Webcast, democracy and equal pay

Yesterday's Full Council Meeting still available to watch on the internet ... go on, you know you want to?

You can quickly go to any section of the meeting (as listed) if you click on the second tab, from the top-left, that says 'index points' if you hover over it.

Am pleased to report that the clutch of reports on Governance Issues were all approved (some on division) and further details can be found on CPOL and on the Council Newsblog here ...

... and just today, I was delighted to be able to go public with the news that the City of Edinburgh Council and UNISON have reached agreement to settle the outstanding equal pay claims of former APT&C employees lodged by the Union on behalf of their members. More details here.

October 2012 Leader's Report

October Leader's Report now up on CPOL - you can see it as a PDF here, text is also below, and don't forget you can watch this Thursday's Council Meeting (from 10am) via the web if so interested ... just go here.

October 2012

Opening up democracy   Taking part in or creating a petition is a new way that individuals, community groups and organisations can get involved in what the Council does. It allows people to raise issues of public concern and gives councillors the opportunity to consider the need for change. The new Petitions Committee, chaired by Councillor Maggie Chapman one of our opposition colleagues in the Green Party, is set to consider petitions for the first time on Monday 3 December. If there is something you are keen to have considered you can get information from the Council's web pages, libraries and other Council buildings. The committee is part of a package of measures and a new committee structure aimed at creating a more accessible and transparent organisation by opening up decision-making and improving scrutiny of the Council's work. The meeting will also be webcast live as part of a year long pilot programme aimed at opening up democracy in the city. ______________________________________ Best large European City of the Future   Edinburgh was recently awarded Best Large European City of the Future by fDi magazine in recognition of Edinburgh being a great place for businesses. The magazine has followed this up with a short film that looks at why Edinburgh is a proving so popular for inward investment. You can view the film on fDi’s website. ______________________________________ Festivals contribution to Edinburgh   This summer while London hosted elite athletes and the next generation of sporting talent from around the world, Edinburgh celebrated the worldwide cultural phenomena that are Edinburgh’s Festivals. With audiences holding steady, and in some instances increasing, the impact of Edinburgh’s Festivals has been shown to generate £261 million for Scotland’s economy and 5242 full-time jobs in Edinburgh. What the results of summer 2012 really tell us is that Edinburgh’s Festivals have this year seized the opportunities arising from the UK hosting of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The breadth and depth of Edinburgh’s festival programmes with their vast array of premieres and commissions, provide the distinctive cultural offering that are the envy of cities around the world and each year attract artists, audiences and media from every continent and over 70 countries. We should be rightly proud. ______________________________________ Investing in our future   The Council invests around £11 million annually in tourism promotion and infrastructure and enjoys a strong position in the international tourism market. However, if we are to grow our success and improve on our position we need to find a way to continue to invest during a time of budget constraint. We had been considering the potential for a transient visitor levy (TVL) or ‘tourist tax’. You may have experienced this charge or heard about it when travelling to other European or American cities. However, having spoken to many in the industry, the clear view is that businesses would rather support a voluntary investment model and not be compelled to make a specific charge to customers. We agreed at the Policy and Strategy Committee on 2 October to look at options based on the principle of a voluntary funding mechanism and will be consulting further before deciding on the best arrangements to make. ______________________________________ Trams   The project is making good, steady progress and every effort is being made to complete work early in the revised schedule where possible. Passenger services from the airport to York Place are scheduled to run by summer 2014. Now 22 trams have been delivered to the tram depot, with the remainder to be delivered by the end of November 2012. The main utility diversions are on target to be cleared by November 2012, substantially reducing the risk of the project schedule slipping. The construction of the civil engineering and system elements of the project are also progressing well, with a significant amount of track construction underway. A number of areas are presently ahead of schedule. A more detailed report is being considered at Council on 25 October. This will go live on the Council’s committee papers online system in the week beginning 22 October 2012. ______________________________________ Bin collection changes   On 10 September we introduced changes to bin collections which affected nearly 160,000 properties. The scale and complexity of these changes were bigger than any our waste services have seen in decades. Even so, there is no denying that the recent level of disruption to the bin collection service experienced by some residents has been unacceptable. Although progress has been made I recognise that for some, the service is unfortunately still not what it should be. I would like to reassure these residents that getting this right is our highest priority and we will continue to listen and resolve these matters as quickly as possible. However, by introducing this managed weekly recycling and waste collections, we will make significant improvements in recycling rates and this will reduce what the Council spends on landfill tax by up to £2.4 million per year. I will be pushing for the service to learn from its mistakes and to continue to make it easier for all residents to recycle more to help protect our environment for future generations. Further progress reports including improvements to customer complaint handling will be looked at by the Transport and Environment Committee. This will go live on the Council’s committee papers online system on Monday 19 November 2012. ______________________________________ Portobello High School   We desperately need a new school and in the shortest possible timeframe. Following recent legal challenges to building on our preferred site on Portobello Park, a huge amount of work has gone into looking at all the options available to us.   These options are recorded in some detail in the report to Council on 25 October which highlights that we are pursuing several of them simultaneously. We are examining the potential to challenge the recent legal decision not to build on the preferred site while at the same time looking at potential alternative sites. We need to make a decision quickly and a further report will be considered at the next Council meeting on 22 November. ______________________________________ Be in the picture Keep yourself in the picture with our news section online.

