Agenda, decisions and minutes

Members were requested to intimate any Declarations of Interest or Transparency Statements in respect of the items on the agenda.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)      to note that the Convener advised that he had a connection in relation to agenda items 9.1 (Child Poverty Action Plan Update Report), 9.2 (Development of an Anti-Poverty Strategy) and 9.4 (Demographic information on child poverty, in-work poverty and other forms of poverty in the city) as he was a Council appointed representative to Aberdeen Foyer, Community Food Initiatives North East (CFINE) Board and Grampian Regional Equality Council, however, having applied the objective test he did not consider that his connection amounted to an interest which would prevent him from participating in the discussion on the items;

(ii)    to note that Councillor Brooks advised that he had a connection in relation to agenda items 9.1 and 9.2 as he was founder and Chairman of the TLC Charity which was part of the Trussell Trust family of food banks however, having applied the objective test he did not consider that his connection amounted to an interest which would prevent him from participating in the discussion on the items; and

(iii)   to note thatDr John Bone advised that he had a connection in relation to agenda items 9.1 and 9.2 as he was a Board member of CFINE however, having applied the objective test he did not consider that his connection amounted to an interest which would prevent him from participating in the discussion on the items.

The Committee had before it the minute of the previous meeting of 11 January 2023.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the minute.

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

The Committee resolved:-

to note the Planner.

There was no Exempt Business.

There was no Urgent Business.

The Committee had before it a half year report by the Chief Officer - Early Intervention and Community Empowerment, that provided an update on the actions being taken by Community Planning Aberdeen to reduce and eradicate child poverty.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee:

(a)           note the progress in the half yearly report;

(b)           note the progress in submitting the annual report and refreshed Child Poverty Action Plan 2022-26 to Scottish Government; and

(c)           note the progress in establishing the Child Poverty sub-group of the Anti-Poverty Outcome Improvement Group.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)             to instruct the Chief Officer - Early Intervention and Community Empowerment to circulate the Integrated Impact Assessment in respect of the report;

(ii)            to instruct the Chief Officer – Data and Insights, to circulate information on the Data Observatory including where it was located, along with commentary on how best to navigate it; and

(iii)          to otherwise approve the recommendations.

The Committee had before it a report by the Chief Officer - Early Intervention and Community Empowerment, outlining the approach to the development of an anti-poverty strategy.

The report recommended:

that the Committee note the approach to the development of an anti-poverty strategy.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)             to instruct the Chief Officer – Early Intervention and Community Empowerment to circulate the report to the Operational Delivery Committee on 17 September 2019 Child Poverty (CUS/19/375) referred to at 3.2 of the report; and

(ii)            to otherwise approve the recommendation.

The Committee had before it a report by the Chief Officer - Early Intervention and Community Empowerment that presented the plans to facilitate Citizens' Assemblies on Poverty and Inequality.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee:

(a)           note the progress on plans to facilitate Citizens’ Assemblies on Poverty and Inequality;

(b)           instruct the Chief Officer – Early Intervention and Community Empowerment in consultation with the Chief Officer - Finance and Chief Officer - Customer Experience to develop a cost profile, explore potential funding mechanisms and report to the Finance and Resources Committee if funding was required;

(c)           agree for further detail to be developed on how local Community Empowerment Groups could be facilitated to support a citizen assembly model at locality level; and

(d)           agree that the report currently planned for the May Committee meeting on a final model for Citizen Assemblies be submitted for the Committee on 30 August 2023 to allow a final proposal to be brought to the Committee.

The Convener moved, seconded by Councillor Greig:-

that the Committee approve the recommendations.

Councillor Watson moved an amendment, seconded by Councillor Kusznir:-

that the Committee:-

(1)  Delete recommendations (b), (c) and (d); and

(2)  Replace with:

(b)  Takes no further action on setting up a Citizen Assembly on Poverty, as there are already a huge number of existing forums, and tackling poverty will not be helped by setting up yet more.  Discussions can happen at this committee, its proposed new working group, Priority Neighbourhood Partnerships, Locality Empowerment Groups, Community Planning Partnerships, and elsewhere.

(c)   Requests that the Finance and Resources Committee reallocate any funds previously committed to Citizens Assembliesto alleviate poverty by allocating the £50,000 set aside in the budget (for the provision of Citizen Assemblies poverty mitigation measures) for the continuation of library services and libraries as warm hubs in Aberdeen. 

