Agenda, decisions and minutes

(A)       The Lord Provost highlighted that today was Ukrainian Independence Day and that the Ukraine Flag was flying outside Marischal College, with Marischal College to be lit in Ukrainian colours at night. He added that at 6.00pm some Ukrainians would be singing at St Nicholas Street before moving to Marischal College, and that they would be very appreciative of support.

(B)       The Lord Provost highlighted the participation and success of Aberdeen athletes in the Commonwealth Games which had recently been held in Birmingham and noted in particular the success of Neil Fachie who won his 6^th gold medal in para cycling and Toni Shaw who won a bronze medal in para swimming.

(C)       The Lord Provost advised that this was due to be the last Council meeting for Rob Polkinghorne, Chief Operating Officer, before he left Aberdeen City Council to join Southend-on-Sea City Council as Chief Executive. The Lord Provost thanked Mr Polkinghorne for his service and wished him all the best. Councillors Nicoll, Yuill, Houghton, Macdonald, Stewart and Boulton echoed the comments of the Lord Provost and paid their own tributes to Mr Polkinghorne.

The Council was requested to determine that the following items of business, which contained exempt information as described in Schedule 7(A) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, be taken in private:-

            11.1    North East of Scotland Green Freeport - Update

            11.2    Committee Structure and Scheme of Governance - Appendix 12

The Council resolved:-

in terms of Section 50A(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, to exclude the press and public from the meeting during consideration of items 11.1 and 11.2 so as to avoid disclosure of exempt information of the classes described in paragraphs 6, 8 and 9 of Schedule 7A of the Act.

Councillor Hutchison advised that he had a connection in relation to agenda item 9.5 (City Centre and Beach Masterplan) by reason of owning and living in a property within the George Street Masterplan footprint, however having applied the objective test he did not consider that he had an interest and would not be withdrawing from the meeting.

Councillor Brooks declared an interest in relation to agenda item 10.3 (Notice of Motion by Councillor Tissera) as a Trustee and Chair of TLC foodbank and advised that he would withdraw from the meeting for that item.

Councillor Cooke advised that he had a connection in relation to agenda items 9.5 and 10.4 (Notice of Motion by Councillor Tissera) by virtue of being an observer to the Board of Sport Aberdeen, however having applied the objective test he did not consider that he had an interest and would not be withdrawing from the meeting.

Councillor Watson advised that he had a connection in relation to agenda item 11.1 (North East of Scotland Green Freeport - Update) by virtue of being a member of Aberdeen Trades Union Council, however having applied the objective test he did not consider that he had an interest and would not be withdrawing from the meeting.

The Council had before it the minute of meeting of Aberdeen City Council of 29 June 2022.

The Council resolved:-

to approve the minute subject to noting that the reference to the Gordon Highlanders Museum Board on page 23 should be the Gordon Highlanders Museum Advisory Group.

The Council had before it the minute of the adjourned meeting of Aberdeen City Council of 13 July 2022.

The Council resolved:-

to approve the minute.

The Council had before it the minute of the special meeting of Aberdeen City Council of 13 July 2022.

The Council resolved:-

to approve the minute.

With reference to Article 7 of the minute of meeting of the City Growth and Resources Committee of 3 August 2022, the Council had before it a report by the Director of Resources which provided details of the financial position of the Council as at Quarter 1 (30 June 2022) and the full year forecast position for the financial position, which had been referred to the Council by five members of the committee in terms of Standing Order 34.1.

The report recommended:-

that the City Growth and Resources Committee -

(a)       note the positive cash position that has been achieved for the General Fund and HRA to the end of Quarter 1 as detailed in Appendix 1;

(b)       note the Common Good financial performance to the end of Quarter 1 as detailed in Appendix 3, specifically the £2m reduction in cash balances due to investment volatility;

(c)       note that the General Fund full year forecast position, as detailed in Appendix 2, is expected to show a balanced position overall for 2022/23, based on the assumption that the Scottish Government will fund any increase to the current pay offer made by Cosla and through the other mitigations contained within the report, including the use of one-off funding streams;

(d)       note the initial information provided in the report about the fire at Altens East Waste and Recycling Centre and instruct the Chief Officer - Operations and Protective Services to report back to the next meeting of the Committee with details of the contractual, financial, and operational implications, including assurance about how the council has mitigated financial exposure;

(e)       note that the HRA full year forecast position, as detailed in Appendix 2, is on target to achieve the approved budget, making a contribution to HRA reserves for 2022/23;

(f)        note that the Council relies on the Integration Joint Board (IJB) achieving a balanced budget, and that it retains reserves in the event of unplanned additional costs arising during the year;

(g)       note that the forecast for General Fund capital expenditure is that there will be lower spend than had been budgeted in 2022/23, and for Housing, capital expenditure will be in line with 11% slippage on the programme, as described in Appendix 2;

