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 proposed that the Committee consider item 10.1 (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 10.1 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.

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

(i)         Councillor Duncan declared an interest in respect of item 9.1 (Aberdeen Performing Arts Annual Report) by virtue of her position as a board member of Aberdeen Performing Arts but did not consider that the nature of her interest required her to leave the meeting; and

(ii)        the Convener declared an interest in respect of item 10.1 (Business Case PLA019 – Delivery of the Aberdeen Christmas Village) 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.

The Committee had before it the minute of its previous meeting of 29 August 2019 for approval.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         in respect of article 5 (Sport Aberdeen Annual Report), to note that information was still to be provided in respect of any changes to opening hours made to date in the current financial year;

(ii)        also in respect of article 5, to note that information was still awaited from Sport Aberdeen on any building modifications required at Lochside Academy and the requested detail would be circulated to Members once this was available; and

(iii)       to otherwise 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 planner.

With reference to article 8 of the minute of its meeting of 13 September 2018 the Committee had before it a report by the Chief Operating Officer which presented the Aberdeen Performing Arts annual review report in order to provide Committee with an overview of performance of service delivery by Aberdeen Performing Arts.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee approve the Aberdeen Performing Arts ALEO annual report appended to the committee report for the Council’s interests.

Ms Spiers and Mr Simpson, Aberdeen Performing Arts, were in attendance and answered questions from Members.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         in respect of the number of participatory opportunities targeted for priority groups (section 2 of the report), to request that information be provided to Members, by way of email, in respect of the residents of regeneration areas within Aberdeen City who had participated;

(ii)        in respect of the audience numbers (section 2 of the report), to request that information be provided to Members, by way of email, in respect of the percentage of audience survey rating where the experience had been rated as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’; and

(iii)       to otherwise note the Aberdeen Performing Arts ALEO Annual Report.

With reference to article 10 of the minute of its meeting of 13 September 2018, the Committee had before it a report by the Head of Commercial and Procurement Services which presented the Aberdeen Sports Village annual review report in order to provide Committee with an overview of performance of service delivery by Aberdeen Sports Village.

The report recommended:-

that Committee approve the Aberdeen Sports Village annual report appended to the committee report.

Mr Sinclair and Ms Griffiths, Aberdeen Sports Village, were in attendance and answered questions from Members.

The Committee resolved:-

to note the Aberdeen Sports Village Annual Report.

With reference to article 7 of the minute of its meeting of 13 September 2018, the Committee had before it the annual report of the Bon Accord Care business plan for information.

The report recommended:-

that Committee approve the Bon Accord Care business plan annual report appended to the Committee report for the Council’s interests.

Ms Chappell, Bon Accord Care, was in attendance and answered questions from Members.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         in respect of the Education section of the report, to request that figures be circulated to Members, by way of email, in respect of the number of participants in the cohort for the Bon Accord Care Parkinson’s programme; and

(ii)        to otherwise note the report.

The Committee had before it a report by the Chief Operating Officer which set out the annual procurement report for Aberdeen City Council, as required by Section 18 of the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014.

The report recommended:-

that Committee approve the content and publication of the Annual Procurement Report 2018-2019 as set out at Appendix A of the report.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendation.

With reference to article 5 of the minute of its meeting of 20 November 2018, the Committee had before it a report by the Chief Officer – Business Intelligence and Performance Management and the Head of Commercial and Procurement Services which presented the cluster risk registers for those areas in accordance with the Committee Terms of Reference to provide assurance on the Council’s system of risk management.

The report recommended:-

that Committee note the cluster risk registers and assurance maps as set out in the appendices to the report.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendation.

With reference to article 7 of the minute of its previous meeting, the Committee had before it a report by the Chief Officer – Governance which sought agreement from Committee to commission and recommission various strategies as part of the strategy framework.

The report recommended:-

that Committee approve the commissioning and recommissioning of strategies as outlined in section 4.2 of the report, namely:-

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to request that officers circulate information to Members in respect of the policy work which was currently being undertaken, particularly in relation to Education policy; and

(ii)        to otherwise approve the recommendation.

With reference to article 9 of the minute of the previous meeting, the Committee had before it a report by the Chief Operating Officer which (1) presented procurement workplans where revenue expenditure was included for Operations, Customer, Resources and Place functions to Committee for review; (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; and (3) presented a summary of 3.10 memos approved since the last meeting.

The list of procurement business cases was as follows:-

The report recommended:-

that Committee –

(a)       note the workplans of the Operations, Customer, Resources and Place Functions as detailed in the appendices;

(b)       approve each of the individual procurement business cases, including the total estimated revenue expenditure for each proposed contract and delegate authority to the Head of Commercial and Procurement Services following consultation with the relevant Chief Officer to procure appropriate goods and services, and enter into any contracts relating thereto –

            OPS075

            CUS014

            PLA019

            RES029

            RES030;

(c)        approve the direct awards of contracts where there were special circumstances outlined in each of the respective procurement business cases which justified not issuing a tender or calling off a framework agreement; and

(d)       note that business cases for procurement exercises to be commenced after the 30 January 2020 meeting would be submitted on a phased basis to future meetings of the Strategic Commissioning Committee.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         in relation to Appendix 2 (3.10 memo summary) and the spend in respect of the 3G/4G extension solution for TECA, to request that officers circulate information to Members, by way of email, to provide more detail in respect of the timeline of the matter, including (a) when the situation in respect of the coverage had first become apparent, (b) how the issue with the coverage had been discovered; (c) whether the coverage was an issue both inside and outside the building; (d) under which budget line the expenditure sat; and (e) whether the £220,000 included repayment to the capital programme;

(ii)        to request that officers circulate information to Members, by way of email, in respect of the financial support provided by Aberdeen Inspired to the Christmas Village; and

(iii)       to otherwise approve the recommendations.

At this juncture, the Convener advised Committee that it was the last meeting to be attended by Carol Wright, Business and Procurement Improvement Manager, prior to her leaving in December following 19 years with Aberdeen City Council.  The Convener paid tribute to Mrs Wright, noting that she was well-respected and admired by her colleagues, and thanked her for being incredibly supportive and helpful to her in her role as Convener.  She added that the Council was very appreciative of the work she had undertaken and wished her well for the future.

In accordance with the decision recorded under article 1 of this minute, the following item of business was considered with the press and public excluded.

DECLARATION OF INTEREST

In accordance with article 2 of this minute, the Convener left the meeting during consideration of procurement business case PLA19 contained in the exempt appendices to the following item of business.  The Vice Convener took the Chair and Councillor Graham substituted for the Convener for consideration of the aforementioned business case only.

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