Agenda, decisions and minutes

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

http://committees.aberdeencity.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=504&MId=3797&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 explained that the previous meeting of the Committee had been cancelled due to the tragic event at Cults Academy.

She expressed, on behalf of the Committee, her sincere condolences to the family and friends of Bailey Gwynne.  She also paid tribute to the pupils, families and staff at Cults Academy for pulling together at such a difficult time.

The Convener advised that Mr Charlie Penman, Head of Children’s Services, had now left this position and thanked him for his excellent service to the Council.  She also welcomed Mr Andrew Griffiths who was acting as Joint Head of Education for Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire Councils on a six-month interim basis from December 1, 2015.

The Committee resolved:

to echo the comments of the Convener.

The Convener proposed that item 10.1 (Contracting Arrangements for Care Home and Supported Accommodation Services for People with Mental Illness) of today’s agenda (article 15 of this minute) 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 during consideration of the aforementioned item of business (article 15 of this minute refers) so as to avoid disclosure of exempt information of the classes described in paragraph 10 of Schedule 7(A) of the Act.

At this juncture, Councillor Townson moved as a procedural motion, seconded by Councillor Nicoll:-

that items 1 (Directorate Performance Reporting Frameworks), (Implementation of Revised Opening Hours at Community Libraries) and 3 (Music Hall Redevelopment) of the information bulletin be included on today’s agenda for full consideration.

On a division, there voted:-  for the procedural motion (8) - Councillors Copland, Jackie Dunbar, Hutchison, Nicoll, Noble, Samarai, Townson and Yuill;  against the procedural motion (10) - Convener; the Vice Convener; and Councillors Allan, Boulton, Carle, Cooney, Lesley Dunbar, Lawrence, Malik; and Milne; declined to vote (5) - Angela Bowyer, Stewart Duncan, Mike Paul, Anthony Rafferty and Anne Tree.

The Committee resolved:

to reject the procedural motion.

The Committee had before it the minute of its meeting of 3 September 2015.

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 items 4 (Organisational Review – Phase 3 (Sport Aberdeen), 7 (SQA Briefing) and 9 (Adult Services – Sickness Absence); and

(ii)        to otherwise note the updates contained therein.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Education and Children’s Services which provided a summary of the 2014/2015 statutory performance indicator outcomes covering the work of the Education and Children’s Services Directorate.

The report recommended –

that the Committee –

(a)       note the content of the report;

(b)       note Education and Children’s Services, 2014-15 annual performance (Statutory Performance Indicator) outcomes contained within Appendix A;  and

(c)        acknowledge the improved educational outcomes for children and young people in Aberdeen.

The Committee resolved:

(i)         to approve the recommendations;

(ii)        to request officers to email trend analysis on library visits to Councillor Hutchison; and

(iii)       to note that officers would sync the content of the main report with the layout of the performance measures contained in the appendix for future reports.

With reference to article 8 of the minute of the meeting of the Education and Children’s Services Committee of 3 September 2015, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Education and Children’s Services and the Head of Finance which advised members of the current year revenue budget to date for the Education and Children’s Service, and outlined any areas of risk, and management action being taken in this regard.

The report recommended –

that the Committee -

(a)       note the projected variance of £510,000  greater than under budget; and

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

The Committee resolved:

(i)         to approve the recommendations; and

(ii)        in relation to the additional PVG costs of £50,000 to request officers to clarify to all Members, by way of email, whether (1) the additional costs had also been offset by the change in the PVG system; and (2) Councillors were required to undertake a further PVG check when, within their role as a Councillor, they were appointed to a new position, such as membership of this Committee.

With reference to article 12 of the minute of the meeting of the Education and Children’s Services Committee of 3 September 2015, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Education and Children’s Services which advised (a) of the new Scottish Government senior phase (S4 to S6) national benchmarking tool, “Insight” across Scotland; and (b) of the changes to reporting of the trends in attainment in the senior phase, including Scottish Qualification Authority (SQA) performance, in Aberdeen City for academic session 2014/15, using the “National Benchmarking Measures” from Insight.

The report recommended –

that the Committee -

(a)       note the information provided in the report;

(b)       note the change in the way the Service analysed and evaluated levels of attainment and achievement in the senior phase in our secondary schools using Insight and the new Local and National Benchmarking Measures; and

(c)        note the progress made in relation to the four national benchmark measures.

The Committee resolved:

to approve the recommendations.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Councillors Boulton and Lawrence declared interests during the course of considering the following item of business by virtue of their position as Council appointed Directors to the Board of Sport Aberdeen but chose to remain in the meeting as Sport Aberdeen was a body being a company established wholly or mainly for the purpose of providing services to the local authority, and which had entered into a contractual arrangement with the local authority for the supply of goods and/or services to the local authority, as set out in paragraph 5.18(2)(d)(i) and (ii) of the Councillors’ Code of Conduct.

With reference to article 21 of the minute of the meeting of the former Education, Culture and Sport Committee of 18 February 2010, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Education and Children’s Services which recommended a way forward for the charging of voluntary language schools for their use of Aberdeen City educational establishments at weekends, in order to ensure a consistency of approach for all language schools in the city.

The report recommended:-

(a)       that the Committee -

(b)       approve the proposed Option 4, to remove all charges for lets for all voluntary language schools operating in Aberdeen City educational establishments, and

(c)        approve the proposal that free lets would apply only to language schools which can demonstrate the following characteristics:

A not for profit organisation which provides extra-curricular, education based activities for children living in Aberdeen City, and where those activities focus primarily on learning about and through a specific foreign language and culture.

The Convener, seconded by Councillor the Vice Convener moved:-

that the Committee approve the recommendations in the report.

