Agenda, decisions and minutes

The agenda and reports associated with this minute can be located at the following link:

http://committees.aberdeencity.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=143&MId=2893&Ver=4

Please note that if any changes are made to this minute at the point of approval, these will be outlined in the subsequent minute and this document will not be retrospectively altered.

The Convener advised of a number of good news stories as follows:

·         Family learning (home support service) - the service has undertaken preventative work with families of children aged 0 - 3 years in their own home. The project has only been ongoing for eight months, but early indications and recent research suggested that both children and parent were building stronger relationships.

·         SQA Accreditation for English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Provision – Adult Learning - After an SQA quality approval visit, the Adult Learning team has received approval to deliver accredited ESOL provision at Access 2. An ESOL assessment tool has been developed and piloted successfully with several groups of new learners.

·         Legacy Award for City Librarian – Catherine Taylor, who retired from her position as Local Studies Librarian in January 2014 after 39 years and six months of continuous service with the Library and Information Service, was successfully nominated for a Legacy Award as a special category in the Star Awards 2014.

·         Museums and Galleries – On Saturday 31 May 2014, Aberdeen Art Gallery revealed a new acquisition, a double portrait by Aberdeen artist John Macdonald Aiken, titled “Portrait of the Artist and his Wife” (1910). Aiken’s portrait was purchased by the Art Gallery with the help of generous grants from the National Fund for Acquisitions, The Art Fund, the Pilgrim Trust and the Friends of Aberdeen Art Gallery.

·         Re-Thinking Energy Conference – Bucksburn Academy pupils organised and led the re-thinking energy conference, which took place at several locations across the city on 3 – 5 June 2014. The conference hosted 60 partners from Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden along with our educational, community, sustainability and business partners.

·         Scottish Education Awards – two schools in Aberdeen beat off stiff competition from across Scotland to be selected as finalists at the Scottish Education Awards 2014. Middleton Park School were shortlisted for the Learning and the Technologies Award to recognise their use of ICT to enhance learning. The school creates a weekly news report, “Live Learning”, which enables pupils to share their work with a global audience. Bucksburn Academy was named as a finalist for the Sustainable Schools Award. Sustainability topics are taught across the curriculum and pupils are encouraged to take the skills they have learnt beyond the classroom. The awards ceremony took place in Glasgow on Tuesday 10 June 2014 and whilst neither school was named as winner, members wished to recognise their great achievement of being selected as finalists and acknowledge the great work that has gone on in these schools. 

The Convener proposed that item 8.1 of today’s agenda (Aquatics Centre, article 14 of this minute refers) be considered with the press and public excluded.

The Committee resolved:

in terms of Section 50(A)(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, to exclude the press and public from the meeting for item 8.1 of the agenda (article 14 of this minute) so as to avoid disclosure of information of the class described in paragraphs 4, 6, 8 and 9 of Schedule 7(A) to the Act.

The Committee had before it the minute of its previous meeting of 27 March 2014 for approval.

The Committee resolved:

to approve the minute as a correct record.

The Committee had before it the minute of meeting of the Culture and Sport Sub Committee of 19 February 2014.

The Committee resolved:

to note the minute.

Please note that only members present at this meeting can approve the minute as a correct record.

The Committee had before it the minute of meeting of the Culture and Sport Sub Committee of 7 May 2014.

It was noted that the Aquatics Strategy would now be launched at the celebration event to be held after the Commonwealth Games.

The Committee resolved:

to approve the minute as a correct record.

The Committee had before it a statement of pending and outstanding committee business which had been prepared by the Head of Legal and Democratic Services.

The Committee resolved:

 (i)        to remove item 5 (Parenting Strategy); and

(ii)        to otherwise note the updates provided.

With reference to article 7 of the minute of its previous meeting of 27 March 2014, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport which advised members of the current year revenue budget to date for the Service, and outlined any areas of risk and management action being taken in this regard.

The report recommended –

that the Committee –

(a)       note the report on the near actual figures on the revenue budget and the information on areas of risk and management action contained therein; and

(b)       instruct that officers continue to review budget performance and report on service strategies.

The Committee resolved:

to approve the recommendations.

With reference to article 8 of the minute of its previous meeting of 27 March 2014, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Enterprise, Planning and Infrastructure which detailed the capital spend to date for Service projects included within the non housing capital plan.

The report recommended –

that the Committee note the current position.

The Committee resolved:

to approve the recommendation.

With reference to article 12 of the minute of its previous meeting of 30 January 2013, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport, which provided a summary of performance data up to and including 31 March 2013. 

The report recommended –

that the Committee –

(a)       approve the Education, Culture and Sport performance report for the period January to March 2014; and

(b)       approve the proposed Service improvement plan reporting template (appendix B) for future committee reports.

The Committee resolved:

to approve the recommendations.

With reference to article 13 of the minute of meeting of the Corporate Policy and Performance Committee of 27 November 2012, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport which sought approval for the updated Schools Parental Involvement Strategy, in line with the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006. 

The Convener paid tribute to the parent representative members of this Committee who had provided input into this piece of work.

The report recommended –

that the Committee –

(a)       approve the Parental Involvement Strategy 2014-17;

(b)       note the examples of good practice in city schools to engage parents; and

(c)        request that schools continue to support parents to engage them in children learning and that officers support parent councils to have a meaningful role in the life of the school and through the parent representation on the Education, Culture and Sport Committee the strategic planning of education services.

