City Governance Committee - 19/02/2024

At a MEETING of the CITY GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE held remotely on 19th February, 2024.

Present:-

BAILIES

COUNCILLORS

Councillor John ALEXANDER, Convener, in the Chair.

Bailie Willie Sawers, Depute Convener, in the Chair for the item of business at Article X.

The minute of meeting of this Committee of 22nd January, 2024 was held as read.

Unless marked thus * all items stand delegated.

I DECLARATION OF INTEREST

Councillor Alexander declared an interest in the item of business at Article X of this minute by virtue of being a member of the NHS Tayside Charitable Foundation and withdrew from the meeting during its consideration and took no part in the proceedings.

II COUNCIL HOUSING CRISIS

This item was placed on the agenda at the request of Bailie Keenan who asked the Committee to agree, in light of the current crisis affecting Council Housing in Dundee, that Officers should be asked to report, with recommendations, to the appropriate Committee(s) as soon as possible regarding:-

- The forecast implications for Dundee City Council of the Scottish Governments proposals for the Affordable Housing Supply Programme in 2024/2025 and future years, including the impact on grants for the Council to build new homes.

- The current and forecast implications for Dundee City Council of the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax and Additional Dwelling Supplement (Article II of the Minute of Meeting of the Neighbourhood Services Committee - 26th September, 2022 refers).

- The current and forecast levels of Dundee City Council housing voids and the action being taken to reduce these levels.

- The potential use of uncommitted balances to purchase homes on the open market and/or build new homes to reduce Dundee City Councils housing waiting list.

The Committee agreed accordingly.

III ACTS OF KINDNESS

This item was placed on the agenda at the request of Councillor McHugh who asked the Committee to acknowledge and celebrate acts of kindness across Dundee communities.

The Committee agreed accordingly.

IV JOINT INSPECTION OF ADULT SUPPORT AND PROTECTION IN THE DUNDEE PARTNERSHIP - FINDINGSAND IMPROVEMENT PLANS

There was submitted Report No 59-2024 by the Independent Convener of Dundee Adult Support and Protection Committee, informing of the findings of the Joint Inspection of Adult Support and Protection in the Dundee Partnership, published by the Care Inspectorate on 19th December, 2023, and outlining the improvement plans arising from these findings.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note the content of the inspection report published by the Care Inspectorate as detailed in Appendix 1 of the report;

(ii) to note the summary of inspection findings, including areas of strength and areas for improvement as detailed in Section 4.5 of the report;

(iii) to note the multi-agency approach to improvement planning that had been progressed since receipt of inspection findings and the improvement plan approved by the Dundee Chief Officers Group and submitted to the Care Inspectorate on 7th February, 2024 as detailed in Section 4.6 and Appendix 3 of the report; and

(iv) to request that a further update on implementation and impact of improvement plans was provided to the City Governance Committee in line with the schedule of reporting between the Adult Support and Protection Committee and Chief Officers Group as detailed in Section 4.6.3 of the report.

V CAPITAL EXPENDITURE MONITORING 2023/2024

There was submitted Report No 38-2024 by the Executive Director of Corporate Services, appraising of the latest position regarding the Council's Capital Plan 2023/2028.

The Committee agreed to note the latest position regarding the Council's Capital Plan 2023/2028.

VI REVENUE MONITORING 2023/2024

There was submitted Report No 25-2024 by the Executive Director of Corporate Services, providing an analysis of the 2023/2024 projected revenue outturn as at 30th November, 2023 and the impact on the Councils overall balances position.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note that as at 30th November, 2023, the General Fund was projecting an overall overspend of 1.849m against the adjusted 2023/2024 Revenue Budget and the impact this had had on the projected Councils General Fund Balances;

(ii) to note the budget adjustments totalling 13.265m as detailed in second column of Appendix A of the report as virements to the previously approved Revenue Budget;

(iii) to note that as at 30th November, 2023, the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) was projecting an overspend of 2.298m against the adjusted HRA 2023/2024 Revenue Budget and the impact this had on the element of the projected Renewal and Repair Fund balance earmarked to HRA;

(iv) to note the position on ring-fenced grant expenditure as outlined in Appendix B of the report;

(v) to note that the Chief Executive, in consultation with Executive Directors, would continue to take appropriate steps to manage current and recurring revenue expenditure, including reviewing all vacancies within the Council, reduce discretionary expenditure where possible and limit any new recurring commitments. Executive Directors would work with Corporate Finance to develop recovery plans to identity options to reduce the projected in year overspend;

(vi) to note the key strategic, operational and financial risks being faced by the Council outlined in Appendix C of the report; and

(vii) to note the current position in relation to Leisure and Culture Dundee (LACD), as set out in Section 7.3 of the report.

