Agendas, reports and minutes

Minutes of Meeting of the Redesign Board of the Highland Council held in Committee Room 2, Council Headquarters, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness on Tuesday, 21 June 2016 at 3.00pm.

Present:
Mrs I McCallum (Chair), Mr B Lobban (Vice Chair), Mrs M Davidson, Mr B Fernie, Mr M Reiss, Dr I Cockburn, Ms M Smith, Mr G MacKenzie, Mr A Christie, Mr T Prag, Dr J Davis, Mr J Gray, Mr T MacLennan

Officials in attendance:
Mr S Barron, Chief Executive
Mrs C McDiarmid, Head of Policy and Reform
Ms R Cleland, Corporate Communications Manager 
Miss J MacLennan, Democratic Services Manager

Business

1. Apologies for Absence

Apologies for absence were intimated on behalf of Mr B Thompson, Mr A MacKinnon, Mrs D MacKay and also Mr J Gibson (Unison).  

2. Declarations of Interest

There were no Declarations of Interest.

3. Minutes of Previous Meeting  

There had been circulated Minutes of the previous Meeting held on Tuesday, 24 May 2016 which were AGREED.

4. Concluding Phase 1 of Redesign: The Council’s Purpose, Values and Outcomes

There had been circulated Report No. RDB/10/16 dated 20 June 2016 by the Chief Executive which provided an update of the Board’s work to complete Phase 1 of its work.

In this regard, information was provided in regard to the process which had been followed by the Board for Phase 1 of its work, development of draft statements of Council purpose and Council values, the outcomes which the Council sought to achieve and the next steps for the Board’s work.

It was also noted that further feedback from engagement with staff would be provided for the Council meeting in the following week.

During discussion on the development of a draft statement on Council purpose, and with specific reference to the future requirement for Councils to use participatory budgeting for 1% of their budgets in order to emphasise the move to greater community empowerment (which in the case of Highland Council equated to around £5m), it was suggested that a number of Service areas and functions should be considered. In noting that further information was awaited from the Scottish Government, it was also proposed that in the meantime there should be a focus on the digital tools which could be used by the Council in this regard. 

Thereafter, the Board otherwise agreed the draft statement on Council purpose as detailed at Paragraph 3.6 of the report.

In regard to the draft statement on Council values, it was agreed that the proposed wording of the second sentence should be amended to read “We want to hear them and especially when they challenge us”. It was also agreed that the reference to ‘dialogue’ should be amended to ‘participation’ within the code and so it would now read “Challenge, Open to Ideas, Participation, Empowering”.

There was discussion regarding how these values would be understood by staff delivering services and Members considered how the proposals compared with the current value set. Members confirmed their support for the approach set out in the paper which clearly captured the mood of the Board and reflected the inputs from other stakeholders.

Thereafter, the Board otherwise agreed the draft statement on Council values as detailed at Paragraph 3.8 of the report.

In relation to clarity on outcomes the Council seeks to achieve, it was agreed that wording within the first sentence of the first paragraph should be amended to read “Highland is an attractive place to do business..” 

It was also agreed that the wording within the first sentence of the third paragraph should be amended to read “Highland is an attractive place to live and work..”

It was further agreed that the final sentence of the fifth paragraph should be amended by removing the last word ‘later’.

Finally, and during discussion on the next steps in the work of the Board, it was noted that reference would be included in the report to the Council to remind Members of the opportunity for them to become involved if they so wished.

Also, in terms of the planned visits to Aberdeenshire and Wigan during July, Members of the Board were asked to contact the Head of Policy and Reform to confirm specific arrangements.

Thereafter, the Board AGREED the draft statements of the Council’s purpose (Paragraph 3.6), the Council’s values (Paragraph 3.8) and outcomes for the Council to achieve (Paragraph 3.11) – subject to the amendments to wording as proposed at the meeting and as detailed.

It was also AGREED that in presenting the proposals to the Council on 29 June, they should be seen as draft with scope for amendment from further feedback from staff and partners, the Scottish Government’s Programme to be announced and with a view to public engagement when the Board’s work was further progressed which was expected from September 2016.

The Board further NOTED that Phase 2 of its work would continue through to the end of August and that Phase 3 would begin in early July. 

5. Future Meeting Dates/Workshops for the Board  

It was AGREED that future meeting dates/workshops should be scheduled on a fortnightly basis from now until the end of August.

The meeting ended at 4.10pm.