The Committee resolved:

to approve the recommendations.

With reference to article 6 of the minute of its meeting of 7 February 2013 the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport which presented the outcome of the statutory consultation on the proposals to (1) rezone ground at the former BP Headquarters from Stoneywood School to Dyce School and consequently from Bucksburn Academy to Dyce Academy; and (2) rezone Grandholm Village from Braehead School to Danestone School and consequently from Bridge of Don Academy to Oldmachar Academy from August 2014.

The report recommended –

that the Committee –

(a)       agree to rezone ground at the former BP Headquarters from Stoneywood School to Dyce School and consequently from Bucksburn Academy to Dyce Academy from August 2014; and

(b)       agree to rezone Grandholm Village from Braehead School to Danestone School and consequently from Bridge of Don Academy to Oldmachar Academy from August 2014.

The Committee resolved:

to agree to implement proposals (a) and (b) above and to instruct officers to make the necessary arrangements to ensure successful implementation in time for the start of the academic session 2014-15 in August 2014.

          DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Councillor Cameron declared a personal interest in the subject matter of the following article of business by virtue of his wife being a tutor of Citymoves and withdrew from the meeting prior to consideration of this item.

Reverend McKenna declared a personal interest in the subject matter of the following article of business by virtue of his wife being a tutor of Citymoves and withdrew from the meeting prior to consideration of this item.

Councillors Kiddie and Boulton declared interests in the subject matter of the following article by virtue of their positions as Board members of Aberdeen Performing Arts but chose to remain in the meeting as Aberdeen Performing Arts had a specific exclusion in terms of the Councillors’ Code of Conduct. 

Future of City Moves (ECS/14/041)

12.       The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport, which presented the outcome of an options appraisal on Citymoves’ future governance arrangements, which had been undertaken in order to assess Citymoves’ operations and strategy, within the context of the city’s wider cultural aspirations.

The report recommended –

that the Committee –

(a)       agree in principle that Citymoves becomes an independent organisation;

(b)       agree that the business and transition plans are developed and that the funding application to Creative Scotland be submitted; and

(c)        receive a further report with recommendations following the outcome of the funding bid to Creative Scotland.

The Committee resolved:

to approve the recommendations.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport which sought approval to tender for the 2015 Light Festival, and for a course of action to support the delivery of a cultural programme for 2014-19.

The report recommended –

that the Committee –

(a)       approve the tender process for the 2015 Light Festival;

(b)       approve a new initiative fund for an artists residency programme using £56,000 from existing budgets, in partnership with cultural and community organisations in order to deliver elements of the culture programme;

(c)        agree the themes and budget allocations for 2014;

(d)       agree, that in order to deliver the desired improvements over a longer period, the themes be agreed for 2014-19;

(e)       agree the allocation of £50,000 in 2014 to the Youth Arts Hub Creative Scotland initiative, led by Aberdeen Performing Arts; and

(f)        agree the allocation of £50,000 in 2014 to Visit Aberdeen on behalf of the Festivals Collective to improve the viability of the eight cultural festivals in the city.

The Committee resolved:

to approve the recommendations.

With reference to article 16 of the minute of its previous meeting 27 March 2014, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport which presented applications for financial assistance from two individuals and one organisation.

The report recommended –

that the Committee –

(a)       consider the applications through the club development grants and approve the following recommendation:

and;

(b)       consider the application through the talented athlete grants programmeand approve the following recommendations:

The Committee resolved:

to approve recommendations.

The Convener advised that this was Mr Nicoll’s last meeting as parent representative, and thanked him for his valuable input over the past three years, and in particular the commitment he shown in attending consultation meetings on the school estate exercise.

The Committee resolved:

to echo the comments of the Convener, and thank Mr Nicoll’s for the time and commitment he has shown in his role as a member of this Committee.

EXEMPT BUSINESS

In accordance with the decision taken at article 1 of this minute, the Committee considered the following item of business with the press and public excluded.

Councillor Cameron declared an interest in the subject matter of the following article by virtue of his positions as Board member of Aberdeen Sports Village and withdrew from the meeting prior to consideration of this item of business.

Aquatics Centre

16.       The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport, which sought permission to provide funding to Aberdeen Sports village, for the operation of the Aberdeen Sports Village Aquatics Centre.

Members queried as to who had engaged the consultants, and asked that this information could be emailed to Committee members.

The report recommended –

that the Committee –

(a)       approve the provision of up to £516,500 to Aberdeen Sports Village Ltd as the Council’s contribution towards the operating costs for the Aberdeen Sports Village Aquatics Centre for 2014/15;

(b)       approve the financial business plan for the facility as set out in Appendix A; and

(c)        instruct the Head of Legal and Democratic Services and Director of Education, Culture and Sport, in consultation with the Conveners and Vice Conveners of Education, Culture and Sport and Finance, Policy and Resources, to develop and enter into a binding legal “Operating Agreement” in respect of the entire Aberdeen Sports Village facility portfolio including dry facilities and the new Aquatics Centre.

The Committee resolved:

to approve the recommendations.

- JENNIFER LAING; Convener