Decision details

(i)           to note the significant reduction in capital funding announced by the Scottish Government;

(ii)          to note the increase in borrowing by the Scottish Government reducing resources available to the public sector;

 

Net Zero Transition

 

(iii)         to note that the Council was developing a new prioritised Strategic Infrastructure Plan and developing a Net Zero Transition Plan that could be used to support the business case for any future bids to anticipated investment funding from the UK Government and the Scottish Government;

(iv)         to instruct the Head of Commercial and Procurement to introduce a climate friendly weighting for contracts the Council procures and report back to the Strategic Commissioning Committee on the outcomes achieved annually;

(v)          to instruct the Chief Operating Officer to provide the City Growth and Resources Committee, by July 2020, with options on how Carbon Budgeting for Aberdeen City Council could be introduced to support the organisation’s climate transition plans;

(vi)         to instruct the Chief Officer - Operations and Protective Services to replace all fleet vehicles with alternative powered vehicles (where such vehicles were available in the open market) as part of the rolling programme and within the allocated budget for that programme;

(vii)       to instruct the Chief Officer - Operations and Protective Services to report back to the Operational Delivery Committee on 21 May 2020 with the Tree and Woodland Strategic Implementation Plan which would be incorporated into the Open Space Strategy to increase tree coverage within the city;

(viii)      to instruct the Chief Officer - Governance to report to the Licensing Committee on 1 September 2020 with proposals to consult with the taxi and private hire trade on options for transitioning to alternative powered vehicles;

(ix)         to note that the Council would take delivery of 15 hydrogen fuelled buses during 2020/21;

(x)          to note that the Council would take delivery of a hydrogen fuelled refuse vehicle, the first within the UK;

(xi)         to note the Council’s commitment to invest approximately £100 million towards achieving Net Zero emission targets;

 

Local Outcome Improvement Plan

 

People Outcomes

 

(xii)       to reaffirm the Administration’s commitment to no compulsory redundancies;

(xiii)      to instruct the Chief Officer - Integrated Children’s and Family Services, following consultation with the Chief Officer - Finance, to introduce a supported rent scheme for care experienced young people who were attending further education and report back to the Operational Delivery Committee on 21 May 2020 with details of the scheme;

(xiv)      to instruct the Chief Officer - People and Organisational Development to report to the Staff Governance Committee on 9 June 2020 with a guaranteed interview scheme for any care experienced young person seeking to gain employment with this Council;

(xv)       to instruct the Head of Commercial and Procurement, following consultation with the Chief Officer - Aberdeen City Health and Social Care Partnership, to report back to the Strategic Commissioning Committee on 11 June 2020 on future operational delivery models for Bon Accord Care and Sport Aberdeen;

(xvi)      to instruct the Chief Officer - Finance to give notice to the Board of Directors of NYOP Education (Aberdeen) Limited to disburse £250,000 to Sport Aberdeen, both being nominated charities of NYOP;

(xvii)     to instruct the Head of Commercial and Procurement to notify Sport Aberdeen that their funding was contingent to them providing their staff with the same pay award as Council staff, as per SJC negotiated pay awards;

(xviii)    to instruct the Chief Officer - Customer Experience to alter the Customer Contact Centre (excluding Emergency Services which would continue to operate 24 hours a day), Customer Service Centre, Marischal College Corporate Reception and Customer Access Points opening times to 09.00 until 17.00 hours Monday to Friday;

(xix)      to instruct the Chief Operating Officer to work with schools to ensure that there was a tree for every school within Union Terrace Gardens;

 

Economy Outcomes

 

(xx)       to instruct the Chief Executive to report back to the City Growth and Resources Committee on 18 June 2020 with a Corporate Business Charter;

(xxi)      to instruct the Chief Officer - City Growth to provide a report on the Transient Visitor Levy to the City Growth and Resources Committee on 28 October 2020 on engagement and options;

(xxii)     to instruct the Chief Officer - City Growth to work with relevant stakeholders and partners to develop and embed an Energy Transition Zone Training and Jobs Plan that ensured local people were able to access employment opportunities from any development that occurred;

(xxiii)    to instruct the Chief Officer - City Growth to work with Skills Development Scotland, North East of Scotland College and Opportunity North East on development of energy transition apprenticeships that target local people in the immediate areas around Aberdeen Harbour South;

(xxiv)   to instruct the Chief Officer - City Growth to include the Torry Locality Planning Manager, Lochside Academy Head Teacher (or their representative) and an employability officer in the relevant Energy Transition Zone project workstream so that access by local young people to new training and jobs was a central element of development of a Zone, and that the Training and Jobs Plan was delivered;

(xxv)    to instruct the Chief Officer - City Growth to evaluate the Energy Transition Zone Training and Jobs Plan and report back to the City Growth and Resources Committee on 28 October 2020 on the extent to which local people were accessing training or job opportunities that were generated if any development occurred;

 

Place Outcomes

 

(xxvi)   to instruct the Chief Officer - City Growth to look at options for the operation of the hydrogen fuelled buses beyond the life of the Aberdeen Hydrogen Bus demonstration project, including potential use in other cities in the UK and the Scottish Cities Alliance as the Council upgraded its fleet;

