Agenda and minutes

        i.           To receive any apologies for absence.

      ii.           To receive any declarations of interest.

     iii.           To receive any announcements by the Presiding Member.

1.i  Apologies

Councillors Evans, Clarke, Forsey, Peterson and Kellaway.

1.ii  Declarations of Interest

None received.

1.iii  Presiding Member’s Announcements

No announcements.

To confirm the minutes of the last meeting.

Minutes of the last meeting held on 29 February 2024.

Item 4 Council Tax and Budget 2024/25: Councillor Reynolds referred to page 15, under Comments of Councillors on substantive motion.  It refers to Councillor Clarke commending Councillor M Howells on the alternative budget.  Councillor Reynolds suggested this should read Councillor Clarke commended Councillor M Howells on producing an alternative budget.

To consider any proposed appointments.

To consider the proposed appointments set out in the report.

In Councillor Clarke’s absence, Councillor Harvey moved the appointments set out in the report, as agreed by the Business Managers as set out below.

Councillor Reeks seconded the report, which was unanimously agreed.

Resolved: That the following appointments be agreed.

Governing Body Appointments

The Presiding Member invited the Leader to present the report the Council which set out the Members Scheme of Allowances for 2024/25 as set out in the annual report of the Independent Remuneration Committee.

The Council was required to adopt and publish a scheme of allowances for Members for the current municipal year, based on the salaries prescribed by the Independent Remuneration Panel for Wales, known as “the IRP”. 

The IRP was the statutory body set up by Welsh Government to determine the appropriate level of remuneration paid to elected members in Wales.

The IRP published its Annual Report in February of this year, and the Council was required to formally adopt those recommendations and approve the allowances for 2024/25.

There was no discretion regarding the amount of the salaries as they were fixed by the IRP.

The IRP determined that the basic annual salaries for elected members for 2024/25 should be re-based at £18,666 to take account of inflationary increases and to ensure that remuneration was linked to average salary levels. Senior salaries were also increased and re-set in line with relevant comparators.

The increase in basic salaries took effect from 1 April 2024 and backdated payments would be made to Members. Any changes to additional remuneration for senior salaries were payable from the date of appointment of the post-holders at the Council AGM on 21 May 2024.

Councillor Reeks seconded the report.

There were 34 for, none against and four abstentions

Decision:

Council approved and adopted the Members Schedule of Remuneration for 2024/25 as set out in Appendix 1.

The Presiding Member invited the Leader to introduce the Annual Pay and Reward Report.

The Pay and Reward Policy for the workforce was an annual report that required adoption by the Council. The policy set out the internal mechanisms for remunerating Council officers and provided an update on any changes since the last adoption in 2023.

Any changes that were made during the last 12 months were supported by the correct democratic or officer processes, where necessary, and noted in the covering report.

It was noted by Council that the report also provided the previous in-year decision to align the apprentice programme rates of pay to that of the Foundation Living Wage rates.  This critical change was in line with the Council’s aspiration to be a Living Wage City.  This change also enabled the successful recruitment of an additional 20 apprentices over the last quarter using grant funding through the Levelling Up Fund.

Offering and employing entry level roles such as apprentices was important for the authority in its ongoing recruitment and retention strategies and an important intervention as part of our new People Plan for the Council’s workforce.

Councillor D Davies seconded the report.

The vote was unanimous.

Decision:

Council reviewed and agreed the Pay and Reward Policy in order to meet the statutory requirement for a pay policy statement to be approved and published by Council on an annual basis.

The Presiding Member invited the Leader to present the Council’s Strategic Equality Plan for 2024 -2028, this was the fourth plan provided by the Council.

Under the Equality Act (2010), local authorities in Wales were required to develop and publish Strategic Equality Plans (SEPs) that set out the objectives they wanted to achieve over a four-year period.

This plan set out the strategic vision and priorities for the next four years and contained Equality Objectives that supported the Council to meet the Public Sector Equality Duty.

The Council’s Equality Objectives were developed in partnership with key internal and external stakeholders and were subject to extensive community engagement. The involvement of grassroots communities ensured that whilst the Plan delivered a strategic vision for equality in Newport, it also ensured tangible outcomes for communities.

The SEP for 2024 -2028 was reviewed by the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee at their meeting in March and also at Cabinet in April.

The last four years presented significant challenges to staff and communities across Newport, including unprecedented difficulties caused by the global pandemic, international conflict, and the cost-of-living crisis.

These events also disproportionality impacted specific groups and further highlighted the inequalities that existed within communities.

The Leader added that as a listening Council, we must learn from the emerging challenges communities faced and continue to strive to deliver equitable public services for all residents.

The SEP presented an opportunity to build on achievements as an employer and service provider, look to the future, and identify priorities to advance equality for everyone who lived or worked in Newport.

The Equality Objectives within this SEP was built on the work delivered in previous plans and identified clear outcomes the Council was working towards, and the actions taken to deliver equitable public services.

The Equality Objectives struck a good balance between internally-focused objectives based on self-reflection, such as a commitment to improving representation at all levels of the organisation and externally-focused objectives aimed at improving equality in key areas of our society, including ongoing commitment to improve community cohesion across the city.

Members were also aware of the recent unanimous council motion to adopt care experienced as a protected characteristic. The Leader was proud to say this was embedded within the delivery of this plan.

This Plan represented a positive step forward for Newport City Council and supported the Council to deliver a vision of a more equal Newport, where everyone was treated fairly, and the needs of residents from all backgrounds were considered.

The Leader thanked Cabinet Members including Councillor Dimitri Batrouni, the Cabinet Member for Organisational Transformation, and Councillor Laura Lacey in her role as LGBTQ+ Champion for their contributions to this area of work. 

