Dundee City Council Meetings

On Monday evening there was meetings of the City Council and some of its committees. The City Council started with a presentation about the work of the Dundee Youth Council, especially their work with Dundee's twin cities. It is important that elected members listen to the views of young people.

At the Environment Committee I joined in congratulating the staff of the council for their work at the Dundee Flower and Food Festival. The Flower and Food Festival is a partnership between the public, private and voluntary sectors. It is a great event for all the family and brings large numbers of visitors to the city. The event is anchored by the work of council workers. The festival would not happen without the hard-work and commitment of public-sector workers, it shows the public sector at its best.

At the Policy and Resources Committee I spoke on a number of issues. I was really pleased to see that the Administration were re-committing to a policy first implemented under a Labour Administration of free access to council sporting facilities for elite athletes. It is important that we do all that we can to ensure that we assist Dundee-based elite athletes have every opportunity to win medals with the British or Scottish teams at the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games. I think that if we promote elite athletes we will also do a lot to encourage participation in sport.

I was pleased that my colleague Kevin Keenan was able to get a reassurance that in a report on 'Proposed Sustainability Energy Partnership' with Scottish and Southern Energy there was no link to the proposed Biomass plant. The Leader of the Council said that the statement at paragraph 4.5 of the report 'could not get any clearer'. So we have a reassurance that there will be no infrastructure included in these proposals which is linked in any way, shape or form to the proposed biomass plant.

There was a report on a Review of Welfare Rights, the Labour Group welcome much of what was in this report. We are concerned that given changes being implemented by the Tory-led UK Government there will be much more need for welfare rights work. I was pleased that there was at least some attempt to work across parties when the spirit of our amendment calling for the welfare rights organisations in the city work together to give the most help to people in need.

There was also a report on a review of the education service delivery model. The Education Department will be remodeled and headteachers will be included in management of the department to a greater extent from now on. This report was based in many ways on an external report, senior officers of the council and the administration were keen to keep secret. The report when you read it really does beg the question what were they trying to keep secret?

The Administration deferred consideration of a report on discretionary spending by departments. In these straightened financial times when every penny is a prisoner it is strange that officers can spend up to £2.5 million per annum on spending which does not have to be reported to council. The Labour Group are looking for greater detail so that all spending can be analysed in a systematic manner.