Agenda Item No. 2 DENBIGHSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL Minutes of the County Council held in the Council Chamber, County Hall, Ruthin on Wednesday, 27 June 2007 at 10.00 a.m. PRESENT Councillor K N Hawkins (Chairman), J R Bartley, R E Barton, B Blakeley, J Butterfield, J Chamberlain Jones, D Cooper, J M Davies, M Ll Davies, S A Davies, P A Dobb, E C Ed- wards, G C Evans, H H Evans, I M German, M A German, D Hannam, T K Hodgson, C L Hughes, N J Hughes, R W Hughes, M M Jones, P J Marfleet, P W Owen, D Owens, G J Pickering, N P Roberts, S Roberts, G O Rowlands, J A Smith, D A J Thomas, S Thomas, J Thompson-Hill, M A Webster, C H Williams, E W Williams and R Ll. Williams. ALSO PRESENT Chief Executive, Corporate Directors, County Clerk and Administration Services Manager. PRAYERS Canon Dr R Bayley offered prayers at the commencement of the meeting. BEREAVEMENT The Chairman referred to the sad passing away of Mrs Diane Davies, an employee within the Environment Directorate. Members, Officers and press and public stood in silence as a mark of respect. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE WERE RECEIVED FROM Councillors S Frobisher, T R Hughes, D Jones, ER Jones, G A Jones, N Hugh Jones, G M Kensler and G Williams. CORPORATE HEALTH STANDARD The Lead Member for Health and Wellbeing reported that the Council was being assessed for the Corporate Health Standard (Gold Award) on 18th and 19th July. Councillor P A Dobb urged all Members to support the Council’s submission and to be aware of the various policies that were available on the Council’s intranet. Councillor Dobb indicated that the Corporate Health Standard was the national mark of quality for health and well being in the workplace. Councillor Dobb introduced Mrs Jacquie Bryan, Team Manager Adult Services, who took Members through a chair based exercise prior to the commencement of the meeting. 1 1 URGENT ITEMS In accordance with the requirements of Section 100B(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the Chairman declared that he intended to include for discussion the following matter which required urgent attention:- Planning Appeal Decision - Wern Ddu Wind Farm. 2 MINUTES OF THE COUNCIL RESOLVED that the minutes of the Annual meeting of Council held on 15 May 2007 (previously circulated) be approved. 3 VOLUME OF MINUTES RESOLVED that the Volume of Minutes for the Council’s various meetings for the period 1st March to 17th May 2007 be received and noted. 4 CHAIRMAN’S REPORT The Chairman verbally reported upon the diary of events he and the Vice-Chairman had hosted/attended since 15 May 2007 (circulated at the meeting). He indicated that the North Wales Crossroads event had taken place in Rhyl (not Prestatyn) and also referred to a further event he had attended in Corwen on 23 June (BBC National Orchestra for Wales). The Chairman also referred to the Chief Executive’s diary of events he had attended for the period 1 March - 23 June 2007 which had been circulated a the meeting. RESOLVED that the report be received and noted. 5 ROLE OF MEMBERS IN SECURING IMPROVEMENT The County Clerk submitted a report (previously circulated) requesting Council to note the findings of the recent study by the Wales Audit Office in respect of the Role of Members in Securing Improvement and to consider appropriate mechanisms to ensure that the recommendations arising were implemented. The County Clerk reported that:- - the Wales Audit Office, as part of the planned work from the Regulatory Plan, had undertaken a study to assess, through observations at various Committee meetings, the role of Members in securing improvement, and - the initial findings from the study had been shared with the Leader, Deputy Leader, Chairs of all Scrutiny Committees and the Chair of Corporate Governance Committee along with the Corporate Executive Team. The issues arising were subsequently considered at a feedback session which enabled the overall conclusions and the key actions for improvement to be framed. 2 The Chairman welcomed Mr Rod Alcott and Mr Ian Mackinder of the Wales Audit Office who had been invited to the meeting to present their findings from the study (copies of slides detailing findings and conclusions previously circulated - Welsh versions circulated at the meeting). Mr Rod Alcott referred to the Council’s Regulatory Plan and the intention of the Wales Audit Office (WAO) to work with Members in Denbighshire and to look at Councillor activities. He referred to the work of the WAO in observing a number of committees in action with the support of 7 volunteer Members from Wrexham County Borough Council and 16 Councillors from Denbighshire. Mr Alcott indicated that the involvement of Councillors from another Council was a significant departure from the usual studies and the findings of individual committees were fed back during the course of their meetings. He indicated that the overall