Agenda item

With reference to article 35 of the minute of meeting of the Communities, Housing and Infrastructure Committee of 25 August 2016, the Committee had before it a report by the Chief Officer – City Growth, which outlined the findings of five neighbourhood audits carried out in the regeneration areas in Middlefield, Woodside, Tillydrone, Torry and Seaton, on behalf of Aberdeen City Council, as part of the Progress Through Positive Partnerships project, and to approve proposed actions to address points raised in those reports.

The report recommended:-

that the Committee –

(a)       note the content of the five neighbourhood audit reports and overall report;

(b)       instruct the Chief Officer, City Growth, and the Chief Officer, Digital and Technology, (working with the Council’s Digital Partner) to develop and implement an app which can be used by Council employees, partner agencies, and members of the public to access information about support services available to them;

(c)       instruct the Chief Officer, City Growth, to work with partner organisations to investigate the feasibility of running regular neighbourhood career and support sessions in the regeneration areas; and

(d)       instruct the Chief Officer, City Growth, and the Internal and External Communications Manager to work with partner agencies to develop and deliver a marketing strategy to promote the availability of training and support services across the city.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)        to approve recommendation (a) above;

(ii)       to instruct the Chief Officer, City Growth, and the Chief Officer, Digital and Technology, (working with the Council’s Digital Partner) to develop and implement a digital solution which can be used by Council employees, partner agencies, and members of the public to access information about support services available to them;

(iii)      to note that following a refresh of Citizen Voice Panellists in 2017, approximately a third of respondents engage with Aberdeen City Council by paper.  Instruct the Chief Officer – Customer Experience and the Internal and External Communications Manager to bring back to the November 2018 meeting of this Committee an options appraisal, which includes financial implications, as to how Aberdeen City Council can better interact with citizens using non-digital platforms to provide them with information about support services available to them;

(iv)      to instruct the Chief Officer – City Growth to work with partner organisations to investigate the feasibility of running regular neighbourhood career and employability support sessions in the regeneration areas as part of the ESF-funded project; and to liaise with other services as to how they may be able to benefit from such activity and build on it to provide support and assistance to people who may no longer be able to return to employment, and report the findings, including cost implications for the non-ESF funded elements, back to a future meeting of this Committee; and

(v)       to instruct the Chief Officer – City Growth and the Internal and External Communications Manager to work with partner agencies to develop and deliver a marketing strategy to promote the availability of training and employability support services across the city as part of the ESF-funded project; to liaise with other services as to how they may be able to benefit from such activity and build on it to include the support services available to people who may no longer able to return to work; and report back to the November 2018 meeting of this Committee on the cost implications of the non-ESF funded elements of this.