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 he had been made aware of an urgent Notice of Motion submitted by Councillor Tissera in terms of Standing Order 12.9, however he considered that the motion was not urgent, therefore he decided not to accept it onto the agenda for today’s meeting. He intimated that the matter could be moved as an amendment to item 8.1 (Council Financial Performance – Quarter 1, 2022/23) if deemed appropriate.

The Committee resolved:-

to note the position.

Members were requested to intimate any declarations of interest or transparency statements in respect of the items on today’s agenda, thereafter the following were intimated:-

(1)      Councillor Grant advised that he had a connection in relation to item 8.1 (Council Financial Performance – Quarter 1, 2022/23), specifically in relation to Riverbank School, by virtue of his wife being a member of the Riverbank School Parent Council and three of his children also attend the same school, however having applied the objective test, he did not consider that he had an interest and would not be withdrawing from the meeting; and

(2)      Councillor Kusznir advised that he had a connection in relation to item 8.1 (Council Financial Performance – Quarter 1, 2022/23), specifically in relation to St Peter’s RC School, by virtue of his employer acting for a large number Catholic Charities and that he had recently met with one of their trustees, however having applied the objective test, he did not consider that he had an interest and would not be withdrawing from the meeting.

The Committee had before it the minute of its previous meeting of 21 June 2022.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the minute.

The Committee had before it the Committee Business Planner prepared by the Chief Officer - Governance.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)       to remove item 7 (Review of School Estate) from the planner for the reasons intimated by the Director of Resources at the meeting;

(ii)       to note the reason for the reporting delay in relation to item 13 (Sustainable Drainage System (SUDS) Section) and that a Service Update be circulated in this regard; and

(iii)      to otherwise note the content of the Committee Planner.

The Committee had before it a Notice of Motion by Councillor Macdonald in the following terms:-

“to agree that Aberdeen City Council congratulate Aberdeen Mela-One World Day Event team on securing funding to hold a Mela event in Aberdeen this year, including £15,000 from the Council’s Common Good Fund. Melas are traditionally an Asian celebration of culture and community through music, dance, theatre, song and stories as well as food and fashion. As well as forging closer cultural understandings, there are also opportunities to promote stronger community, health and environmental benefits. The Aberdeen Mela will take place on Sunday 21st August 2022 from 12 Noon to 7pm at Westburn Park.”

The Committee resolved:-

to adopt the motion.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Commissioning which sought approval to re-establish the Business Rates Appeals Sub Committee and the Community Asset Transfer Review Sub Committee and thereafter determine compositions and make appointments to the sub committees under the Committee’s remit.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)      agree to re-establish the Business Rates Appeals Sub Committee and Community Asset Transfer Review Sub Committee; and

(b)      agree the composition and appoint five members to each of the sub committees.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations, with the composition of members being:- 2 SNP, 1 Liberal Democrat, 1 Labour and 1 Conservative.

The Committee had before it a report by the Director of Resources which provided details of the financial position of the Council as at Quarter 1 (30 June 2022) and the full year forecast position for the financial year 2022/23, including:-

• General Fund and Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and capital accounts; and associated Balance Sheet; and
• Common Good revenue account and Balance Sheet

The report also provided information on the outcome of the reprofiling of the Capital Programmes, as instructed by the Committee at its meeting on 21 June 2022.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)      note the positive cash position that has been achieved for the General Fund and HRA to the end of Quarter 1 as detailed in Appendix 1;

(b)      note the Common Good financial performance to the end of Quarter 1 as detailed in Appendix 3, specifically the £2m reduction in cash balances due to investment volatility;

(c)      note that the General Fund full year forecast position, as detailed in Appendix 2, is expected to show a balanced position overall for 2022/23, based on the assumption that the Scottish Government will fund any increase to the current pay offer made by Cosla and through the other mitigations contained within the report, including the use of one-off funding streams;

(d)      note the initial information provided in the report about the fire at Altens East Waste and Recycling Centre and instruct the Chief Officer – Operations and Protective Services to report back to the next meeting of the Committee with details of the contractual, financial, and operational implications, including assurance about how the council has mitigated financial exposure;

(e)      note that the HRA full year forecast position, as detailed in Appendix 2, is on target to achieve the approved budget, making a contribution to HRA reserves for 2022/23;

(f)       note that the Council relies on the Integration Joint Board (IJB) achieving a balanced budget, and that it retains reserves in the event of unplanned additional costs arising during the year;

(g)      note that the forecast for General Fund capital expenditure is that there will be lower spend than had been budgeted in 2022/23, and for Housing, capital expenditure will be in line with 11% slippage on the programme, as described in Appendix 2;

(h)      note that officers have completed the work required to reprofile the capital programmes, following instruction by the Committee on 21 June 2022 (Appendix 5), and that this has led to the following recommendations:-

(h1)  note that almost all capital projects can be paused, delayed or ultimately cancelled though there would be implications related to such decisions;

(h2)  note that for reprofiling purposes there are projects/programmes within the approved Capital Programmes which have been excluded;

(h3)  note the legal status of the contracts involved in delivery of the projects as this to an extent dictates the level of flexibility that the Council has in terms of reprofiling, pausing or cancelling projects;

(h4)  note the General Fund Capital funded projects/programmes recommended for reprofiling are  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.