Minutes of Meeting of the Education, Culture and Sport Committee held in the Council Chamber, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness on Thursday, 13th November, 2003 at 10.30 a.m.

PRESENT

The Committee NOTED a list of successful contestants at the National Mod 2003 from the Highland Council area, copies of which had been tabled, and AGREED that their congratulations be conveyed to those concerned, including in particular the Gold Medallists - former Highland Council pupils, Jenna Cumming, Millburn Academy, and Darren MacLean, Portree High School.

The Committee also AGREED that their congratulations be conveyed to the following:-

•1 Following completion of the Scottish Space Foundation programme Catherine MacLennan, Ullapool High School, had been invited to attend the NASA Space Camp at the Johnston Space Centre, Houston. George Marshall, Andrew MacLennan of Grantown Grammar, Jenny Sys of Ullapool High School, Lauren Ballantyne and Katie Myerscough of Kingussie High School had also been invited to a residential summer school at the University of Strathclyde to be led by senior NASA officials.

•2 Marlyn Campbell, Co-ordinator, Children and Family Autism Services had won a National Autistic Society (NAS) Inclusion Award.

•3 Thrumster Primary School had recently won a school grounds improvement competition run by Scottish Natural Heritage.

•4 Ruarigh Thornton, P7 at Kinlochbervie Primary School, had won a prize in his age category in a competition run by Hewlett Packard where children were asked to create a Wallace and Gromitt type invention. His design was for a railway track scanner that would make rail travel safer.

•5 Daniel Lansley, S5, Kinlochbervie High School, through his determination and drive had got together a five figure package to form a motor cycle club when in S3. The school had nominated him for the UK National Deutsche Bank Spotlight Awards for young campaigners and he had been selected as one of six winners in the finals in London in June.

•6 Alness Academy’s efforts in promoting a healthy lifestyle among staff and pupils had been recognised with the award of the Scotland’s Health at Work (SHAW) Bronze level plaque. Alness Academy was the first Highland Council establishment, and one of only eleven schools in Scotland to have achieved this award.

•7 Carrbridge Primary had recently received a Certificate of Commendation for Good Practice in Support for Learning for ongoing work on multiple intelligence.

•8 Holm Primary School had been awarded Investors in People status.

•9 5th Year Culloden Academy pupil, Andrew Davidson, had come out top in a national award recognising the best in craft and design work with his design and construction of a guitar stand. There were 6,000 entries.

•10 The following gradings had been awarded in the Loo of the Year Awards for Highland Council Education, Culture and Sport facilities:

4 x 5 star awards (Ullapool High School, Strathpeffer Primary, Community Education, Wick and The Glen Centre, Aviemore)

36 x 4 star awards

21 x 3 star awards

1 x 2 star award

•1 Portree Primary School had been selected as an award winner in the Norwich Union Community Sports Award Competition where schools had to indicate what they would do to support Health and Fitness if they were given extra money.

•2 An award winning school project which recalled in a book and CD Rom the wartime memories in Portree and surrounding area had come to a fitting conclusion on 11 November, 2003 with the official unveiling of a memorial stone which had been commissioned by the mini enterprise company, Seoid, run by Portree Primary School.

•3 Moray Dolphins and the Seals Synchronised Skating Teams had taken Gold in the Mixed Age and in the Beginner’s category respectively in the recent Scottish Championships.

•4 Dornoch Academy which had been represented at the Commonwealth Youth Summit by senior pupil, Simon Brown, had received a commendation and book token from the Scottish Executive Education Department (International Relations Branch) in recognition of the link which they had fostered with Wylie Memorial High School, Ludhiana, Punjab.

•1 Niall MacKinnon of Plockton Primary School had recently been successfully shortlisted for the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) 2004 ICT in Practice Awards in the category of Inclusion Primary.

There were circulated the following reports on Revenue Expenditure:-

a) Education, Culture and Sport Revenue Expenditure 2003/04 – Monitoring

Report No ECS57/03 dated 31st October, 2003 by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport on Revenue Expenditure on the Education, Culture and Sport Service for the period 1st April – 31st October, 2003. The report showed a projected overspend at the year end of £1.38m.

