Issue - meetings

(i)            to note that the Interim Diversity and Inclusion Lead would take an action to review accessibility of documents in respect of colour blindness;

(ii)          to note the Service Provider Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Community Action Plan 2025-2029;

(iii)         to note the Hate Crime Awareness Workshop held in the Town House on 17 October 2025 that brought together community members, local authorities, educators, and third sector organisations to raise awareness of hate crimes, share lived experiences and develop strategies to improve prevention and response;

(iv)         to note the Civic Prayer Breakfast which took place on the 26 September 2025, that brought together a range of partners and speakers, who reiterated the need for tolerance and community cohesion in our city;

(v)          to welcome the joint statement from the Co-Leaders and Labour Group Leader, attached to the addendum;

(vi)         to condemn the verbal abuse and intimidation towards staff removing flags from lampposts; and

(vii)        to agree that all who came to Aberdeen to visit, study, work and live were welcome.

(i)            to approve the proposed allocation of funds from the £1million provided by Council to support people with the cost of living crisis during 2025/26 as detailed in paragraph 3.9 of the report; and

(ii)          to instruct the Executive Director of Corporate Services to bring an update on spend, progress, any reallocation of resources and further proposals for the balance of funding to the meeting of the Committee on 26 November 2025.

The Committee had before it a report prepared by the External Advisers, the Strategic Lead - Prevention and Community Empowerment, and the Fairer Aberdeen and Anti-Poverty Manager, seeking approval for the allocation of the £1million provided by Council to support people with the cost of living during 2025/26. 

On behalf of the External Advisers, Phil Mackie introduced the report.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee:

(a)          approve the proposed allocation of funds from the £1million provided by the Council to support people with the cost of living crisis during 2025/26 as detailed in paragraph 3.9 of the report; and

(b)          to instruct the Executive Director of Corporate Services to bring an update on spend, progress, any reallocation of resources and further proposals for the balance of funding to the meeting of the Committee on 26 November 2025.

The Convener, seconded by the Vice Convener, moved:-

that the Committee approve the recommendations.

Councillor Kusznir, seconded by Councillor Brooks moved as an amendment:-

that the Committee:

(1)          note the recommendations outlined in the report;

(2)         agree that Aberdeen City Council should prioritise direct assistance to tackling relative poverty over subsidising staffing costs through grant funding;

(3)         acknowledge that Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Councillors previously raised concerns regarding 2024/25 funding of staffing costs, highlighting the risk of dependency on Council subsidy and the need to direct taxpayers’ money towards support for residents not pay packets; and

(4)         approve the proposed allocation of the £1 million fund, provided by Council, to address the cost-of-living crisis in 2025/26, as detailed in paragraph 3.9, subject to limiting the Council’s contribution to staffing costs to a maximum of 25%.

Councillor Blake, seconded by Councillor Bonsell, moved as a further amendment:-

that the Committee:

(1)          note the increased focus on prevention;

(2)          note with concern that despite the principles in 3.5, two of the awards involve a significant proportion of staff costs and ask the Executive Director of Corporate Services to seek reassurance of the sustainability of these posts going forward;

(3)          recognise the excellent panto and creative learning programme at Aberdeen Arts Centre and the share of the award of the Christmas panto package between Aberdeen Performing Arts and Castlegate Arts;

(4)          subject to sharing the proposal for a Christmas panto provision between Aberdeen Performing Arts and Castlegate Arts and the reassurance in (2), approve the proposed allocation of funds from the £1million provided by Council to support people with the cost of living crisis during 2025/26 as detailed in paragraph 3.9 below; and

(5)          instruct the Executive Director of Corporate Services to bring an update on spend, progress, any reallocation of resources and further proposals for the balance of funding to the meeting of the Committee on 26 November 2025.

There being a motion and two amendments, the Committee first divided between the amendment by Councillor Kusznir and the amendment by Councillor Blake.

On a division, there voted:-

For the amendment by Councillor Kusznir (2) – Councillors Brooks and Kusznir.

