Agenda, decisions and minutes

Purpose: To receive any Declarations and advise Members accordingly.

Councillor David Healey declared a personal interest in agenda item 3 - 2016/17 Budget for the Education & Youth Portfolio as he was a Trustee of Homestart Flintshire who have received funding from Family First in the past.

            Janine Beggan, David Hytch and Rebecca Stark also declared a personal interest in agenda item 3 – 2016/17 Budget for the Education & Youth Portfolio due to the close association of family members who accessed the school music service.

That the presentation be noted.

The Chairman welcomed the contributors to the meeting.

            Prior to the commencement of the presentation, the Chief Officer (Education & Youth) reported that whilst there were no new proposals within the proposed 2016/17 budget for the Education & Youth Portfolio, there was an undertaking to keep the Committee informed during the 2016/17 budget process, therefore it was felt appropriate to provide the Committee with feedback from the meeting of the School Budget Forum meeting held on 8 January, 2016.  A copy of the feedback from the School Budget Forum was attached to the report at appendix 1.

            The Chief Executive reported that Cabinet had approved on 19^th January measures to close the gap through corporate solutions.  The Cabinet report, which contained detailed information on the provisional settlement, would be considered at the Corporate Resources Overview & Scrutiny Committee meeting scheduled for 29^th January, 2016.  A copy of the Cabinet report would be sent to all Members following the meeting.  

            The Leader of the Council commented on the financial pressures within the Education budget, specifically around pension contributions and pay increases.  He outlined the Council’s commitments to continue to protect the Education budget as much as possible without impacting on other service areas.   

            The Chief Executive began the presentation which covered the following areas:-

• Purpose of today’s meeting
• Settlement Context
• Settlement Headlines

The Chief Officer (Education & Youth) and Finance Manager continued the detailed presentation which covered the following areas:-

• Service Business Plan Proposals (Schools)
• Service Business Plan Proposals (Education & Youth (excluding schools))
• Local Pressures and Inflation
• Schools Allocations
• Education Grants 2016/17
• Next steps and timescales

The Chief Officer (Education & Youth) provided a detailed explanation on the proposal from the Welsh Government (WG) to incorporate the Education Improvement Grant into the Revenue Support Grant (RSG).  An announcement on this was expected in April, 2016.  He also reported that the Young People’s Co-ordinator would be making recommendations to the Operational Board on how the reduction in Families First Grant would be managed.  

            The comments and questions which were raised by Members of the Committee on the presentation, together with the responses given, are detailed in Appendix 1 (attached).

RESOLVED:

That the presentation be noted.

There were no members of the public and one member of the press in attendance.

(The meeting started at 2.00 pm and ended at 3.02pm)