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.

At this juncture, Councillor Flynn moved an urgent motion asking the Committee to consider the matter of issuing a joint letter from the Scottish Government and COSLA in respect of teachers’ pay.

The Convener ruled that the motion was not competent in terms of Standing Order 12.6.2 and therefore it was not considered by the Committee.

In terms of Standing Order 31.7, Councillors Flynn, Catriona Mackenzie, McLellan, Nicoll and Samarai intimated their dissent against the foregoing decision.

The Convener proposed that the Committee consider item 11.1 (St Peter’s Long Term Educational Provision – Exempt Appendix) with the press and public excluded and that the Committee consider the item first in terms of the agenda running order.

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 11.1 so as to avoid disclosure of exempt information of the classes described in paragraph 8 of Schedule 7(A) of the Act.

The following declaration was intimated at this stage:

Mrs Brock declared an interest in item 10.3/11.1 (St Peter’s Long-Term Educational Provision) by virtue of having a child at the school but did not consider that the nature of her interest required her to leave the meeting.

The Committee had before it the minute of its previous meeting of 6 September 2018.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)        to note that there was an error in the previous minute and that Councillor Lesley Dunbar should have been listed as Acting Convener; and

(ii)       to otherwise approve the minute.

With reference to article 11 of the minute of the meeting of the Education and Children’s Services Committee of 16 November 2017, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Resources which provided an update on the outcome of the feasibility study requested at that meeting to identify options to improve the current Riverbank School and associated costs, including the cost of bringing the building up to ‘Category A status’ and recommendations on the next steps.

Appended to the report was information on the condition survey for Riverbank School, and an exempt appendix containing the business case which had been undertaken.  Members asked a number of questions of officers.

The report recommended:-

that Committee –

(a)      note the options as outlined in the appended Business Case in exempt Appendix 1;

(b)      agree to consult on the proposal to relocate St Peter’s RC School to the current Riverbank School building which relocation will take place once the new Riverbank replacement primary school becomes operational;

(c)       subject to approval of recommendation 2.2 above, to note that the Chief Officer – Integrated Children’s and Family Services shall carry out the consultation process required by the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010;

(d)      subject to approval of recommendation 2.3 above, instructs the Chief Operating Officer to submit the proposal to change the site of St Peter’s RC School in terms of the above to the Scottish Ministers for their consent in accordance with section 22D of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980; and

(e)      refer the proposals for improving the Riverbank School building to the budget process.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations.

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

The Committee resolved:-

(i)        in respect of item 4 (St Peter’s Long Term Educational Provision), and whether the original instruction to go to the Capital Programme Committee still applied, to note that officers would clarify the various permissions required to ensure the item could be progressed as quickly as possible and advise Members accordingly;

(ii)       in respect of item 9 (Pupil Equity Fund), to request that the item remain on the planner and to note that officers would bring a report to Committee in September 2019 with a review of the full year spend; and

(iii)      to otherwise note the updates contained in the planner.

The Committee had before it a report by the Chief Operating Officer and the Director of Customer which presented the cluster risk register for Integrated Children’s and Family Services in accordance with the Risk Management Framework and the Committee Terms of Reference.  Members asked a number of questions of officers in respect of the risk register.

The report recommended:-

that Committee note the cluster risk register presented and the actions identified to control the risks contained therein.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to request that future reports have the appendices clearly labelled;

(ii)        in respect of health and safety, to note that officers would take into consideration the suggestion of signs in respect of violence against staff being displayed, while noting that there still required to be a balance with having a welcoming school environment;

(iii)       to request that the Aberdeen City Parent Forum provide the Chief Education Officer with information on proposals they had produced for how to help attract teaching staff; and

(iv)       to approve the recommendation.

The Committee had before it a report by the Chief Operating Officer which provided a summary of the 2017-18 Annual Performance (Statutory Performance Indicator) improvement outcomes covering the work of Educational services over the previous fiscal period.

Appended to the report were the Educational Services Annual (SPI) Performance Report Scorecard and the Educational Services Annual (SPI) Performance Report Trendcharts.

The report recommended:-

that Committee note the content of the report and the detailed Educational Services 2017-18 Annual Performance (Statutory Performance Indicator) outcomes contained within Appendices A and B of the report.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)        to note that officers would consider how the data was presented in future reports to provide context and narrative where possible;

(ii)       to request that officers split the inspections of educational provision section into two separate groups in future reports; and

(iii)      to approve the recommendation.

With reference to article 4 of the minute of its meeting of 19 April 2018, the Committee had before it a report by the Chief Operating Officer which provided Members with an interim tracking report against the Educational Improvement Journey Key Performance Indicator measures which had been reported to the April 2018 meeting.  Appended to the report was the Key Performance Indicator Tracker.

The report recommended:-

that Committee note the content of the report.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)        to request that officers include information on the pieces of work being undertaken in respect of the differences in some of the data in the next regular update for the Education Improvement Journey to ensure that more detailed analysis was presented with the data; and

(ii)       to approve the recommendation.

With reference to article 5 of the minute of its meeting of 19 April 2018, the Committee had before it a report by the Chief Operating Officer which outlined the actual and likely impact of current and future workstreams for ensuring maximum registration and uptake of free school meals, including a promotional campaign in schools, a free school meals leaflet and poster, an upgrade to the Council’s School Meals webpage, social media campaigns, the creation of short videos by schools, work on the Torry Free School Meal Initiative, and improvements to the application and registration process.

The report recommended:-

that Committee –

(a)      note the impact of the current work which had focussed on raising awareness;

(b)      approve the proposed workstreams for ensuring maximum registration and uptake of free school meals through continued raising awareness and collaboration and use of digital; and

(c)       instruct the Chief Operating Officer to ensure that functions across the Council collaborate to deliver and monitor planned work in order to maximise the number of families registering for free school meals.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)        to note that officers would clarify whether leaflets in different languages promoting free school meals had been circulated to / by schools and would update Members outwith the meeting;

(ii)       in respect of paragraph 3.4.5 (Phase 2 of the initiative), to request that officers provide further information outwith the meeting to Members in respect of the use of rewards and the monitoring of the uptake of media campaigns and tasting sessions;

(iii)      to note that officers would clarify whether there was a requirement for an annual registration process;

(iv)      to note that officers would clarify whether information on the Council’s national award-winning school meals service was included in the leaflets sent to parents, and to request that this be included if not done so already; and

(v)       to approve the recommendations.

The Committee had before it an exempt appendix relating to the St Peter’s Long-Term Educational Provision report, referred to at article 5 of this minute.

The Committee resolved:-

to note the exempt appendix.

-     COUNCILLOR JOHN WHEELER, Convener