Catch up: City Council 1st July

After the summer recess it's time to catch up on a few events over the summer. First back to the last meeting of the City Council prior to the recess on 1st July. The agenda can be found here. I made a number of contributions to the debate. I welcomed the city's new cultural strategy and questioned whether enough was being done to promote the V & A coming to Dundee. I welcome a report on Community Councils and asked without much success whether Dundee was examining a Scottish Government pilot scheme which gives Community Councils £15,000 to spend on local projects. I also welcomed the council's proposals to consult on a new allotment policy and warned the council to try to develop genuine partnerships rather than try to save money. On the issue of councillors' salaries I asked why we were setting our own - it should be set by an outside body.

Most importantly I took part in the debate on the Child Protection Report. In the debate I said,


"We should all take this report very very seriously. This council agreed a
report on the charter for corporate parents in November 2008. That charter
states that we have 'social and moral obligation to do our very best for those
children and young people for who we are corporate parents.' That is not
every child covered in this report but it is many of them and collectively I think
we have to ask have we done our best for these children and young people?

It is a shame that Bailie Borthwick is not able to be present tonight, he is
carrying out civic duties. I think that we would all do well to listen to what he
has to say on this important issue.

We must make sure that the policies and procedures are there that will ensure
that we are doing our best for every child in Dundee.

This report was not about one child, and we need to be absolutely clear that
officers and councillors cannot be held fully responsible for the actions of
people who would harm children and we must acknowledge that no system is
full-proof. But we must do all we can to do our best for Dundee's children.

We need to take action to ensure that we learn from best practice. We need
to take action that ensures that this service is well resourced. We need to
take action to ensure that the lessons from this report and learned and much
more importantly acted upon.

I fully support Councillor Keenan's motion and I would urge all elected
members to do likewise. We must take our responsibilities seriously and we
must do our best for all of Dundee's children."