Meeting Details

The minute of the meeting of the Policy and Resources Committee dated 29 October 2019 was submitted and approved.

The minute of the meeting of the Appointments Committee dated 19 November 2019 was submitted and approved.

The minute of the meeting of the Shortleeting Committee Meeting dated 22 October 2019 was submitted and approved.

A report by the Depute Chief Executive (Education, Communities and Organisational Development) informed the Committee of the requirement for Participatory Budgeting from 1 April 2020 and sought approval for a Moray wide Policy Statement and Framework relating to Participatory Budgeting.  Participatory Budgeting is a means by which communities can influence council resources to areas with a direct impact to them in accordance with the framework agreed by the Scottish Government and COSLA to work together to have at least 1% of Council budgets subject to Participatory Budgeting by the end of the 2020/21 financial year.

The Committee joined the Chair in thanking the Money for Moray, Bucks for Buckie, tsiMoray (You Choose) and the Church of Scotland Community Choices for their input in earlier participatory budgeting projects and thereafter agreed:

1. to approve the Participatory Budgeting Policy Statement and Framework as detailed in Appendix 1 of the report; 

2. to instruct officers to identify service areas for Participatory Budgeting within Moray and report these back to this Committee along with plans to run the appropriate Participatory Budgeting exercises for the first budget areas; and

3. that officers report back to Committee the outcome of the participatory budgeting exercises once completed.

Under reference to paragraph 5 of the minute of the meeting of the Communities Committee dated 20 November 2018, a report by the Depute Chief Executive (Economy, Environment and Finance) informed the Committee of progress on funding received from the Scottish Government for the implementation of Moray's Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan (RRTP).  The report stated that the Scottish Government had asked that all local authorities produce a RRTP with the aim of ending rough sleeping, transforming the use of temporary accommodation and ending homelessness in Scotland within a 5 year period.

Following consideration, the Committee agreed:

1. to note the level of funding made available by the Scottish Government to deliver the Council’s Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan (RRTP); and

2. that officers in Housing and Property Services can now draw down the money awarded for 2019/20 (£97k) and 2020/21 (£93k) from the General Revenue Grant to develop the plan.

Under reference to paragraph 7 of the minute of the meeting of this Committee dated 9 April 2013, a report by the Depute Chief Executive (Education, Communities and Organisational Development) outlined performance of the service for the period from October 2018 to March 2019.

During discussion, it was noted that the performance report had been brought to Committee for consideration later than usual and it was queried why this was the case.

In response, the Head of Governance, Strategy and Performance explained that the report should have been brought to the Committee at the meeting in October 2019 however this failed to happen as a result of a clerical error.  This was noted.

Following consideration the Committee agreed to note the:

1. performance outlined in this report; and
   
   

2. actions being taken to seek improvements where required.

A report by the Chief Executive asked the Committee to consider the Complaints Annual Report 2018-19 which set out the Council's performance against the national performance indicators set by the Scottish Public Sector Ombudsman.

Following consideration, the Committee agreed to:

1. approve the content of the Complaints Annual Report as set out in Appendix 1 of the report; and
   
   

2. note that the annual report will then be submitted to the Scottish Public Sector Ombudsman.

Councillor A McLean, being Chair of the Policy and Resources Committee, chaired the meeting.

In terms of Standing Order 20 and the Councillors’ Code of Conduct, there were no declarations from Group Leaders or Spokespersons in regard to any prior decisions taken on how Members will vote on any item on the agenda or any declarations of Member’s interests in respect of any item on the agenda.

In terms of Standing Order 28, the Chair sought the agreement of the Committee to vary the order of business and consider item 7 “Corporate Services Performance Report – October 2018 to March 2019” prior to item 4e) “Performance Report for Corporate Services – April to September 2019”.  This was agreed.

The Committee noted that no written questions had been submitted.

Under reference to paragraph 10 of the minute of this Committee dated 29 October 2019, Councillor Alexander queried whether the decision to move the May Day public holiday in 2020 from Monday 4 May to Friday 8 May to coincide with VE Day had been intimated to members of the public.  Councillor Alexander further stated that he had heard of a proposal to ring church bells at 7:00 pm on Friday 8 May 2020 across the country to commemorate VE Day and queried whether the Council was aware of this and what other plans the Council had in this regard.

In response, the Chief Executive advised that a number of suggestions had been given on how to commemorate VE and VJ Day, including a suggestion from the Pageant Master to ring church bells at 7:00 pm across the country however this was a suggestion and not a statutory obligation.  He further advised that consideration was being given to holding a church service in Moray to commemorate VE and VJ Day on Friday 8 May.

Councillor Alexander made reference to a pilot scheme to look after adults with learning disabilities during the night which had been opposed by some members of the public and sought clarification as to whether the Council had any say in whether this would go ahead or not.

The Chair advised that this was a matter for the Moray Integration Joint Board (MIJB) to decide and that 3 Councillors represented the Council on the MIJB where a decision had been taken to approve the pilot scheme.

Councillor Alexander expressed concern that the Council provides the MIJB with 40% of its budget yet seemed to have little oversight as to how it is spent.

In response the Chief Executive advised that the MIJB is undergoing its own transformation programme which was reported by the Chief Officer MIJB at a recent meeting of Moray Council and that further reporting on the transformation programme would allow the Council to have oversight in this regard.