findings were collated and forwarded to the Council for observations and subsequently discussed at a meeting with Scrutiny Chairs on 14 June 2007. Mr Alcott indicated that the study focused on three main areas:- - were meetings organized in ways to maximise their effectiveness; - were meetings conducted in an effective manner, and - did meetings achieve effective outcomes. Mr Alcott referred to the overall conclusion that Members were contributing to securing improvement in Council Services but there were clear ways in which that contribution could be made more effective. He then referred to the reasons for the overall conclusion regarding the organization, conduct and outcomes of meetings. Mr Ian Mackinder focused on the key findings of the study and the way forward to secure improvement. The Leader of the Council felt that the study had been a very useful exercise and she intended to raise some issues with Cabinet and Members. Councillor J Butterfield felt that the study had been beneficial for all Councillors who had participated and she urged Members to visit other Councils to see how they operated. She expressed surprise that Members had not identified training as an important issue to be addressed. Mr Mackinder felt that training was an overarching theme but agreed that it was a very important issue. Councillor P A Dobb referred to the statement that minutes should focus on outcomes not discussion and expressed a word of caution that minutes needed to include comments from Members. Mr Rod Alcott re-emphasised that the minutes should record focus of discussions rather than general debate. 3 Councillor D Hannam agreed with the finding that officer reports were too long and consequently many issues were not discussed. Councillor R E Barton agreed and supported the use of an executive summary in reports. The Chairman thanked the officers for their presentation and it was:- RESOLVED that:- (a) the findings of the study be noted, and (b) the County Clerk be requested to submit an action plan for improvement based on the findings of the study to Corporate Governance Committee by October 2007. 6 FINAL REVENUE ACCOUNTS 2006/07 The Corporate Director: Resources submitted a report (previously circulated) requesting Council to:- - agree the final revenue outturn position for 2006/07; - agree the treatment of reserves as detailed in the report, and - approve the Statement of Accounts as at 31st March 2007. The Corporate Director referred to the revised timescale set by the amended Account and Audit Regulations which required approval of the Statutory Accounts for 2006/07 by the end of June 2007. He indicated that the end of year position was much in line with that reported in March/April and all Directorates had come in below budget which needed to be acknowledged. The Corporate Director indicated that balances had again been strengthened this year. However attention needed to be drawn to the contingent liabilities outlined in the financial statement in relation to Equal Pay. School balances had also improved in 2006/07. Attention was drawn to the fact that the defiant is relative to Blessed Edward Jones High School was recognised as irrecoverable. It was therefore recommended that Council balances were made available to the school. The Corporate Director reported that because of incorrect information supplied to the authority, the sum of the pension costs within the report were not correct. Overall the Pension Fund Performance had improved and necessary adjustments would be made during the time the accounts were being audited. He also indicated that 7 Members had failed to complete Related Party Transactions declarations and urged any Member present to filI in the form after the meeting. In conclusion the Corporate Director reported that the overall financial position had improved and he thanked all the Directorate teams for all their hard work in reaching that position. 4 The Lead Member for Finance and Procurement also thanked the finance teams for their excellent work in achieving the improved financial position. However, Councillor G O Rowlands felt that Directorates still needed to be prudent as there was a need to achieve further efficiency savings for 2007/08. Councillor P J Marfleet welcomed the report and referred to the pressure put on staff with the revised timetable for the presentation of the accounts. However, he felt that there was a value in having the accounts earlier so Members/officers could assess whether any areas for improvement were required early in the financial year. With reference to the Housing Revenue Account Councillor Marfleet felt any small assets arising from Right to Buy sales such as garages, footpaths, etc should be moved to the General Account. In response to a comment from Councillor R E Barton the Corporate Director agreed that a further report on the Clwyd Pension Fund could be submitted to the Resources Scrutiny Committee.