Back in Edinburgh

Back in Edinburgh this afternoon, after a very restful week in rural Teeside ...

... stayed in a cottage right on the River Tees and can't speak highly enough of the general location: the Teesdale Way ran very nearby and the section of the walk from the cottage up to Barnard Castle was truly wonderful.

This picture (you can click on it for a better view) is at the 'meeting of the waters' where the River Greta joins the Tees; made famous by Turner's 1818 painting ... and, as you can see, we also enjoyed wonderful weather ;-)

On top of all that, there was little or no mobile reception in the surrounding area: devastating.

Paying for it now though, with a significant volume of (all media!) messages to catch up on --- the joys of the modern age :-(

Half-term is here

Half-term is here and time to re-acquaint myself with the family!

So --- no blogging for the next week, and there will be facebook and twitter silence as well I'm afraid :-(

Normal service will resume from Monday 22nd ... meantime, don't forget that the next Full Council Meeting is on Thursday 25th October, the papers for which will be public via Committee Papers on Line (CPOL) on the morning of Friday 19th October (at the end of next week).

My mobile will be on in case anyone needs to get me by phone/text urgently.

New Petitions Committee now live

Delighted to note that Edinburgh Council's new Petitions Committee is now live and you can start submitting relevant petitions from today - all the details can be found within the 4-pages of information here.

And I'll re-produce the relevant News Release below:

---

Edinburgh residents urged to use new Petitions Committee

Published Monday 8 October 2012

Members of the public are being given a voice to influence Council decisions in the city with the date being set (Monday, 3 December) for the first meeting of the new Petitions Committee.

Taking part in or creating a petition is one way that individuals, community groups and organisations can get involved in what the Council does. It allows people to raise issues of public concern and gives Councillors the opportunity to consider the need for change. 

The Committee is part of a package of measures and a new committee structure aimed at creating a more accessible and transparent organisation by opening up decision-making and improving scrutiny of the Council's work. The meeting will also be webcast live as part of a  year long pilot programme aimed at opening up democracy in the city.
     

Members of the public and local businesses can make use of the Council's e-petition facility. Paper petition forms can also be downloaded from the Council's webpages and are available from libraries and other Council buildings. 

 

Convener of the Petitions Committee, Cllr Maggie Chapman, said: "The Petitions Committee will give a voice to members of the public who wish to raise issues the Council is not already addressing.  I urge people to use this new opportunity to participate in local politics and to help improve the lives of people living, working and visiting our city.  I am pleased that, in addition to the meetings in the City Chambers, we will also be taking the committee 'on tour' to reach a wider audience, and we will also ensure our young people are included by having youth focussed events."

There is a range of agreed criteria for a petition to satisfy prior to confirmation of validity and consideration by the Committee. Matters that will not be considered include those currently being considered by a committee, included in a work programme or those that relate to a council or committee decision that has been made in the previous six months.

