Councillors Elaine Evans, Dan Potter and Mark Strong apologised for their

inability to attend the meeting.  

Lowri Edwards, Corporate Lead Officer, Democratic Services, apologised for her inability to attend the meeting.

There were no disclosures of personal or prejudicial interests.

             Councillor Rowland Rees-Evans, Committee Chair, outlined the meeting

           procedure and welcomed the Leader of the Council, Councillor Ellen ap Gwynn,

           Cabinet Members and Officers to the meeting.

           The Leader of the Council, Councillor Ellen ap Gwynn, presented the report on the

           draft budget for 2022/2023 including the three year capital programme, explaining

           that this is a provisional settlement, and that the final settlement is due on the

           1^st March, 2022. The total revenue settlement, known as the Aggregate External

           Finance (AEF) allocated to Ceredigion for 2022/23 is £119.419m.  This 

           compares with 2021/22 allocation of £110.006m (adjusted for transfers),and is

       an increase of 8.6%. Wales as a whole has seen an average increase of 9.4% with

       Ceredigion ranked at 19^th. The Leader advised Committee Members that since her

       appointment in 2012, £50 million savings had been made.

         Ceredigion’s Settlement reflects a range of less financially favourable

       re-distributional movements seen in population and Secondary School pupil

       number indicators. Standard Spending Assessments (SSA) are notional

       calculations of what each Council needs to spend to provide a standard level of

       service. The SSA for 2022/23 is £166.372m which is a 7.2% increase from the

       previous year (2021/22 £155.153m). The most significant service increase being

       personal social services at 12.2%.

        The budget model has been drafted to include the adjustments with regard to the

       provisional settlement. Any adjustments required that arise in the final settlement

       will require consideration and appropriate incorporation into the budget.

       The detailed assessment work carried out to identify the unavoidable cost pressures  

       faced by Services has been finalised and identified a net total amount of £13.1m, which

       is summarised in Appendix 1 of the agenda papers. This amount is almost double the

       previous years and is £3.8m more than the increased sum available in the settlement

       and this would equate to the need to increase Council Tax by close to 8%, however

       some savings are available to the budget setting process.

       The Rising costs of Care alone totals £7m, including:

·         UK £9.90 Real Living Wage and 1.25% Employers National Insurance – impacts on most if not all Care related Commissioned Services (results in provisional inflation factors of 8.87% for Domiciliary Care / Supported Living, 9.13% for Residential Care and 11.15% for Direct Payments);

·         Residential Homes – Fees setting review currently in progress;

·         Direct Payments;

·         Looked after Children; and;

·         Domiciliary Care.

       The Leader also advised the Committee that the provision for pay inflation is a

       significant factor estimated at £3.4m and that there is no formal agreement yet on

       the main 2021/22 pay award. After taking into account the potential funding

       available, a balanced budget is achievable.

       A Corporate approach has been taken to dealing with the Covid-19 net costs and

       losses, as opposed to each service having to incur sums attributable to relevant

       services. This approach has ensured that financial management of the 2021/22

       budgets and business as usual activity remained strong. Total hardship costs and

       lost income are currently forecast at a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.

The Chairman advised the Committee that the report would no longer be considered due to Officers availability.  It was agreed that this would be considered during the next term of office.

Elin Prysor attended to present a report on Covid-19 Gold Command decisions

log.  The previous reports were presented on 20^th January 2021, 16^th June 2021

and 1^st December 2021.  The Decision Log for decisions made between

1^st September 2021 and 31^st December 2021 were included in this report and had

been published on the Council Website.

Following discussion, Members agreed to note the content of the Gold

Command Covid-19 Leadership Group Meetings Decisions Log to monitor

the governance for the Council’s adapting decision-making arrangements. The Chairman thanked Elin Prysor for the report.

Elin Prysor attended to present a report on Covid-19 Gold Command decisions

log.  The previous reports were presented on 20^th January 2021, 16^th June 2021

and 1^st December 2021.  The Decision Log for decisions made between

1^st September 2021 and 31^st December 2021 were included in this report and had

been published on the Council Website.

Following discussion, Members agreed to note the content of the Gold

Command Covid-19 Leadership Group Meetings Decisions Log to monitor

the governance for the Council’s adapting decision-making arrangements. The Chairman thanked Elin Prysor for the report.

The minutes of the Coordinating meeting held on the 1^st  December 2021 were confirmed as a true record of proceedings and there were no matters arising from those minutes.

      Councillor Rowland Rees-Evans, Chair, advised Members that this was the last Coordinating Committee meeting for this term of office.  He took the opportunity to thank the Committee Members for their support during the past 2 years whilst he has been Chair.  He thanked the Leader of the Council and Cabinet Members. He also thanked Lisa Evans, Standards and Scrutiny Officer and Dwynwen Jones, Overview and Scrutiny Officer, for their support during this period. He also thanked the Monitoring Officer, Elin Prysor, Carwyn Williams and Rhidian Jones, Translators, and all Officers involved for ensuring the smooth running of the meetings during this period.