Agenda, decisions and minutes

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

https://committees.aberdeencity.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=504&MId=4330&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 Committee received a presentation from Ellie Raper, Aimee Simpson and Keigan Wright, pupils from Kittybrewster Primary School, on their sustainable development goals project.

Thereafter Members asked a number of questions of the pupils.

The Committee resolved:

to thank Ellie Raper, Aimee Simpson and Keigan Wright from Kittybrewster School for their presentation and attendance.

The Committee was requested in terms of Section 50(A)(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 to determine that items 11.1 (St Peter’s RC School – Plans to Address Capacity Pressures) and 11.2 (ALEO) on today’s agenda 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 items 11.1 (St Peter’s RC School – Plans to Address Capacity Pressures) and 11.2 (ALEO) so as to avoid disclosure of exempt information of the classes described in paragraph 8 of Schedule 7(A) of the Act.

Members were requested to intimate any declarations of interest in respect of the items on today’s agenda.

Thereafter, the following declarations of interest were intimated:

(a)       Mrs Stephanie Brock, third religious representative, declared an interest in relation to items 10.4 and 11.1 (St Peter’s School – Plans to Address Capacity Pressures) by virtue of having children who attend St Peter’s RC School and withdrew from the meeting during consideration of these items;

(b)       Councillors Boulton, Donnelly and Nicoll declared an interest in relation to item 11.2 (ALEO Funding 2017/2018), by virtue of their positions as Council appointed Directors to the Board of Aberdeen Performing Arts but all chose to remain in the meeting as Aberdeen Performing Arts 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;

(c)        Councillors Donnelly declared an interest in relation to item 11.2 (ALEO Funding 2017/2018), by virtue of his position as a Council appointed Director 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; and

(d)       Councillor Cameron declared an interest in the subject matter of the following article by virtue of his position as a Board member of Aberdeen Sports Village.  Councillor Cameron considered that the nature of his interest required him to leave the meeting and took no part in the Committee’s deliberation of this item.

The Committee had before it the minutes of its meeting of 26 January and 1 March 2017, for approval.

The Committee resolved:

(i)         to approve the minute of the meeting of 1 March 2017, as a correct record; and

(ii)        to approve the minute of the meeting of 26 January 2017, as a correct record, subject to adding the declaration of interest by Councillors Boulton in respect of article 4 by virtue of her position as a Board member of Aberdeen International Youth Festival and that she withdrew from the meeting during consideration of that item.

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 delete items 1 (Transformation of Pupil Support Services) and 2 resolution (i) (Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014), 3 (Escort Costs), 5 (Payment Controls within Children’s Social Work) 7 (Children’s Services - Social Worker Allocation), 8 resolution (i), (Attainment Fund and Pupil Support Assistant) and 9 resolution (i) (New Primary School Provision with Early Years Education and Childcare Facilities in Tillydrone) subject to the decisions taken later on the agenda;

(ii)        in relation to item 6 (Review of Residential Childcare), to note that a service update was available and to agree that a report on this matter be submitted to the next meeting of the Committee on 14 September 2017; and

(iii)       to otherwise note the updates provided.

The Committee had before it a tracker of future committee business.

The Committee resolved:

to note the information contained in the committee report tracker.

With reference to article 8 of the minute of the meeting of the Education and Children’s Services Committee of 26 January 2017, 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)       consider and note the report and the information on management action and risks that were contained therein; and

(b)       note that the figures were still subject to audit.

The Committee resolved:

(i)         to approve the recommendations;

(ii)        to instruct the Head of Policy, Performance and Resources to advise the Committee, by way of email, of the number of additional modular accommodation leased;

(iii)       to instruct the Head of Policy, Performance and Resources to advise the Committee, by way of email, what the £18,000 art work expenditure in the 2016/17 capital programme was allocated to;

(iv)       to request the Director to email the promotional recruitment video used by the Service to the Committee; and

(v)        to request the Director to email Councillor Hutchison information regarding the recruitment of teachers from overseas.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Education and Children’s Services which presented the Education and Children’s Services Directorate Improvement Plan 2017/18.

The report recommended –

that the Committee note the content of the Education and Children’s Services Directorate Improvement Plan 2017/2018.

The Committee resolved:

to approve the recommendation.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Education and Children’s Services which sought approval for the revised Education and Children’s Services Anti-bullying Policy.

The report recommended –

that the Committee

(a)          approve the Anti-bullying Policy appended to the report and agree that this replace the 2009 Policy on Positive Relationships and Anti-bullying approaches in school and come into effect immediately; and

(b)          agree that schools, youth teams and children’s homes would develop their own local policies, with guidance from the service and in reference to the Education and Children’s Services Anti-bullying Policy.

The Committee resolved:

to approve the recommendations.

