Agenda, decisions and minutes

The agenda and reports associated with this minute can be found here.

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 welcomed Councillor Allard to his first meeting as a member of the Strategic Commissioning Committee.

The Convener advised that business case OPS083 – Waste Management Collection Service had been withdrawn from the agenda to enable officers to undertake further work on the item.

The Convener proposed that the Committee consider item 10.1 (Workplans and Business Cases – Exempt Appendices), 10.2 (Operational Delivery Models – Bon Accord Care & Sport Aberdeen) and 10.3 (Christmas Village 2019 Evaluation – Exempt Appendix) with the press and public excluded.

Councillor Alex Nicoll moved as a procedural motion, seconded by Councillor Yuill, that the Committee consider item 10.2 (Operational Delivery Models – Bon Accord Care & Sport Aberdeen) in public.

On a division, there voted:- for the procedural motion (4) – Councillors Allard, Copland, Alex Nicoll and Yuill; against the procedural motion (5) – the Convener; the Vice Convener; and Councillors Duncan, Lumsden and Wheeler.

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 10.1, 10.2 and 10.3 on today’s agenda so as to avoid disclosure of exempt information of the class described in paragraphs 6 (Items 10.2 and 10.3) and 8 (Item 10.1) of Schedule 7(A) of the Act.

The Committee noted the following declarations of interest intimated at this stage:-

(i)         the Convener declared an interest in respect of item 9.1 (Christmas Village 2019 Evaluation) by virtue of her position as a board member of Aberdeen Inspired, and considered that the nature of her interest required her to leave the meeting during consideration of that item on the agenda; and

(ii)        Councillor Allard declared an interest in respect of item 10.2 (Operational Delivery Models – Bon Accord Care and Sport Aberdeen) by virtue of his position as a board member of Aberdeen Performing Arts, and indicated that if that organisation was mentioned in any debate on that item, he did not consider that the nature of his interest required him to leave the meeting during that discussion.

The Committee had before it the minute of its previous meeting of 30 January 2020 for approval.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the minute as a correct record.

The Committee had before it the committee business planner as prepared by the Chief Officer – Governance.

The Committee resolved:-

to note the business planner.

DECLARATION OF INTEREST

In accordance with article 4 of this minute, the Convener left the meeting prior to consideration of the following item of business and the Vice Convener took the chair.

With reference to article 6 of the minute of its meeting of 28 May 2019, the Committee had before it a report by the Chief Officer – City Growth which presented the evaluation on the 2019 Christmas Village as required by the Council’s Funding and Service Provision Agreement with Aberdeen BID Company Ltd (trading as Aberdeen Inspired), which ran from 16 September 2019 to 20 February 2020, to enable the Committee to monitor the service delivery against expected outcomes.

Mr Adrian Watson, Chief Executive, Aberdeen Inspired was in attendance and answered questions from Members.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)       monitor the Christmas Village 2019 Evaluation Report contained as Appendix 1 against the expected outcomes; and

(b)       note the 2019 Accounts contained as Appendix 2 for information.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to note that Aberdeen Inspired would circulate the additional information available to Members outwith the meeting;

(ii)        to note the findings of the Christmas Village 2019 Evaluation Report;

(iii)       to note the 2019 Accounts contained as Appendix 2 for information; and

(iv)       to agree that due to issues relating to Covid-19, Committee recommend to the City Growth and Resources Committee that Council no longer proceeds with a Christmas village for 2020 as planned, and instructs the Chief Officer – City Growth to work with Aberdeen Inspired and other stakeholders to consider alternative uses for the funding budgeted to support the city centre at Christmas and report back to City Growth and Resources Committee.

At this juncture, the Convener rejoined the meeting and resumed chairing from this point on.

With reference to article 5 of the minute of its meeting of 28 May 2019, the Committee had before it a report by the Chief Officer – Data and Insights which presented the annual report of the Strategic Commissioning Committee to enable Members to provide comment on the data contained within.

The report recommended:-

that Committee –

(a)       provide comments and observations on the data contained within the annual report; and

(b)       note the annual report of the Strategic Commissioning Committee.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to note that officers would consider the comments provided by Members in respect of the content when reviewing the format for the next report, including comments in respect of exempt appendices and the Committee’s Terms of Reference;

(ii)        to note the decision of Council in August 2017 to move to a Target Operating Model;

(iii)       to note the annual report of the Strategic Commissioning Committee;

(iv)       to agree next year’s focus as laid out in pages 9-10 of Appendix 1; and

(v)        to congratulate all staff on winning the SOLAR Administration Team of the Year 2020 in March 2020.

With reference to article (TBC) of the minute of the Council Budget meeting of 3 March 2020, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Customer Services which presented a revised Performance Management Framework reflecting the Local Outcome Improvement Plan and the Council’s commissioning outcomes and intentions as set out within the Council Delivery Plan 2019/20.

The report recommended:-

that Committee agree the revised Performance Management Framework.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)      to note that officers would give further consideration to the Management of Risk section for future reports; and

(ii)     to approve the recommendation.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Customer Services which outlined the status of key performance measures relating to the Commercial and Procurement cluster.