The Committee APPROVED the actions outlined, in particular:-

b) Out of Authority Placements

Report No ECS58/03 dated 30th October, 2003 by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport on the current situation regarding out of authority care and education placements, in particular the projected budget overspend. The report referred to the factors leading to the current level of placements, and to the costs involved, and outlined the action plan agreed by the Joint Committee on Children and Young People to address the situation. The Joint Committee had now identified £240,000 within the budget delegated to it which could be vired towards closing the budget gap. This included the sum of £105,000 which required to be set against the double spend involved in opening The Bridge vocational training unit at the same time as the closure of the Fodderty unit. Despite these actions there remained an ongoing budget shortfall of around £1m.

In discussion, it was pointed out that the Council had taken various actions to address this budget pressure, including allocating significant additional funding. Many of the actions taken, however, would only impact fully over a period of years. It was clear that other councils were experiencing similar difficulties, with the number of children requiring care and education outwith their home area remaining high while costs were escalating and there had been no increase in funding. It was suggested, therefore, that it might be appropriate to raise the matter at a national level.

The Committee NOTED the position including the position of the Joint Committee on Children and Young People and AGREED:-

(i) to support the action plan of the Joint Committee, including the budget virement;

(ii) that further reports be submitted by the Directors of Education, Culture and Sport and Social Work on the budgetary position and possible compensatory savings;

(iii) to inform the Resources Committee of the extent of this specific budget pressure and the actions taken so far to address it and, in recognition of the potential overspend, to request a supplementary estimate; and

(iv) to raise the matter of this continuing budget pressure at a national level with the relevant Minister and through COSLA.

c) Caledonia Community Leisure Limited – Business Plan

Mr N M Clark and Mr J Gray declared a non-financial interest in this item but, having applied the test outlined in Paragraph 5.18 of the Councillors’ Code of Conduct, concluded that the interest did not preclude their involvement in the discussion.

Report No ECS59/03 dated 5 November, 2003 by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport which provided an update on the implementation of the recommendations made by Genesis Consultants into the management and operation of Caledonia Community Leisure Ltd (CCLL) and presented the company’s Business Plan for 2004/07. The Business Plan centred around actions to deliver four primary and four secondary objectives, details of which were given. It was pointed out that in Financial Year 2002/03 the total subsidy agreed by the Council was £950,000. This comprised the original budget allocation of £599,000 plus an additional subsidy of £351,000. In order that the CCLL financial accounts for 2002/03 could be approved by the Company’s Auditors, Committee approval was required for the additional funding provided. The funding levels were contained within the Service’s budget.

Mr J Martin, General Manager, Inverness Aquadome, was present for this item.

After some discussion, the Committee AGREED to:-

(i) note the progress towards meeting the recommendations of the Genesis report;

(ii) endorse Caledonia Community Leisure’s Business Plan for 2004/05 – 2006/07;

(iii) maintain the current subsidy level of £900,000 for the duration of the plan, with no inflationary increase; and

(iv) formally sign off the final £351,000 additional subsidy for 2002/03 to allow the company’s accounts to be audited.

d) New Opportunities Fund – Service Level Agreements for PE and Sport Activities

Report No ECS60/03 dated 28 October, 2003 by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport which outlined the Service Level Agreements which were required to deliver the New Opportunities Fund (NOF) PE and Sport Activities strands during the period 2003-2006. The partners involved in the delivery of activities across Highland were National Children’s Homes Scotland, the Duke of Edinburgh Highland Award Scheme, Ross & Cromarty Sports Council and Youth Scotland. Details were given of the projects involved and the level of funding allocated to them through the NOF Award.

There were circulated the following reports on capital expenditure:-

(a) Capital Programme 2003/04 - Monitoring

Report No ECS61/03 dated 3 November, 2003 by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport on expenditure on the Education, Culture and Sport Service for the period 1st April to 30 September, 2003. The report provided capital monitoring information based on the revised Capital Programme approved by the Committee on 25th September, 2003. It also reported on the transfer of Eden Court Theatre from the Planning and Development Service to the Education, Culture and Sport Service, together with the capital allocation to cover the cost of a grant approved for the development of the theatre, and gave details of applications approved by the Education, Culture and Sport Portfolio Holders Group for funding from the Challenge Fund.

