Agenda and minutes

The Committee had before it, in accordance with Standing Order 10(1), a request for a deputation from Mrs Lavina Massie, Chairperson of the Fairer Scotland Fund Board, in relation to item 4.6 (Fairer Scotland Fund – Progress Report) on the agenda.

The Committee resolved:-

to hear the request for a deputation from Mrs Massie, Chair of the Fairer Scotland Fund Board, in relation to item 4.6 (Fairer Scotland Fund – Progress Report), and that the deputation and accompanying report be considered following item 3.4 (Motions List) on today’s agenda.

The Committee had before it the minute of its previous meeting of
23 September, 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:-

(i)         to delete items 2 (Monitoring Officer Report) and 9 (Revised Performance Indicator Suite for Social Care and Wellbeing Service); and

(ii)        to otherwise note the updates contained within the statement.

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

The Committee resolved:-

to note the update as contained within the list.

With reference to article 10 of the minute of the meeting of the Corporate Policy and Performance Committee of 10 June, 2010, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Corporate Governance which provided a six month update on progress with the Fairer Scotland Fund programme and projects currently being funded in this financial year.

The report provided a background to the establishment of the Fairer Scotland Fund and provided details of the projects and programmes that were currently being funded from the 2010/2011 fund allocation; this information was attached as appendix 1 to the report.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee:-

(a)       consider and advise the Fairer Scotland Fund Board of the Committee’s comments on progress; and

(b)       note the information at appendix 1 outlining the Fairer Scotland Fund project activity between 1 April and 30 September, 2010.

The Convener, seconded by Councillor Yuill, moved:-

to approve recommendation (b) and to congratulate the Fairer Scotland Fund Board on the successful allocation of extremely valuable financial support to programmes and projects aimed at tackling poverty and deprivation in the city.

As agreed at the beginning of the meeting (see article 1 above), the Committee then heard from Mrs Lavina Massie, Chairperson of the Fairer Scotland Fund Board, who provided a detailed background to and overview of the achievements of the Fund. She advised that the Fund, which was now in its third year, had been allocated £2.4million from the Council for the financial year 2010/2011 to continue its work.

Mrs Massie then advised of the principles behind the Fund and explained that the principles reflected the 2009 policy statement entitled “Equal Communities in a Fairer Scotland” by the Scottish Government and Cosla.  In particular, she emphasised that the programme and projects funded by the Fund were all about supporting the most vulnerable in the City with the resources available.  In terms of allocating the monies, she advised that the Board was often faced with hard decisions to make and always scrutinised every application for funding to ensure that maximum value was achieved and that there was no duplication in funding.

With regards the current year, Mrs Massie highlighted that the Board had supported projects that were providing front line services to not only disadvantaged neighbourhoods, but also providing support in terms of employability, health, financial inclusion and community safety initiatives that benefitted vulnerable individuals and families and the city as a whole.  In particular, she outlined the benefits projects had achieved in relation to employability and reducing the levels of unemployment within the city.  Finally, Mrs Massie emphasised the importance of the continuation of the fund for the vital projects that were improving the quality of life within the city in many ways.  In conclusion, she advised of the Board’s appreciation of the Council, not only for its involvement and participation in all aspects of the partnership, but especially for having the faith and confidence in the Board and communities, so that local people could take  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

With reference to article 9 of the minute of the meeting of the Corporate Policy and Performance Committee of 10 June, 2010, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Social Care and Wellbeing, which set out the process to engage with services across the Council and key stakeholders of the Aberdeen City Integrated Children’s Services Partnership to develop the revised Corporate Parenting Policy which would then be submitted to the Corporate Policy and Performance Committee at its meeting on 27 January, 2011 for consideration.

The report provided a detailed background to the establishment of the initial Corporate Parenting Policy in 2007, as well as the requirement to refresh the existing policy.

The revised policy would set out the expectations for effective formal and informal local partnerships to ensure all elected members, local authority services, and associated agencies, were responsible for working together to ensure that the Council met the needs of its looked after children and young people for whom the Council had a duty of care and protection.

The report defined the meaning of Corporate Parenting and set out what being a good corporate parent entailed, namely:- accepting responsibility for children in the Council’s care; making their needs a priority, and seeking for them the same outcomes any good parent would want for their own children.  In addition, the responsibility and duty placed on the local authority in terms of corporate parenting were highlighted, as was the wider responsibility placed on the Council’s community planning partners to contribute towards improving the outcomes of looked after children. In particular the policy would specifically set out the roles and responsibilities of:- elected members, the Chief Executive of the Council, and the Council’s Corporate Governance, Social Care and Wellbeing and Environment Services. It would further set out the role of elected members and officers to work alongside the following stakeholders to ensure the outcomes were delivered:-

• Community Planning Partnerships including; the Police, Health Services
• Children’s Hearing System
• The Independent Sector

The revised policy would also seek to ensure that the Council currently understood how many children were looked after, the reasons for this and how well they were doing in all aspects of their life.  The areas which the policy would specifically set out roles and responsibilities for were outlined.  A number of case study examples highlighting how the various outcomes could be achieved were provided.

