Agenda and minutes

The Convener began by welcoming all to the meeting and shared the sad news that the mother of Councillor John Stewart had recently passed away.

The Committee resolved:-

to extend their condolences to Councillor John Stewart on the loss of his mother.

The Convener advised that it was her intention to take item 3.4 (Corporate Framework for Engagement with the Voluntary Sector) following consideration of the Committee Business Statement to enable the Director of Social Care and Wellbeing to attend another meeting.

The Committee resolved:-

to concur with the decision of the Convener.

The Committee had before it the minute of its previous meeting of 21^st January, 2010. 

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the minute as a correct record.

The Committee had before it a statement of Committee Business prepared by the Head of Legal and Democratic Services. 

The Committee resolved:-

to remove items 1 (Central Services Review), 4 (HMIe Action Plan and Review – Peer Review), 6 (Mackie Hall, Craibstone) and 13 (Becoming Effective Corporate Parents).  

With reference to Article 2 of the minute of the meeting of the Corporate Policy and Performance Committee of 21^st January, 2010, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Social Care and Wellbeing which detailed the proposal for engagement with the Voluntary Sector in Aberdeen.   The report also sought approval to disestablish the Voluntary Sector Liaison Group (VSLG) and implement new engagement arrangements, and provided an overview of the Aberdeen Voluntary Sector Compact, the document produced in 2005 by the VSLG on behalf of the Aberdeen City Alliance, which set out the shared principles, values and commitments and the nature of the relationship between the public, voluntary and community sector organisations in Aberdeen.

As a result of the review of the Council’s Sub-Committees and Working Groups, the Corporate Policy and Performance Committee had requested that officers prepare a report detailing an alternative to the VSLG, which would still allow for engagement and consultation between Aberdeen City Council and the voluntary sector in the city.  Following consultation with the Aberdeen Council of Voluntary Organisations (ACVO), the general consensus was that although the VSLG had initially been a purposeful and effective group, it had over the last three years lost focus and direction and was now failing to make the necessary impact required.  

It was therefore suggested that the VSLG be disbanded and that the Director of Social Care and Wellbeing and a small group of relevant officers meet quarterly with ACVO and relevant representatives of the Third Sector on matters of shared interest, including strategic planning.   Matters raised at these meetings would then be referred where necessary by the Director of Social Care and Wellbeing to the relevant committee of the Council, allowing elected members to have input into voluntary sector issues.  

The report advised that the priority task for the new group, led by the Director of Social Care and Wellbeing, would be the development of a revised compact between the public, voluntary and community sectors in Aberdeen, building on the 2005 document and incorporating the principles outlined in the joint statement on the relationship at a local level between Government and the Third Sector.  

The report recommended:-

(a)       that the Committee consider and agree that quarterly meetings between the Council and Aberdeen Council for Voluntary Organisations should replace the Voluntary Sector Liaison Group as the primary method of engagement with the Voluntary Sector;

(b)       that the Committee approve the Director for Social Care and Wellbeing as the Corporate Lead Officer who would convene the meetings and be responsible as the Council’s strategic advisor to the sector;

(c)        that the Committee ask the Director of Social Care and Wellbeing to ensure that issues raised in this context be referred as appropriate to the relevant Council committee for consideration;  and

(d)       that the Committee note the priority task for the Third Sector in partnership with the local authority will be the revision and implementation of the Aberdeen Voluntary Sector Compact.

The Committee heard from Mr.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

DECLARATION OF INTEREST

Councillors Donnelly and Hunter declared an interest in the following article (the notice of motion by Councillor McDonald) by virtue of their membership of the Licensing Board.  Neither Councillor considered it necessary to withdraw from the meeting.

The Committee had before it a Motions List prepared by the Head of  Legal and Democratic Services.

ALCOHOL (SCOTLAND) BILL – MINIMUM PRICING – NOTICE OF MOTION BY COUNCILLOR MCDONALD

Reference was made to Article 16 of the minute of the meeting of the Council of 10^th February, 2010, wherein the following motion by Councillor McDonald had been referred to the Corporate Policy and Performance Committee for consideration:-

            “that this Council welcomes the publication of the Alcohol (Scotland) Bill, and in particular the proposals for minimum pricing.   Council notes the staggering cost of alcohol abuse to Scottish society is estimated to be around £3.56 billion, which would make the pro rata cost for Aberdeen £146.7 million.   Council therefore calls on all parties to back the proposals for minimum pricing as part of an overall strategy to tackle Scotland’s shameful alcohol abuse record.”

The Committee then heard Councillor McDonald speak in support of his motion. 

Councillor McDonald moved, seconded by Councillor Jaffrey:-

            “that the Committee adopt the terms of the motion.”

