Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed attendees to the meeting and apologies for absence were received from County Borough Councillors J Barton, S Hickman, W Hughes, S Powderhill and D Williams.

To receive disclosures of personal interests from Members in accordance with the Code of Conduct

1.     Members are requested to identify the item number and subject that their interest relates to and signify the nature of the personal interest;and

2.     Where Members withdraw from a meeting as a consequence of the disclosure of prejudicial interest they must notify the Chairman when theyleave.

In accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct, the following declarations were made pertaining to the agenda:

Mr A Wilkins– Director, Legal Services on behalf of all Council Officers present in relation to Agenda Item 9 - The Council's Pay Policy Statement 2023/24 “The Pay Policy statement for the Council has no effect on existing terms and conditions applying to individual employees and simply sets out the Council’s approach to previously adopted policies, therefore Officers will remain in the meeting whilst the item is presented by the Director of Human Resources and during subsequent discussion.”

(Note: The following declarations were made later in the meeting (Minute No’s 103, 104 and 106 refer)

Councillor K Johnson in relation to Agenda item 7 -Treasury Management Strategy – “I am an employee of Transport for Wales”

Councillor J Brencher in relation to Agenda Item 8 – Capital Strategy Report 2023/24 – “ My son is a Director of Transport for Wales”

Councillor K Morgan in relation to Agenda Item 10 -Cwm Taf Well-Being Plan 2023-2028- “I work for the Cwm Taf Morgannwg Health Board”

To approve as an accurate record, the minutes of the Council Meeting held on the 8^th March 2023.

The Council RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the 8^th March 2023 as an accurate reflection of the meeting subject to it being noted that Councillor H Gronow was in attendance online.

The following announcements were made:

The Leader of the Council, Councillor A Morgan OBE, donated a cheque for the sum of £2,107.17 raised from the Festival of Remembrance to the Royal British Legion. Mr Richards, Chairman of the Pontypridd Royal British Legion, who was present to accept the cheque and extend his thanks to Council for their support.

Councillor A Roberts MBE congratulated two sisters from the ward of Gilfach Goch, Esme Walters who won the World Cup in a teen dance competition while her sister Verity Walters won the world cup in the dance doubles competition. Councillor Roberts also announced that Tyler Williams has won two World Championships in Kickboxing.

The Leader of the Opposition, County Borough Councillor K Morgan paid tribute to the late former Councillor Rita Moses. She served as a Councillor on the Cynon Valley District Council between 1987-1991 and served as County Borough Councillor for RCT Council between 1995-2004 and again between 2008-2012. She was at the centre of many community groups and as governor for the local schools. In 2000 she was Chairwoman /Mayor of RCT Council with her husband at her side and was very proud of this appointment. Councillor Morgan spoke of her passion for her community and passed her condolences to Rita’s family and friends at this difficult time.

To receive Members questions in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 9.2.

(N.B a maximum of 20 minutes shall be allowed for questions on notice.)

The Service Director Democratic Services & Communication advised that questions 8 and 9 would fall due to the absence of the Members asking the questions:

1)  Question from County Borough Councillor T. Williams to the Leader of the Council, County Borough Councillor A. Morgan OBE:

“Will the Council Leader please provide an update on flood prevention schemes in Cwmaman?”

Response of Councillor A Morgan OBE:

The Leader responded by confirming that Phase 2 (Flood Walling to watercourse upstream of highway bridge) of the Flood Alleviation works at Cwmaman has progressed well in 2022/23 through the detailed design and development phase which is now complete.  He added that in December 2022, the Council submitted a bid for approval in principle from the Welsh Government for the construction phase, with a budget of £415k on their major projects pipeline for 2023/24. 

The Leader advised that if approved in principle by the Welsh Government, which is expected in early April, the drawdown of this grant will be subject to a further detailed grant application using an update of the current project business case once the actual costs are known from a tender process.  Subject to the detailed grant application for the construction phase being successful, it is envisaged that works will commence on site in Summer of 2023/24.

Supplementary question from County Borough Councillor T Williams:

“What is the Council doing to raise awareness of the flood risk measures?”