In terms of monitoring the policy, it was advised that the policy would be reviewed annually to ensure that the Council was progressing towards the vision to reach a position where there was no discernible difference between the education, health and employment and other life outcomes of looked after children and young people and care leavers and their peers. Members were reminded that in February, 2010, all relevant Committees of the Council, as well as The Aberdeen City Alliance had approved the governance arrangements for the planning and delivery of Integrated Children’s Services.  To ensure collective ownership to effectively delivery  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

With reference to article 9 of the minute of the meeting of the Corporate Policy and Performance Committee of 23 September, 2010, the Committee had before it a report by the Chief Executive which provided an update on the development of a revised Local Code of Corporate Governance for the Council.

The report advised that the aim of the Council’s Local Code of Corporate Governance was to set out the framework which identifies the systems and processes, the cultures and values by which the Council was directed and controlled and through which it accounted to, engaged with and, where appropriate, lead the communities of the City.  The Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE) and the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) jointly suggested that any local code of corporate governance should be built around six principles, all of which were detailed within the report.

The report reminded members that since January 2009, the Council had approved revisions to the Council’s decision-making structure, management structure and the Council’s Standing Orders.  The report author referred to the Best Value progress report on the Council published in July 2009, by Audit Scotland, the findings on the progress report by the Accounts Commission and the Shared Risk Assessment for Aberdeen City Council undertaken by the Local Area Network. 

The proposed revised framework, appended to the report, articulated the arrangements the Council currently had in place to assure effective governance of its activities. It was advised that the proposed framework was subject to annual review with the subsequent report relating to the results of that review being captured in the Council’s Annual Governance Statement published as part of the Annual Accounts in September each year.  On that basis, it was recommended that an update report on the implementation of the Council’s Local Code of Corporate Governance is brought to the Corporate Policy and Performance Committee at its meeting on 22 September, 2011.  Finally, it was advised that in assessing the effectiveness of the arrangements in place and recommending any improvements to be made when the Code was brought back to Committee in 2011, it was proposed that the guidance contained within the Audit Scotland report entitled:- “Roles and Working Relationships: are you getting it right?” (August 2010) would be of assistance to members.  The report had been circulated to all elected members by the Director of Corporate Governance.

The Committee resolved:-

to agree the revised Local Code of Corporate Governance for the Council and request that an update report on its implementation be submitted to the Corporate Policy and Performance Committee at its meeting on 22 September, 2011.

With reference to article 15 of the minute of the meeting of the Housing and Environment Committee of 25 May, 2010, at which point the Committee had requested that the Chief Executive prepare a policy that would instruct officers to report back to a Committee with an explanation in the circumstances where a committee decision had not been implemented within a set period of time, the Committee now had before it a proposed procedure for consideration.

The report referred to previous decisions of the Corporate Policy and Performance Committee in relation to financial and performance monitoring and reporting to Committee and the introduction of reporting performance by exception, and proposed that given the recommendations previously agreed by the Corporate Policy and Performance Committee that the request be met by ensuring that progress on the implementation of committee decisions was reported as part of the Council’s Committee performance reporting process.  In addressing any exceptions to be reported a Service’s senior management would be expected to provide the envisaged explanation in the circumstance where a committee decision had not been implemented within a set period of time.

The Committee resolved:-

that progress on the implementation of Committee decisions be reported as part of the quarterly performance packs received by the Council’s Committees.

With reference to article 11 of the minute of the meeting of the Corporate Policy and Performance Committee of 10 June, 2010, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Corporate Governance which provided an update and proposals for developing local collaborative planning initiatives aimed at saving money in the future by developing a joined up service approach that would more effectively address and prevent the long term costs associated with failure to solve complex social problems.

The report provided an overview of the main benefits being sought from progressing the Total Place approach, and reminded members that as part of developing the approach officers had developed a prototype demonstration presentation based on the cluster of neighbourhoods in the northwest of the City i.e. Northfield, Middlefield, Cummings Park and Heathryfold, which examined the specific theme of raising educational attainment and achievement. 

