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 advised that she had accepted item 10.3 (Letter from COSLA – Council Delivery Plan) on to the agenda as a matter of urgency in terms of Section 50B(4)(b) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.

The Committee resolved:-

to note the decision of the Convener.

The Convener proposed that the Committee consider item 12.1 (Workplans and

Business Cases – Exempt Appendices) 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 item 12.1 on the agenda so as to avoid disclosure of exempt information of the class described in paragraph 8 of Schedule 7(A) of the Act.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Committee had before it the minute of its previous meeting of 12 November 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:-

(i)       to note that items 9 (Climate Friendly Weighting for Contracts) and 10 (Community Benefit Clauses) had been deferred to the June meeting to allow a full year of data to be presented; and

(ii)       to otherwise note the planner.

With reference to article 6 of the minute of its meeting of 21 November 2019, the Committee had before it a report by the Head of Commercial and Procurement Services which presented the Aberdeen Sports Village annual review report covering 1 August 2019 to 31 July 2020 in order to provide Committee with an overview of performance of service delivery.

Mr Duncan Sinclair, Aberdeen Sports Village, was in attendance and answered questions from Members.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee note the Aberdeen Sports Village ALEO Annual Report appended to the report for the Council’s interests.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to thank Mr Sinclair for his attendance and comprehensive answers to Members’ questions;

(ii)       to request that consideration be given to including a breakdown of the user numbers in regeneration areas to determine whether the majority of users in those areas were students in future reports;

(iii)      to note that Aberdeen Sports Village (ASV) were to introduce a passport scheme for users which would allow more comprehensive data to be collected for future reports;

(iv)      to note that due to the coronavirus, targets set for 2019/2020 had become unachievable, but recognise that until the national lockdown in March 2020, ASV had been on target to deliver another successful year;

(v)      to note ASV’s close engagement with Sportscotland, UK active and other national governing bodies had allowed ASV to offer early access to training; specifically for athletes training for the Olympics and Paralympics;

(vi)      to note ASV Aquatics Centre was one of only 3 venues in Scotland to be identified as a designated performance training facility for indoor aquatics sports;

(vii)     to note and congratulate ASV on winning various awards and recognition throughout the year, as noted in their report;

(viii)    to note the success of the ASV breakfast Club, ASV Aquatics Academy and other events as detailed in the report, and how those successes aligned to the Community Planning Partnership’s Local Outcome Improvement Plan;

(ix)      to agree to commend ASV and its staff on the work they were doing with children, young people and adults right across Aberdeen and especially in our SIMD areas; and

(x)      to note the report.

The Committee had before it a report by the Head of Commercial and Procurement Services which presented the Scotland Excel Annual Report 2019-2020 in accordance with the committee terms of reference, in order to provide assurance on the value achieved through the membership agreement.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee note the Scotland Excel Annual Report 19-20 as set out in Appendix A.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       in relation to section 3.5 in the Scotland Excel report (Cost avoidance per Council) to request that the Head of Commercial and Procurement Services ask Scotland Excel if it was possible to include a separate line in any future report which illustrated figures for Aberdeen City Council; and

(ii)       to note the report.

With reference to article 6 of the minute of its meeting of 20 November 2018, the Committee had before it a report by the Chief Officer – Data and Insights which presented the 2021 Population Needs Assessment (PNA) for Aberdeen City.  The report noted that the PNA was a key source of evidence which informed the key priorities for both Community Planning Aberdeen and Aberdeen City Council.

The report recommended:-

that Committee note the Population Needs Assessment 2021 (Appendix 1) and the LOIP refresh development stages (Appendix 2).

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to thank Mr Murchie and his team and partners for the work that had gone into preparing the report;

(ii)       to request that the Executive Summary which was to be prepared be circulated to Members via a service update when available;

(iii)      to request that officers provide a breakdown of the difference of life expectancy figures across all areas in Aberdeen;

(iv)      to request that future reports also take occupation and lifestyle into consideration;

(v)      to note that the information and analysis contained within the Population Needs Assessment had been considered in preparing the Council’s proposed Commissioning Intentions for 2021/22, which would be submitted to the Council Budget meeting on 2 March 2021; and

(vi)      to note the report.

With reference to article 12 of the minute of its previous meeting, 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 report.

With reference to article 8 of the minute of its previous meeting, and the instruction that the Co-Leaders of the Council write to COSLA requesting an update on progress made with the Scottish Government regarding the reform of local government finance, including business rates and the replacement of Council Tax, the Committee had before it both the letter from the Co-Leaders and the COSLA response for discussion.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       in light of the response received from COSLA, to agree that the Convener write to COSLA to request that at the next COSLA Leaders’ meeting, the following be discussed:- that the £90m allocated to local government by the Scottish Government to support a Council tax freeze should be allocated with no strings attached, thereby enabling Councils to determine their own Council tax rate to take into consideration the needs, expectations and aspirations of their citizens, and the shortfall of monies received from Scottish Government; and

(ii)       to agree that the Convener write in similar terms to the Leaders of all political parties represented in the Scottish Parliament.

The Committee had before it a report by the Chief Operating Officer which (1)

presented procurement workplans where revenue expenditure was included for the Commissioning, Customer, Operations and Resources 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 12.1 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 procurement business cases, including the total estimated expenditure for the proposed contracts;

(c)      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; and

(d)      to note the direct awards of contract made under the provisions for urgency as detailed within Appendix 3 – 3.10 Memo Summary.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to request that officers provide Members with a list of outlets where free school meals substitute vouchers could be used;

(ii)       in relation to Appendix 2 and the figures provided in respect of the AD Plant Operator Contract, to request that officers give consideration to the presentation of figures in future reports to ensure that there was clarity around exactly what the Committee was being asked to approve;

(iii)      in relation to Appendix 3 (Replacement of Bus Lane Enforcement Equipment) to note that officers would provide information to Members outwith the meeting on whether there had been an awareness that the equipment was becoming obsolete;

(iv)      to request that officers circulate information to Members outwith the meeting on the weed spraying options available to the Council;

(v)      in relation to the AD Plant Operator Contract business case, to request that consideration be given to going out to tender after the initial two year contract; and

(vi)      to approve the recommendations and the business cases outlined above.

In accordance with the decision taken under article 2 above, the following item 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 11 of this minute refers).

The Committee resolved:-

to note the exempt appendices.

-      COUNCILLOR JENNIFER LAING, Convener