Councillor Batrouni seconded the report.

Comments of Councillors:

§  Councillor Batrouni thanked all the staff involved in producing the Plan.  Councillor Batrouni also thanked the Council’s champions: Councillor Lacey as mentioned above, Councillor Harris, Welsh Language Champion, and Councillor Hourahine, Anti-Poverty Champion. Councillor Batrouni also thanked Councillor D Harvey and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The Presiding Member invited the Chair of Democratic Services Committee, Councillor Mogford to present this item, which was considered by the Committee at their meeting on 18 March which reviewed the Scheme of Delegation for Assets, Part 3 of the Constitution. Part of the Democratic Services Committee work programme was to review the Council’s constitution.

The Committee reviewed the arrangements for delegated decisions noting that: the values of certain asset transactions had been in place for some time and were no longer aligned with current asset values, were out of step with other delegated decisions contained within the constitution and practice at other local authorities.

Councillor Mogford outlined the proposed amendments to the scheme of delegation supported by the committee, outlined in detail in the report.  These were: 

·        To acquire, purchase and dispose of interests in land and property at a value up to £100,000. 

·        To enter into, amend or surrender leases of land and property up to £100,000.

·        To deal with licences, permissions, wayleaves, easements and other legal interests in land or property.

The Committee noted that the relevant Cabinet Members and Ward Members would be consulted where there was a direct or wider impact on the community or residents arising from any proposed decision.

The Committee also noted that these delegations did not override any duty to ensure compliance with the Council’s rules relating to capital or other financial controls and policies.

Councillor Lacey seconded the report.

Comments of Councillors:

§  Councillor Lacey fully supported the changes.  With reference to the Scheme of Delegation increasing to £100K, it should be noted that previously, it was only £1,000, which was a large increase to bring Newport City Council into line with other local authorities.  There were no changes to the consultation with Cabinet and Ward Members.  Councillor Lacey thanked Democratic Services and Officers who contributed to the changes.

§  Councillor Fouweather referred to the report where it stated that there would be no changes to Ward Member consultation. It did however say in the report that Ward Members would only be consulted if it was considered to have wider implications for the ward. Councillor Fouweather asked who made the decision on what was considered as having wider implications for the ward.  Councillor Fouweather was concerned that decisions were being taken away from Ward Members and being picked up by officers.

§  Councillor Hourahine agreed with Councillor Fouweather that this point was made at committee regarding full consultation with Ward Members and therefore sort clarification.

§  The Monitoring Officer provided advice on these points. Ward Members have never taken decisions on property transactions, meaning that they did not have decision-making powers; Cabinet Members did and still would do so in many cases. The aim of this was to take minor decisions into the hands of officers, and Members were free to concentrate on larger strategic property transactions. With regard to who determined consultation with Ward Members, officers would consult with Ward Members and Cabinet Members to seek clarification on whether  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To provide an opportunity for Councillors to ask questions to the Leader of the Council in accordance with the Council’s Standing Orders.

Process:

No more than 15 minutes will be allocated at the Council meeting for questions to the Leader of the Council.

The question must be addressed through the Mayor or the person presiding at the meeting and not directly to the person being questioned.

Before commencement of questions, the Presiding Member invited the Leader to make the following announcements to Council:

International Women’s Day

The Leader reflected on the International Women’s Day events that took place across the city including at The Place and the Riverfront Theatre.

The Leader was proud to announce that eight young women, represented the city and their country, at a recent International Women’s Day event.  The young women from the city’s youth clubs travelled to Scotland to join others from the four home nations.

It followed the success of last year’s festival in Blackpool, organised by the United Youth Alliance, where Newport youth club members represented Wales.

The group, accompanied by four staff, were the guests of Dumfries and Galloway Council for the weekend.  As well as attending a gala dinner, the young people attended a conference with keynote speakers and took part in workshops.

This was a prestigious event, and it reflected well on the young people and youth clubs, that they were invited to participate again.

The Leader thanked the young women and youth workers, for being such great ambassadors for Newport.

It was also important that thanks were noted to the generosity of Dumfries and Galloway Council, the only cost for Newport City Council was for providing the coach to Scotland.

Newport’s youth and play service played a valuable role in the lives of young people in the city by finding opportunities such as this to help them broaden their experiences as well as providing free activities for all ages throughout the year.

The Leader also thanked Councillor D Harvey for the role that she played in this venture.

Caerleon partnership

The Council was working in partnership with Cadw and Amgueddfa Cymru to maximise the potential of Caerleon’s Roman heritage.

This part of the city was widely recognised for its rich culture and historic assets including the National Roman Legion Museum, the Fortress Baths, and the Amphitheatre. It was a tourist destination and popular for school trips.

Together, the three organisations were developing a vision for Caerleon and exploring options to deliver an improved experience across all the Roman sites for both the community and visitors.

People living and working in Caerleon would be invited to join Roman Caerleon – Working in Partnership and help represent local views.

The partnership was committed to ensuring that the opportunities offered by our Roman heritage benefitted residents and businesses as well as visitors.

It was important that local people and other stakeholders were a part of this process to help more people discover the history, landmarks, and treasures of Caerleon.

Business decarbonisation

The Council recently launched the Net Zero Newport decarbonisation programme which provided free energy-saving advice and grant funding to help local organisations reduce their energy costs and carbon emissions.

The free advice and match-funded grants up to £30,000 were available to local businesses and community groups with buildings in the Newport area.  The Leader hoped Council colleagues would spread the word in their wards.  This scheme could  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.