With regards the prototype, it was advised that a number of factors that related to educational attainment and achievement had been identified and this had provided a strong business case for developing the approach in this area of the City further (a list of the summary of factors was provided).  Following consideration of the findings, it had been agreed by the Council’s Senior Management that the information relating to low educational attainment, comparatively high absence and exclusion rates alongside the range of existing investments on aspects aimed at tackling disadvantage in the area, provided a strong case for developing this initial work further.  Therefore, it was proposed that raising educational attainment and achievement in the Northfield, Cummings Park, Middlefield and Heathryfold neighbourhoods be the focus for initial project development.

Thereafter, again based on the analysis of the prototype findings, it was recommended that the following areas provide the focus for further collaborative initiatives:- community safety, and developing preventative models of working to meet the needs of older people and also care services as a whole.

The Housing and Environment Service and Social Care and Wellbeing Service Senior Management teams had also considered the initial information and agreed that their responsibility also required to be addressed.  It was therefore proposed that these teams should provide the focus for further collaborative initiatives.

Finally, the report advised that given the cost cutting nature and the interdependency factors that contributed towards tackling complex social problems a Steering Group had been established to oversee and manage the initiative.  This comprised a Head of Service representative from each of Senior Management Teams.  The outline remit of the Group was detailed.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to request officers to submit a further report to the Corporate Policy and Performance Committee at its meeting on 27 January, 2011, which:- (a)  clarified the figures for the number of exclusions in Northfield Academy and whether this was the highest number in Aberdeen; (b) provided statistics and further analysis on each of the points from (a) to (j) contained within the report; (c) provided information on the number of children resident in Northfield but  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

With reference to article 9 of the minute of the meeting of the Corporate Policy and Performance Committee of 10 September, 2009, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Corporate Governance which set out for consideration and approval the “Achieving Our Potential:  Tackling Poverty and Income Inequality in Aberdeen City” policy.

The report advised that the approach to tackling poverty being taken nationally was one, which recognised the role of local authorities and the importance of working collaboratively at local and national levels.  As the energy capital of Europe, Aberdeen was perceived was an affluent city, however this perception masked the growing poverty and disadvantage that existed in its communities.  This was evidenced by the relatively large increase in the share of data zones in the 15% most deprived between Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) 2004 (18 datazones) and SIMD 2006 (27 datazones).

The report provided a detailed overview of the research and steps undertaken in order to develop the Anti-poverty Strategy for the Council, namely:- a poverty profile, the audit of service activity and a ‘Talking about Poverty’ research study. These pieces of work had identified key themes that had assisted in developing a framework for the strategy.  The themes reflected the complex and multi-faceted nature of poverty in Aberdeen’s communities, and the necessity to target investment on the root causes of deprivation and inequality.  The proposed “Achieving our Potential:  Tackling Poverty and Income Inequality in Aberdeen City” strategy was appended to the report.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to approve the final Achieving Our Potential: Tackling Poverty and Income Inequality in Aberdeen City as attached as Appendix 1 to the report;

(ii)        to agree that a six month review of the Anti-Poverty Strategy be undertaken and reported back to the Policy and Performance Committee at its meeting on 9 June, 2011.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Corporate Governance which sought approval for the first annual report of the Council’s Single Equality Scheme for 2009-2012.   

The report advised that existing Equalities legislation placed a statutory duty on the Council to produce Disability, Gender and Race Equality Schemes, and required the Council to produce an annual report on each of the Schemes to be submitted to the Scottish Government by 30 November 2010, 4 December 2010 and 29 June, 2011 respectively.  

The report reminded members that in preparation for the introduction of the Single Equality Act the Council had developed a Single Equality Scheme. The first annual report on the scheme which had to be published no later than 30 November, 2010, was appended to the report.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)      to note the progress made during the first year of the Single Equality Scheme; 

(ii)     to approve the Single Equality Scheme Annual Report 2010, and its publication by 30 November, 2010;  and

(iii)    to instruct Directors and Heads of Service to continue to implement and monitor the actions within the Action Plan.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Housing and Environment which presented the revised corporate policies for gas safety, asbestos safety and safety from legionella bacteria for approval.  

The report advised that in light of the new structures established in the Council there was a need to develop corporate policies on gas safety, asbestos safety and safety from legionella bacteria.  This was to ensure there was a clear understanding of responsibilities within each Directorate and across the Council.   The revised policies for each of the three areas were attached as appendices to the report.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to approve the revised policies; and

(ii)        to note that the policies would be submitted to both the Housing and Environment and Enterprise, Planning and Infrastructure Committee for information; and

(iii)       to request that the report to the Housing and Environment Committee include information on the implementation of the policies as well as the new management arrangements within the service for policies such as gas.

- COUNCILLOR JENNIFER STEWART, Convener.