Cabinet

5.1 The update on actions were noted.

6.1 The Head of Financial Services presented the report in detail to Cabinet which provided an update on the Council’s revenue and capital outturn for the 2024/25 financial year and the reserves position. He highlighted the key areas: · The revenue position for the Council reflected a favourable variance of £834,000, 0.4% of the net budget, after proposed transfers to earmarked reserves, which reflected a significant improvement from the adverse variance forecasted earlier in the year. · The positive outturn position allowed the General Fund and specific earmarked reserves to be strengthened, improving financial resilience and sustainability in the process. · The capital position reflected further slippage at year-end, in addition to the planned slippage that was previously reported. 6.2 The Leader thanked Officers for their hard work in getting them to this position as it should not be forgotten the turbulent and unpredictability of the past 18 months. There was a lot of trepidation looking in 2024/25 but the Council had managed to come through it without destabilising services or having any large overspends overall. The Council had been able to manage the difficult areas like children services, which ensured that work on transforming those services could be done safely and sustainably. He welcomed the approach and consideration given to the financial sustainability of the Council in particular making transfers to specific reserves such as Children’s Services, the Federated Work with Blaenau Gwent Council, School Catering, Pay, Education Tech, which would benefit services going forward. 6.3 Members of the Cabinet asked a number of questions, and the Head of Financial Services gave the following answers: · The Finance Team had been working with schools to get a clear understanding of their budget positions. Some school that had a balanced budget this year could have budget pressures going forward and work was ongoing to see what could be done to support them and reduce their cost base. Officers would be helping to look at schools’ energy efficiency measures to reduce their carbon footprint and their costs as well. Officers would be looking at the way in which schools operate and share good practices between schools. The Finance Team would work closely with the Education Department who would then in turn work with the schools to identify those opportunities. · The budget had a 3% provision for pay awards across teaching staff and non-teaching staff, and a top up to the pay contingency reserve gave an extra 1% coverage on a one-off basis, which meant that this year the Council could cover up to a 4% pay award from the resources available. However, if the pay award which was unknown at this stage was beyond that, it would create a pressure, if the pay award was in excessive of 3% whilst it could be managed this year it would create a budget pressure in future years. 6.4 The Leader welcomed the approach taken with schools to ensure their positions were sustainable which enabled them to invest in the future of young people. He also valued the work carried out on renewable energy which was a real win for schools’ carbon footprint and their costs going forward. 6.5 Cabinet agreed to: • Note the outturn position for 2024/25 • Approve the contributions to reserves as outlined within the report

7.1 The Executive Member for Adult Services and Housing presented the report and made the following points: • The Mental Health Support Service provision was funded out of the Housing Support Grant to help prevent homelessness. • Mental health support was key to preventing homelessness. A person’s housing situation was made better or worse according to their mental health situation. • The service would provide one to one support for people in the community. • The tenders were scored on an 80%:20% spilt on quality and price, with the 80% emphasise on quality. • The third-place bidder was less than half the cost of the winning bid, however the tender with the best quality service was chosen as this was a vital service and it was important to get the best possible outcomes for the service users. 7.2 The Deputy Chief Executive and Strategic Director for Adults and Communities added: • The report was to award the contract under the Housing Support Grant provision received from Welsh Government. • There was a new component to the tender this year which was designed to improve the alignment of the Council’s communities approach. • In keeping with Welsh Government guidance, the tender would need to maintain fair pay and ensure that the living wage was paid to employees. 7.3 Members commented: • The communities approach gave the opportunity to try and integrate different kind of support, avoiding the need for acute services. There were a range of inputs that may not have been thought of as mental health inputs but helped such as sports and social groups which connected people and got them exercising, those were aspects that helped keep peoples mental health better. There were specific organisations such as Tidy Butt who worked to keep people together and helped people’s mental health and wider wellbeing. • They welcomed the emphasis on quality over price which showed the value of the service provided. • They welcomed the communities’ approach which would hopefully have better outcomes in the long term. • There understandably was a tendency to rush to medication, however there was a lot to be said for social prescribing, and it had huge potential. • The For Dads-by-Dad’s Scheme which was run by the Council’s Sports Development Team was a great example of getting groups together and provided great support for new dads. 7.4 In response to questions and comments from the Cabinet, the Deputy Chief Executive and Strategic Director for Adults and Communities gave the following replies: • The service was for people over the age of 16, but as part of the tender provision, Officers had insisted on alignment across the partnership which would be channelled through the integrated service partnership board with a specific focus on how to bring the transition and alignment through from young people support through the transition period through to the housing support, so even though there would be different providers there would be seamless transition and support. • Case studies could be produced to show the impact these types of services had, as they were not as visible as other Council service but had a big impact on people’s life. • This service provision enabled the right people who need intervention to receive the right support at the right time. 7.5 Cabinet agreed that the contract for the provision of the Mental Health Support Service be awarded to provider 1 following the outcome of a tender process.

8.1 The Deputy Leader presented the report which sought approval of appointments to joint committee and partnership bodies. The Deputy Leader ran through the changes as outlined in appendix 1. He wished to make some amendments to the document, the first amendment was to replace Councillor Joanne Gauden with Councillor Sue Morgan on the Torfaen Canal Strategic Partnership Board and the second amendment was to add CCR Energy under the Joint Committees section and to add Councillor Sue Morgan as a Director of that Committee. 8.2 Cabinet agreed the appointments to Joint Committees and Partnership Bodies listed in Appendix 1 to the report and agreed to the verbal amendments made during the meeting. Cabinet agreed that the appointments have immediate effect until Cabinet next amends the appointments or the next Local Government Elections. Cabinet agreed that the European and Regional Affairs and Equalities matters continue to be dealt with at meeting of the full Cabinet, rather than by sub committees.