Councillor Adam, seconded by Councillor Collie, moved as an amendment:-

            “that this Council welcomes the publication of the Alcohol (Scotland) Bill.   The Council notes the staggering cost of alcohol abuse to Scottish society is estimated to be around £3.56 billion, which would make the pro rata cost for Aberdeen £146.7 million.   Council notes that there is no one single bullet approach to deal with Scotland’s alcohol problem and calls upon everyone concerned with the sale of alcohol to work with the local authority, police and the NHS towards the improving the health of our citizens.

Council notes and respects European Union legislation with regard to free movement of goods;  noting Article 28 – 31 relating to prohibition of quantative restrictions between Member States.  Council calls on the Government in Edinburgh to publish immediately any legal advice it has received on minimum pricing vis-à-vis European legislation.  

Council notes with great concern that such an ill thought through minimum pricing policy would only penalise those in our society who have limited income whilst at the same time lead to a huge increase in revenue for those companies involved in the production of alcohol.”

Councillor Leslie, seconded by Councillor Malone, moved as a further amendment:-

            “that this Committee recognises and regrets the continuing social and personal damage caused by the culture of alcohol misuse and that an action plan is drawn up which develops the work of the Council and its partners, mainly the Alcohol and Drugs Partnership, NHS Grampian and Grampian Police, in tackling alcohol related disorder in the city centre, expanding this to cover city wide issues in terms of the four key themes of prevention, intervention, enforcement and rehabilitation,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

With reference to article 10 of the minute of the meeting of the Corporate Policy and Performance Committee of 8 December, 2009, the Committee had before it by way of remit, a request from the Disability Advisory Group (DAG) to alter the membership of DAG to enable eight individual members to be appointed, rather than the seven previously agreed by the Corporate Policy and Performance Committee at its December meeting.

At the meeting of the Disability Advisory Group of 4^th February, 2010, the Chair had called for nominations for the seven individual places on the Group which had resulted in eight nominations being received.  The Clerk to the Group had advised members that either one individual would be required to withdraw their nomination, or a ballot of the Group would be held to determine the seven appointments.

It had then been proposed that the Group recommend to the Corporate Policy and Performance Committee that in light of the eight nominations received and the valuable contributions made at meetings by those individuals concerned, that the membership of the Group be amended to allow for eight individual representatives.

At this juncture, following queries from members of the Committee, the Clerk advised that, in terms of Standing Order 22 (2), the “six month rule” would apply in this matter due to the decision taken by the Corporate Policy and Performance Committee at its meeting on 8^th December, 2009, to amend the membership of the Disability Advisory Group to seven individuals with disabilities, seven organisations representing people with disabilities and five elected members.

Councillor Adam then moved as a procedural motion, seconded by Councillor Collie:-

“that the Committee agree to suspend Standing Order 22 to allow for the reconsideration of the decision of the Corporate Policy and Performance Committee of 8^th December, 2009.”

It being a procedural motion, the terms were put straight to the vote.  

On a division, there voted:-  for the procedural motion (3) – Councillors Adam, Collie and Hunter;  against the procedural motion  (9) – the Convener; the Vice-Convener;  and Councillors Cormie, Donnelly, Jaffrey, Leslie, McCaig, McDonald and May;  absent from the division (2) – Councillors Graham and Malone.

The Committee resolved:-

to note that the decision taken at the meeting on 8^th December, 2009, would stand, namely that the membership of the Disability Advisory Group should remain as five elected members, seven representatives from organisations and seven individuals.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Corporate Governance which sought support to transform the Aberdeen Racist Incident Partnership (ARIP) to the Aberdeen Prejudice Incident Partnership.

As a result of the Stephen Lawrence enquiry, ARIP had been formed between 1999 and 2001.  Members of the partnership, namely Aberdeen City Council, Grampian Police, Grampian Racial Equality Council, Grampian Fire and Rescue Service, NHS Grampian, Aberdeen College, Victim Support and the Citizen’s Advice Bureau, had committed to taking all steps within their power to eliminate discrimination and racist incidents and to promoting good relationships between and towards ethnic minority communities by providing reports of racist incidents.

With the introduction of the Offences (Aggravation By Prejudice) (Scotland) Act 2009 and the Single Equality Bill currently being progressed through Parliament, Grampian Police led the development of a Prejudice Incident Reporting Form to record incidents of discrimination of people as a result of their age, disability, gender, faith, race or sexual orientation.  As a result of this, ARIP felt that it was important to change the partnership to reflect the inclusion of all equality strands, which would in turn fit with the Council’s own Single Equality Scheme, and proposed therefore that the new partnership be called the Aberdeen Prejudice Incident Partnership.

The report advised that ARIP had recognised that the change to the scope of the partnership could lead to an increased membership of the Group, and therefore, the decision had been taken to retain the membership as it was at present, with the option to invite particular representatives of other equality groups to meetings as required.  If the change of name was approved, a launch would be organised to garner publicity and raise awareness of the new title.

