FEARS have been raised that expected job losses amongst staff that organise and clerk Powys County Council (PCC) meetings, will see scrutiny of decisions suffer.

The finance panel met on Friday, January 17, and discussed the details of the draft budget which had been just published.

The proposal made by the head of legal and democratic services Clive Pinney said that the cuts could save over £179,000.

In 2018, lack of scrutiny was highlighted by the Welsh Audit Office in a report as a weakness and it made proposals to improve the role of scrutiny at PCC.

Plaid Cymru group leader and chair of the democratic services committee Cllr Elwyn Vaughan, (Glantwymyn) said: “The Wales Audit Office highlighted scrutiny yet the impression is that there are substantial staffing and resources cuts going in there which could well have an impact on the mechanics of doing the work.

“I can envisage in a couple of years time we could be criticised again for not achieving what we should be.”

Finance Portfolio Holder Cllr Aled Davies (Conservative – Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochant & Llansilin) said: “The chief executive is the head of the paid service and we have had reassurance that what’s been put in place will not weaken the Council and scrutiny will not be weakened.”

Cllr Peter Roberts (Liberal Democrat – Llandrindod South) the chair of the learning and skills scrutiny committee said: “To reduce the numbers of staff dedicated to scrutiny will  make it impossible for us to deliver the services unless you’re planning to change the senior salary arrangements for scrutiny chairs and expect them to become full time and do the research work.”

“The level of work that is expected of the scrutiny officers we have and the increasing workload that’s expected  make it such that any reduction of staff there will make it impossible for scrutiny to function.

“We actually need more not less.”

The changes are part of a raft of proposals that could save a total of £282,161 by Mr Pinney, that have been signed off by  Portfolio Holder for Corporate Governance and Engagement, Cllr Graham Breeze (Independent – Welshpool Llanerchyddol).

They include:

  • Not recruiting a trained solicitor for a vacant post
  • Not recruiting a part time education/employment solicitor post
  • Registration Services redundancies
  • Regrading solicitor from 14 to 12
  • Reducing councillors travel expense and printing

In the impact assessment report Mr Pinney says: “Whilst the impact of the proposal might initially be regarded as significant, if the process is managed properly and the transition undertaken carefully then the long term impact should be low.

PCC will be attempting to balance its budget for 2020/21 with £11 million in cuts and a proposal to increase council tax by five per cent.

It is expected that the Welsh Government will finalise its local government budget settlement on February 25 and PCC will discuss the budget at a full council meeting on February 28.

The provisional settlement is that Powys receives £184,289 million from the Welsh Government an increase of £9,508 million or 5.4 per cent.

The total budget for next year with a Council Tax increase of five per cent is set to be £269,600 million.