Response of Councillor A Morgan OBE:

The Leader commented that a report to Cabinet outlined and agreed funding for an additional member of staff within the flood risk management team with the responsibility of engaging with residents and raising awareness across the communities of RCT. He added that as RCT has the highest proportion of surface water flood risk, 25% of the total risk across Wales, the intention is that all the areas mapped out to receive flood risk schemes will be identified for engagement and raising awareness amongst both local residents and businesses.

2)      Question from County Borough Councillor G. Hopkins to the Cabinet Member for Environment and Leisure, County Borough Councillor B. Harris:

“Could the Cabinet Member please provide an update on the Shared Prosperity Fund Grants scheme for the Third Sector?”

Response of Councillor B Harris:

Councillor B Harris advised that the window for applications opened on 1^st February 2023 and closed a little early (24.02.23) rather than 28 February as anticipated as it was fully subscribed. Councillor Harris provided the following updates with regards to the subscriptions:

UK Government Shared Prosperity Fund RCTCBC Community Grant – Final round 1 data:

• 133 applications assessed
• 91 applications approved with the full £675,000 revenue allocated
• 42 declined

Councillor Harris advised that all 91 invoices received have been processed for payment with monitoring, reporting for the 91 successful applications commences on 31 March 2023.

With regards to RCTCBC  - Community Grant – Round 2, Councillor Harris commented that information events have already taken place on 17^th and 20^{th  ...  view the full minutes text for item 100.}

The Service Director Democratic Services & Communications advised that the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Council scheduled for the 24^th May 2023 will now take place on the 10^th May 2023 at 4pm. He added that the advantage of an earlier AGM allows for the cycle of council business to commence as quickly as possible. The Service Director commented that details of the AGM will be shared with the Group Leaders following discussion with the Presiding Officer.

In accordance with Rule 13 of the Council’s Procedure Rules

(Part 4 of the Council’s Constitution) to engage in the Leader’s

debate.

In accordance with Council Procedure Rule 13.2 the Presiding Officer stated that he had allocated 45 minutes for the item and would invite the Leader to address Council following which the Leader would respond to Members’ comments on his Annual Report.

The Leader advised that each year his annual summary is delivered to full Council outlining what the Council has achieved over the last year and sets out what it wants to achieve moving forward.

The Leader of the Council advised that last year’s debate was framed in the context of pandemic recovery with the Council now encountering austerity mark 2 with the Cost-of-Living crisis presenting challenges for residents and communities, and for the Public Sector. He alluded to the budget pressures with increased demand particularly on social care, energy prices, inflation and pay pressures.

The Leader referred to the Council’s ongoing priority of climate change as it continues to take action to achieve the aim of being a Carbon Neutral Council by 2030.  He commented that the Council is making good progress and it continues to purchase 100% of its electrical energy supply from UK-based renewable sources. He added that despite challenges, the Council is still seeing significant levels of investment as it deliver on the manifesto commitments.

The Leader paid credit and thanks to all Council staff who continue to deliver services on a daily basis.

COST OF LIVING

The Leader advised that the Council continues to support residents in need through the seven Community Resilience Hubs, which were established at the beginning of the pandemic with support from partners. Over 500 residents have been supported between 31^st Jan 2022 and 1^st Feb 2023. Also, there has been a significant referral increase of 62% relating to help with shopping and emergency food support and providing information in relation to money and benefit guidance. He added that the Council has also provided thousands of pounds of food vouchers supporting families in difficulty. The Council continues to support food banks and local food schemes with grants between £500 and £1,500 being made available, and 35 projects have been funded since April 2022. The Leader acknowledged that the four main Trussell foodbanks across the county borough have been supported with £70k cash funding & £10k bulk buying of stock via Council’s procurement since April 2022.

The Leader advised that the Council has 80 verified Welcome Centres, plus Libraries, which have been established as ‘warm hubs’ to support individuals and to date, 56 Winter Hardship Fund applications have been approved with a total of £82,688 paid out.

ADULT SOCIAL CARE

The Leader commented that 2022 has been another challenging year with social care under immense pressure across the board. Despite this, the Council and its frontline staff have continued to care and support the thousands of people to the best possible standard. Some initiatives such as the award-winning Stay Well@Home services have seen RCT Council and Cwm Taf Morgannwg Health Board leading the way and has helped avoid in-patient admission or  ...  view the full minutes text for item 102.

