Agendas, reports and minutes

A meeting of the Highland Council will be held in the Council Chamber, Council Headquarters, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness on Thursday, 27 October 2016 at 10.35am.

Webcast Notice: This meeting will be filmed and broadcast over the Internet on the Highland Council website and will be archived and available for viewing for 12 months thereafter.

You are invited to attend the meeting and a note of the business to be considered is attached.

Yours faithfully,

Michelle Morris
Depute Chief Executive/
Director of Corporate Development 

BUSINESS

1. Calling of the Roll and Apologies for Absence
Gairm a’ Chlàir agus Leisgeulan

2. Declarations of Interest
Foillseachaidhean Com-pàirt

Members are asked to consider whether they have an interest to declare in relation to any item on the agenda for this meeting. Any Member making a declaration of interest should indicate whether it is a financial or non-financial interest and include some information on the nature of the interest. Advice may be sought from Officers prior to the meeting taking place.

3. Presentation – University of the Highlands & Islands (UHI)
Taisbeanadh – Oilthigh na Gàidhealtachd is nan Eilean (UHI)

Members are advised that Professor Clive Mulholland, UHI, will be in attendance at the meeting and will undertake a presentation in relation to the University of the Highlands & Islands.

4. Membership of the Council
Ballrachd na Comhairle

The Council is advised that, following the By-Election held on Thursday, 6 October 2016, Ms Trish Robertson, Meru, Nairn Road, Ardersier IV2 7SE has been elected as a Member of Ward 18 (Culloden & Ardersier).    

5. Confirmation of Minutes
Daingneachadh a’ Gheàrr-chunntais

There are submitted for confirmation as a correct record the Minutes of Meeting of the Council held on 8 September 2016 and of the Special Meeting held on 9 September 2016 as contained in the Volume which has been circulated separately.

6. Minutes of Meetings of Committees
Geàrr-chunntasan Choinneamhan Chomataidhean

There are submitted for confirmation as correct records, for information as regards delegated business and for approval as appropriate, the Minutes of Meetings of Committees contained in Volume circulated separately as undernoted:-

Badenoch & Strathspey Area Committee, 6 September
Nairnshire Committee, 21 September
Pensions Committee & Pensions Board, 22 September
Communities and Partnerships Committee, 28 September
Audit & Scrutiny Committee, 29 September
Isle of Skye and Raasay Committee, 3 October
Lochaber Committee, 19 October    

7. Highland and Western Isles Valuation Joint Board         
Co-Bhòrd Luachaidh na Gàidhealtachd is nan Eilean Siar

There are circulated for information Minutes of Meeting of the Valuation Joint Board held on 10 June 2016.

8. Membership of Committees, Sub Committees, etc
Ballrachd air Comataidhean, msaa

Members are advised that, following the By-Election for Ward 18, the political make-up of the Council is now as follows:-

Independent – 32/SNP – 19/Liberal Democrat – 13 /Labour – 7/Highland
Alliance – 6/Non Aligned - 3

The formula in respect of the number of places on Strategic Committees remains as 9/5/4/2/2.

Members are also asked to agree the following changes to Committee places as submitted by the Liberal Democrat Group – 

Community Services Committee - Ms T Robertson to replace Dr D Alston
Communities & Partnerships Committee - Ms T Robertson to replace Mr J Stone

9. Question Time 
Àm Ceiste

The following Questions have been received by the Depute Chief Executive/
Director of Corporate Development in terms of Standing Order 42 – 

(i) Mrs L MacDonald

To the Leader of the Council

“As concern has been raised at Parent Council meetings about the re-design of janitorial, cleaning and catering staff in our schools, could you confirm that the Re-design Board will be following the principles of the Community Empowerment Bill, meaning that school staff and parents will be given an opportunity to feed their views into the process?”

The response is circulated 

Mrs MacDonald will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Leader of the Council.