VII CAPITAL PLAN 2024/2029

Reference was made to Article VIII of the minute of meeting of the Policy and Resources Committee held on 21st November, 2022, wherein the changes to the 2023/2028 Capital Plan were agreed.

There was submitted Report No 18-2024 by the Executive Director of Corporate Services on proposed changes to the 2023/2028 Capital Plan to prioritise projects within the available resources and to recommend the allocations for 2028/2029.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note the impact of the current financial environment on the Capital Plan 2023/2028;

(ii) to the revised Capital Plan for 2024/2029, as detailed in Appendix A of the report; and

(iii) to note the risks outlined in Appendix B of the Report and that a further report on the Capital Plan would be presented to this Committee should there be any material change in circumstances.

VIII TREASURY MANAGEMENT ACTIVITY 2023/2024 (MID-YEAR REVIEW)

There was submitted Report No 21-2024 by the Executive Director of Corporate Services, reviewing the Treasury Management activities for the period 1st April to 30th September, 2023.

The Committee agreed to note the information contained as detailed in the report.

IX ACCOUNTS COMMISSION'S FINDINGS ON BEST VALUE IN DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL

There was submitted Report No 37-2024 by the Chief Executive, advising of the Accounts Commissions findings following the Controller of Audits Statutory Report on Best Value in Dundee City Council.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to consider the Accounts Commissions findings into the Controller of Audits Statutory Report on Best Value in Dundee City Council, as detailed in Appendix 1 of the report; and

(ii) to note that officers would advise the Commission of the steps that the Council had agreed to take in response to the findings and would publish the required notice.

X LEISURE & CULTURE DUNDEE - PERFORMANCE AND IMPACT REPORT FOR 2022/2023

There was submitted Joint Report No 51-2024 by the Chief Executive and Managing Director of Leisure & Culture Dundee providing the Annual Report for financial year 2022/2023 setting out financial and performance information on Leisure & Culture Dundee to meet the guidance on Following the Public Pound.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to note the attendance performance across the range of services undertaken by Leisure & Culture Dundee as detailed in Section 5 and in more detail in Appendix 1 of the report;

(ii) that, given the decline in the use of the Citys leisure facilities and taking into account the NHS Tayside Director of Public Health Annual Report 2023 that the Chief Executive as Chair of the Dundee Partnership be remitted to engage with the NHS Tayside Charitable Foundation in the hope that they could release some of their funds for social prescribing; and

(iii) to note that greater use of the Citys health and sports facilities would likely have a longer-term beneficial effect on the health and wellbeing of citizens, thereby reducing the demand for acute care and keeping people healthier for much longer.

XI ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR - OCTOBER TO DECEMBER, 2023

There was submitted Report No 33-2024 by the Executive Director of Neighbourhood Services providing an overview on the reporting figures to the Neighbourhood Services - Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) Team for the period 1st October, 2023 to 31st December, 2023.

The Committee agreed to note the content of the report.

XII IT ASSET MANAGEMENT PLAN

There was submitted Report No 10-2024 by the Executive Director of Corporate Services requesting approval of the IT Asset Management Plan for 2024/2029.

The Committee agreed to approve the IT Asset Management Plan.

XIII CLOUD COMPUTING MIGRATION

There was submitted Report No 41-2024 by the Executive Director of Corporate Services, requesting approval for the migration of applications, desktops, and IT services to cloud computing.

The Committee agreed:-

(i) to the purchase of cloud computing;

(ii) to approve the procurement exercise in respect of the project described, based on the sourcing strategy, summarised in the report; and

(iii) to delegate authority to the Executive Director of Corporate Services to direct award this to Amazon Web Services accredited partner Cloudbridge, through the Crown Commercial Services Framework, carried out in compliance with the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations of 2015.

The Committee resolved under Section 50(A)(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 that the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the undernoted item of business on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 14 of Part I of Schedule 7A of the Act.

XIV INTERNAL AUDIT REPORTS

There was submitted Report No 34-2024 by the Chief Internal Auditor, providing a summary of the Internal Audit Reports finalised since the last meeting of the Scrutiny Committee.

The Committee agreed to note the information contained within the report.

John ALEXANDER, Convener.