Agenda item

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meetings held on 20 December 2018 and 31 January 2019.

That subject to the amendments listed above, the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The minutes of the meetings held on the 20^th December 2018 and 31^st January 2019 were submitted.

20 December 2018

Councillor Heesom referred to the second recommendation as shown on page 7 pf the minutes and asked if a workshop on the repairs and maintenance of schools had been arranged.  The Facilitator confirmed this had been arranged for the 12^th April at 10.00 am.  An email invitation had been sent to all Members and it was agreed to re-circulate this to Councillor Heesom.

Councillor Dave Mackie referred to his comments on page 7 of the minutes and asked that the following wording be included at the end of the 3^rd paragraph:-

‘which is a form of PFI and an in-depth study, conducted by the National Audit Office of the United Kingdom concluded that the private finance initiative model had proved to be more expensive and less efficient in providing hospitals, schools and other public infrastructure than public financing.   There was now only a 10% difference in the cost to the Authority of capital vs MIM funding and urged that MIM not be considered.’   Previously there had been a 50% difference but in the report at 3.10 in the report it had changed to 35% so there was only a 10% difference at this point which is why he had asked for this amendment.  The Chair thanked Councillor Mackie and felt that his point should be minuted but invited the Cabinet Member and Chief Officer to update Committee on this.

The Cabinet Member for Education provided an update on the MIM model information received from the WLGA and clarified that 81% of the cost would be met by Welsh Government and 19% by Local Authorities on the MIM model.  

Councillor Ian Smith asked if there was any information on interest rates charged with regard to the Council’s borrowing.  In response the Chief Officer explained the situation was constantly changing with uncertainty from Welsh Government on the detail regarding the MIM route for funding together with the Band B and 21^st Century Schools Programme.

Councillor Dave Mackie proposed that subject to the amendments listed abovethe minutes be approved as a correct record.  This was seconded by Councillor Geoff Collett.

31 January 2019

The minutes of the meetings held on the 31 January, 2019, were submitted.

Matters arising

The Chair referred to page 12 of the minutes and asked for an update on the contribution from Welsh Government on School Pensions Costs.  In response the Chief Officer confirmed the costs had been met by Central Government 85% of which had been passported to Welsh Government who would be providing the other 15%.  It was confirmed the schools would receive the full amount of the pensions increase for the next financial year but there was still uncertainty for the future.  The Chair commented this was good news and that he hoped in the future pay deals could be funded nationally.

On page 16 Councillor Heesom said that he had expressed an interest in becoming a member of the School Performance Monitoring Group (SPMG) but had not been contacted following the meeting.   In response the Chief Officer reported that the cycle of meetings were in the process of being finalised and that an update would follow shortly.

RESOLVED:

That subject to the amendments listed above, the minutes be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.