Agenda item

The Council had before it a report by the Director of Corporate Governance which asked the Council to consider the composition of its Committees following the recent by-election results, and to take a number of decisions on outstanding issues relating to various positions.

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

(a)              agree the composition of the various Committees, being guided by the indicative calculations as outlined in section 6.2 of the report;

(b)              agree the composition of the Urgent Business Committee;

(c)               appoint members to those Committees;

(d)              approve the appointments of the Depute Provost, Conveners and Vice Conveners as set out in section 6.3 of the report, suspending Standing Order 2(1) where applicable; and

(e)              appoint replacement members for the vacant positions as outlined in section 6.4 of the report.

At this juncture, the Lord Provost paid tribute to Councillor John Stewart for the work he had done in just under two years as Council Leader and congratulated Councillor McCaig on his pending appointment as Council Leader.

Councillor John Stewart responded by congratulating his colleagues in the SNP Group on their success in the by-elections and Councillors McDonald and Kevin Stewart on their election to the Scottish Parliament as MSPs. Councillor McCaig thanked Councillor John Stewart for his kind words, and for his valuable service as Council Leader, and stated that he was pleased he would be continuing to serve the Council in a senior role within the Administration.

The Council resolved:-

(i)                 to approve the following appointments, suspending Standing Order 2(1) where applicable:-

Council Appointments

Leader of the Council - Councillor McCaig

Deputy Leader of the Council - Councillor John Stewart

Depute Provost - Councillor Cormie

            Conveners

            Corporate Policy and Performance - Councillor McCaig

            Finance and Resources - Councillor John Stewart

            Education, Culture and Sport - Councillor John West

            Enterprise, Planning and Infrastructure - Councillor Dean

            Housing and Environment - Councillor Malone

            Social Care and Wellbeing - Councillor Kiddie

            Appeals - Councillor Dunbar

            Licensing Committee - Councillor Kirsty West

            Vice Conveners

            Corporate Policy and Performance - Councillor Yuill

            Finance and Resources - Councillor Noble

            Education, Culture and Sport - Councillor Jennifer Stewart

            Enterprise, Planning and Infrastructure - Councillor Corall

            Housing and Environment - Councillor Dunbar

            Social Care and Wellbeing - Councillor Robertson;

(ii)               to instruct the Director of Corporate Governance to report back to the next Council meeting on the remits of the Finance and Resources Committee and the Corporate Policy and Performance Committee;

(iii)             to note that the Aberdeen Conservative Group (Councillors Donnelly and Wisely) were now to be known as the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Group;

(iv)             to note that Councillors Boulton, Farquharson and Milne had formed the Independent Alliance Group, with Councillor Boulton as Group Leader, Councillor Milne as Deputy Group Leader and Councillor Farquharson as Group Secretary;

(v)               to defer consideration of the allocation of Committee places to the next Council meeting;

(vi)             to appoint Councillor McCaig as Convener of the Urgent Business Committee, which would comprise 13 members, with 5 SNP members (Councillors McCaig, Dunbar, Kiddie, May and John West), 4 Liberal Democrat members, 3 Labour members and 1 Independent Alliance member;

(vii)           to agree that there be no change to the composition of the Pensions Panel or the Licensing Board;

(viii)         to approve the following appointments to outside bodies, boards or groups:-

·        NEM (SITA) Management Board - Councillor John Stewart (in place of Councillor Kevin Stewart MSP)

·        Aberdeen Business Improvement District Board - Councillor McCaig (in place of Councillor Kevin Stewart MSP)

·        City Garden Project Management Board - Councillor McCaig (in place of Councillor Kevin Stewart MSP)

·        Licensing Board - Councillor John West (in place of former Councillor Clark)

·        COSLA - Councillors McCaig, John West and Dunbar (in place of Councillors Kevin Stewart MSP, Dean and Yuill); and

(ix)             to defer consideration of all other outstanding appointments to outside bodies, boards or groups to the next Council meeting.