Agenda and minutes

The agenda and reports associated with this minute can be found at:-

http://committees.aberdeencity.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=337&MId=2293&Ver=4

The Convener welcomed everyone to the first meeting of the Corporate Policy and Performance Committee since the recent Local Government Election.  He congratulated the returning Councillors and welcomed those who were newly elected.  The Convener stated that the Committee would work together towards improvements for the Council, and that the focus would be on business, continuous improvement and meeting challenges.

The Vice-Convener advised the Committee that the Council had recently won the Investor in People Silver Award, and was now working towards achieving gold status.  She congratulated the officers involved.

The Committee resolved:-

to concur with the remarks of the Convener and Vice-Convener.

The Convener advised that item 6.1 on the agenda (Corporate Governance Directorate Business Plan) had been withdrawn to allow the Administration time to review the document to ensure that it was in line with their policies.  He also proposed that items 6.5 (Corporate Parenting Policy) and 6.7 (Family Firm Guidance and Procedure) be taken together due to their similar nature.

The Committee resolved:-

to agree that items 6.5 and 6.7 be considered together.

Prior to considering the matters before the Committee, 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 article 16 so as to avoid disclosure of exempt information of the class described in paragraph 6 of Schedule 7(A) to the Act.

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

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to transfer item 6 (External Support to Deliver the Business Plan) to the Finance and Resources Committee;

(ii)        to remove item 7 (Corporate Governance Business Case); and

(iii)       to otherwise note the updates contained therein.

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

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         in relation to item 1 (Ward Names) to request that officers continue to progress the matter;

(ii)        to note the concerns raised by residents in Mastrick and Airyhall in relation to ward name changes, and to request that officers contact councillors to ask them to consult with the Community Councils in their wards so that feedback could be provided from each area; and

(iii)       to otherwise note the motions list.

With reference to article 7 of the minute of the Statutory Council meeting of 16 May 2012, the Committee had before it by way of referral a report by the Director of Corporate Governance which sought to appoint members to the sub committees, working groups and other groups relevant to the Corporate Policy and Performance Committee.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to appoint Councillors Crockett, Graham and Kiddie to Community Planning Aberdeen;

(ii)        to defer consideration of the appointments to the Five Year Business Plan Working Group for a cycle;

(iii)       to appoint Councillors Forsyth, Graham, Kiddie, McCaig, Nathan Morrison and Young, and one Liberal Democrat member (nomination to be confirmed) to the Local Government Employees Joint Consultative Committee; and

(iv)       to defer consideration of the membership of the Older People’s Advisory Group until the composition of members could be confirmed by officers.

With reference to article 6 of the minute of its previous meeting, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Corporate Governance which presented the performance of the Corporate Governance Service as at June 2012, and apprised on progress in implementing the approved Service Business Plan 2011/2016.

The report recommended:-

That the Committee –

(a)       note the Corporate Governance Service’s reported progress and performance;

(b)       note the progress being made towards improved risk management arrangements across the Service; and

(c)        instruct such action as was considered appropriate.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to request that the next report to Committee include (a) more detail to provide greater clarity to members, particularly in relation to differences in performance across the Council;  (b)  any lessons learned from good performance across the Council;  (c)  detailed sickness absence figures broken down into individual services throughout the Council;  (d)  greater clarity in relation to what the values in the report represented in terms of performance;  and (e) less “jargon” in the commentary sections of the report;

(ii)        to note that some of the targets related to a 2009/10 residents’ survey and were therefore historical, and to note that these figures would perhaps need to be reviewed;

(iii)       in relation to community planning work, particularly the Total Place project, to note that a report would be presented to the Community Planning Aberdeen Board on 13 August 2012, following which a report would come before the Corporate Policy and Performance Committee in September; and

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

With reference to article 30 of the minute of the Finance and Resources Committee of 16 June 2011, at which the Managing Retirement Policy had been approved, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Corporate Governance in relation to a revised policy.  The report advised that as a result of the Equality Act, and the previous Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006, some of the current terms and conditions which related to retirement could potentially be viewed as discriminatory due to age.  An updated Managing Retirement Policy was therefore presented to Committee for approval to ensure that the aforementioned schemes were incorporated to create a legally compliant policy.

The report recommended:-

That the Committee approve –

(a)       the Revised Managing Retirement Policy detailed at appendix A of the report with immediate effect;

(b)       the deletion of the Phased Retirement Scheme for all employees (except teachers) with effect from 31 May 2014;

(c)        the deletion of the Salary in the Last Year of Service scheme with immediate effect;

(d)       the deletion of the Flexible Retirement Policy with immediate effect (due to the proposal it is incorporated in to the Managing Retirement Policy); and

(e)       the changes to the long service award scheme.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations as contained in the report.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Corporate Governance which proposed a replacement to the current Diversity and Equality policy as a result of changes to the provisions of the Equality Act 2010, and other necessary amendments and updates to terminology.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee approve the revised policy as a replacement for the existing policy.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the policy, with an addendum to section 3 of appendix 1 (Items of Clothing or Accessories), namely:- “however, in order to comply with health and safety requirements, or other similar legislation, specific items of clothing or accessories may be prohibited.”