 

Further information

• Petitions from individuals require at least 500 signatures though in some cases petitions with 250 signatures can be accepted. 
• Petitions from local businesses need the support of at least 20 other businesses within Edinburgh before they can be considered.
• If a petition is invalid, the petitioner will be advised of the reason and given the opportunity to refine and resubmit it.
• Hashtag to use if tweeting about the Petitions Committee is #edinpetitions
  
  ---
  
  

Europe's Leading Destination 2012

Edinburgh wins quite a few awards each year, and I generally don't shout too much about them ...

... but worth flagging up one that the Capital picked up last night: Europe's Leading Destination 2012, at the World Travel Awards!

To the best of my knowledge, Edinburgh has never won this before - some details, and previous (modern) winners, can be seen here.

Quite an achievement, I'd say.

Edinburgh Partnership Summit

Edinburgh Partnership Summit event earlier ... really good attendance, with the vast majority of participants staying right through to the end: which is always a good sign!

Edinburgh Partnership website is here, for further general background, and the day's agenda can be found here, but I'll also paste it below ...

... very clear that the main message on the need to reinvigorate, and rejuvenate, the Partnership's work was warmly received by all present. I'm confident it can be done; it won't be completed quickly, but a positive start was made today.

------

EP Summit Meeting - Friday 5 October

1925 Suites, Murrayfield Stadium

Agenda

08.45 Check In, Workshop Sign Up and Refreshments

09.15 Opening Remarks on the changing landscape of public sector reform and the challenges ahead - Cllr. Andrew Burns, Summit Chair

09.25 The Reform of Public Services - Alex Clark, Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service, Chief Supt Malcolm Graham, Lothian and Borders Police, and Dr Charles Winstanley, NHS Lothian

09.40 The Edinburgh Partnership’s Approach to Achieving Better Outcomes - Sue Bruce, Chair of the EP Executive

09.55 Questions and Answers

10.10 Presentations on Partnership initiatives which reflect key reform themes of service integration, early intervention and prevention, and working with communities:

10.50 Coffee Pickup

11.00 Workshops on Single Outcome Agreement (SOA) Priorities and Improving Outcomes:

12.00 Feedback and Plenary Session

12.30 Close and Lunch

------

 

National Poetry Day

Its National Poetry Day today --- and this year's theme is: stars.

As per the last few years, I'll reproduce my favourite poem that deals with this year's topic ...

... and, for me, this was an easy choice as it just has to be William Blake's 1783 poem, 'To the Evening Star'.

Blake is calling on the Goddess of Love to protect him during the dark of the night, and inspire all that is oppressed during daytime.

Incredible to think that it's almost 230-years old, yet it still speaks to me like it was written just yesterday:

TO THE EVENING STAR

by: William Blake (1757-1827)

 

Thou fair-hair'd angel of the evening,
Now, while the sun rests on the mountains, light
Thy bright torch of love; thy radiant crown
Put on, and smile upon our evening bed!

Smile on our loves; and, while thou drawest the
Blue curtains of the sky, scatter thy silver dew
On every flower that shuts its sweet eyes
In timely sleep. Let thy west wind sleep on

The lake; speak silence with thy glimmering eyes,
And wash the dusk with silver. Soon, full soon,
Dost thou withdraw; then the wolf rages wide,
And the lion glares thro' the dun forest:

The fleeces of our flocks are cover'd with
Thy sacred dew: protect them with thine influence.

 

------

Manchester-bound

Off to Manchester tomorrow morning - spending the day attending 3 main events at the UK-conference:

1.00pm - The Co-operative Councils Network
Power to the People: How can the principles of Co-operation improve local public services? The Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Rt. Hon. Hilary Benn MP, will be joined by members of the Co-operative Councils Network sharing their experiences.

2.15pm - LEADERS Q&A with Ed Miliband, Leader of the Labour Party.

4.00pm – Community Organising – the Edinburgh Story
In Edinburgh the local Labour Party used social media to involve thousands of local residents in the writing of their manifesto. Come along and listen to Edinburgh campaigners tell their own story. Arnie Graf will also join us to talk about how Community Organising can work for your local Labour Party.

I am looking forward to the day, especially the 4pm slot --- and, whilst I know I'm somewhat biased, I did think Ed Miliband's speech earlier was a complete and total triumph: will be interesting to see the press coverage tomorrow and sample the reaction on-the-ground at the conference itself?