The report recommended:-

(a)       that the Committee approve the proposal to participate fully in Aberdeen Prejudice Incident Partnership; and

(b)       that the Committee instruct officers to ensure that their staff complete Prejudice Incident Reporting Forms when appropriate.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to approve the change of name from Aberdeen Racist Incident Partnership to the Aberdeen Prejudice Incident Partnership; and

(ii)        to otherwise approve the recommendations contained within the report.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Corporate Governance which advised that a request had been received from Mastrick/Sheddocksley Community Council to amend their name to Mastrick, Sheddocksley and Summerhill Community Council to more accurately reflect that the Summerhill area was included as part of the Mastrick/Sheddocksley Community Council area.

The Committee was asked to approve in principle the alteration of the present Community Councils scheme to allow for the proposed name change.  In terms of Section 53 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, the report advised that following approval by the Corporate Policy and Performance Committee, it would then be necessary for a special meeting of the Council to be convened to allow the proposal to be considered.   Following consideration by the Council, the proposed name change would be advertised in the local press, after which the proposal and any representations received from the public, would be considered once more by the Corporate Policy and Performance Committee before finally being considered by the Council.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve in principle the alteration of the present Community Councils scheme to the effect that the name Mastrick/Sheddocksley Community Council be changed to Mastrick, Sheddocksley and Summerhill Community Council.

With reference to article 6 of the minute of the meeting of the Corporate Policy and Performance Committee of 10^th September, 2009, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Enterprise, Planning and Infrastructure which presented information on the potential use of social networking sites such as Facebook, bebo, Flickr, Twitter and YouTube by Aberdeen City Council and the possible benefits for the Council’s communication, marketing and promotional activities.

At its meeting on 10^th September, 2009, the Corporate Policy and Performance Committee had requested that officers investigate the benefits to the Council of using social networking sites to access sections of the public who might not normally be contacted through regular Council communication methods.  The report advised that the use of social networking sites to promote the Council’s activities had a relatively low cost which made it an attractive communication tool for local authorities.  There were currently 125 local authorities in the UK who were using Twitter in some form, 55 uploading videos to YouTube, and 44 who had a profile on Facebook.

There had been a large growth in the use of social networking sites, and it was noted that the number of 16-24 year olds using these sites had increased from 54% in 2007 to 86% in 2009.  It was felt therefore that the sites would be a useful mechanism for connecting with “hard to reach” groups, such as young people, and would be a means for the Council to encourage interaction and engagement with all citizens, while raising awareness of the range of Council services available.

The report presented several scenarios which illustrated the benefits of the Council utilising social networking sites.  It was noted that regular monitoring of the sites would be required to ensure that the content of comments was appropriate and that a balance of opinion was represented.  Sites would also need to be maintained regularly and this maintenance would have to be incorporated into each service’s ongoing communications activity.

The report advised that following Committee approval, the building of profiles on the social networking sites would begin immediately, with an evaluation of the project to be reported to the meeting of the Corporate Policy and Performance Committee on 9^th September, 2010.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee approve the proposal to create a profile for Aberdeen City Council across social networking sites such as Facebook, bebo, Flickr and Twitter, utilising the YouTube media channel to enhance existing communication channels and encourage interaction with residents and service users.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendation contained within the report.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Corporate Governance which set out the proposed ICT Technical Strategy 2010 – 2015.  The strategy would allow for effective planning across all services for their future ICT requirements.

The strategy had been produced through the review of current and future ICT requirements; benchmarking with industry standards and other practitioners to establish emerging trends; the involvement of ICT staff to build in the detail of the technical requirements of service clients; and the input of services in indicating what their future ICT requirements would be in respect of using technology to support service delivery.  The benchmarking undertaken had also included a review of the strategic plans of other local authorities.

Appended to the report was the draft ICT Technical Strategy for 2010 to 2015.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to thank officers for the work which had gone into producing the report; and

(ii)        to approve the ICT Technical Strategy.

With reference to Article 6 of the minute of the meeting of the Corporate Policy and Performance Committee of 10^th September, 2010, the Committee had before it a report which provided an overview of internet access in the previous six months.   At the meeting on 10^th September, the Committee had agreed that staff and members should be given controlled access to the internet using technological methods with a review to be undertaken after six months to determine if there had been any transgressions from the ICT acceptable use policy as a result of this method of control.

The report advised that certain internet sites were not accessible to anyone, such as gambling sites and adult or sexually explicit sites.   With regard to access, elected members had no further restrictions, however, employees had access to all unblocked sites between the hours of 12 noon to 2.00pm and 4.00pm to 6.30pm only, unless otherwise authorised by their Line Manager.  

