Policy And Resources Committee - 18/04/2005

At a MEETING of the POLICY AND RESOURCES COMMITTEE held at Dundee on 18th April, 2005.

 

Present:-

 

Lord Provost John R LETFORD

 

 

 

BAILIES

 

C D P FARQUHAR

John CORRIGAN

Bruce D MACKIE

Helen WRIGHT

Neil I C POWRIE

Ian BORTHWICK

 

COUNCILLORS

 

Jill SHIMI

Helen DICK

Christina ROBERTS

Kevin KEENAN

Nigel DON

Jim BARRIE

George REGAN

Bob DUNCAN

Will DAWSON

Julia M STURROCK

Richard BEATTIE

Elizabeth F FORDYCE

Fiona M GRANT

Andrew DAWSON

Roderick A J WALLACE

Christopher HIND

 

Charles A WEBSTER

Joe MORROW

 

Derek J SCOTT

 

Councillor Jill SHIMI, Convener, in the Chair.

 

The minute of meeting of this Committee of 21st March, 2005 was held as read.

 

Unless marked thus * all items stand delegated.

 

I MINUTE OF BEST VALUE SUB-COMMITTEE

 

The minute of meeting of the Best Value Sub-Committee of 16th March, 2005, a copy which is appended hereto, was submitted for information and record purposes.

 

II ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR (SCOTLAND) ACT 2004

 

(a) CONSULTATION ON STRATEGY

 

After considering Report No 252-2005 by the Depute Chief Executive (Support Services) relative to the above, the Committee approved the draft Anti-Social Behaviour Strategy and agreed that it be published for consultation with the bodies/persons detailed in paragraph 6.3.

 

(b) CONSULTATION ON THE DRAFT GUIDANCE ON PARENTING ORDERS

 

There was submitted Agenda Note AN168-2005 intimating that as part of the drafting of the final guidance on separate sections of the above Act the Scottish Executive was releasing consultative papers for comment from a wide variety of stakeholders.

 

The above section dealt with proposed guidance on the operation of Parenting Orders and the response had been compiled in consultation with stakeholders involved in the process.

 

The Committee noted the response which had been submitted to the Scottish Executive by the Head of Communities in order to meet the consultation deadline of 4th March, 2005.

 

III ELECTRICITY AND GAS CONTRACTS - RENEWAL RATES

 

Councillor Will Dawson declared a non-financial interest in this item by virtue of being an employee of Scottish and Southern Energy.

 

After considering Report No 219-2005 by the Director of Economic Development, the Committee noted the renewal rates for electricity and gas contracts negotiated with existing suppliers Scottish and Southern plc and Corona Energy Limited respectively.

IV COMMUNITY REGENERATION FUND ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES

 

On a reference to Article II of the minute of meeting of this Committee of 20th December 2004 and after considering Report No 244-2005 by the Assistant Chief Executive (Community Planning) and Head of Communities, the Committee noted the process for allocating funding through Local Community Regeneration Forums as agreed by the Dundee Partnership and endorsed the funding allocations shown in section 8 of the report subject to the figures detailed therein being adjusted to take account of the funding awarded to Sound Sense being amended to read 63,716.

 

V MODERNISING GOVERNMENT FUND 3

 

On a reference to Article I of the minute of meeting of this Committee of 10th May 2004 there was submitted Report No 216-2005 by the Chief Executive and Assistant Chief Executive (Management) advising the Committee that the Council had been awarded 1,165,750 from the Modernising Government Fund for the projects detailed below.

 

Citizen Account/Customer Relationship Management (CA/CRM)

293,393

Dundee Discovery Card Scheme

549,949

Definitive National Address (DNA)

188,553

CA/DNA Integration

133,855

 

The Committee approved the allocation of the Modernising Government Fund to the projects outlined and remitted the staffing implications to the Personnel Committee.

 

VI CHANGE TO COMMITTEE TIMETABLE

 

There was submitted Agenda Note AN167-2005 intimating that the operation of the Committee Timetable was kept under constant review to ensure that the Council's decision-making process ran as efficiently and effectively as possible.

 

In view of the cross cutting issues that can arise, it was suggested that it be useful for the Communities Committee to be held on the same evening as the Education, Social Work and Housing Committees and in order to maintain a balance between the groups of Committees, it was suggested that one of the other Committees should effectively swap places in the timetable with Communities and the most appropriate Committee to move would be Planning and Transportation. The revised timetable would then be as follows:

 

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

 

City Council

Education

Development Quality

Dundee Contract Services

Communities

 

Planning and Transportation

Leisure and Arts

 

Economic Development

Environmental Services and Sustainability

 

Finance

Housing

 

Policy and Resources

Social Work

 

Personnel

 

 

 

The Committee approved the revised timetable and meetings and to ensure the smooth passage of Council business, the change be implemented immediately following the Summer recess.

 

The Committee agreed that the undernoted item be considered as a matter of urgency in terms of Standing Order No 17(b) in view of the timescales involved.

 

VII VISIT TO NORTHERN IRELAND TO OBSERVE STV COUNTING PROCESS

 

There was submitted Agenda Note AN177-2005 intimating that an invitation had been extended by the Electoral Commission for Scottish Councils to observe the counting process for an election using the single transferable voting method (STV) of proportional representation, the form of voting to be used for the next Scottish Local Government Elections in 2007.

 

The Committee authorised the attendance of Councillor George Regan on 9th and 10th May, 2005, it having been noted that the only cost involved would be travel and subsistence.

 

 

 

 

Jill SHIMI, Convener.

APPENDIX