Issue - meetings

(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  ...  view the full decision text for item 3

(A)         The Council had before it a report by the Director of Resources which provided details of both the revenue budget for 2020/21 and capital programme for the period 2020/21 to 2024/25 in order that approved budgets and Council Tax value could be set for the year commencing 1 April 2020.

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

Balance Sheet

(a)          note the projected balance sheet position including the reserves as at 31 March 2020, shown at Appendix 1;

(b)          approve the General Fund Capital Programme as at Appendix 2;

(c)          consider the capital projects described in Appendix 3 which were not currently included in the General Fund Capital Programme, and instruct the Director of Resources on any action to be taken;

(d)          approve the Prudential Indicators as attached at Appendix 4;

(e)          instruct the Director of Resources, in consultation with the Convener of the City Growth and Resources Committee, 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 relevant terms and conditions to then deliver the projects;

(f)           instruct the Director of Resources to arrange for a partnership agreement to be put in place, and agree terms for the Council, in relation to the mortuary project, including funding mechanism; and

(g)          approve the recommended use of reserves and Reserves Policy for 2020/21 as detailed in Appendix 5.

Medium-Term Financial Projections

(h)          note the forecast medium-term financial projection for the period ending 31 March 2024 as shown in paragraph 3.22; and

(i)            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

(j)            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;

(k)          approve the redesign of Council services to address demand, in line with the commissioning led approach described in the report, and set at least a balanced budget for financial year 2020/21, having taken into account the following:-

(1)      the budget model as contained in paragraph 3.22 that identified a funding shortfall of £37.9m for 2020/21;

(2)      the impact of service redesign on services and fees and charges described in Appendix 6;

(3)      the Reserves Policy, that set out the Council should maintain uncommitted General Fund balances of £12m;

(4)      the Prudential Indicators and impact of the General Fund Capital Programme on revenue expenditure;

(5)      the savings options and cost of implementation put forward in Appendix 7 and Fees and Charges proposals in Appendix 8;

(6)      the revenue items referred to the budget process, as shown in Appendix 9; and

(7)      due consideration of the equalities impact assessments and screening results provided in the background papers;

(l)            approve the Commissioning Intentions and Service Standards as described  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3