But regardless, for me - at long last - he managed to come across on camera ... in the most challenging of environments ... as he does in person: relaxed, bright, interested, thoughtful and yes, even funny :-)

Last of the allotment potatoes

Last of the allotment potatoes dug up late this afternoon ... click on the picture for a better view: some of those spuds aren't too bad at all, considering what a miserable year generally its been for our 2 potato-beds.

Some fruit still to crop, along with the brussel sprouts and leeks; but that'll then be about it for 2012.

I sense lots of autumn-preparation (for 2013's growing season) about to commence!

That's it for the day now: newspaper delivery this morning, potato cropping this afternoon; evening off :-)

Policy and Strategy Committee next Tuesday

Policy and Strategy (P&S) Committee next Tuesday - main agenda is here, and all the papers can be found, as usual, on CPOL here ...

... its the very last P&S Committee before the changes to the governance structures, which come into force from the 29th October.

End of an era ;-)

September 2012 Leader's Report

September Leader's Report was up at the Full Council Meeting last Thursday - you can access it on CPOL here and/or even watch it all here...

... and here's the text below:

 

 

Sept 2012

New initiatives picking up a pace

Summer may be coming to an end but Council staff are picking up the pace on a number of new initiatives. We are putting in place ways to widen access to Council meetings, change the way the Council does business and, this week, the Council launched a new economic strategy for the city.

On Friday 7 September we took the first steps in changing the way the Council does business. At the Co-operative Edinburgh Seminar, over 100 staff from the Council and third sector partners heard Councillor Steve Reed, Leader of Lambeth Council give real life examples of the pioneering work being done by his council. The seminar concluded with people working together to identify how we can make this work in Edinburgh. We want the Council to become more co-operative as an organisation and we want to explore the development of co-operatives as a way of delivering services. Our report on the seminar will be available from the Council’s website in the next few weeks.

By now, you’ll probably be aware of this week’s significant legal developments in relation to the plans to build a new Portobello High School. This is the Council’s initial response and I will be giving an update to full Council on 20 September with a full report coming to full Council on 25 October.

___________________________________________

Webcasting

From 20 September you’ll be able to watch your councillor debate at full Council meetings the issues that affect you and your community live online. You’ll also be able to see archived full Council meetings which will be available from two days after the end of the meeting until a month after the original live webcast.

This is an important new communications tool that will help us engage with all of you, both as residents and as Council staff. I want to take a moment to thank the team who have worked hard to deliver the webcast project on time.

You can find out more about our webcasts on the Council’s website.

___________________________________________

Celebrating sporting achievements

On Sunday 16 September Sir Chris Hoy, the six-time gold medalist, will be joined by fellow Olympic and Paralympic stars on an open-top bus tour in the city centre, ending at the Assembly Rooms on George Street where Sir Chris will receive the Freedom of the City honorary award in a private ceremony.

This will be immediately followed by a civic reception, hosted by the Lord Provost in honour of the athletes together with their coaches and support staff, officials, plus some of the many volunteers who gave up their time to make London 2012 such a success.

If you would like to celebrate our Olympic and Paralympic stars, you can find more details of the route and timings on our website.  

___________________________________________

Property Repairs

You still have six weeks left to make your views known on options for a brand new service supporting homeowners to manage private property repairs. We have already received more than 450 responses to our on-line survey. It’s important that anyone with an interest in this issue, including staff, takes part before the consultation closes on 31 October. To make sure the consultation is as wide-ranging as possible, the Council is also carrying out extensive meetings, focus groups and face to face briefings with a range of individuals as well as local groups such as community councils and heritage bodies.

These views will help to shape the new service, which has at its heart the principle of owners taking primary responsibility for managing their property repairs. I’m aware that this change in emphasis will not be universally popular but it will mean home owners will be more in control of their own home maintenance and the Council, as is the case in cities elsewhere in the country, will only be used when attempts at self-management have failed. It’s really important to stress that the emergency service, which responds where there is a risk to public health or safety, is likely to be retained.

___________________________________________

Revised Governance

September’s full Council will consider a report proposing changes to the way the Council does business. These proposals would see a new Public Petitions Committee, a new Budget Sub-Committee and a greatly strengthened Audit and Risk Committee. The way in which committees work will also change to ensure that there is more time to talk about the development of policy and strategy with public input.