With reference to article 6 of the minute of the meeting of the Education and Children’s Services Committee of 17 November 2016, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Education and Children’s Services which (1) advised how the implementation of a presumption of mainstreaming had impacted on escort costs; (2) advised of the outcome of an analysis of escort costs; and (3) outlined the criteria for the provision of a children’s escort.

The report recommended –

that the Committee

(a)       note the content of the report for reassurance; and

(b)       note that escort costs would continue to be monitored as part of the service financial monitoring arrangements.

The Committee resolved:

(i)         to approve the recommendations; and

(ii)        to instruct the Head of Inclusion to advise the Committee, by way of email, of the number of children who would not be able to use joint transport due to their needs.

With reference to article 9 of the minute of the meeting of the Education and Children’s Services Committee of 17 November 2016, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Education and Children’s Services which advised of the outcome of a recent statutory consultation on proposals to make changes to the primary and secondary school zones for an area of ground which lay south of North Deeside Road, and sought approval to implement the proposed changes.

The report recommended –

that the Committee agree to implement the proposals to:

(1)     rezone the area of ground which lies south of North Deeside Road and east of Pitfodels Station Road, from the Airyhall School zone to the Broomhill School zone, and from the Hazlehead Academy zone to the Harlaw Academy zone, with effect from 1 August 2017; and

(2)     rezone the area of ground which lies south of North Deeside Road and west of Pitfodels Station Road, from the Airyhall School zone to the Cults School zone, with effect from 1 August 2017.

The Committee resolved:

to approve the recommendation.

In accordance with article 3 of this minute, Mrs Stephanie Brock left the meeting prior to consideration of the following item of business.

With reference to article 4 of the minute of the meeting of the Education and Children’s Services Committee of 1 March 2017, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Education and Children’s Services which provided details of the planned work to alleviate short term capacity pressures at St Peter’s Roman Catholic Primary School in Aberdeen.

The report recommended –

that the Committee note the content of the report.

The Committee resolved:

(i)         to approve the recommendation;

(ii)        to instruct the Head of Policy, Performance and Resources to advise the Committee, by way of email, of the outcome of the tender exercise undertaken for the planned works at St Peter’s RC School;

(iii)       to instruct the Head of Policy, Performance and Resources to include information on the capacity and condition of St Peter’s RC School in the report to be submitted to the Committee at its meeting on 16 November 2017, on the outcome of the options appraisal on the long terms future of education provision at the existing St Peter’s site; and

(iv)       to instruct the Head of Policy, Performance and Resources to ensure that the local Community Council was updated as appropriate.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Education and Children’s Services which sought approval to implement the revised Exclusion Policy in Aberdeen City schools from August 2017.

The report recommended –

that the Committee

(a)          note the extensive and varied consultation on the Exclusion Policy involving children, young people, parents, staff and unions;

(b)          note the work undertaken to review the current Exclusion Policy; and

(c)          approve the refreshed Exclusion Policy and Guidance effective immediately.

The Committee resolved:

to approve the recommendation.

With reference to article 16 of the minute of the meeting of the Education and Children’s Services Committee of 8 September 2016, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Education and Children’s Services which advised of the development of Hub provision and sought approval to undertake a statutory consultation exercise on a proposal to close Cordyce School.

The report recommended –

that the Committee

(a)          note the content of the report, which outlined the further transformation of the service to ensure the needs of all Aberdeen city’s children were being met;

(b)          instruct the Head of Inclusion to continue to work with partners to develop the city’s continuum of provision, thereby improving the likelihood of children and young people maintaining their mainstream place and securing a positive destination beyond school as set out in Appendix 1;

(c)          instruct the Head of Inclusion to oversee the preparation of a proposal document for public consultation on the proposal to close the school specified in section 3 of the report in accordance with the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010 as amended; and

(d)          instruct the Head of Inclusion to report to the Committee on the outcome of the statutory consultation at the November meeting of the Committee to enable a decision on the future of the school specified in section 3 of the report to be made. 

The Committee resolved:

to approve the recommendations.

With reference to article 16 of the minute of the meeting of the Education and Children’s Services Committee of 8 September 2016, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Education and Children’s Services which advised on the steps being taken to address the National Excellence and Equity agenda; and informed of the main details of the Scottish Attainment Challenge and Pupil Equity Funds for Aberdeen City and their relationship to the National Improvement Framework (NIF) Plan.

The report recommended –

that the Committee

(a)       note the revised national expectations summarised in this report;

(b)       endorse the actions for improvement contained in the draft National Improvement Framework Plan;

(c)        instruct the Director of Education and Children’s Service to undertake further consultation to help finalise and publish the NIF Plan; and

(d)       instruct the Director of Education and Children's Services to undertake further consultation on the National Improvement Framework (NIF) Plan and to delegate authority to the Director to submit the final NIF Plan to the Scottish Government as required by the end of August.