(ii) Ms M Smith

To the Chair of the Community Services Committee

“Please provide the figures in terms of numbers and cost of each collection, separated into areas for fly tipping retrievals by the Council where people have dumped rubbish on Council land, as well as comparatively, the amount of Bulky Uplifts collections across Highland for the past 3 years?”

The response is circulated 

Ms Smith will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Chair of the Community Services Committee.

(iii) Mrs G Sinclair

To the Chair of the Resources Committee
 
“Can you tell me how much it would cost for the Council to settle all of its current outstanding claims and those likely to come forward in the near future with regard to Equal Pay?”

The response is circulated

Mrs Sinclair will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Chair of the Resources Committee.

(iv) Mr A Christie

To the Chair of the Community Services Committee

“Could you state, on a Ward by Ward basis, how many people are on the Highland Housing Register Waiting List, the total number of applicants on the Waiting list, the number of Council homes in each Ward and the number of allocations made in each Ward in the last financial year?”

The response is circulated

Mr Christie will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Chair of the Community Services Committee.

(v) Mr A Christie

To the Chair of the Resources Committee

“What information can you make available to the Council with regard to Council Contractors, Key Partners e.g. High Life Highland, Inverness Leisure, Eden Court Theatre and other Organisations holding a Service Level Agreement or Service Delivery Contract with the Council, paying their staff the Living Wage or their policies and use of Zero Hours Contracts?”

The response is circulated 

Mr Christie will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Chair of the Resources Committee.

(vi) Mr A Christie

To the Chair of the Education, Children & Adult Services Committee

“At the last Council meeting, you informed me that there were approximately 60 vacancies, which are detailed below, in key roles within the Family Teams impacting vulnerable individuals and families. Please can you update me on a vacancy by vacancy basis as to the progress made to recruit to these critical positions and whether any new vacancies can be added to the listing?”

Family Team (South) (Full Time) - 

Inverness Central, Badenoch & Strathspey – Community Children’s Worker (0.09), Children’s Services Worker (0.20), Health Visitor (0.60), Community Early Years Practitioner (0.60) and Community Early Years Practitioner (0.09)

Inverness West – Practice Lead – Early Years (0.40), Social Worker (1.00), Children’s Services Worker (0.14), Health Visitor (0.60), Health Visitor (0.40), School Nurse (0.80) and School Nurse (0.26)

Inverness East and Nairnshire - Social Worker (0.20), Social Worker (1.00), Community Children’s Worker (0.20), Children’s Services Worker (1.00), Children’s Services Worker (0.26), School Nurse (1.00), School Nurse (1.00) and Community Early Years Practitioner (0.10).

Health & Disability – Senior Community Children’s Worker (0.50), Children’s Services Worker (1.00) and Children’s Services Worker (0.50)

Inverness, Badenoch & Strathspey C&F Support Workers – Care & Protection Support Worker (1.00) and Care & Protection Support Worker (2.65).   
         
Family Team (Mid) (Full Time) - 

Mid Ross – Social Worker (0.50), Health Visitor (0.80), School Nurse (0.64) and Children’s Services Worker (0.20).

East Ross – Practice Lead – Early Years (1.00), Social Worker (0.50), Social Worker (1.00), Social Worker (0.50), School Nurse (0.90), Staff Nurse (0.50), Community Early Years Practitioner (0.50) and Community Early Years Practitioner (0.50).

Children’s Disability Team (N&W) – Disability Support Worker (0.11).

Family Team (West) (Full Time) – 

Skye & West Ross – Social Worker (0.40), Health Visitor (0.50), School Nurse (0.28), Community Early Years Practitioner (0.70), Children’s Services Worker (0.10) and Children’s Services Worker (0.30).

Lochaber – Health Visitor (0.50), Health Visitor (0.30), Community Early Years Practitioner (0.06), Support Worker – Disability (0.50) and Care & Protection Support Worker (0.09).