(h)       note that officers have completed the work required to reprofile the capital programmes, following instruction by the Committee on 21 June 2022 (Appendix 5), and that this has led to the following recommendations:-

(h1)  note that almost all capital projects can be paused, delayed or ultimately cancelled though there would be implications related to such decisions;

(h2)  note that for reprofiling purposes there are projects/programmes within the approved Capital Programmes which have been excluded;

(h3)  note the legal status of the contracts involved in delivery of the projects as this to an extent dictates the level of flexibility that the Council has in terms of reprofiling, pausing or cancelling projects;

(h4)  note the General Fund Capital funded projects/programmes recommended for reprofiling are shown in Appendix 5 - Table 1,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

At this juncture, the Lord Provost proposed the agenda item 9.6 would be taken as the first item of general business after the Council Business Planner, followed by items 9.1 and 9.2 which would be considered together, and this was agreed.

The Council had before it the business planner as prepared by the Interim Chief Officer - Governance.

The Council resolved:-

to note the business planner.

With reference to Article 1 of the minute of its special meeting of 13 July 2022, the Council had before it a report by the Interim Chief Officer - Governance which provided an update on progress in liaising with the Scottish Government and COSLA in exploring options to establish protest free buffer zones including but not limited to potentially implementing a local byelaw.

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

(a)          note the national activities underway in relation to the matter of establishing protest-free buffer zones, in particular:-

·         the legal opinion referred to in the COSLA briefing note at Background Paper 10.1;

·         that there was a technical ‘mini-summit’ to discuss the potential use of byelaws being held on 29 August, referred to in detail at paragraph 3.6 of the report; and

(b)          instruct the Interim Chief Officer - Governance to continue to liaise with the Scottish Government and COSLA and report back to the meeting of Full Council on 14 December 2022 with an update on latest developments including:-

·         evidence contained in the independent research commissioned by the Scottish Government relating to protests/vigils to gather more robust and objective evidence on the impact of protests/vigils on patients and others if available; and

·         evidence from NHS Grampian, Police Scotland and Back-off Scotland as to the number of protests taking place in Aberdeen.

The Council resolved:-

to approve the recommendations.

(A)       The Council had before it a report by the Director of Resources which presented a Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) which pulled together all known factors affecting the financial position and financial sustainability of the organisation over the medium term.

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

(a)          welcome the publication by the Scottish Government of its Resource Spending Review through to 2026/2027 on 31 May 2022 and notes that this indicates a flat cash settlement for Local Government for the next 3 years, followed by a 1% increase in 2026/27;

(b)          approve the Medium Term Financial Strategy for the General Fund, 2022;

(c)          note that the report on TOM1.2 is also on the agenda today, which describes the approach the Council intends to take through transformation and multi-agency working to contribute towards closing the gap between income and expenditure forecast;

(d)          welcome the alignment of the MTFS and TOM1.2, together these documents represent the fiscal framework for Aberdeen;     

(e)          note that the publication of the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill and associated Financial Memorandum indicates that the first year of operation will be 2025/26, within the term of the MTFS, and this has the potential to remove c.25% of financial resources from the Council;

(f)           note the reported impact that inflation and supply chain volatility is having on our current financial year [Council Financial Performance Quarter 1, 2022/23: RES/22/152] and that the impact is anticipated to continue to have an effect on the future funding gap;

(g)          note that the commitments contained within the Partnership Agreement, adopted on 18 May 2022, remain uncosted for future years and are being worked on to support the update of the MTFS when the budget is set for 2023/24 in March 2023;

(h)          note the reprofiled capital programme, which was referred from City Growth and Resources Committee on 3 August 2022 [RES/22/152] to Council today, is the basis for capital financing costs and debt levels referred to in the MTFS;

(i)            note the 2023/24 Budget will be discussed and set by the Council in March 2023 reflecting the commitments within the Partnership Agreement; and

(j)            note the ongoing development of the data presented in relation to the Council’s Financial Resilience Framework and the insight this provides of the underlying strength of the Council finances that support the continued operation of services through the uncertain and volatile environment. The data identifies indicators to watch, and these should be carefully considered when setting future budgets. The Chief Officer - Finance will continue to develop the Framework.

(B)       The Council had before it a report by the Director of Customer Services which proposed the next iteration of the Council’s Target Operating Model (TOM) 1.2 to support the necessary scale of transformation that would contribute to the level of savings required over the next 5 years, as outlined in the MTFS.

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

(a)         agree the TOM 1.2 for 2022-27, attached to the report as Appendix A, to support the necessary  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

At this juncture, the Lord Provost advised that Councillor Allard’s notice of motion would be considered as the next item of business.

That the Council:-

(1)     Notes that 24^th August is Independence Day in Ukraine, celebrating the day in 1991 when Ukraine was re-established as an independent nation.

(2)     Restates its unqualified support for Ukrainian independence and territorial integrity.

(3)     Restates its solidarity with the people of Ukraine.