The Committee resolved:

(i)         to approve recommendations (a) and (b); and

(ii)        to instruct the Director of Education and Children’s Service to undertake further consultation on the National Improvement Framework (NIF) Plan and to delegate authority to the Director, in consultation with the Convener, to submit the final NIF Plan to the Scottish Government as required by the end of August.

With reference to article 13 of the minute of the meeting of Council of 17 August 2016, the Committee had before it a report by the Head of Legal and Democratic Services which sought approval of (a) the re-establishment of the Fishing Industry Memorial Working Group and (b) the membership of the Working Group.

The report recommended –

that the Committee

(a)          agree to re-establish the Fishing Industry Memorial Working Group; and

(b)          appoint the Lord Provost, the Cultural Policy and Partnership Manager and two industry experts to the Working Group.

The Committee resolved:

to approve the recommendations.

In accordance with article 3 of this minute, Mrs Stephanie Brock left the meeting prior to consideration of the following item of business.

With reference to item 10.4 (St Peter’s RC School – Plans to Address Capacity Pressures) (article 12 of this minute refers), the Committee had before it an appendix containing exempt information regarding the estimated cost of the works described in item 10.4.

The Committee resolved:

to note the information contained in the exempt appendix.

In accordance with article 3 of this minute, Councillor Cameron left the meeting prior to consideration of the following item of business.

With reference to (1) article 3 of the minute of the meeting of Council of 22 February 2017; and (2) article 39 of the minute of the meeting of the Finance, Policy and Resources Committee of 20 September 2016, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Education and Children’s Services which sought approval for the 2017/18 payments to the Arm’s Length External Organisations (ALEOs) which had a link with Education and Children’s Services.

The report recommended –

that the Committee

(a)       approve the funding to be paid to the four Arm’s Length External Organisations in financial year 2017/18 as set out in Section 3 of the report; and

(b)       otherwise note the content of the report.

The Committee resolved:

(i)         to approve the recommendations; and

(ii)        to instruct the Head of Policy and Performance to submit the internal audit report regarding Garthdee Alpine Sports to the Committee following its consideration by the Audit, Risk and Scrutiny Committee.

At this juncture, the external members of the Committee departed.

With reference to article 15 of the minute of the meeting of the Education and Children’s Services Committee of 26 January 2017, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Education and Children’s Services which presented the Aberdeen City Integrated Children’s Services Plan 2017-2020.

The report recommended –

that the Committee

(a)       note the content of the Integrated Children’s Services Plan 2017- 2020;

(b)       note the work undertaken to produce the final draft of the Aberdeen City Integrated Children’s Services Plan 2017-2020; and

(c)        endorse the work of the Aberdeen City Integrated Children’s Services Plan 2017-2020.

The Committee resolved:

to approve the recommendations.

With reference to article 18 of the minute of the meeting of the Education and Children’s Services Committee of 17 November 2016, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Education and Children’s Services which provided a further update on the implementation of the recommendations within the Audit, Risk and Scrutiny report on payment controls within Children’s Social Work.

The report recommended –

that the Committee

(a)       note the progress made in the implementation of phases one and two of the Public Social Partnership (PSP); and

(b)       request the Head of Children’s Social Work to submit a service update to the Committee in early 2018, to provide assurance about the development of phases three and four and the consideration of a phase five.

The Committee resolved:

to approve the recommendations.

With reference to article 9 of the minute of the meeting of the Education and Children’s Services Committee of 26 January 2017, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Education and Children’s Services which advised of the allocation of work to individual social workers and of the challenges faced by the service to deliver on its statutory obligations.

The report recommended –

that the Committee

(a)       note how the allocation of work was being managed by the social work service; and

(b)       instruct the Head of Children’s Services to submit a service update on the implementation of Reclaiming Social Work by the end of 2017.

The Committee resolved:

(i)         to approve recommendation (a);

(ii)        to instruct the Head of Children’s Services to submit a report on the implementation of Reclaiming Social Work to the Committee by the end of 2017; and

(iii)       to instruct the Head of Children’s Services to circulate the three external evaluation reports on Reclaiming Social Work to the Committee, by way of email and that the final year 4 external evaluation report be circulated to the Committee in the same manner next year.

With reference to article 16 of the minute of the meeting of the Education and Children’s Services Committee of 8 September 2016, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Education and Children’s Services which advised of the cost of continuing care in residential, fostering and kinship placement.

The report recommended –

that the Committee

(a)       note the steps taken to implement continuing care for young people who are looked after and accommodated on their 16th birthday should they request to remain in their placement; and

(b)       request the Head of Children’s Services to submit a report to the Committee in March 2018 detailing the costs of continuing care during the first full year of implementation of Part 11 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014.

The Committee resolved:

to approve the recommendations.

- COUNCILLOR JOHN WHEELER, Convener.