Decision details

The Committee resolved:-

(i)              to allocate £430,000 to Community Food Initiatives North East for investment in food procurement, development of food pantries (300 memberships, weekly food shops, management and admin); and Support, Advice, Finance and Education team support;

(ii)             to allocate £300,000 to the Scottish Welfare Fund provision to reinstate medium priority applications to the end of March 2023;

(iii)            to allocate £100,000 to SCARF to assist in alleviating fuel poverty through distribution of fuel vouchers and trialling a ‘cash first’ approach;

(iv)           to allocate £100,000 to ABZ works to support 100 lone parent families through existing employability programmes;

(v)             to allocate £45,000 to the provision of insulation measures for 500 homes;

(vi)           to allocate £25,000 to establish a Family Wellbeing Fund, to support families through the provision of advice and to develop a support plan.

(vii)          to instruct the Chief Officer – Early Intervention and Community Empowerment to make arrangements to distribute the funds as required;

(viii)        to instruct the Chief Officer – Early Intervention and Community Empowerment to report to a future Committee on the outcomes achieved by the allocation of funds;

(ix)           to instruct the Chief Officer – Early Intervention and Community Empowerment to report to the relevant committee on the provision of warm spaces within Aberdeen and explore any support that can be provided to communities visiting them;

(x)             should additional resources be made available by either the UK or Scottish Government for fuel and the cost of living crisis, to instruct the relevant Chief Officer to report to the relevant committee with options for the best allocation of these funds;

(xi)           to request that in relation to the money allocated to Community Food Initiatives North East, to send information to members by way of email, the breakdown of the costs of administration and management;

(xii)          to request that the Chief Officer – Early Intervention and Community Empowerment, investigate if there had been any requests from tenants to switch off their gas supply, following press coverage regarding Langstane Housing and tenants asking for their gas supply to be turned off due to the soaring fuel costs, and to let members know by way of email of any such requests.