Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

(A)      The Lord Provost welcomed a group of postgraduate students and their lecturer from the University of Aberdeen, who were in attendance in the public gallery and observing the meeting as part of their studies.

(B)      The Lord Provost welcomed Fiona Mitchelhill to her first Council meeting since her appointment as Chief Officer of the Aberdeen Health and Social Care Partnership and wished her well in the role.

Councillor Malik moved as a procedural motion, seconded by Councillor Tissera:-

That the Council suspend Standing Order 14.5.3 in order to hear the deputation from Aberdeen Trades Union Council.

On a division, there voted:-

For the procedural motion  (21)  -  Councillors Ali, Blake, Bonsell, Boulton, Brooks, Crockett, Cross, Farquhar, Graham, Grant, Houghton, Kusznir, Lawrence, Macdonald, McLeod, Malik, Massey, Mrs Stewart, Thomson, Tissera and Watson.

Against the procedural motion  (22)  -  Lord Provost; Depute Provost; and Councillors Al-Samarai, Allard, Alphonse, Bouse, Hazel Cameron, Clark, Cooke, Copland, Cormie, Davidson, Greig, Henrickson, Hutchison, MacGregor, McLellan, McRae, Mennie, Nicoll, Radley and Yuill.

Declined to vote  (1)  -  Councillor van Sweeden.

Absent from the division  (1)  -  Councillor Fairfull.

The Council resolved:-

to reject the procedural motion.

The Council had before it a report by the Chief Officer - Data & Insights which presented the Council Delivery Plan for 2024/25.

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

(a)           note the content of the Council Delivery Plan 2024/25;

(b)           instruct the Chief Executive to realign any of the delivery commitments set out in the Plan that may be required, as a result of any potential Council budget decisions, to meet Council’s instructions; and

(c)           instruct all Chief Officers to report performance improvement priorities for 2024/25 and progress towards improvement through the arrangements set out within the Council’s Performance Management Framework.

Councillor Yuill moved, seconded by Councillor Allard:-

          That the Council approve the recommendations.

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

          That the Council -

(1)       note the content of the Council Delivery Plan 2024/25; 

(2)       note the Accounts Commission overview of local government published in May 2023 as outlined in the report “Demand and workforce pressures have been deepening after the pandemic and funding is forecast to reduce in real terms ... Councils need to radically rethink how they can work together, and with local partners, to provide services and meet wider ambitions to tackle climate change, child poverty and inequalities”. Therefore, agree that if the Council is actually serious about poverty and the causes of poverty it must scrap the Anti-Poverty Committee and encourage partners through Community Planning Aberdeen working alongside the Council to strengthen prevention and early intervention, particularly focusing on those communities in most need, and targeting: Poverty, Homelessness, Net Zero  and Partnership working;

(3)       agree that the budget process has missed a golden opportunity to highlight how the prevention and intervention strategy could have seriously shaped citizens lives for the better, but decided that a policy of offering up cuts without meaningful extract on what their impact meant to the prevention and intervention strategy, confirms the Administration are not serious or understand the concept of prevention and intervention on the budget; and

(4)       instruct the Chief Executive to bring forward at next year’s budget any impact on the prevention and intervention strategy from budget options proposed by officers for 2025/26.

During the course of summing up, Councillor Yuill advised that he had a connection in relation to the matter by virtue of his appointment by the Council to the Board of NHS Grampian, however having applied the objective test he did not consider that had had an interest and would not be withdrawing from the meeting.

On a division, there voted:-

For the motion  (32)  -  Lord Provost; Depute Provost; and Councillors Al-Samarai, Allard, Alphonse, Boulton, Bouse, Brooks, Hazel Cameron, Clark, Cooke, Copland, Cormie, Cross, Davidson, Farquhar, Greig, Henrickson, Houghton, Hutchison, Kusznir, MacGregor, McLellan, McLeod, McRae, Massey, Mennie, Nicoll, Radley, Mrs Stewart, van Sweeden and Yuill.

