Agenda and minutes

The Convener advised that he had no remarks but the Chief Executive wished to make a statement regarding a former employee.

DECISION

NOTED.

The Chief Executive made a statement to Council regarding a former employee of the Council convicted of criminal charges.  The Chief Executive confirmed that welfare and safety was at the heart of everything the Council did, so she was now instigating an independent inquiry into the Council’s handing of the case at the time.  In addition, a further piece of work would be commissioned through Education Scotland on the current educational provision and practices in the Council’s complex needs settings.   A report would be brought to the next meeting of Council regarding scope and timescales.

Consider Minute of Scottish Borders Council held on 13 May 2021 for approval and signing by the Convener.  (Copy attached.)

The Minute of the Meeting held on 13 May 2021 was considered. 

DECISION

AGREED that the Minute be approved and signed by the Convener.

Consider Minutes of the following Committees:-

(a)     Berwickshire Area Partnership                           4 March 2021

(b)     Teviot & Liddesdale Area Partnership               9 March 2021

(c)     Local Review Body                                            15 March 2021

(d)     Jedburgh Common Good Fund                         22 March 2021

(e)     Local Review Body                                            19 April 2021

(f)      Executive                                                           20 April 2021

(g)     Planning & Building Standards                          26 April 2021

(Please see separate Supplement containing the public Committee Minutes.)

The Minutes of the following Committees had been circulated:-

Berwickshire Area Partnership                      4 March 2021

Teviot & Liddesdale Area Partnership           9 March 2021

Local Review Body                                        15 March 2021

Jedburgh Common Good Fund                     22 March 2021

Local Review Body                                        19 April 2021

Executive                                                       20 April 2021

Planning & Building Standards                      26 April 2021

DECISION

APPROVED the Minutes listed above.

Consider report by Executive Director Corporate Improvement & Economy.  (Copy attached.)

There had been circulated copies of a report by the Executive Director, Corporate Improvement and Economy, seeking approval for the Covid-Recovery Plan for Scottish Borders Council.  The report explained that following a range of necessary measures aimed at protecting the safety of customers, communities and SBC Staff, the majority of Council services were now operating to levels close to full service delivery.  Some of these services were being delivered using alternative models, whilst other remaining services were being restarted as restrictions eased and Government guidelines allowed.  In addition to Council services, there was the opportunity to build on the experience of the pandemic to work jointly with partners and re-invigorate the Scottish Borders as a place to live, work & visit.  This was the primary purpose of the Recovery Plan.  The Corporate Plan included actions aimed at reshaping and improving services, delivering improvements to the economy and improving the quality of life and well-being for communities in the Scottish Borders.  The Recovery Plan did not replace the Corporate Plan; instead the proposal was that the Recovery Plan picked up the immediate recovery actions (for the coming 12-months) and that the SBC Corporate Plan, when renewed and refreshed, would fully incorporate these, and more, within it.  Members welcomed the report and commented on the need for monitoring of the Recovery Plan.  Mr Dickson answered Members’ questions and confirmed that updates and briefings on the Recovery Plan would be provided to Members on a regular basis.  Members praised the work of staff throughout the pandemic.  The importance of communicating the messages to the public was highlighted.

DECISION

AGREED:-

(a)       to approve the 12-month Recovery Plan, as contained in the Appendix to the report; and

(b)       that the experience of the pandemic and a number of the lessons-learned would be applied to delivery of the Fit for 2024 Programme.

MEMBER

Councillor Marshall left the meeting during consideration of the above item.

Consider report by Service Director of Assets & Infrastructure.  (Copy attached.)

6.1       With reference to paragraph 8 of the Minute of 19 December 2019, there had been circulated copies of a report by the Service Director Assets and Infrastructure proposing approval of the draft Local Flood Risk Management Plans for the Forth Estuary Local Plan District, the Tweed Local Plan District, and the Solway Local Plan District.  This approval was required to allow the draft plans to be published on 30 July 2021 for public consultation.  The report explained that the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009 (FRM Act) required the production of Flood Risk Management Plans covering each Local Plan District (LPD) in Scotland.  Scottish Borders Council’s area fell within 3 of the 14 local plan districts in Scotland.  These were Forth Estuary LPD, Tweed LPD and Solway LPD.  There would be two sets of complementary plans: Flood Risk Management Strategies produced by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), and Local Flood Risk Management Plans produced by Lead Local Authorities.  Scottish Borders Council was the Lead Local Authority for Tweed LPD.  The Flood Risk Management Strategies and Local Flood Risk Management Plans were developed to be complementary through collaborative partnerships between Local Authorities, SEPA and Scottish Water.  The Flood Risk Management Strategies and Local Flood Risk Management Plans would provide a framework for co-ordinating actions across catchments to deal with all sources of flooding.  The plans would be used to ensure long term planning around flooding, and future funding should take delivery of these plans into account.  This would help to target investment in areas where there was the greatest risk of flooding and where communities could receive the greatest benefit.  A public consultation began on 21 December 2020 with SEPA consulting on high-level background information on flood risk for each listed Potentially Vulnerable Area (PVA) across the 14 Local Plan Districts.

6.2       The second part of the consultation, which included more detailed information from SEPA and the Draft Local Flood Risk Management Plans developed by Lead Local Authorities was due to begin on the 21 March and end  on the 21 June 2021.  However, due to the major cyber-attack suffered by SEPA recently this would now, begin on 30 July 2021.  This second part of the consultation would last for the statutory period of 3 months.  This would provide an opportunity for members of the public and other stakeholder organisations to comment on the information that would be included in the Flood Risk Management Strategies and Local Flood Risk Management Plans and would ultimately shape the actions that will be taken to manage flood risk.  An overall delivery plan for the main actions specific to certain areas in the Scottish Borders was contained in Appendix 4 to the report.  Mr Morrison, Flood & Coastal Management Team Leader, gave a detailed presentation on the Plans and answered Members’ questions of specific areas.  Members welcomed the report but expressed concern that SEPA had not yet provided a date when the flood warning system would be recalibrated.  In response to a question  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Consider report by Service Director HR & Communications.  (Copy attached.)

