Agenda item

The Council had before it a report by the Chief Officer - Governance which presented the annual effectiveness report for Council as well as the annual effectiveness reports of the various committees, which had been considered by those committees.

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

(a)           provide comments and observations on the data contained within the Council annual effectiveness report as contained at Appendix A; and

(b)           note the annual effectiveness reports of the various committees as contained at Appendices B to L.

The Council resolved:-

(i)             to note Aberdeen City Council was the first in Scotland to be awarded the CIPFA Mark of Excellence in Governance, and the annual effectiveness report was again highlighted by CIPFA as one of the examples of good governance implemented by the Council;

(ii)           to note that the effectiveness report contributed to the Council’s Annual Governance Statement which formed part of the Council’s Annual Accounts which were presented to the Audit, Risk and Scrutiny Committee;

(iii)          to note civic leadership and engagement was at the heart of the Target Operating Model approved by the Council in August 2017;

(iv)          to note that the values and principles of civic leadership and engagement were being driven through the Council’s transformation programme;

(v)           to note that Full Council and the Urgent Business Committee had operated in a transparent manner, with no reports marked as exempt coming to Council and limited numbers of exempt appendices being brought before the Urgent Business Committee;

(vi)          to note that during the course of 2020/21, officers would progress the transformation programme to allow the Council to set a budget in a manner that strategically allocated resources against the Local Outcome Improvement Plan and associated strategies as envisaged by the Target Operating Model;

(vii)        to agree that the successes of the Council winning prestigious awards was down to good governance and that this Council Annual Effectiveness Report alongside the Committee Annual Effectiveness Reports were testament to our hard working and caring workforce who always put the interests of Aberdeen citizens first;

(viii)       to note the annual effectiveness reports of the various Committees as contained at Appendices B to L; and

(ix)          with regard to the Licensing Committee Annual Effectiveness Report, to note that at the Urgent Business Committee on 20 March 2020, it was agreed that Councillor Boulton be appointed Convener of the Licensing Sub Committee on a temporary basis in place of Councillor Reynolds, and agree that Councillor Reynolds be re-appointed as Convener of the Licensing Sub Committee with immediate effect.