On a division, there voted:- for the motion (7) – the Convener, Vice Convener, and Councillors Clark, Davidson, Greig,  Hutchison and Radley; for the amendment (6) – Councillors Bonsell, Brooks, Graham, Houghton, Kusznir and Watson.

The Committee resolved:-

to adopt the motion.

The Committee had before it a report by the Chief Officer - Early Intervention and Community Empowerment, regarding demographic information on child poverty, in-work poverty and other forms of poverty in the city.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee:

(a)           note the demographic information contained in the report;

(b)           instruct the Chief Officer – Early Intervention and Community Empowerment to undertake further work with the External Advisers and working group on poverty demographics in Aberdeen and report back to the Committee in September 2023;

(c)           instruct the Chief Officer – Early Intervention and Community Empowerment to undertake further research into rates of poverty and ‘in work’ poverty in the rented and social housing sectors in Aberdeen and report back to the Committee at a future date;

(d)           instruct the Chief Officer – Customer Experience following consultation with the Chief Officer – Data and Insights, to review how the Council records demographic information of residents, and report back to a future Committee with suggestions on how this data could be more effectively used to target key demographics with a higher risk of experiencing poverty;

(e)           instruct the Chief Officer – Early Intervention and Community Empowerment to report back to the Committee on poverty demographics once the most recent census data was available;

(f)             instruct the Chief Officer – Data and Insights to undertake a further survey through City Voice on poverty rates in Aberdeen and report back to a future Committee; and

(g)           instruct the Chief Officer – Early Intervention and Community Empowerment to include in the next six monthly Child Poverty Action Plan report analysis of work being done to support specific demographics outwith the six identified child poverty family groups.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)                to instruct the Chief Officer – Early Intervention and Community Empowerment, to circulate the data published by the Community Planning Partnership with regard to the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD); and

(ii)               to otherwise approve the recommendations.

The Committee had before it a report by the Chief Officer - Early Intervention and Community Empowerment that provided an update on progress achieved at the end of Year 2 of Aberdeen City Council’s Equality Outcomes for the year 2021- 2023.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee:

(a)           note the progress from 2021 – 2023 on the Corporate Equality Outcomes, Employer Equality Outcomes, Education Equality Outcomes and Licensing Board Outcomes as detailed in the Equality Outcomes and Mainstreaming Progress Report 2021- 2025;

(b)           note that the Staff Governance Committee, Education and Children’s Services Committee and Licensing Board would also consider the Equality Outcomes and Mainstreaming Progress Report for 2021-2023;

(c)           approve the ‘Equality Outcomes and Mainstreaming Progress Report for 2021-2023’ subject to any additional feedback from Staff Governance Committee, Education and Children’s Services Committee and Licensing Board;

(d)           instruct the Chief Officer – Early Intervention and Community Empowerment to publish the report on the Council’s website by 30 April 2023; and

(e)           instruct the Chief Officer – Early Intervention and Community Empowerment in consultation with the Chief Officer – Data and Insights and Chief Officer – Customer Experience to review how the Council records the characteristics of our customers in relation to the Public Sector Equality Duty and the Scottish Specific Duties, identify any improvements that could be made in this process in line with our business needs, and report back to the relevant committee at a future date.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations.

The Committee had before it a report by the Chief Officer - Early Intervention and Community Empowerment providing information on the formation of a Working Group to support the work of the Committee.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee:

(a)           note the approach taken to obtaining nominations for the working group;

(b)           agree that all respondents be invited to an information session on the work of the Committee and that officers subsequently confirm the respondent’s commitment for the initial twelve month period;

(c)           instruct the Chief Officer - Early Intervention and Community Empowerment to thereafter appoint twelve of the respondents to the working group for an initial period of twelve months;

(d)           request that members of the working group identify a member to take the currently vacant position of External Adviser to the Anti-Poverty and Inequality Committee starting in May 2023; and

(e)           request that the working group, with support from the Chief Officer – Early Intervention and Community Empowerment and the External Advisers, submit a report to the Anti-Poverty and Inequality Committee in June 2023 detailing their thoughts on anti-poverty and inequality issues in Aberdeen and making recommendations on actions believed necessary to tackle these issues.

The Committee resolved:-

to approve the recommendations.

-       COUNCILLOR CHRISTIAN ALLARD, Convener.</AI12>

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