There had been circulated copies of a report by the Service Director HR and Communications seeking approval of the Equality Mainstreaming Report 2021 -2025.  The report explained that the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 set out specific duties for public bodies (including Local Authorities).  These duties included reporting on the mainstreaming of the equality duty, publishing Equality Outcomes, reporting progress on these Outcomes and gathering and using employee information.  This meant that the Council had a duty to gather and use workforce data across the nine protected characteristics and was also required to publish pay gap information and statements on equal pay. The Equality Mainstreaming Report was required every four years, with an update in the two year period in between. Scottish Borders Council’s current Equality Mainstreaming Report was published in 2017 and covered the period 2017 – 2021.  An Equality Mainstreaming Update Report was published in 2019 covering the period 2017-2019.The Council was therefore required to publish an updated Equality Mainstreaming report, as contained in Appendix 1 to the report, for the period 2021-2025.  The development of the Equality Mainstreaming Report had taken account of the work that the Council had undertaken on equalities over the past four years and the legislative, economic and social changes, both locally and nationally, that had impacted on equality matters.  This had involved looking at progress in taking forward the eight equality outcomes contained within the 2017-2021 Equality Mainstreaming Report.  Appendix 2 provided the Equality Outcomes and Performance Trends.  The Licensing Board was also required to publish a Mainstreaming Report and Equality Outcomes.  Previously the Board had published its Report independently of the Council’s principal Mainstreaming Report but, from now and going forward, the Licensing Report and Equality Outcomes would be integrated into SBC’s report.  The Equality Mainstreaming Report provided details on SBC’s Employee Data analysed by the protected characteristics and operational aspects.  It also included information on Equal Pay and the Gender Pay Gap, as shown in Appendix 3.  Furthermore high level actions were proposed to facilitate further progress in embedding equalities within the Council for the period 2021 -2025.  The Equality Mainstreaming Report concluded that the current equality outcomes were still relevant and should be maintained.  The report also incorporated three new Equality Outcomes from the Licensing Board.  Councillor Greenwell in his role as Equalities Champion spoke in support of the report and the Convener thanked him and the officers for their work in this area.

DECISION

AGREED to approve the Equality Mainstreaming Report as set out in Appendix 1 and the supplementary Appendices 2, 3, and 4 to the report.

Consider report by the Chair of Audit and Scrutiny Committee.  (Copy attached.)

There had been circulated copies of a report by the Chairman of the Audit and Scrutiny Committee submitting the Audit and Scrutiny Committee Annual Report 2020/21 to all Elected Members which presented the Committee’s performance in relation to its Terms of Reference and the effectiveness of the Committee in meeting its purpose, relating to its audit functions.  It was important that the Council’s Audit and Scrutiny Committee fully complied with best practice guidance on Audit Committees to ensure it could demonstrate its effectiveness as a scrutiny body (Audit functions) as a foundation for sound corporate governance for the Council.  The CIPFA Audit Committees Practical Guidance for Local Authorities and Police 2018 Edition (hereinafter referred to as CIPFA Audit Committees Guidance) included the production of an annual report on the performance of the Audit and Scrutiny Committee against its remit (Audit functions) for submission to the Council.  The Audit and Scrutiny Committee Annual Report 2020/21, contained in Appendix 1 to the report, was presented for consideration. Scottish Borders Council continued to be a lead authority in adopting this best practice.  The Audit and Scrutiny Committee carried out self-assessments of Compliance with the Good Practice Principles Checklist and Evaluation of Effectiveness Toolkit from the CIPFA Audit Committees Guidance during their Informal Session on 8 March 2021 facilitated by the Chief Officer Audit & Risk. The members of the Committee considered the Annual Report and supporting self-assessment documents at their meeting on 10 May 2021 and agreed that they accurately represented the results of the self-assessment exercise.  The outcome of the self-assessments was a high degree of performance against the good practice principles and a high/medium degree of effectiveness, with areas of further improvement identified.  Councillor Bell in his role as Chairman spoke in support of the report and highlighted the work of the Committee.  In response to a question regarding a vacant Counter fraud officer post, the Chief Legal Officer undertook to obtain a response for Councillor Bell.

DECISION

AGREED to acknowledge the performance of the Audit and Scrutiny Committee and approve its Annual Report 2020/21 as contained in Appendix 1 to the report.

Consider Motion by Councillor Chapman in the following terms:-

“Scottish Borders Council requests that the Chief Executive brings a report to Council setting out the options and implications of including additional external members in the Chambers Institution Trust to supplement the existing governance arrangements.”

Councillor Chapman, seconded by Councillor Haslam, moved approval of his motion as detailed on the agenda in the following terms:-

“Scottish Borders Council requests that the Chief Executive brings a report to Council setting out the options and implications of including additional external members in the Chambers Institution Trust to supplement the existing governance arrangements.”

Councillor Chapman spoke in support of his Motion which was unanimously approved.

DECISION

AGREED to approve the Motion detailed above.

The question submitted by Councillor Ramage was answered.  The Convener also allowed Councillor Robson to ask an urgent question but the reply was provided by the Executive Director given the timescale to provide a response.

DECISION

NOTED the replies as detailed in Appendix I to this Minute.