We are making these changes because we believe that local groups and members of the public should be able to be far more involved in Council decisions. More information will be on the Orb and Council website shortly about the changes being made.

___________________________________________

Edinburgh Economic Strategy

The Council is calling on its public sector partners and Edinburgh’s businesses to help support the creation of 20,000 new jobs in the city. This was the main theme at a conference which I attended earlier on 12 September which launched an ambitious five year economic strategy for Edinburgh.

The strategy’s three key targets for 2012–17 are to support the creation and safeguarding of 20,000 jobs, to support £1.3 billion of infrastructure investment in the city and to help 10,000 people into work or learning.

___________________________________________

Be in the picture

Keep yourself in the picture with our news section online.

Gorgie Litter-Pick

Another glorious day, weather-wise, and spent a few hours helping out on a local "Gorgie Litter-Pick" earlier this afternoon ...

... two play-parks off of Gorgie Road cleared of rubbish, all in glorious sunshine: I even had to put my hat on :-)

Quieter evening now, getting ready for another hectic Council-week ahead!

Allotment afternoon

Stole a few hours down at the allotment this afternoon ... been a few weeks since I was last there: good job my better-half has been more attentive than me!

Everything in reasonable order and still a fair bit of colour in the beds - as you can see from this photo: just click for a better view.

Later in the afternoon, friends from Liverpool visited, and we even managed to fit in an early evening meal at the Caley Sample Room - food was as good as ever :-)

Very stressful day.

New decision-making processes

Amidst all the 'webcasting' excitement ...I forgot to flag up the very substantial report (and changes) that were made to the Council's decision-making processes yesterday. They will all come into effect from next month, October 2012.

The relevant News Release is below, which highlights the upcoming establishment of:

• a first for Edinburgh, a Petitions Committee chaired by the Opposition (Greens)
• a new Best Value & Governance regime, also chaired by the Opposition (Conservatives)
• and, believe it or not, another first for Edinburgh - a draft Budget to be published months before budget-setting day; via a new Finance and Budget Committee
• and a new Communities and Neighbourhoods Executive Committee, which will look at the development of Neighbourhood Partnerships and their relationship with other aspects of the Council

I'm now looking forward to these changes coming into effect.

Council performance to be open to greater scrutiny

Published Friday 14 September 2012

 

Decision-making and monitoring processes at the Council are to be improved if proposals to change the current committee system are approved at a meeting of all councillors next week.

The new arrangements include a greater focus on achieving and reporting on the commitments set out in the Capital Coalition agreement in May. The meeting at which this report will be discussed is also the first ever Council debate in Edinburgh to be webcast.

Council Leader, Cllr Andrew Burns, said: "People in Edinburgh told us clearly that they wanted better opportunities to influence Council decisions and to see that the quality of our processes was open to greater scrutiny. The way we have approached this review underlines how we want to do our business generally, in that it shows we have listened to the public and opposition groups and have made changes in response to their constructive criticism.

 

"These arrangements will help us to deliver on our priorities of providing excellent services for the capital and will also help to rebuild a relationship with residents based on trust."

The main elements of the report to Council include:

• A petitions committee to give the public greater opportunities to influence Council business
• A new corporate policy and strategy committee to focus on the Council's overall priorities
• A revised set of decision-making committees*
• Sub-committees for each of these focussing on developing policies in line with the coalition pledges and review performance
• Proposals to improve the quality of Council reports and streamline the business put to committees
• A new Governance, Risk and Best Value committee, with a stronger and wider remit than the current Audit committee, to monitor and evaluate all of the committees
• Keeping existing arrangements for planning and licensing

*The new committees are:

• Communities and Neighbourhoods
• Culture and Sport
• Economy
• Education, Children and Families
• Finance and Budget
• Health, Wellbeing and Housing
• Transport and Environment

 

CEC Council TV

Full Council Meeting today - papers are all here ... but you can also see the whole meeting via webcast as well: from here.

Over 600 people watched the meeting live - believe me, that's about 595 more than are usually in the public gallery!

Will be interesting to see figures over coming weeks for those who watch parts of the video - do have a look at the site; you can search for specific items (really easily) and watch short sections of the meeting on a specific subject.

