports and referred the Patient Flow agreement between the Health Board and the council to the Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee. It also added three items to its 2026 work programme.
The committee considered five substantive reports at its meeting on 18 September 2025: the Transformation and Innovation Board update, the Annual Self-Assessment Report 2024-25, a petition on ethical and inclusive governance, the 2024-25 budget outturn and the quarter 1 budget monitoring report for 2025-26. Members noted the Transformation and Innovation Board update and the self-assessment, and formally received the petition. On the budget, members noted both reports and agreed that the Chair should write to Welsh Government about the backlog at the Valuation Office Agency.
The Committee considered a range of reports at its meeting on 12 June 2025. It recommended that Council reinstate the Net Zero Working Group to review the 2019 climate emergency decision, and it recommended changes to DBS check renewal periods for some councillors to Cabinet. It noted reports on Welsh language standards, financial services and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, and it endorsed the Overview and Scrutiny Annual Report 2024-25.
On 25 March 2025 the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee noted the Quarter 3 budget monitoring report and the 2024-25 Capital Programme. It also agreed to add a Cabinet referral on criminal record checks for councillors to its June 2025 work programme, and noted updates on performance, procurement and revenue services, anti-racist action and the Improvement and Transformation Programme Board.
The Committee considered a call-in of Cabinet's decision of 13 January 2025 on the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), a government fund for local projects. A call-in asks a scrutiny committee to review a decision before it takes effect. Members voted 10 to 2 to refer the decision back to Cabinet, recommending that a politically balanced panel of seven councillors evaluate UKSPF schemes for 2025-26 and later years.
At its meeting on 21 January 2025, the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee scrutinised the draft 2025-26 council budget and draft Medium Term Financial Plan and made no recommendation to Cabinet on them. It also noted a referred public submission about differences between the Welsh and English budget consultation, and added the Shared Prosperity Fund to its work programme. The Committee also scrutinised the Treasury Management Strategy for 2025-26 without making a recommendation, and noted the draft Corporate Strategy and the Safeguarding Board annual report.
At its meeting on 14 November 2024, the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee considered the second-quarter budget, performance data, the annual self-assessment, rural broadband and its work programme. It asked two other scrutiny committees to examine school budgets and social care overspending. It noted the broadband update, the performance data and the self-assessment, and it withdrew a notice of motion so that Cabinet could consider it instead.
The committee approved its 2024-25 work programme and scrutinised budget and corporate reports, including the 2023-24 budget outturn and the quarter 1 2024-25 monitoring. It accepted the Welsh Language Standards report and endorsed the Overview and Scrutiny annual report, and it noted a report on the Swansea Bay City Deal. The meeting lost its quorum during the Dyfed Pension Fund item and was adjourned.
The Committee considered a notice of motion on an anti-racist action plan and asked Full Council to have the Strategic Equalities Working Group develop one. It also noted reports on well-being objectives, members' rights to information and a change to Swansea Bay City Deal governance, and agreed its forward work programme with two additions.
The Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee examined a Cabinet Member's decision to give Dsi Billing a two-year contract, worth about £370,000, to print and post council letters without a competitive tender. Members voted 5 to 5 on a motion to refer the decision to Full Council, so the Chair's casting vote meant the decision stood.
The Committee considered a performance scorecard, the draft 2024-25 council budget and a provisional funding settlement, an update from the Partnerships Panel, and the Corporate Safeguarding Board's annual report. It scrutinised the performance and budget papers but decided to make no recommendation to Cabinet on the 2024-25 budget or the medium-term plan.
The Committee reviewed its forward work programme, the Quarter 2 budget monitoring report, a method for limiting capital borrowing costs, an update on Electoral Services and the minutes of two regional partnerships. It agreed to add the draft 2024-25 budget to its January agenda, asked two other scrutiny committees to review school budgets and joint working on out of county placements, and asked for a letter on quorum rules for the Swansea Bay City Region Joint Committee.
The committee scrutinised reports on HR services, the 2022-23 budget outturn, the quarter 1 budget for 2023-24, and a draft annual self-assessment. It noted the HR update and two referrals from other committees. It asked for clarification on who sits on the Corporate Asset Management Group, and approved the forward work programme with a quarter 2 budget report added.
The minutes are published. No summary has been written yet.
The minutes are published. No summary has been written yet.
The minutes are published. No summary has been written yet.
The minutes are published. No summary has been written yet.
The minutes are published. No summary has been written yet.
The minutes are published. No summary has been written yet.