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Contact: Eirian Roberts 01286 679018
No. | Item |
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CHAIRMAN To elect a
Chairman for 2015/16. Minutes: RESOLVED to elect Councillor Dyfrig Jones as Chairman of this committee for 2015/16. |
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VICE-CHAIRMAN To elect a
Vice-chairman for 2015/16. Minutes: RESOLVED to elect Councillor Jason Humphreys as Vice-chairman of this committee for 2015/16. |
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APOLOGIES To receive any apologies for absence. Minutes: Councillors Lesley Day, Gwynfor Edwards, Sian Gwenllian, June Marshall, Gethin Glyn Williams and John Wyn Williams. |
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DECLARATION OF PERSONAL INTEREST To receive any declaration of personal interest. Minutes: Councillor Annwen Hughes declared
a personal interest in item 9(B) on the agenda – Holiday Homes and Taxes
Investigation – as she owned a holiday home. The member was of the opinion that
it was a prejudicial interest, and she withdrew from the chamber during the
discussion on the issue. |
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URGENT ITEMS To note any items that are
a matter of urgency in the view of the Chairman for consideration. |
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The Chairman shall propose that the minutes of the previous meeting of this committee held on 26 March, 2015 be signed as a true record. Minutes: The Chairman signed the minutes
of the previous committee meeting, held on 26 March, 2015, as a true record. |
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PROCUREMENT STRATEGY 2014/15 PDF 374 KB Cabinet Member: Councillor Mandy
Williams-Davies (A) Submission of the final draft Strategy by
the Cabinet Member for Economy
(attached). (B) To consider the questions raised at the
Preparatory Meeting (attached). 10.40am
– 11.25am Additional documents: Minutes: Submitted – (a) Final
draft of the Strategy from the Cabinet Member for Economy. (b) The questions
raised at the Preparatory Meeting on 23 April. The Cabinet Member set the context and she responded to questions of the
Preparatory Meeting in relation to:- ·
Success of the previous Procurement Strategy in terms of achieving all
its objectives. ·
General ambition of the Council for procurement. ·
Striking a balance between ensuring value for money by procuring and
keeping the benefit local. ·
Outcomes of engagement with stakeholders on a local level. ·
Resources to realise the new Strategy. ·
Suitability of the measures for the draft Strategy. ·
Ensure commitment and understanding across the Council to realise the
new procurement arrangements and the objectives of the Strategy. ·
The contribution of procurement towards finding financial savings for the
Council. ·
Category management as a method of offering the best
opportunity to ensure robust control of the Council’s procurement arrangements
and value for money / financial savings. ·
Activation of e-procurement across the Council. ·
Methods that are in place to measure compliance with the requirements of
the Council’s Language Plan. Members were given an opportunity to ask
further questions and offer their observations. During the discussion, the Cabinet Member, the
Senior Manager – Democracy and Delivery and the Corporate Procurement Manager
responded to questions / observations relating to:- ·
The amount of £185 million spent by the Council during
2013/14, on goods, work and services provided by external organisations. It was noted that the statement in the
foreword of the Strategy was misleading and that it should be made clear that
this amount included funding that came into the Council, as well as the funding
of the Council itself. ·
The Council’s good performance against the local
expenditure target of 45% and it was suggested that this figure should be used
in the report next time. ·
The need to put pressure on the Assembly to ensure a
fair field to all councils in terms of measuring performance and providing statistics. ·
Methods of addressing examples where a company
headquarters is outside the area but the work itself would be contracted
locally. ·
The suggestion that it would put pressures on the
company rather than the Procurement Unit, to state how many local workers were
employed on contracts etc. was a very useful addition. ·
Responding to complaints and how category management
would create more expertise within specific fields and assist learning across
all fields. ·
The role of procurement in the new approach by means