It was noted that during core hours, the sites accessed were those which would be expected for normal business usage, for example, search engines, news, reference, government and business sites.   Outwith core hours, access to shopping, travel and entertainment websites increased.   The report advised that although users who had authorised access to the latter sites for work reasons could therefore access them in core hours, the results of the review showed that these users were mainly accessing the sites in non-core time, highlighting that staff were observing the terms of their authorised access when using the internet.

There had been attempted non-authorised access over the six month review period, however it was mainly accidental, through URL links and embedded images in e-mails, as well as adverts and pop-ups which could be delivered to users e-mail addresses due to authorised access to a website.   Where it could be determined that access being sought was to a banned site or was not of an accidental nature then these incidents had been investigated and action taken.   In the past six months there had been sixteen incidents where staff members were investigated and action taken in respect of non-authorised internet access.  

The report advised that since internet use for staff and members had been reviewed in September, 2009, the demand on bandwidth and associated costs had not differed from the established pattern of internet use, and that staff were on the whole observing the agreed terms of internet access, with action being taken where staff did not adhere to the agreed policy.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to thank and praise the staff of Aberdeen City Council for their commitment to the Council’s policy regarding use of the internet;  and

(ii)        to otherwise note the content of the report.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Corporate Governance which sought approval for a Corporate Freedom of Information Policy and related procedures.   

The report advised that a draft Freedom of Information policy had been produced in January, 2005, but that it had not been formally approved.   It was noted that there were increasing numbers of requests for information submitted to the Council under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.   The report advised that the Head of Legal and Democratic Services would issue further information and guidance documents in support of the policy, including a separate guidance note for Members, and that once approved the policy would be uploaded to both the Council’s website and intranet, and copies sent to all Heads of Service, Data Protection Liaison Officers and Freedom of Information Liaison Officers for their information.   Information to advise staff of the update to the policy and procedures would also be included in Citylife, the Council’s web based staff magazine to ensure that all staff were made aware of the policy.  

The amended Freedom of Information policy was appended to the report.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to request that when appropriate, and taking into account data protection issues, that the outcomes of Freedom of Information requests be uploaded to the Council website so that they could be accessed by the public in order to prevent duplicate requests and additional work for officers;

(ii)        to approve the Corporate Freedom of Information policy and related procedures;  and

(iii)       to note that the Head of Legal and Democratic Services would issue further information and guidance documents in support of the policy.

With reference to Article 5 of the minute of the meeting of the Scrutiny Panel of 3^rd October, 2008, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Corporate Governance which sought approval for a Corporate Records Management policy and associated procedures.

As a result of an audit carried out on data protection in 2008, the Council’s External Auditor, Henderson Loggie, had recommended that records retention policies should be in place and readily accessible on the Council’s intranet.   Records in all formats should be managed corporately through the Records Manager, with a retention schedule developed and approved by committee, which would determine the lifecycle of all records, from creation to destruction.  

The report advised that work was ongoing to produce a Corporate Retention Schedule and this would be presented to a future meeting of the Committee for approval.  

A copy of the Corporate Records Management policy was appended to the report.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to approve the Corporate Records Management policy and related procedures;  and

(ii)        to note that the Head of Legal and Democratic Services would issue further information and guidance documents in support of the policy.

Following a query from members of the Committee, the Legal Manager (Court Team) advised that the Committee could, if it wished, now hear the report in public session.   The Committee resolved to take the report in public.  

DECLARATION OF INTEREST

The Vice-Convener and Councillors Cormie, Jaffrey, McCaig and McDonald declared an interest in the following article as one of the contractors mentioned in the report was known to them.    None of the above-mentioned Councillors felt it necessary to withdraw from the meeting during consideration of this item.

With reference to Article 37 of the minute of the meeting of the Resources Management Committee of 10^th March, 2009, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Corporate Governance which presented an investigation into the procedures followed for the tendering and tender evaluation of the above-named contract that had resulted in a legal challenge from an unsuccessful contractor.  

Appended to the report was an action plan detailing recommendations for improvements to Council procedures as a result of the investigation.  

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to request that officers report back to Committee on why the report had originally been circulated as a confidential item on green paper;

(ii)        to request that a verbal update be provided to the 29^th April, 2010, meeting of the Committee under the “Matters Under Investigation” standing agenda item detailing (a) whether the two contractors concerned remained on the tender list;  (b) whether either of these contractors had been awarded the contract;  and (c) if the third contractor concerned had been notified;

(iii)       to note the helpful suggestion that training could be arranged for elected members on the procurement process, and to request that officers contact Groups to ascertain if there would be a demand for this type of training;  and

(iv)       to otherwise approve the recommendations and action plan contained in the report.

-  JENNIFER STEWART, Convener.