Cabinet

5.1 The minutes of the Cabinet meeting held on 4th February 2025 were agreed as a true and accurate record.

6.1 The update on actions were noted.

7.1 The Strategic Director for Resources presented the report to Cabinet which outlined a balanced budget for 2025/26, taking account of anticipated cost pressures, identified mitigations, provisional funding uplifts and areas for investment. He provided Cabinet with an update on the Medium-Term Financial Plan which presented a financial gap of £9.169m and set out the potential route for addressing that gap and achieving a balanced position across the medium term. 7.2 Members commented: · That the investment the Council was making in energy savings was really noteworthy and the energy efficient saving measures were so important, they were helping the planet and were saving money too. It was pleasing to see that Torfaen Schools were one of the first to benefit financially as well as having a carbon reduction impact, it was a really great achievement. · That they welcomed the Local Government Borrowing Initiative to supplement the Council’s own commitment to increase capital funding for highway repairs, and the money was going to have a big impact on the number of repairs that they were going to be able to do going forward. · That the Council were in a good position as it had a plan which set out its priorities for schools agreed and ready to go as and when funding became available. · Torfaen was one of the top Local Authorities that passed money directly to its schools. · That they welcomed the support given to Children’s Services and the transition was an ongoing process which was moving at great pace and hopefully would not be a pressure on future budgets because the transition work would have been successful. 7.3 In response to a question asked about securing funding for schools, the Strategic Director for Resources stated that it was always a challenge to secure capital funding for projects and in terms of the building schools for the future the Council were dependant on Welsh Government to provide Capital Funding, as the Council had limited capacity in its own budget. However, Officers were looking at funding streams such as the Shared Prosperity Fund to make capital additions to school environments in other ways such as the installation of 3G pitches. 7.4 The Leader made the following remarks: · He thanked staff for their hard work in reaching a balanced budget position. When they started looking at the budget over 11 months ago, there was a potential £20million gap and the fact that the gap has been bridged by seeking efficiencies and doing things differently without any major service closures was very welcomed and was as a result of a lot of hard work, expertise and planning. · A public consultation process had been undertaken around the budget and core issues were identified including poo, potholes and pavements. The Council had listened to the issued raised and were making provision to address them including investing £2million into local roads and planned to have a boosted spring clean which would include a campaign to tackle the issue of dog fouling. Other comments made during the consultation were around streamlining and making efficiency savings which was the reason why it was agreed to go ahead with the federated approach with Blaenau Gwent Council, to maximise the efficiencies of both organisations and have fewer senior staff rather than starting at the bottom and making cuts from there. · He welcomed the fact that the Cross-Cutting Resources & Corporate Business Overview & Scrutiny Committee had looked into the proposals and endorsed them and were not making any recommendations for consideration prior to full council on 4th March. Scrutiny Members had been taken through the budget process at the different stages which was key, they had seen the initial gap and the measures taken to address the gap and they have been able to look at those with a view to making recommendations but the fact that they did not make any recommendations signified that there was a degree of content around the budget. · No budget was set in a perfect circumstances and the Council was dealing with rising demand and decreasing resource to fund services, but this budget put the Council’s priorities at the front and centre. The Council had always tried to put schools first and within the budget were being provided with £5.4million to address school pressures, along with additional money for the expansion of Crownbridge School, School Transport and ALN support. Additional money was also being provided for Adults Services to support vulnerable adults. · As part of the budget 9,426 cases would continue to be funded through the council tax reduction scheme to help people who were unable to pay. Torfaen were proposing one of the lowest council tax rises in Wales for the fourth year running and would be the fifth lowest council tax in Wales. It was important to get the balance right of keeping bills low without decimating services. · The Local Government Borrowing Initiative from Welsh Government was vital, as in previous years the Council has had to prioritise areas such as schools and social care which would still continue, however with the extra money from the Local Government Borrowing Initiative it gave the Council the ability to invest in its local infrastructure and he would like to see as much of that money to be spent in communities as possible, the first 100 yards outside someone’s front door. · There were lots of challenges mentioned in the Medium-Term Financial Plan and the overall gap was one which would need to be managed constructively and in a way that protected services and kept bills down as much as possible. · He would continue to lobby Welsh Government about intervention rates and how to get capital spend into secondary schools to build on the good work in the primary schools. · There remained a challenge to save public services after 14 years of being starved of funding whilst also dealing with the cost-of-living crisis. 7.5 Cabinet agreed that: · The final budget proposals for 2025/26, as outlined in the report, are approved and recommended to Council for approval. · The revised Medium-Term Financial Plan is noted · The position in respect of reserves and financial standing is noted

