Issue - meetings

The Committee resolved:-

(i)            to note that Councillor Kusznir advised that he had a connection in relation to the item as he was a Board Member of Citizens’ Advice Aberdeen, however, having applied the objective test he did not consider that his connection amounted to an interest which would prevent him from participating in the discussion on the item;

(ii)          to agree that, should the bid for the Cash-First Fund be unsuccessful, the External Advisers would report back to Committee on the background work undertaken and to provide Committee with further information for discussion;

(iii)         to instruct the Director – Customer Services, to issue a Service Update advising Members of the process for proposing External Advisers to join the Committee;

(iv)         to instruct the Chief Officer - Early Intervention and Community Empowerment, in partnership with the External Advisers,  to report back to a future meeting of the Committee, no later than summer 2024, on the issues faced by people in poverty in relation to accessing advice services and financial services and the impact this had; on the services available in Aberdeen; on the unmet need; and specific recommendations for council services and other organisations to address this unmet need; and

(v)          to otherwise note the report from the External Advisers.

The Committee had before it a report prepared by the External Advisers and the Locality Inclusion Manager in respect of initiatives to support bringing people out of poverty.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee note the report.

At this juncture, Councillor Kusznir advised that he had a connection in relation to the item as he was a Board Member of Citizens’ Advice Aberdeen, however, having applied the objective test he did not consider that his connection amounted to an interest which would prevent him from participating in the discussion on the item.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)            to agree that should the bid for the Cash-First Fund be unsuccessful, the External Advisers would report back to Committee on the background work undertaken and provide Committee with further information for discussion;

(ii)          to instruct the Director of Customer Services, to issue a Service Update advising Members of the process for proposing External Advisers to join the Committee;

(iii)         to note the update from the Locality Inclusion Manager that a report would be submitted to Council regarding the appointment of an External Adviser following a name having been put forward;

(iv)         to instruct the Chief Officer - Early Intervention and Community Empowerment, in partnership with the External Advisers,  to report back to a future meeting of the Committee, no later than summer 2024, on the issues faced by people in poverty in relation to accessing advice services and financial services and the impact this had:- on the services available in Aberdeen; on the unmet need; and specific recommendations for Council services and other organisations to address this unmet need; and

(v)          to otherwise note the report from the External Advisers.