of category management as an enabler for services to reach their efficiency
target. ·
Request for certainty that the Council has provided
enough opportunities for local companies. ·
Influence of the Council on the private sector. ·
Avoiding unnecessary bureaucracy. ·
Importance of changing culture and the need for
departmental training on a joint basis. ·
Importance of ensuring that some e-procurement
processes do not hinder good procurement. ·
Importance of engagement with local stakeholders and
increasing local skills. ·
The need to push the boundary as far as is reasonably
possible in terms of the Welsh language. · Importance ... view the full minutes text for item 7. |
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FFORDD GWYNEDD STRATEGY PDF 5 MB Cabinet Member: Councillor Peredur Jenkins Submission
of the draft Strategy by the Cabinet Member for Resources (attached). Additional documents: Minutes: Submitted – the report of the Cabinet
Member for Resources inviting the committee’s observations on the latest
version of the draft Strategy prior to submitting the final draft to the
Cabinet for formal adoption. The Cabinet Member set the context and
a presentation was given by the Chief Executive which addressed several
questions which had been raised at the Preparatory Meeting on 23 April in
relation to:- ·
The meaning of Ffordd Gwynedd ·
The general
ambition of the Council for Ffordd Gwynedd, and was
it achievable and realistic. ·
The adequacy of
the resources in place and the capacity to realise the Ffordd
Gwynedd Strategy vision and to implement it. ·
The likelihood
that Ffordd Gwynedd would succeed. ·
Evidence that Ffordd Gwynedd had succeeded to improve services for
residents and secure financial savings in the two pilot schemes in the fields
of homelessness and property. ·
Methods of
securing commitment and understanding across the Council to realise Ffordd Gwynedd. ·
The performance
measures which could be put in place in order to ensure the change of culture
within the Council. ·
Formal / informal
engagement with stakeholders. Members were given an opportunity to ask further questions and offer
their observations. During the
discussion, the Cabinet Member and the Chief Executive responded to questions /
observations regarding:- ·
How the Strategy
was intertwined with the concept of Managing Demand and the Savings Strategy? ·
The method of
disseminating Ffordd Gwynedd down and across the
establishment. ·
How Ffordd Gwynedd responded to legislation and the
requirements of Welsh Government and various external bodies and was this
Council brave enough to be reprimanded in order to keep the residents of
Gwynedd happy? ·
The challenge of
getting people to behave differently. ·
The feeling that
the statement ‘Putting the People of
Gwynedd at the Heart of Everything’ was a significant challenge because
every area had strong voices which had their own agendas. ·
Lessons learnt
from the pilot schemes. The committee’s desire to see the Ffordd Gwynedd Strategy succeeding was expressed, and it
was noted that one of the most important point arising from the discussion was
the question of risk and the need to equip all staff, from the top down, to
practise common sense and to have confidence to take small risks which might
bring large rewards. Concern was expressed that only half
the committee members were present to take part in this discussion. The staff
had committed to these changes and it was extremely important that they and the
Leadership Team were given appropriate support by the members also. The Cabinet Member and the Chief
Executive were thanked for the discussion. |
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(A) Holiday Homes and Taxes
Investigation – to submit a draft brief (attached). (B) Engagement Scrutiny
Investigation – to submit a revised draft brief (attached). 12.25pm – 12.40pm Additional documents: Minutes: Submitted – a draft
scope of two potential investigations, namely:- (a) Holiday Homes and Taxes Scrutiny
Investigation (b) Engagement
Scrutiny Investigation The committee was asked to select one
investigation from the two and it was agreed that the Holiday Homes and Taxes
Investigation was of higher priority. RESOLVED (a) To
establish a Scrutiny Investigation into the field of Holiday Homes and Taxes. (b) To
appoint the Chairman, Councillor Dyfrig Jones, along with Councillors Trevor
Edwards, Aled Evans, Eirwyn Williams and Wyn Williams, as members of the
Investigation, and ask Vera Jones (Members’ Manager – Democracy Services) to
contact all committee members to invite more people. |