8.1 The Executive Member for Economy, Skills and Regeneration presented the report and made the following points: · In November 2022, Cabinet approved the draft Torfaen Shared Prosperity Fund Local Investment Plan which detailed the Council’s proposed programme of projects, outputs and outcomes to be delivered under the 2022-2025 UKSPF programme of funding. · Delivery of the 2022-25 programme was nearing completion, with the allocated funding formally coming to an end on 31st March 2025. · In the November 2024 Autumn Budget Statement, the Chancellor confirmed that an additional single year of UKSPF funding would be made available from 1st April 2025 until 31st March 2026. · In December 2024, the UK Government Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government wrote to Council Leaders in Wales confirming the allocation of 2025-26 UKSPF. Torfaen County Borough Council’s allocation for 2025- 26 was made up of £5,987,148 for revenue and £2,296,232 for capital, however revenue funding could be capitalised should the Authority wish to do so. · There was no requirement for a Local Investment Plan to be prepared for 2025-26, the proposals were to be put into a delivery plan and submitted to Rhondda Cynon Taf Council who were the lead authority for the SPF. · The Multiply programme would not continue as a specific, ringfenced, programme. Adult numeracy would however still be funded where it remained a local priority alongside the wider suite of People and Skills related activities. · A programme of projects and activities had been developed that would meet the UKSPF Programme requirements and align with the Council’s strategic objectives. The proposals had been evaluated by the Council’s External Funding Team and by the Council’s Portfolio Management Office for assurance on deliverability within the available 12 month timeframe. · The Council’s proposed programme was presented under five Strategic Initiative area which were Energy, Economic Development, Town Centres, Prevention and Community Infrastructure. 8.2 The Head of Economy and Place went through the report in detail which sought Cabinet approval for the proposed SPF 2025-26 Programme of projects and activities, to delegate to the Chief Executive the authority to approve any necessary changes to the programme to ensure the Council meets the contractual obligations by 31st March 2026, approve the entering into of the necessary Service Level Agreement with Rhondda Cynon Taff County Borough Council as the Lead Authority to secure the 2025-26 funding allocation for Torfaen and to agree to the SPF Management and Administration fee of 4%, being retained and ringfenced within the Economy and Environment forward budget for evaluation, monitoring and management of the overall programme. 8.3 Members asked a series of questions, and the following responses were given by the Head of Economy and Place: · Officers were currently working on the delivery plan pending Cabinet approval, however due to the short time scale of having to submit it to Rhondda Cynon Taff County Borough Council by 21st March, there unfortunately would not be an opportunity to bring the delivery plan back for approval, however it would be brought back for Cabinet’s information. · The funding was for one year and Officers did not know if there would be additional funding in future years yet. · The delivery plan would articulate the final list of projects and programmes together with the expenditure profile and impact on local communities. The plan would list the outcomes and outputs to be delivered out of the programmes. When the information was available it would be circulated to all Members so that they were aware of the activities proposed in their wards. · If Cardiff Capital Region came forward and requested some of the funding to be used on regional based projects, Officers would assess whether the programme of work would add value to Torfaen’s businesses and communities, then they would consider contributing, however if there was no clear alignment to Torfaen’s strategic priorities there was no obligation for the Council to sign up to that suite of programmes or projects. Officers were hoping to hear about the projects CCR were looking for investment in by the end of the week. · In terms of capacity and the number of projects, the timescale was very tight and the amount of funding was not huge, so Officers would not be looking to do a huge range of activities, it had to be a small deliverable package of work. He was confident that there was capacity within the Council to deliver the programme of works. · There was a formal way of moving money around within the programme across different investment priority areas if needed and this was important in terms of programme delivery, but even with the Chief Executive’s delegation the change would need to be reported back to Rhondda Cynon Taff County Borough. · The way the projects within the current programme were conceived and the same would be applied to the new delivery plan was through a matrix of strategic objectives that projects and programmes needed to meet, and they had to have strategic alignment to the fundamental principles of the Council such as the marmot principles and county plan. 8.4 Cabinet agreed: · To approve the proposed SPF 2025-26 programme of projects/activities to be delivered within the 2025-26 UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) ‘transitional year’ as set out in the report. · To delegate to the Chief Executive the authority to approve any necessary changes to, or virements of funding within, the SPF 2025-26 Programme to ensure the Council meets its 2025-26 SPF contractual obligations by 31st March 2026. · To approve the entering into of the necessary Service Level Agreement (SLA) with Rhondda Cynon Taff County Borough Council (RCT) as the UKSPF Lead Authority to secure the 2025-26 UKSPF funding allocation for Torfaen. · To the SPF Management and Administration fee (4%), representing a gross sum of £331,335 and net sum (representing the balance available to TCBC following RCT’s Lead Authority allocation) of £265,068 being retained and ring-fenced within the Economy and Environment forward budget for evaluation, monitoring and management of the overall programme.