Family Team (North) (Full Time) - 

Caithness – Practice Lead – Care & Protection (1.00), Social Worker (0.04), Social Worker (0.50), Children’s Services Worker (0.80), Children’s Services Worker (0.07), School Nurse (0.02), Health Visitor (1.00), Care & Protection Support Worker (0.47) and Support Worker (0.30).

Sutherland – Social Worker (1.00), Support Worker – Disability (0.50) and Care & Protection Support Worker (0.50).

The response is circulated 

Mr Christie will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Chair of the Education, Children & Adult Services Committee. 

(vii) Mr A Graham

To the Leader of the Council

“With regard to Inverness and Highland City-Region Deal commitments to major infrastructure delivery, can you provide full details of the current position regarding the much needed provision of grade separation of the Longman Interchange and the date by which this is expected to progress?”

The response is circulated 

Mr Graham will be entitled to ask a supplementary question which will be answered by the Leader of the Council.            

10. Notices of Motion
Brathan Gluasaid

The following Notices of Motion have been received in accordance with Standing Order 10.1 – 

(i)“Highland Council makes representation as a matter of urgency to British Telecom to raise concerns about the method of superfast broadband delivery in rural areas, making the case that it is essential that improvements to the fibre network, including more cabinets, are given the highest priority.

The cabinets currently being installed by Openreach only permit connection to fibre-optic broadband from homes within a very close vicinity and access is extremely limited by our geography and topography. 

The Highland Council calls on BT and Openreach to engage with us in order to demonstrate that they are improving their performance and to provide details of how many additional engineers and other staff they will deploy in the Highland Council area in order to provide the super-fast broadband connections across Highland.

Signed: Mrs L MacDonald, Mr S Fuller, Mr G Farlow

(ii)“That this Council expresses its strong concern about the unsatisfactory progress of fibre broadband rollout in some areas of the Highlands as well as the quality of broadband service being received in many cases and, as high speed broadband is an important service for householders and critical for many Highland businesses, will seek an urgent meeting with the UK Government, Scottish Government, Highlands & Islands Enterprise and British Telecom/Openreach to look for solutions to the problems being experienced”.

Signed: Mr A Graham, Ms P Robertson, Ms A MacLean, Mr T Prag Mr J Stone, Dr J Davis

(iii)“As we approach the point where 50% of Highlanders will soon be over the age of 45, we need to consider the fact that the likelihood of a heart attack is increasing for us.  It is therefore vital that we have the correct life-saving equipment on premises where we employ large numbers of people, as well as in all areas across Highland, including rural areas. 

Some businesses are taking steps to introduce Defibrillators into the workplace, as well as some communities fund-raising to place them in their locales. Whilst Highland Council has taken steps to place Defibrillators in some schools and a few of its offices, there are none in the HQ building.

Council agrees to install a Defibrillator in its HQ offices immediately and look at how it can assist in rolling out these machines to other locations across the Highlands”.

Signed: Ms M Smith, Mr I Brown, Mr K Gowans

(iv)“Tourism is one of the main economic drivers in the Highlands and yet most visitor attractions do not open beyond 5pm.  Compared to Edinburgh, Glasgow and London, the Highlands is not moving forward with the trend to offer tourists what they want, which is the freedom to visit attractions in the evening, as well as daytime.  We must move with the times if we want to continue attracting an increasing number of visitors to our region.

Council calls upon Visit Scotland, HIE, High Life Highland and their partners to enter into urgent talks to find a way to encourage businesses to extend their opening hours, including evenings and weekends and peak local holiday periods, across all Highland in all locations”.  

Signed:   Ms M Smith   Mr K Gowans

(v)“The Council notes that, currently, legislation enables personal care to be provide free for people in Scotland aged over 65, provided they are assessed as needing it. In the spirit of fairness and equality and to ensure that vulnerable people are not going without assistance and help, we resolve the following action is taken by the Highland Council:-
The Council commends the campaign by Mrs Amanda Kopel - "Frank's Law"- to request that the Scottish Government extends free personal care to anyone under the age of 65 who requires such care for their dementia, motor neurone disease, Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis, cancer, progressive supranuclear palsy (or any other degenerative brain disease).