To receive the report of the Deputy Chief Executive & Group Director – Finance, Digital & Frontline Services.

To receive the report of the Deputy Chief Executive & Group Director – Finance, Digital & Frontline Services.

The Group Director of Finance, Digital & Frontline Services presented the annual statutory Capital Strategy Report 2023/24 which set out a high-level overview of how the capital expenditure, which was agreed at the last Council meeting, is financed, as set out at section 6 of the report. The Group Director added that it includes the Council’s capital financing requirements (CFR) which is the underlying need to borrow to fund the Council’s historic and current spending plans. As referenced previously, the Group Director advised that this shows a significantly under borrowed position in line with the advice of Treasury advisors.

The Group Director advised that both the Treasury Management Strategy and the Capital Strategy statement will be presented to the Governance & Audit Committee for specific review and scrutiny in line with the relevant codes of practice.

Following discussion, it was RESOLVED to approve the Capital Strategy report incorporating the Prudential Indicators.

(Note: Councillor J Brencher declared a personal interest (Minute No. 97 refers) – “My son is a Director of Transport for Wales)

To receive the Joint Report of the Director of Human Resources and Director of Legal Services.

In accordance with Section 38(1) of the Localism Act, 2011, the Director, Human Resources provided Members with information in respect of the Council’s 2023/24 Pay Policy Statement. The Director referred Members to paragraphs 3.1 to 3.2 which set out the legal context for the need for the pay policy and paragraphs 4.1-4.9 which references the background to the pay policy, the need for Full Council approval and refers to the Pay Policy Statement at Appendix A to the report.

Following consideration of the report Members RESOLVED to approve the Pay Policy Statement as attached at Appendix A of the report.  

To receive the report of the Chief Executive

The Chief Executive presented his report which sought Council’s endorsement of the draft Well-being Plan 2023-2028 for the Cwm Taf Morgannwg Public Services Board region. The Public Services Board is required to prepare and publish a local well-being plan which sets out the well-being objectives for the region and the steps it will take to meet those objectives. This is required every five years and the plan is based on the evidence gathered through a comprehensive well-being assessment which is described at section 6 of the report.

The Chief Executive provided details of the development of the plan which involved a comprehensive consultation process with stakeholders and communities and included consideration of the draft plan by the Joint Overview & Scrutiny Committee on the 20th January 2023 as part of the consultation exercise and a final draft was considered by Cabinet on the 27^th March 2023.

The Chief Executive advised that the plan has two main objectives, derived from the wellbeing assessment, the first concerns healthy local neighbourhoods and the second objective is sustainable and resilient local neighbourhoods. He added that the full plan, attached at Appendix A, is a high-level strategic plan with detailed delivery plans that will be developed over the coming months as the two Public Services Boards in the region are merged into a single Cwm Taf Morgannwg Public Services Board with a revised delivery structure.

The Chief Executive commented that the Council will reflect on these objectives as it develops its new Corporate Plan for 2024 onwards and he advised that subject to Council endorsing the plan, the next stages would include implementing the new governance arrangements for the new regional Cwm Taf Morgannwg Public Services Board, invest in the Board development with its new membership, develop more detailed delivery plan, arrangements around evaluation and outcome measures and ensure there is ongoing engagement and involvement with stakeholders and communities throughout.

Following a detailed discussion, it was RESOLVED to approve the Cwm Taf Morgannwg Well-Being Plan as outlined within Appendix A of the report.

(Note: Councillor K Morgan declared an interest (Minute No.97 refers) –“I work for Cwm Taf Morgannwg Health Board”)

11A To consider the under-mentioned Notice of Motion standing in the names ofCounty Borough Councillors D Grehan, A Rogers, K Morgan, S Evans, A Ellis, H Gronow, D Wood, P Evans:

This Council values issues raised in Notices of Motion whereby their main purpose is to influence positive outcomes that are in the wider public interest of our residents but are the responsibility of other organisations.

While the Council has a mechanism for reporting the outcomes of Notices of Motion, which refer the matter to another committee or officers, there is currently no reporting mechanism to inform members of progress of motion adopt representations being made on behalf of the Council.