For the amendment by Councillor  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9

(i)            to approve the proposed improvement actions;

(ii)          to instruct the Chief Officer – People and Citizen Service to report back on progress within 12 months;

(iii)         to instruct the Chief Officer – People and Citizen Services to work with Chief Officer - Data Insights to improve the response and enhance the insights for the next survey; and

(iv)         to instruct the Chief Officer – People and Citizen Services to speak to service users accessing the Council’ s money advice services about how they receive information and sources they trust and to report back to committee via a service update.

The Committee had before it a report presenting the response to the recommendations set out in the Accessing Advice Services Report CORS/24/149 from 12 June 2024 which instructed a further report to consider with partners the provisions of other advisory services in the city.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee:

(a)         approve the proposed improvement actions; and

(b)         instruct the Chief Officer – People and Citizen Services to report back on progress within 12 months.

The Committee had before it an amendment from Councillor Blake:-

that the Committee -

(1)          agrees the proposed improvement actions with the following additions:

(2)          notes the response rate to the survey. Though there were overall 560 respondents, for virtually all questions more than two thirds of respondents gave no answer;

(3)          instructs the Chief Officer – People and Citizen Services to work with the Chief Officer - Data Insights to improve the response and enhance the insights for the next survey;

(4)          notes that the report highlights that lack of awareness is a key issue with over two thirds of respondents unaware of the services. The committee notes the actions proposed to raise awareness, but also noting the concerns about digital exclusion;

(5)          instructs the Chief Officer – People and Citizen Services to speak to service users about how they receive information and sources they trust and to report back to committee via a service update; and

(6)          instructs the Chief Officer – People and Citizen Service to report back on progress within 12 months.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)            to approve the proposed improvement actions;

(ii)          to instruct the Chief Officer – People and Citizen Services, to report back on progress within 12 months;

(iii)         to instruct the Chief Officer – People and Citizen Services, to work with Chief Officer - Data Insights to improve the response and enhance the insights for the next survey; and

(iv)         to instruct the Chief Officer – People and Citizen Services, to speak to service users accessing the Council’s money advice services about how they received information and sources they trusted and to report back to committee via a service update.

(i)            to instruct the Community Planning Manager to provide an update in respect of the trends on the number of organisations receiving food distributions from Food Poverty Action Aberdeen;

(ii)          to note that the Community Planning Manager would organise a session for members to look at the data by locality level; and

(iii)         to approve the outputs and anticipated outcomes of the Cost of Living Fund achieved to date and actions to ensure funds will be fully spent by April 2025.

The Committee had before it an update report prepared by the Community Planning Manager on the outcomes achieved to date from Round 1 of the Cost of Living Funding allocated for 2024/25.

The report recommended:

that the Committee approve the outputs and anticipated outcomes of the Cost of Living Fund achieved to date and actions to ensure funds will be fully spent by April 2025.

The Convener, seconded by the Vice Convener, moved:-

that the Committee -

(1)          instruct the Community Planning Manager to provide an update in respect of the trends on the number of organisations receiving food distributions from Food Poverty Action Aberdeen;

(2)          note that the Community Planning Manager would organise a session for members to look at the data by locality level; and

(3)          otherwise approve the recommendations.

Councillor Tissera, seconded by Councillor Watson, moved as an amendment:-

that the Committee -

(1)         approve the outputs and anticipated outcomes of the Cost of Living Fund achieved to date and actions to ensure funds will be fully spent by April 2025, agreeing Child poverty has gone up by 1.8% since the SNP took charge of the Council; and agree the SNP rejected Aberdeen Labour proposals in the budget to help with fuel poverty; and

(2)         note the charity Christians against Poverty has said following the UK Labour budget “it feels like there is light at the end of the tunnel for those in poverty”, noting over one million UK citizens will be £420 better off thanks to the Chancellor.

On a division, there voted:- for the motion (7) – the Convener, Vice Convener and Councillors Brooks, Davidson, Hutchison, Kusznir and Mennie; for the amendment (2) – Councillors Tissera and Watson.

The Committee resolved:-

to adopt the motion.