Agenda item

The Council had before it a report by the Head of Legal and Democratic Services which sought approval of the new policy on the appointment of elected members to outside bodies and made recommendations for those bodies which required or requested such appointments, and changes to the composition of various committees, and sought a delegation to allow the Head of Legal and Democratic Services to set and amend the Council diary.

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

(a)          approve the draft policy on the appointment of elected members to outside bodies as set out at Appendix 1 to the report;

(b)          appoint elected members to the outside bodies listed in Appendix 3 to the report;

(c)          agree to make no appointment to the outside bodies listed in Appendix 4 to the report and note that these would be removed from the outside bodies register;

(d)          instruct the Head of Legal and Democratic Services to ensure that the necessary formalities are addressed with respect to the resignations and nominations of elected members to the outside bodies listed in Appendices 3 and 4;

(e)          instruct the Head of Legal and Democratic Services to keep the proposed policy and the outside bodies register under review to ensure that the levels of support the Council provides to these outside bodies through an elected member appointment is consistent with the policy;

(f)           approve the changes to the compositions of the various committees as set out in paragraph 3.6.1 of the report;

(g)          delegate authority to the Head of Legal and Democratic Services to set and amend the calendar of Council, Committee and Sub Committee meetings following consultation with the Lord Provost and Council Leader and to update the Scheme of Delegation accordingly; and

(h)          note the various appointments approved under delegated authority since the Statutory Council meeting contained within Appendix 5, and approve any outstanding appointments.

DECLARATION OF INTERESTS

At this juncture, following a question about the Oakbank School Board of Governors, Councillors Allan, Donnelly and Laing declared interests having been appointed previously by the Council to the Oakbank School Board of Governors, however they did not consider that the nature of their interests required them to leave the meeting.

The Council resolved:-

(i)           to defer approving the draft policy on the appointment of elected members to outside bodies as set out at Appendix 1 to the report in order for the Head of Legal and Democratic Services to bring a report to the next Council meeting on the feasibility and cost of the Council indemnifying Councillors on all outside bodies within Appendix 3 as well as undertaking an assessment of those outside bodies identified in the report where no insurance cover is currently provided by the Council to ensure Councillors are fully aware of the risks associated with joining an outside body;

(ii)          to appoint elected members on the following basis to the following outside bodies and agree that a meeting of Group Leaders be held within the next 14 days to agree the allocation of the appointments to all other outside bodies identified in Appendix 3, on the basis that these would be submitted as soon as possible thereafter to an Urgent Business Committee for approval:-

·         Aberdeen Bulawayo Trust - 4 Administration and 3 Opposition

·         Aberdeen Endowments Trust - 2 Administration and 1 Opposition

·         Aberdeen Heat and Power - 1 Administration and 1 Opposition

·         Aberdeen Inspired/Aberdeen Business Improvement District Board - Leader of the Council

·         Aberdeen Sports Village - 1 Administration and 1 Opposition

·         Champions Board - 1 Administration and 1 Opposition

·         Fairer Aberdeen Fund Board - 3 Administration and 1 Opposition

·         Grampian Valuation Joint Board - 3 Administration and 3 Opposition

·         Sport Aberdeen - 2 Administration and 1 Opposition

·         University of Aberdeen - University Board - Leader of the Council

·         Veterans Champion - 1 Administration

·         World Energy Cities Partnership - Lord Provost

·         Aberdeen Performing Arts - 3 Administration and 1 Opposition

·         Garthdee Alpine Sports - 3 Administration and 2 Opposition

·         Opportunity North East - 1 director (Leader of the Council)

·         Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group - 1 director and 1 reserve;

(iii)         to instruct the Head of Legal and Democratic Services to provide a report to the next Council meeting providing full responses received from each of the outside bodies listed in Appendix 4 to allow members the opportunity to determine membership or otherwise;

(iv)         to instruct the Head of Legal and Democratic Services to ensure that the necessary formalities are addressed with respect to the resignations and nominations of elected members to the outside bodies listed in Appendices 3 and 4;

(v)          to instruct the Head of Legal and Democratic Services to keep the proposed policy and the outside bodies register under review to ensure that the levels of support the Council provides to those outside bodes through an elected member appointment is consistent with any policy agreed by Council;

(vi)         to approve the changes to the compositions of the various committees as set out in paragraph 3.6.1 of the report excluding the Aberdeen City Region Deal Joint Committee;

(vii)       to instruct the Head of Legal and Democratic Services to report to the Urgent Business Committee referred to at (ii) above on amending Standing Orders so that it shall be within the discretion of the Convener of a Committee or Sub Committee to cancel, advance or postpone an ordinary meeting if in his/her opinion there is a good reason for doing so; and

(viii)      to note the various appointments approved under delegated authority since the Statutory Council meeting, contained within Appendix 5, and approve any outstanding appointments.