There have been many examples of this Council resolving, cross party, that the Leader of the Council writes to Ministers at a Welsh and UK Level to make known our concerns on matters that affect our constituents, with no formal mechanism in place to report the progress or outcomes of such actions for the public record. 

Another example is our request that more families who are living in fuel poverty would benefit if the relevant Welsh Minister would widen the eligibility criteria of the NEST programme.  In March of 2022 we resolved that the Leader of the Council write to the Social Housing Providers in the County to ask them if they would give additional time of at least 2 weeks following the funeral of a loved one to enable relatives to remove their possessions from their property. There are many other examples as the record will show.  What we haven't had, as Full Council, is feedback on any of these matters to assess how effective they have been in achieving the desired outcomes.

This Council therefore resolves to:

Request that the Proper Officer presents a report for consideration by the Constitution Committee in advance of the Council Annual General Meeting, which considers options and mechanism for formally reporting the outcome and effect of the Council's representation made by members following the adoption.

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11B To consider the under-mentioned Notice of Motion standing in the names of County Borough CouncillorsD Grehan, S Evans, K Morgan, A Rogers, A Ellis, H Gronow, D Wood, P Evans:

This Council acknowledges that child poverty levels in Rhondda Cynon Taf continue to rise, and are likely to worsen due to the cost of living crisis.

Council further acknowledges the link between child poverty and educational attainment.

Council believes that squeezed Local Government budget settlements are of concern, and risk impacting targeted interventions to tackle both child poverty and educational attainment.

Despite the Welsh Government previously setting targets to eradicate child poverty by 2020, child poverty in Rhondda Cynon Taf continues to increase with some electoral divisions continuously amongst the worse in the UK.  Despite the best efforts of teaching staff in RCT there is a clear link between this poverty and educational attainment.

Mitigating the impact of the Cost of Living Crisis, hot on the heels of the covid pandemic  ...  view the full agenda text for item 107.

11A To consider the under-mentioned Notice of Motion standing in the names ofCounty Borough Councillors D Grehan, A Rogers, K Morgan, S Evans, A Ellis, H Gronow, D Wood, P Evans:

This Council values issues raised in Notices of Motion whereby their main purpose is to influence positive outcomes that are in the wider public interest of our residents but are the responsibility of other organisations.

While the Council has a mechanism for reporting the outcomes of Notices of Motion, which refer the matter to another committee or officers, there is currently no reporting mechanism to inform members of progress of motion adopt representations being made on behalf of the Council.

There have been many examples of this Council resolving, cross party, that the Leader of the Council writes to Ministers at a Welsh and UK Level to make known our concerns on matters that affect our constituents, with no formal mechanism in place to report the progress or outcomes of such actions for the public record. 

Another example is our request that more families who are living in fuel poverty would benefit if the relevant Welsh Minister would widen the eligibility criteria of the NEST programme.  In March of 2022 we resolved that the Leader of the Council write to the Social Housing Providers in the County to ask them if they would give additional time of at least 2 weeks following the funeral of a loved one to enable relatives to remove their possessions from their property. There are many other examples as the record will show.  What we haven't had, as Full Council, is feedback on any of these matters to assess how effective they have been in achieving the desired outcomes.

This Council therefore resolves to:

Request that the Proper Officer presents a report for consideration by the Constitution Committee in advance of the Council Annual General Meeting, which considers options and mechanism for formally reporting the outcome and effect of the Council's representation made by members following the adoption.

Following discussion, it was RESOLVED to adopt the notice of motion.

11B To consider the under-mentioned Notice of Motion standing in the names of County Borough CouncillorsD Grehan, S Evans, K Morgan, A Rogers, A Ellis, H Gronow, D Wood, P Evans:

This Council acknowledges that child poverty levels in Rhondda Cynon Taf continue to rise, and are likely to worsen due to the cost of living crisis.

Council further acknowledges the link between child poverty and educational attainment.

Council believes that squeezed Local Government budget settlements are of concern, and risk impacting targeted interventions to tackle both child poverty and educational attainment.

Despite the Welsh Government previously setting targets to eradicate child poverty by 2020, child poverty in Rhondda Cynon Taf continues to increase with some electoral divisions continuously amongst the worse in the UK.  Despite the best efforts of teaching staff in RCT there is a clear link between this poverty and educational attainment.

Mitigating the impact of the Cost of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 107.