For the amendment  (12)  -  Councillors Ali, Blake, Bonsell, Crockett, Graham, Grant, Lawrence, Macdonald, Malik, Thomson, Tissera and Watson.

Absent from the division  (1)  -  Councillor Fairfull.

The Council resolved:-

to adopt the motion.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

·         Common Good Budget 2024/25 - RES/24/062   (Pages 283 - 300)

·         Council Carbon Budget 2024/25 - COM/24/059   (Pages 301 - 312)

(A)      The Council had before it a report by the Chief Officer - Finance which provided the Council with information on both the revenue budget for 2024/25 to 2028/29 in order that approved budgets and the Council Tax rate for main and second homes could be set for the year commencing 1 April 2024. In addition, following devolution of Non-Domestic Rates Empty Property Relief to Local Government, the report noted that the Council must decide on an Empty Property Relief Scheme that would apply for the year ahead.

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

Balance Sheet

(1)           note the projected balance sheet position including the reserves as at 31 March 2024, shown at Appendix 1;

(2)           note the financial resilience of the Council continues to be stretched by factors,  such as  pay award, price inflation and funding settlement, which remain outwith the control of the Council;

(3)           note that the latest Risk Appetite Statement has been approved and now reflects a cautious appetite for longer term capital and financial investment, and remains averse to risks associated with impairing financial stewardship, internal controls, and financial sustainability;

(4)           give due regard to the Council’s Financial Resilience Framework measures, included at Appendix 2, and Prudential Indicators, at Appendix 3, when setting Council Tax and the Revenue and Capital budgets;

(5)           approve the Prudential Indicators as attached at Appendix 3 and agree to limit the annual Cost of Financing Capital at 12% of projected Net Revenue;

(6)           approve the General Fund Capital Programme as attached at Appendix 4;

(7)           consider the capital projects described in Appendix 5, which were referred to the General Fund Capital Programme;

(8)           approve the Revenue and Capital Reserves Statement for 2024/25 as detailed in Appendix 6;

(9)           approve the retention of the Service Concession Reserve to support the commitment to no compulsory redundancies, as a funding source for continued use of the voluntary severance/early retirement scheme (VSER);

(10)       instruct the Chief Officer - Finance to build a long term outlook model for the Council and submit it, alongside the Medium Term Financial Strategy, to the Council by the end of September 2024;

Medium-Term Financial Projections

(11)       note the forecast medium-term financial projection for the period ending 31 March 2029 as shown in paragraph 5.16;

(12)       instruct the Chief Officer - Finance to refresh the Medium Term Financial Strategy and report to the Council by the end of September 2024 in line with the requirements of the budget protocol;

Risks

(13)       note that pay negotiations for financial year 2024/25 are not concluded and therefore remain uncertain;

(14)       note the ongoing exposure that the local government sector has to inflation, with ‘very high’ exposure applying to a number of procurement frameworks relevant to the Council;

(15)       note that high inflation has increased the cost of bond repayments, increasing the forecast cost of borrowing for the Council;

(16)       note the extent of contingent liabilities described in Appendix 13;

(17)       instruct the Chief Officer - Finance, to  monitor budget planning assumptions on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

(A)          The Lord Provost noted that two former Councillors had recently passed away - Alan Milne and George Penny. He added that he had known them both long before any of them had entered politics, and that he had been honoured to attend Alan’s memorial service. The Lord Provost expressed his condolences to their friends and family.

(B)          The Lord Provost advised that this was the last Council meeting for Steve Whyte, Director of Resources, before he retired from the organisation. The Lord Provost highlighted that Steve had fulfilled many important roles within the Council, and its predecessor authorities, including Section 95 Officer. He added that Aberdeen City Council would miss him, he thanked him for his excellent service and wished him well in his future endeavours.

Members of the Council gave Steve a standing ovation, following which Councillors Malik, Mrs Stewart, Houghton, Yuill, Crockett, Boulton and Allard each paid their own tributes to Steve and wished him well.