(4)     Continues to condemn the unprovoked and unacceptable Russian aggression against Ukraine.

(5)     Welcomes the more than 1,000 Ukrainian citizens who have moved to the city since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.

(6)     Thanks the wide range of organisations and individuals across the city who have helped to support those Ukrainian citizens, including through the £13,347donated to the Lord Provost's Charitable Trust Ukraine Crisis Appeal.

(7)     Notes the need to provide permanent accommodation to those Ukrainian citizens, and the ongoing work being undertaken to provide that.

(8)     Instructs the Chief Officer - Early Intervention & Community Empowerment to outline the work that is ongoing to deliver support from the Council to those Ukrainian citizens, and to provide a Service Update on this matter.

The Council had before it a notice of motion by Councillor Allard in the following terms:-

            “That the Council:-

(1)      Notes that 24^th August is Independence Day in Ukraine, celebrating the day in 1991 when Ukraine was re-established as an independent nation.

(2)      Restates its unqualified support for Ukrainian independence and territorial integrity.

(3)      Restates its solidarity with the people of Ukraine.

(4)      Continues to condemn the unprovoked and unacceptable Russian aggression against Ukraine.

(5)      Welcomes the more than 1,000 Ukrainian citizens who have moved to the city since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.

(6)      Thanks the wide range of organisations and individuals across the city who have helped to support those Ukrainian citizens, including through the £13,347 donated to the Lord Provost’s Charitable Trust Ukraine Crisis Appeal.

(7)      Notes the need to provide permanent accommodation to those Ukrainian citizens, and the ongoing work being undertaken to provide that.

(8)      Instructs the Chief Officer - Early Intervention & Community Empowerment to outline the work that is ongoing to deliver support from the Council to those Ukrainian citizens, and to provide a Service Update on this matter.

Upon circulation of an addendum by Councillor Houghton (which was accepted as detailed below), Councillor Hutchison advised that he had a connection by reason of his position as an Army Reservist, however having applied the objective test he did not consider that he had an interest and would not be withdrawing from the meeting.

Councillor Nicoll advised that he also had a connection by reason of having a close family member who served in the Armed Forces, however having applied the objective test he did not consider that he had an interest and would not be withdrawing from the meeting.

The Council resolved:-

(i)           to approve the notice of motion;

(ii)          to thank the contribution of all UK armed forces personnel for their continued support to the armed forces and people of Ukraine since Operation Orbital in 2015 which had included but not been limited to the training and equipping of tens of thousands of Ukrainian personnel; and

(iii)         to note that the Lord Provost had instructed the lighting of Marischal College on 24 August with the colours of Ukraine to mark the occasion.

With reference to Article 13 of the minute of its meeting of 18 May 2022, the Council had before it a report by the Director of Commissioning which identified areas where revisions may be required to the commissioning intentions and service standards, to ensure alignment with the policy statement - “Working in Partnership for Aberdeen”.

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

(a)         note the review of the commissioning intentions, service standards in the context of the policy statement, “Working in Partnership for Aberdeen”;

(b)         agree to the recommended amendments to 2022/23 commissioning intentions and service standards set out in Appendix A;

(c)          instruct the Director of Commissioning to report any further amendments required in 2022/23 to existing commissioning intentions and service standards, as a result of subsequent decisions of the Council and its committees, to Council; and

(d)         note that the policy statement would be fully reflected within the Council’s strategic commissioning cycle for 2023/24 onwards.

Councillor Yuill moved, seconded by Councillor Hutchison:-

That the Council approve the recommendations contained within the report.

Councillor Macdonald moved as an amendment, seconded by Councillor Graham:-

            That the Council -

(1)      approve recommendations (a) and (b) as contained within the report;

(2)      instruct the Director of Commissioning to report on the costs of each and all of the amendments as set out in Appendix A before agreement of any of these and set out where savings will be found to pay for these; and

(3)      note the intention that the policy statement will be fully reflected within the Council’s strategic commissioning cycle for 2023/24 onwards.

On a division, there voted:-

For the motion  (24)  -  Lord Provost; Depute Provost; and Councillors Al-Samarai, Allard, Alphonse, Bouse, Hazel Cameron, Clark, Cooke, Copland, Cormie, Davidson, Fairfull, Greig, Henrickson, Hutchison, MacGregor, McLellan, McRae, Mennie, Nicoll, Radley, Van Sweeden and Yuill.

For the amendment  (20)  -  Councillors Ali, Blake, Bonsell, Boulton, Brooks, Crockett, Farquhar, Graham, Grant, Houghton, Kusznir, Macdonald, MacKenzie, McLeod, Malik, Massey, Stewart, Thomson, Tissera and Watson.

The Council resolved:-

to adopt the motion.

The Lord Provost, in terms of Standing Order 36.6, advised that he was adjourning the meeting and that it would resume on 25 August 2022 at 2.00pm.