The Council therefore instructs the Chief Executive to write to the First Minister requesting her to consider the introduction of a "Frank's Law" so that free personal care is extended to under 65s as set out above”.

Signed: Mr A Christie   Mr H Wood   Mr J Stone   Ms A MacLean   Mr K MacLeod

(vi)“The Highland Council believes that local taxes raised locally should stay locally and this is in accordance with the European Charter of Local Self-Government.

The Highland Council calls on the SNP Scottish Government to ensure that the full amount (£5m) of Council Tax multiplier will stay in Highland for Highland Education and will not be redistributed to other Local Authority areas.

We also require that none of the £5m is removed from our Local Government grant settlement”.

Signed: Mrs M Davidson, Mrs H Carmichael

(vii)“The Highland Council asks the Scottish Government to help Highland and other Local Authorities to set a recommended level of community benefit for Offshore Wind Developments.

In addition, because of the anticipated rental income for Crown Estates of £56m from the Beatrice Offshore Wind Development, we ask for rapid progress to be made to agree a position on the devolution of Crown Estate Incomes to Scotland and beyond to Local Authority level”.

Signed: Mrs M Davidson, Mrs H Carmichael      

11. Pre-Budget Statement 
Buidseat Teach-a-steach 

There is circulated Report No. HC/42/16 dated 17 October 2016 by the Director of Finance which provides an update on the current budget position, outlines the financial impact of various modelling assumptions, assesses the options for a Council Tax increase for 2017/18 and highlights the impact of Scottish Government policy decisions.  

The Council is asked to:-

(i) consider the financial risks highlighted in this report and the implications of the level of uncertainty around the extent of grant cuts;
(ii) consider the options for a Council Tax increase of up to 3%; and
(iii) note and consider the implications arising from the Scottish Government’s proposed changes to the Council Tax multiplier as outlined in Section 4 of the report.    

12. Annual Audit Report and Accounts
Aithisg agus Cunntasan Sgrùdaidh Bliadhnail 

There is circulated Report No. HC/43/16 dated 17 October 2016 by the Director of Finance which sets out the External Audit Report on the 2015/16 Audit. 

In this regard, the Auditor’s Report and the Management Commentary (Appendices 1 and 2) which were approved by the Audit & Scrutiny Committee on 29 September 2016 have been circulated separately.  

The Council is asked to note the agreed actions as detailed.
 
13. Redesign of the Highland Council
Ath-dhealbhadh Chomhairle na Gàidhealtachd

(a) Update of Redesign Board Activity

There is circulated Report No. HC/44/16 dated 19 October 2016 by the Chief Executive which confirms that the decisions made by the Council in September are being implemented by the Redesign Board with reviews beginning for the redesign of the Council. 

The report also advises of other Board activity since the last Council meeting. 

In this regard, there are also circulated Minutes of Meeting of the Redesign Board held on 30 August which have been approved by the Board.

Members are asked to note the progress with implementing the decisions made by the Council on reviews for redesign and in hosting the event with community bodies, partners and Government on 11 November 2016.   

(b) Future Management of Catering, Cleaning and Facilities Management/Janitorial Services

There is circulated Report No. HC/45/16 dated 18 October 2016 by the Director of Care & Learning which summarises the recommendation of the Redesign Board with regard to the future management of Catering, Cleaning, Facilities Management and Janitorial Services which is referred to the Council for decision.

In this regard, the Minutes of the Meeting held on 18 October are also circulated.

The report and background papers which were considered at the meeting are circulated separately.   