The report recommended:-

that Committee note the report and provide comments and observations on the performance information contained in the report appendix.

The Committee resolved:-

to note the performance report.

The Committee had before it a report by the Chief Executive which presented Community Planning Aberdeen’s third Annual Outcome Improvement Report since the Local Outcome Improvement Plan (LOIP) had been published in August 2016.  The report advised that this was the first to be published since the LOIP had been refreshed in February 2019.

The report recommended:-

that Committee approve the Annual Outcome Improvement Report 2019/20 as a representation of the Council’s contribution to partnership working in delivery of the Local Outcome Improvement Plan 2016-26.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to approve the recommendation;

(ii)        to agree the Partnership’s ethos of cooperation, collaboration and relentless determination has yielded great results during 2019/20;

(iii)       to agree, looking ahead to 2020/21, that the impact of COVID-19 will provide a challenging and potentially uncertain financial environment; and

(iv)       to agree to give sincere thanks to staff and volunteers across the Partnership for the invaluable work they have undertaken in response to the Covid-19 emergency and, for their ongoing contribution to the recovery process that lies ahead.

The Committee had before it a report by the Chief Operating Officer which sought approval for the spend in relation to British Art Show 9, a partnership project with Wolverhampton, Plymouth and Manchester Art Galleries, led by Hayward Gallery Touring, Southbank Centre, London.

The report recommended:-

that Committee –

(a)       approve the expenditure of £100,000 to host British Art Show 9 taking place at Aberdeen Art Gallery from 3 July – 3 October 2021; and

(b)       delegate Authority to the Head of Commercial & Procurement Services following consultation with the Chief Officer, City Growth to enter into the contract to host British Art Show 9.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations with an amendment to the wording at (a) to read “to approve the expenditure of £100,000 from existing budgets to host British Art Show 9 taking place at Aberdeen Art Gallery from 3 July – 3 October 2021”.

The Committee had before it a report by the Chief Operating Officer which (1) presented procurement workplans where revenue expenditure was included for the Operations and Customer functions to Committee for review; and (2) sought approval of each of the procurement business cases listed below, including the total estimated revenue expenditure for each proposed contract, as contained at item 10.1 of the agenda.

The list of procurement business cases was as follows:-

The report recommended:-

that Committee –

(a)       review the workplans as detailed in the Appendices;

(b)       approve the estimated annual expenditure for framework agreements within financial year 20-21 as detailed within the appendices;

(c)        approve the procurement business cases, including the total estimated expenditure for the proposed contracts; and

(d)       approve the direct awards of contract where there are special circumstances outlined in the respective procurement business cases which justify not issuing a tender or calling off from a framework agreement.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)        to note that officers would circulate information outwith the meeting to Members on the current breakdown of spend and projected costs in relation to Spaces for People, to include the number of parklets and their location;

(ii)        to agree that a press release, in the name of Councillor Bell, be released to the press and public in respect of raising the number of hydrogen buses delivered through the JIVE project;

(iii)       to agree that a press release, in the Strategic Commissioning Convener’s name, be released to the press and public and promoted through all of the Council’s social media accounts, in respect of the Family Wellbeing Hubs which provided flexible and agile support to children and families within areas where elevated levels of concern existed; and

(iv)       to approve the recommendations.

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 exempt appendices relating to the Workplans and Business Cases Revenue report on the agenda (article 13 of this minute refers).

The Committee resolved:-

to note the exempt appendices.

With reference to article (TBC) of the minute of the Council Budget meeting of 3 March 2020, the Committee had before it a report by the Chief Operating Officer which presented considerations for future operational delivery models for Bon Accord Care and Sport Aberdeen in line with the instruction given at the meeting in March.

The report recommended:-

that Committee –

(a)       note the impact that Covid 19 has had on the Arms Length External Organisations (ALEOs) financial operating environment and continuing uncertainty as to their going concern;

(b)       note the outcome of the initial assessment from having considered the options for future operational delivery for Bon Accord Care and Sport Aberdeen;

(c)        instruct the Head of Commercial and Procurement Services, in conjunction with the Chief Officer Health and Social Care, to produce a joint commissioning plan between Bon Accord Care and Sport Aberdeen taking into account their operational delivery models and to present that to the next meeting of the Committee; and

(d)       instruct the Head of Commercial and Procurement Services, in consultation with the Chief Officer – Finance, to present considerations for a wider scope of operational delivery models involving all the  Council’s Tier 1 ALEOs given the emerging operating environment for them, and to present that to the next meeting of the Committee.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to approve the recommendations; and

(ii)        to agree that the Head of Commercial and Procurement Services write a letter to both the Scottish Government and the UK Government highlighting the economically catastrophic effect Covid-19 has had on Sport Aberdeen and requesting they provide financial assistance to offset the impact of enforced closures, and invite Alistair Robertson (Chief Executive) Sport Aberdeen to contribute to that letter.

The Committee had before it an exempt appendix relating to the Christmas Village 2019 Evaluation report on the agenda (article 7 of this minute refers).

The Committee resolved:-

to note the exempt appendix.

-     COUNCILLOR JENNIFER LAING, Convener