Agenda item

Councillor A. James had earlier declared an interest that he is a governor at Llangadog CP School.

The Committee considered the Revenue and Capital Budget Monitoring Report relating to the 2016/17 financial year as at 31st December 2016 for the Education & Children Department. It was advised that the report indicated a current potential year end overspend of £1,767,000 in its revenue budget and that the capital programme showed a net variance of -£6,550,000 against the 2016/17 approved budget.

The following issues were raised during consideration of the report:

In response to a question regarding the on-going costs associated with early voluntary retirement (EVR) and redundancy for teachers, the Interim Director of Education & Children’s Services informed the Committee that during recent months, officers had been working on new arrangements to support schools in relation to this matter, including the revision of relevant policies. A Panel had been established and would be made up of officers from Human Resources, Financial Services and the Education & Children Department. The Panel would be chaired by the Director and its aim was to challenge and assist schools in relation to restructuring, releasing staff and the efficient use of their budgets. Additional work had also been undertaken to collect data on school staffing structures. In the longer term, the department wanted to develop a re-deployment policy for schools which would require governing bodies to consider teachers at risk (due to school closures for example) and the possible use of financial incentives for schools who took on at-risk staff from other schools. 

In response to a query regarding the vacant educational psychologist post, the Interim Director of Education & Children’s Services stated that due to an officer retiring, the post would not be replaced in order to achieve efficiency savings. However, he stressed that this would not affect provision as new ways of working that had been adopted in light of the recent Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Bill, would mitigate any impact associated with the loss of this post.

Clarification was sought as to the strategies being developed to ensure the long-term sustainability of the Music Service. The Interim Director of Education & Children’s Services informed the Committee that officers were seeking to re-model the service in light of the Donaldson recommendations as schools could opt-out of procuring music teaching services, making it vulnerable at a time when budgets were being reduced. One key development would be to utilise the peripatetic teachers for both teaching musical instruments as well as providing curriculum support for the ‘creative’ element of the future curriculum, as recommended by the Donaldson Review. The Welsh Government was also establishing an endowment fund for music services in recognition of the financial pressure being experienced by local authorities but no further details had been received as yet.  

In response to a question on the proposed development of a new school building for Ysgol Gymraeg Dewi Sant in Llanelli, the Modernisation Programme Manager informed the Committee that the Authority’s preferred site was on the Llanerch Playing Fields, next to the school’s current location. He acknowledged that there was some local opposition to the proposed development but that a pre-planning consultation exercise would provide all interested parties to formally submit comments and voice concerns. The consultation exercise would be required prior to the Authority seeking planning consent for the development.

Concern was expressed at the on-going delays in developing new primary school facilities in Ammanford, as well as slippages in other Band A projects such as Llangadog. The Modernisation Programme Manager acknowledged the concerns and agreed that re-organisation of primary provision in the Ammanford town area was required, along with new facilities. He reminded the Committee that the Authority had to utilise all its funding for Band A projects by 2019 but due to the changing demographics and regeneration plans for the town, it would have been unlikely that the Ammanford project would have been completed by this time. This was the case in other areas of the County and other projects had therefore been prioritised ahead of projects such as Ammanford in order to minimise the risk of losing the funding. However, he reassured members that work to develop proposals and identify suitable land in Ammanford, alongside officers from the Regeneration & Policy Division, was progressing.

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED that the report be received.