Councillor Nicoll, seconded by Councillor Townson moved as an amendment:-

that the Committee –

(1)       instruct officers to conduct a full review of the Bookings and Letting Policy and Procedures detailing proposals for a standardised charging system based on the type or category of facility, that defined user groups and priorities and ensured that appropriate quality assurance requirements were in place to justify any discounted rates that officers proposed be applied;

(2)       instruct officers to bring back details of the review, together with proposed charging bands that might be applied in early course to this Committee; and

(3)       agree with immediate effect to suspend all payments currently being made by voluntary language schools operating in Aberdeen City educational establishments until such times as the Booking and Letting Policy was reviewed by this Committee and any changes were instructed.

On a division, there voted:- for the motion (13) – the Convener; the Vice Convener and Councillors Allan, Boulton, Carle, Cooney, Lesley Dunbar, Lawrence, Malik, Milne, Jennifer Stewart and Stewart Duncan and Mike Paul; for the amendment (7) – Councillors Copland, Jackie Dunbar, Hutchison, Nicoll, Noble, Samarai and Townson; declined to vote (4) – Councillor Yuill and Angela Bower, Anthony Rafferty and Anne Tree.

The Committee resolved:

to adopt the motion.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Education and Children’s Services which presented information about administrative improvements to the nursery admissions process and sought approval to update and amend the nursery admissions criteria to bring it in line with the primary school admissions criteria.

The report recommended –

that the Committee note the administrative changes agreed to improve the customer experience and approve the proposed changes to the Local Authority nursery admissions criteria.

The Committee resolved:

(i)         to approve the recommendation; and

(ii)        to request officers to investigate potential procedures for a right of appeal for nursery requests and that this be reported back to a future meeting of the Committee for consideration.

At this juncture the external members of the Committee departed.

With reference to article 7 of the minute of the meeting of the former Social Care, Wellbeing and Safety Committee of 16 May 2013, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Education and Children’s Services which informed of the outcome of the review and redesign of the Residential Child Care Service that has been informed by the Residential Child Care Review of 2012 and the Reclaiming Social Work model.

The report recommended –

that the Committee –

(a)       note the approaches to improve the care experiences of children and young people who are being cared for in the city’s children’s homes by developing attachment led practice and embedding systemic approaches in the service in line with the Reclaiming Social Work Model; and

(b)       remit the required changes in the staffing structure for the residential childcare service to implement the redesign to the next Finance Policy and Resources Committee for approval.

The Committee resolved:

to defer consideration of the report to its next meeting on 24 March 2016.

With reference to article 17 of the minute of the meeting of the Education and Children’s Services Committee of 3 September 2015, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Education and Children’s Services which provided an update on the progress made on implementing the Action Plan resulting from the joint inspection of services for children and young people in the Aberdeen City Community Planning Partnership area.

The report recommended –

that the Committee –

(a)       note the update on the multi-agency Action Plan (appendix 1) in response to the areas of improvement identified within the inspection report; and

(b)       request a report back on progress against actions in the Action Plan as appropriate.

The Committee resolved:

(i)         to approve recommendation (a); and

(ii)        to request a report back on progress against actions in the Action Plan as appropriate, noting that a report would be submitted to the Committee at its meeting on 24 March 2016 and that officers would endeavour to present the Action Plan in a more simplified manner.

With reference to article 18 of the minute of the meeting of the Education and Children’s Services Committee of 3 September 2015, the Committee had before it a report by the Chief Officer – Adult Health and Social Care and the Head of Finance which advised members of the current year revenue budget to date for Adult Services, 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 forecast outturn on the revenue budget and the information on areas of risk and management action that was  contained herein;

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

(c)        approve the virements outlined in section 5.3.1 of the report.

The Committee resolved:

to approve the recommendations.

With reference to article 19 of the minute of the meeting of the Education and Children’s Services Committee of 3 September 2015, the Committee had before it a report by the Chief Officer – Adult Health and Social Care which provided information relating to the performance of the Adult Social Work Service against its agreed indicators.  Appended to the report was an update on associated performance measures.

The report recommended –

that the Committee –

(a)       approve the Adult Social Work performance report; and

(b)       note that work was ongoing to develop a suite of performance indicators, aligned to the national outcomes for integration which would be overseen by the Integrated Joint Board following its establishment in April 2016.

The Committee resolved:

to approve the recommendations.

EXEMPT INFORMATION

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

DECLARATION OF INTEREST

The Vice Convener declared an interest in relation to the following item of business by virtue of being a Director of one of the organisations referred to in the report, and considered that the nature of his interest required him to leave the meeting and take no part in the deliberations thereon.

The Committee had before it a report by it a report by the Chief Officer – Adult Health and Social Care which sought approval for extensions to existing contracts for accommodation based, Care Home, Care at Home (CAH) and Housing Support (HS) services for people with mental illness that were presently provided by five voluntary sector providers.

The report recommended –

that the Committee –

(a)       approve the expenditure proposed by Health and Social Care Partnership as detailed in Appendix 1;

(b)       approve the invoking of Standing Order 1(6)(a) and thereby waiving  the need for a competitive procurement for all contracts specified in Appendix 1 on the grounds that the exemption was justified by special circumstances detailed in the report;

(c)        approve the contract extensions for two years for all the services listed in Appendix 1; and

(d)       agree that a report and commissioning plan for these services would be submitted to the Integrated Joint Board in line with the Health and Social Care Partnership’s Strategic Plan and Joint Commissioning Plan during the two year extension time period.

The Committee resolved:

(i)         to approve the recommendations; and

(ii)        to agree that all extended contracts could be considered in the future by the Integrated Joint Board for determination of the appropriate tendering process.

- COUNCILLOR ANGELA TAYLOR, CONVENER