LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOUNDARY COMMISSION FOR WALES
27 SEPTEMBER 2006 AT CARADOG HOUSE, ST ANDREW'S PLACE, CARDIFF
Present:
Commission
Mrs Susan Smith (Chairman), Mr John Davies (Deputy Chair), Mr Dennis Roberts (Member)
Secretariat
Mr Edward Lewis (Secretary), Mr Steve Halsall, Mr Dave Carr, Mrs Liza Brough
1. DECLARATION OF INTERESTS
1.1 There were no new interests declared.
2. MINUTES OF COMMISSION MEETING HELD ON 27th JULY 2006
2.1 These were agreed subject to some minor amendments.
3. MATTERS ARISING
3.1 Merlin Issues
3.1.1 It was reported that Merlin had still not sent an engineer to the Commission's offices to undertake the outstanding re-wiring work in the main office. The issue of outstanding work had been raised at the meeting with the Local Government Minister who had requested that the sponsor division ensure that the work was carried out as soon as possible. It was reported that Merlin were looking into the possibility of putting in place a separate service level agreement with the Commission.
3.2 Accounting Software
3.2.1 It was confirmed that Merlin had now installed the accounting software on the Commission's server.
3.3 Commissioners' Appointments
3.3.1 The Assembly has confirmed that the formal interviews to be held on 9th October 2006. The Chair said that she would update the Commissioners' assessment forms as soon as possible.
3.4 Community Review Directions
3.4.1 The Secretariat had contacted the Assembly's Local Government Policy Division (the Sponsor Division) and agreed an information checklist to be used by the Sponsor Division when drafting future directions to the Commission.
3.4.2 The Secretary advised the Commissioners that Directions had been received from the Assembly for Rhondda Cynon Taff (RCT) and Anglesey community reviews. The RCT Direction was correct and the Commission were awaiting background information from the Sponsor Division before proceeding with the review. The Anglesey Direction was incorrect and the Commission had notified the sponsor division of the errors and were now awaiting a revised version. This problem had arisen because the Commission were still not being copied into the review background documents that the local authorities provided to the Assembly when requesting Directions and therefore were unable to fully check the draft directions. It was agreed that the Secretary would speak to the Sponsor Division to discuss the procedure used when drafting Directions and request that the Commission be provided with copies of all background papers that the local authorities forward to the Assembly.
3.5 Inter Commission Secretary meeting
3.5.1 The Secretary advised that a meeting was to be held to discuss the future status of the parliamentary and local government boundary commissions. This was to be held in Cardiff on the 5 October 2006. It was agreed that the LGBCW would host the meeting at Caradog House and that the Secretary would represent the Commission at the meeting.
3.6 WLGA
3.6.1 The Secretary reported that he had written to the Chief Executive of WLGA to follow up on issues raised at the Chair and Secretary's meeting with the WLGA held in July. No response had been received to date.
3.6.2 The Commissioners were informed that the WLGA website now had booking details of their Annual Conference which was to be held on the 26th & 27th October 06. It was agreed that Mr Roberts would represent the Commission at the conference and the Secretariat would make the relevant arrangements.
4. BUILDING BETTER CUSTOMER SERVICES
4.1.1 The Commission considered that the majority of the core principles proposed in the consultation paper were already core to the Commission's practices, with the exception of access to services in minority ethnic languages or British Sign Language. The Commission considered that it would be necessary to adopt partnership working with the Assembly in respect of accessing resources to supply information in ethnic minority languages or British Sign Language. It was agreed that the Commission's response to the consultation would highlight the importance of partnership working and that the matter would be included on the agenda for the next sponsor division liaison meeting.
5. BUDGET FORECAST 2007/2008
5.1 The Commission noted the budget forecast for 2007-08. It was reported that the sponsor division had advised the Commission that it was likely that the level of funding for 2007-08 would be no greater than that for 2006-07. It was considered that this would be insufficient for the Commission's planned review work. It was agreed that the Commission would write to the Assembly to inform them of their estimated budget requirements for 2007-08 and to inform them that any lesser budget was likely to disrupt the Commission's timetable for review work.
5.2 The Assembly Local Government Minister had pointed out that the Commission's 10 year review cycle was difficult to tie in with the Assembly's 3 year budget plans and therefore it would be helpful if in future the Commission would provide the Assembly with projected budget forecasts to assist the Assembly's 3 year budget bids.
6. CONSULTATION: TOWARDS E - WALES
6.1 It was agreed that the Commission would respond to the consultation expressing their support for the principles behind the initiative but highlighting the need for timely implementation of IT services and requirements as it had been the Commission's experience that it was in this area that problems arose. It was agreed that the Secretary would draft an appropriate response.
7. NEATH PORT TALBOT COUNTY BOROUGH COUNCIL REVIEW OF COMMUNITY BOUNDARIES AND COMMUNITY ELECTORAL ARRANGEMENTS
7.1 The Commission received the report from Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council and were content that the procedures laid down under Section 60 of the Act had been followed and were in agreement with the Council's conclusion that no changes were required. It was agreed that the Commission would accept the Council's Final Report and that a draft report to the National Assembly would be produced for consideration at the next Commission meeting.
8. FUTURE FORM OF LGBCW AND BCW
8.1 The Commission considered that it would be necessary to ensure that both the National Assembly and themselves were fully involved in any consultation regarding possible alternative arrangements. It would be helpful to look at existing models for Wales/Scotland, Northern Ireland and England, together with proposed alternatives such as joint commissions, when considering possible future models for structural arrangements. It was agreed that the Secretary would write to the Permanent Secretary to reinforce the Commission's view that they would wish to be fully involved in any consultation.
9. ANNUAL OPEN MEETING
9.1 The Commission noted the revised agenda, which was tabled. It was noted that 28 people had accepted the invitation to attend and the AOM had also been advertised in the Sponsor Division's monthly e- bulletin.
10. DATE OF NEXT MEETING
10.1 Date for next meetings were set for Wednesday 11 October 2006 and Wednesday 8 November 2006
4/4/2007