(xxvii)  to instruct the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord to take forward the proposals for investment works at Riverbank School to accommodate the relocation of St. Peter’s School once Riverbank School relocated, to the City Growth and Resources Committee on 28 October 2020 with an indicative programme;

(xxviii)to instruct the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord to take forward proposals for a campus model for future school provision to the Education Operational Delivery Committee on 26 November 2020;

(xxix)   to instruct the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord to take forward proposals for the future anticipated school roll increase at Bucksburn Academy to the Education Operational Delivery Committee on 26 November 2020;

 

Balance Sheet

 

(xxx)    to note the project balance sheet position including the reserves as at 31 March 2020, shown at Appendix 1 of the report;

(xxxi)   to approve the General Fund Capital Programme at Appendix 1, circulated separately;

(xxxii)  to approve the Prudential Indicators at Appendix 2, circulated separately;

(xxxiii)to instruct the Director of Resources, following consultation with the Convener of City Growth and Resources Committee and the Head of Commercial and Procurement, to prepare and submit appropriate bid(s) to the Heat Networks Early Adopters Challenge Fund, announced as part of the Local Government Financial Settlement, and if successful then to finalise, following consultation with the Head of Commercial and Procurement, relevant terms and conditions to then deliver the projects;

(xxxiv) to instruct the Director of Resources, following consultation with the Head of Commercial and Procurement, to arrange for a partnership agreement in relation to the mortuary project to be put in place, including the funding mechanism, and thereafter report back to the City Growth and Resources Committee with a draft partnership agreement for approval along with the full business case;

(xxxv)  to approve the recommended use of reserves and Reserves Policy for 2020/21 as detailed in Appendix 5 of the report;

 

Medium-Term Financial Projections

 

(xxxvi) to note the forecast medium-term financial projection for the period ending 31 March 2024 as shown in paragraph 3.22 of the report;

(xxxvii)                to instruct the Chief Officer - Finance to report to the City Growth and Resources Committee, no later than December 2020, on options to balance the budgets for financial years 2021/22 and 2022/23, including new discretionary tax raising powers available to the Council;

 

Revenue Budget

 

(xxxviii)               to note that the conditions outlined by the Scottish Government within the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2020/21 were met by the proposals set out in the report;

(xxxix) having had due regard to protected characteristics and how the authority could reduce inequalities of outcome caused by socio-economic disadvantage in terms of the Equality Act 2010, to approve the use of various savings options to set at least a balanced budget for financial year 2020/21 as detailed in Appendix 3 and the schedule of fees and charges in Appendix 5, circulated separately;

(xl)         to approve the Commissioning Intentions and Service Standards as described in Appendices 10 and 11 respectively of the report;

(xli)       to instruct the Head of Commercial and Procurement to incorporate community benefit clauses into new contracts let during 2020/21 that increased the contribution of the Council to the Local Outcome Improvement Plan (LOIP) outcomes, and submit a year-end report to the Strategic Commissioning Committee;

(xlii)      to approve the level of funding for the Aberdeen City Health and Social Care Partnership Integration Joint Board (IJB) in 2020/21, as set out in Appendix 4 circulated separately, which exceeded the conditions included in the Council’s financial settlement and provided the IJB with £3.531 million (100%) of additional funding it would receive in 2020/21, and to note that would be for the IJB itself to determine how it would balance its budget;

(xliii)     to approve the fees and charges for the Aberdeen City Health and Social Care Partnership IJB as shown in Appendix 5, circulated separately;

(xliv)     to approve the level of funding for the Council’s other group entities and ALEOs in 2020/21, as set out in Appendix 4, circulated separately;

(xlv)      to instruct the Chief Officer - Finance to recover the full costs associated with being the Administering Authority of the North East Scotland Pension Fund from the Pension Fund;

 

Taxation

 

(xlvi)     to approve a Band D equivalent Council Tax rate, with effect from 1 April 2020 of £1,377.30 excluding water charges - an increase of £1.02 per week;

(xlvii)    to impose and levy Council Tax assessments for the period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021 on all chargeable dwellings in Aberdeen City to be paid by the persons liable therefor under the Local Government Finance Act 1992, as amended by the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994;

(xlviii)  to instruct the Chief Officer - Finance with immediate effect to extend Council Tax relief for young adults aged 16-26 who were previously looked after in a kinship arrangement and were still living in that arrangement at age 16 but did not qualify for relief as Care Leavers;

(xlix)     to note that the Council would implement revisions to National Non-Domestic Rates as defined by the Scottish Government within the relevant Finance Circulars, with effect from 1 April 2020;

(l)           to impose and levy Non-Domestic Rates assessments for the period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021 on all occupiers in Aberdeen City to be paid by those liable;

 

Organisational Structure

 

(li)          to note the final organisational structure shown in Appendix 12 of the report, including the alignment of Business Intelligence & Performance Management (BI&PM) to Customer, and of Governance, Strategic Place Planning and City Growth to Commissioning, within the approved functional structure;

(lii)         to approve the amendment to the Chief Education Officer role from a third tier to a second tier Chief Officer role; and

(liii)        to note that Appointment Panels would be convened to fill vacant posts at tiers 1 and 2.