Agenda item

The Council had before it a report by the Chief Officer - Data & Insights which presented the Council Delivery Plan for 2024/25.

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

(a)           note the content of the Council Delivery Plan 2024/25;

(b)           instruct the Chief Executive to realign any of the delivery commitments set out in the Plan that may be required, as a result of any potential Council budget decisions, to meet Council’s instructions; and

(c)           instruct all Chief Officers to report performance improvement priorities for 2024/25 and progress towards improvement through the arrangements set out within the Council’s Performance Management Framework.

Councillor Yuill moved, seconded by Councillor Allard:-

          That the Council approve the recommendations.

Councillor Malik moved as an amendment, seconded by Councillor Tissera:-

          That the Council -

(1)       note the content of the Council Delivery Plan 2024/25; 

(2)       note the Accounts Commission overview of local government published in May 2023 as outlined in the report “Demand and workforce pressures have been deepening after the pandemic and funding is forecast to reduce in real terms ... Councils need to radically rethink how they can work together, and with local partners, to provide services and meet wider ambitions to tackle climate change, child poverty and inequalities”. Therefore, agree that if the Council is actually serious about poverty and the causes of poverty it must scrap the Anti-Poverty Committee and encourage partners through Community Planning Aberdeen working alongside the Council to strengthen prevention and early intervention, particularly focusing on those communities in most need, and targeting: Poverty, Homelessness, Net Zero  and Partnership working;

(3)       agree that the budget process has missed a golden opportunity to highlight how the prevention and intervention strategy could have seriously shaped citizens lives for the better, but decided that a policy of offering up cuts without meaningful extract on what their impact meant to the prevention and intervention strategy, confirms the Administration are not serious or understand the concept of prevention and intervention on the budget; and

(4)       instruct the Chief Executive to bring forward at next year’s budget any impact on the prevention and intervention strategy from budget options proposed by officers for 2025/26.

During the course of summing up, Councillor Yuill advised that he had a connection in relation to the matter by virtue of his appointment by the Council to the Board of NHS Grampian, however having applied the objective test he did not consider that had had an interest and would not be withdrawing from the meeting.

On a division, there voted:-

For the motion  (32)  -  Lord Provost; Depute Provost; and Councillors Al-Samarai, Allard, Alphonse, Boulton, Bouse, Brooks, Hazel Cameron, Clark, Cooke, Copland, Cormie, Cross, Davidson, Farquhar, Greig, Henrickson, Houghton, Hutchison, Kusznir, MacGregor, McLellan, McLeod, McRae, Massey, Mennie, Nicoll, Radley, Mrs Stewart, van Sweeden and Yuill.

For the amendment  (12)  -  Councillors Ali, Blake, Bonsell, Crockett, Graham, Grant, Lawrence, Macdonald, Malik, Thomson, Tissera and Watson.

Absent from the division  (1)  -  Councillor Fairfull.

The Council resolved:-

to adopt the motion.