9.1 The Business and Democratic Support Services Manager presented the report to Cabinet and highlighted the following key points: · Each Council in Wales was required under the Local Government and Elections Act 2021 to undertake a peer review known as a ‘Panel Performance Assessment once every Local Government Electoral Cycle. · The panel performance assessment would assess the extent to which the Council was meeting the performance requirements and how it was exercising its functions effectively, how it was using its resources economically, efficiently and effectively and how effective the governance arrangements were. · The Council would develop a scope to inform the Panel Performance Assessment process. The scope document would have two purposes, to provide context about the Council and to invite the panel to explore strategic approaches linked to the Council's sustainability and mission to improve well-being. · The additional focus would be placed on the agreed federated approach with Blaenau Gwent, the Council’s Marmot and Communities approach and the Council’s model for Early Intervention and Prevention. · A wide variety of Officers, Members and various internal and external groups would be involved in the Panel Performance Assessment fieldwork. · The proposed dates for the Council’s Panel Performance Assessment were between April 29th to May 2nd 2025. 9.2 Cabinet commented: · That they welcomed the Panel Performance Assessment and looked forward to engaging with those who would be taking part. · The Panel Performance Assessment was a valuable health check that all Councils were undertaking, and it was important to approach the assessment in an open and constructive way. · The Council had done an enormous amount of work over the last few years in terms of performance management. · The assessment would provide the Council the opportunity to test itself and its self-awareness and identify areas for improvement. · It was good to see the Panel Performance Assessment would be looking at the big-ticket areas for the Council which were the federated approach with Blaenau Gwent, the Marmot Communities approach and the work on Early Intervention and Prevention. 9.3 Cabinet noted and agreed the arrangements for the forthcoming Panel Performance Assessment.

10.1 The Director for Corporate Services presented the report, highlighting the following key areas: · On 24 January 2023 Council considered a report proposing that a Joint Committee be created, comprising of Council Members who would oversee the production of annual reports, work programmes and the budgets of the Central Support Team for both National Adoption Service and Foster Wales. Council approved the proposed Governance arrangements for the National Adoption Service and Foster Wales through the establishment of the Joint Committee facilitated by Welsh Local Government Association, and the signing of the Joint Agreement. · On 5 December 2023 Council agreed to nominate Councillor Richard Clark to serve on the National Joint Committee for National Adoption Service and Foster Wales until Cabinet next agreed appointments to Joint Committees. · Supporting attendance and representation at The National Adoption Service and Foster Wales Joint Committee would ensure effective collaboration and enable positive outcomes for the Adoption and Fostering service users across Wales. It was therefore proposed that Cabinet agree to appoint Councillor Amanda Own as a substitute to serve on the Joint Committee until Cabinet next agrees appointments to Joint Committees. 10.2 Councillor Richard Clark added that he hoped not to miss any of the meetings but stated that Councillor Owen would be a brilliant substitute for him. 10.3 Cabinet agreed that Councillor Amanda Owen be nominated to serve as a substitute on the National Joint Committee for the National Adoption Service and Foster Wales until Cabinet next agrees appointments to Joint Committees.