Statement in response to judgement on new Portobello High School

I know opinions are strong on either side of the debate around the future of Portobello High School ...

... but I'm personally deeply, deeply disappointed by today's Portobello-judgement.

We've put a brief response out, which you can see on the Council website here.

Key points being that we've instructed Council officers to consider the judgement fully and look at the grounds for appealing against the decision - and while this is taking place options around using an alternative site will also be explored.

An update report will now go to the October Full Council Meeting on Thursday 25th October.

Investing in Jobs: Edinburgh's Call to Action

Been asked again (honestly!) to post my speech notes from today's conference up on the blog ...

... thus please see the following:


Investing in Jobs: Edinburgh's Call to Action

• Thanks Robert and good morning ladies and gentlemen.
• It really is a pleasure for me to be here today to mark the launch of the Councils’ Strategy for Jobs
• It’s very heartening to see so many people here --- from across the city’s business, public and third sectors --- first thing on a Wednesday morning, to discuss and debate Edinburgh’s call to action for an on-going and relentless focus on investment in local jobs.
• I’m particularly grateful that the Deputy First Minister is here this morning, despite being involved in a Government reshuffle just last week, and all the undoubted diary-chaos that will have created.
• I’m personally delighted that you’ve retained the Cities element of your portfolio and very much welcome that continuity, and on-going commitment, at this crucial time.
• Robert, can I also start by saying a very special thank-you to our business sponsors for this event, who include:
• Gillespie MacAndrew
• Harvey Nichols
• Lothian Buses
• Millers
• Montagu Evans
• and Selex Galileo.
• Their public endorsement of this launch is hugely welcomed and sends out a very powerful signal of the collaborative approach which we are keen to build on.
• Robert, you mentioned the Council’s Coalition Agreement in which we have outlined our partnership vision, for the City, for the forthcoming 5-years..
• Our absolute central priority is to build a co-operative, more prosperous Edinburgh in which every resident and community benefits.
• We are keen to act in a co-operative, open way, involving citizens, businesses and the third sector. This means keeping people informed, listening to and reflecting their views.
• And this Strategy is an early example of exactly that type of approach.
• The programme outlined in the Strategy document, a copy of which is contained within your information packs, was developed through close collaboration between the Council and its partners, including the Edinburgh Business Forum who have endorsed the strategy and who are co-hosting today’s conference.
• You will hear from Hugh Rutherford, who Chairs the Forum, a little later.
• The Strategy for Jobs sets out an ambitious programme for sustainable growth in jobs and investment in Edinburgh’s economy.
• And, crucially, it puts people at the heart of that Strategy.
• Creating the conditions for growth and jobs has to be the Council’s number one economic priority - and one which will require every Council service to respond.
• The Council’s Chief Executive, Sue Bruce, will shortly be outlining the detail of the Strategy and the plans for delivering our vision of a confident, creative and inspiring capital, powering growth and jobs for the city region and for the rest of Scotland.
• These plans are deliberately ambitious and recognise the unique role that the Capital City of Scotland plays.
• However, we know that we cannot deliver this Strategy by working in isolation.
• The challenges are significant and meeting them requires a strong sense of shared purpose and collaboration.
• That’s why today’s event is also a Call to Action for all of our partners.
• By pooling our knowledge, expertise, connections and resources we believe we can enhance our capacity to support the local economy.
• And we do want to hear from you – with your ideas on where we might begin to work together or where we might build on existing partnerships.
• For all of us – I know – it’s a privilege to be part of the Edinburgh story.
• This Capital City stands out as a remarkably successful and resilient location but, as we move through this coming decade we need to build on that success and work together to deliver our ambitions for this exceptional and truly world class location.
• So - this morning, with the launch of this Strategy for Jobs, we will mark an important point in ensuring  – collectively – we rise to the challenge of generating sustainable growth in employment opportunities --- for all residents of the Capital.
• Every one of us has a part to play - and I look forward to working with you all - in helping to secure a vibrant and successful economic future for Edinburgh.
• Thanks again for your attendance this morning – your support to date, and your support in the crucial years to come.
• We need that support – we need to work together – if we’re to achieve the ambitious goals that other speakers will now expand upon.
• Thank you and – again - welcome.