Agenda item

The Council had before it a report by the Director of Commissioning which presented the Council Delivery Plan for 2022/23.

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

(a)           note the content of the Council Delivery Plan 2022/23; and

(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.

The Council resolved:-

(i)             to agree the content of the Council Delivery Plan 2022/23, noting some factual highlights from the report as detailed below:

·       The Aberdeen City Region Deal (ACRD) is now in its fifth year and has grown in value from £826million to £936million primarily as a result of additional investment from the private sector

·       The Council made available a total of 14,564 chromebooks and 500 MFi connections to ensure children and young people could access learning during periods of lockdown

·       During school holiday periods, the Council provided supermarket vouchers to parents/carers of our young people who are entitled to free school meals on the basis of low income. In the year to date, vouchers provided were equivalent to the value of 300,570 school meals. We estimate that a further 62,400 meal equivalent vouchers will be issued in the year, bringing the total to 362,970

·       The Council made over 15,000 play opportunities available to children and young people as part of our Summer of Play where the average rating for enjoyment from children and young people was 9.5/10

·       The Council progressed both Council led and developer led sites to deliver 2,000 new Council house units, of which 283 new units were delivered this financial year

·       The Council completed £580,000 of play area design and refurbishment work

·       Aberdeen was awarded Gold Medal in the Beautiful Scotland Awards

·       Clean Up Aberdeen continues to be a success. 2021 saw a record number of clean ups, 496, completed with over 2,000 volunteers involved

·       Community partnerships continue to grow, with more than 150 collaborations in place, including volunteers, communities, businesses, schools, third sector organisations and companies. Thousands of volunteer hours spent in Aberdeen’s parks and green spaces

·       The Accounts Commission commended Aberdeen City Council on the strong changes, improvements and ambition that have been put in place since our 2015 and 2008 Best Value reports

·       The Accounts Commission also welcomed the fact the Council continues to display a self-awareness about its need to further increase its pace of improvement if it is to deliver its ambitious vision with its partners to bring positive change for all of the people of Aberdeen

·       The Best Value audit report also acknowledged that the major transformation programme undertaken by the Council, with the Target Operating Model and digital strategy at is centre, had led to improvements in organisational structure and governance. It was also noted that the governance put in place had received external recognitions when the Council became the first Scottish Council to be awarded CIPFA’s Governance Mark of Excellence; and

(ii)           to 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.