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Corporate Governance which sought approval of a revised Corporate Procurement Strategy for the years 2012 through to 2015.  The report advised that the existing procurement strategy was for the period 2008 to 2011, and work had been undertaken to refresh the strategy for the next three years to ensure that the Central Procurement Unit supported all Council services by delivering innovative, cost effective and high quality procurement services on behalf of the Council.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the implementation of the revised Corporate Procurement Strategy.

The Committee had before it a report by the Acting Director for Education, Culture and Sport and the Director of Social Care and Wellbeing which sought approval of the Aberdeen Getting it Right for Every Child (GIRFEC) Policy.  The report outlined the national GIRFEC model and explained how the Council had worked with its community planning partners to support the development of the policy.

The report recommended:-

That the Committee –

(a)       note the details of the national Getting it Right for Every Child model;

(b)       endorse the joint Getting it Right for Every Child approach with community planning partners; and

(c)        on behalf of the Council, approve the Getting it Right for Every Child policy.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations contained in the report.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Corporate Governance which sought approval for a Corporate Breach Reporting Procedure to ensure that Council staff and elected members were aware of the action to take in the event of a data protection breach.  The report advised that the procedure complemented the existing ICT security policies and guidelines and reinforced them in relation to the security of personal information held by the Council.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the procedure.

With reference to the decision taken earlier by Committee (article 2 refers), the Committee had before it two reports by the Director of Social Care and Wellbeing which sought approval for the Corporate Parenting Policy 2012 – 2015 and the Family Firm Guidance and Procedure 2012 – 2015.  The reports noted that both policies would be reviewed every three years with the action plan for the Corporate Parenting Policy reviewed on an annual basis.  The report advised that the development of the Family Firm Procedure would consolidate existing support practice and activities in the area of employability of looked after children and young people.  It would also complement the work of Corporate Parents to improve outcomes for young people to enable them to build and learn employability and related skills.

The reports recommended:-

That Committee –

(a)       approve the Corporate Parenting Policy 2012 – 2015 and the Family Firm Guidance and Procedure 2012 – 2015; and

(b)       instruct officers to revise the Corporate Parenting Policy and the Family Firm Guidance and Procedure in May 2015 and report back to the relevant Committee.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to approve the recommendations contained in both reports;

(ii)        to note that the policies would be implemented and monitored through the appropriate service Committee; and

(iii)       in relation to the overarching remit of the Corporate Policy and Performance Committee, to request a report back to Committee in one year to illustrate the work which had been undertaken in Education, Culture and Sport and Social Care and Wellbeing in relation to the implementation of the policies.

With reference to article 5 of the minute of the Corporate Policy and Performance Committee of 8 March 2012, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Social Care and Wellbeing which provided information on the operation of the appropriate adult scheme at a local level, as previously requested by Committee following a referral from the Disability Advisory Group of 7 December 2011.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee note the report, which had been provided for information only.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to refer the report to the Social Care and Wellbeing Committee and recommend that that Committee call for a further report within two cycles on ways in which the current local scheme might be improved following consultation with interested parties, including service user organisations; and

(ii)        to respond to the Scottish Government’s consultation on the Carloway review of Scottish criminal law and practice with particular reference to the protection of vulnerable adults following consideration of the future report to the Social Care and Wellbeing Committee.  Following a query from officers about the scope of the response expected, given that the protection of vulnerable adults could be a fairly wide remit, the Committee agreed that the response should be specifically in relation to the appropriate adult scheme.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Corporate Governance which sought approval for a procedure for the use of close circuit television (CCTV) by Aberdeen City Council, which had been prepared in relation to the Council’s obligations as a data controller under the Data Protection Act 1998.  The procedure would be reviewed on an annual basis.

The report recommended: -

That the Committee approve the procedure.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to approve the procedure; and

(ii)        to request that a report be submitted to the Housing and Environment Committee on a review of the use of body worn cameras.

In accordance with the decision recorded under article 3 of this minute, the following item of business was considered with the press and public excluded.

The Committee had before it a report by the Directors of Enterprise, Planning and Infrastructure and Corporate Governance which advised that an issue had arisen where some employees had been overpaid as a result of the incorrect application of the non-standard working week allowance.

The report recommended:-

That Committee approve –

(a)       that the monies identified as being overpaid by the incorrect application of the non-standard working week allowance are not recovered from affected employees, given the unique circumstances of this situation on a without prejudice and precedent basis; and

(b)       the re-affirmation of the normal practice of the Council, as the employer, to recover salary/wage overpayments over the same duration the overpayment has been made.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations contained in the report.

- GORDON GRAHAM, Convener.