The Council is asked to note the recommendation of the Redesign Board and agree the transfer of Catering, Cleaning, Facilities Management and Janitorial Services to the Development & Infrastructure Service with effect from April 2017. 

14. Citizens Panel 2016 – Performance and Attitudes Survey 
Suirbhidh Coileanadh Poblach 2016

There is circulated Report No. HC/46/16 dated 17 October 2016 by the Chief Executive which presents the results from the Annual Performance and Attitudes Survey of the Citizens Panel 2016.

The Council is asked to consider the key findings of the feedback from survey.

The Council is also asked to approve the follow up action to communicate the results as set out in Paragraph 3.1 and await further analysis and reports as outlined in Paragraph 4.3 of the report.

15. Internal Audit Review – Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme
Ath-bhreithneachadh In-sgrudaidh

There is circulated Report No. HC/47/16 dated 17 October 2016 by the Director of Finance which provides an update on concerns expressed by Members at the Audit & Scrutiny Committee meeting on 29 September and a subsequent meeting of Member Group on 10 October to clarify the remit for this report.

In this regard, the report only covers issues that can be discussed publically at this time and therefore focuses on budget preparation and monitoring detail. 

The Council is asked to consider the issues raised in the report as circulated.    
  
16. Code of Corporate Governance 2016/17 
Còd airson Riaghladh Corporra 2016/17

There is circulated Report No. HC/48/16 dated 14 October 2016 by the Depute Chief Executive/Director of Corporate Development which provides an update on progress with delivering the Local Code of Corporate Governance for 2015/16 and presents the proposed Code for 2016/17 for approval.

The Council is asked to note the progress on delivering the 2015/16 Code of Corporate Governance and approve the 2016/17 Code of Corporate Governance as circulated.  

17. Scheme of Delegation and Administration to Strategic Committees and Sub Committees and to Officers
Raòn Ùghdarrais agus Rianachd gu Comataidhean Ro-innleachdail agus Fo-chomataidhean agus gu Oifigearan     

As agreed at the last meeting, there is circulated Report No. HC/49/16 dated 17 October 2016 by the Depute Chief Executive/Director of Corporate Development which outlines amendments to the Scheme of Delegation and Administration to Strategic Committees and Sub Committees and to Officers and provides further information as requested in relation to the reasons for the proposed amendments in each case.

The Council is asked to agree the proposed amendments to the Scheme of Delegation as detailed on the basis that an amended copy will be circulated to all Members in due course.

18. Timetable of Meetings      
Clàr-ama Choinneamhan

Timetable of Meetings for 2017 

As agreed at the last meeting of the Council, there is circulated amended Draft Timetable of Meetings for 2017 which takes accounts of the issues raised by Members at that meeting. 

The Council is asked to agree the proposed dates for meetings up to and including April 2017 and also to agree in principle the proposed dates for meetings for the remainder of 2017 on the basis that they will be submitted to the new Council for formal approval in May 2017.

Special Meeting of the Community Services Committee 

The Council is asked to agree that a Special Meeting of the Community Services Committee should be scheduled for Wednesday, 7 December 2016 at 2.00pm in order to allow consideration of the Transport Programme.     

19. Deeds Executed
Sgrìobhainnean Lagha a Bhuilicheadh

Members are asked to note that a list of deeds and other documents executed on behalf of the Council since the meeting held on 8 September 2016 is available in the Members’ Library and on the Council’s Website.

20. Exclusion of the Public
Às-dùnadh a’ Phobaill

The Council is asked to resolve that, under Section 50A(4) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, the public should be excluded from the meeting for the following item on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 6 of Part 1 of Schedule 7A of the Act.

21. Proposed Civic Recognition 
Moladh airson Aithneachadh Catharra

There is circulated to Members only Report No. HC/50/16 dated 27 September 2016 by the Depute Chief Executive/Director of Corporate Development which invites Members to consider conferring the Freedom of Beauly and the Glens.

The Council is asked to agree the recommendation as detailed.