In discussion it was confirmed that the Education, Culture and Sport Service would still have a capital expenditure programme apart from the schools being provided through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) project but it would not be possible to specify what was included in this programme until the PPP contract had been signed.

The Committee NOTED the position.

(b) Capital Funding for Village Halls

Report No ECS62/03 dated 30 October, 2003 by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport in which it was pointed out that, while demand for capital funding for village halls remained high, the sources of funding had contracted significantly over the past few years. It was anticipated that this would create real problems for Highland halls, many of which were already well advanced in developing capital projects. As the current budget of £195,000 available for village halls in 2003/04 and 2004/05 was fully committed, the Committee was invited to consider various options for the future funding of village halls.

One of the matching sources of funding for village hall projects was the Local Capital Grants Scheme (LCGS) operated by the Scottish Executive. Under the scheme approximately £1.2m was available for Scotland and usually the Scottish Executive supported one village hall in Highland in any one financial year. Details were given of current applications and the criteria used in assessing the projects for LCGS funding. It was reported that, if Council funding was available for a project to provide a village hall, Lairg would be the first Highland priority.

In discussion points raised included the following:-

·1 Mrs A L Magee advised Members that the local community had raised the sum of £250,000 towards the proposed village hall in Lairg which would attract significant additional funding from other sources. She also confirmed that there would be no revenue consequences to the Council arising from the project and that the funding would not be required until the financial year 2004/05.

·2 It was pointed out that all village hall committees now faced the problem of having to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act. The Council must, therefore, find a way of assisting village halls, possibly through agreeing increases in capital allocations following the introduction of prudential controls.

·3 The Council should be flexible in their approach to the funding of community facilities in that different communities were looking at different ways of providing these facilities.

·4 Consideration should be given to the link between the development of new community schools and the priority to be attached to village hall projects.

·5 While accepting that Lairg was the Council’s first priority in accordance with the criteria, the need for a new village hall in Mey was stressed.

The Committee AGREED that:-

(i) officials seek to identify a mechanism to allow the Council to continue to support successful village hall projects and report back to a future meeting; and

There was circulated Report No ECS63/03 dated 24 October, 2003 by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport which informed Members of progress towards delivering 2007 as a year when Scotland celebrated Highland culture. The report gave details of the management of the project, work in progress, including flagship events, a proposed events programme, the potential capital programme, the legacy which would be left by 2007 and the role of Gaelic. The next step was to involve communities and Area Committees in the two way process of determining how 2007 could benefit each Area and how each Area could contribute to 2007. Proposals for the resulting workplan for the next few months for the small team of officers working on 2007 were outlined.

Ms S McMillan, the newly appointed 2007 Project Manager, was present for this item.

In discussion reference was made to the importance of having a wide discussion of what was meant by Highland culture and then focusing on what was achievable. Various ideas were put forward, some of which, it was suggested, were of international importance. The view was also expressed that Gaelic had been at the heart of culture in the Highlands for many years and the opportunity should be taken in the run up to 2007 to promote the learning of the Gaelic language.

There was circulated Report No ECS64/03 dated 23 October, 2003 by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport which referred to the decision of the Education, Culture and Sport Committee on 14 August, 2003 that consultation be undertaken to ascertain the views of the community on the proposal for a new festival to celebrate Celtic communities. The report detailed the responses from the consultation, which were largely in favour of the proposed new festival, although some concern expressed about the term "Celtic" suggested that careful consideration should be given to the name. The strong view had also been expressed that the proposal should add to and support the existing network of cultural activity rather than threaten it.

Members had also postponed taking a view on future funding for the Highland Festival until the results of the consultation could inform the decision. It was reported that, since the matter had last been considered, the Scottish Arts Council had approved Advancement Funding of some £125,000 over three years for the Highland Festival. One condition of this support was that the local partners continue to support the Festival at the 2003 funding level. The Director, therefore, outlined three options available to the Council for the future funding the Highland Festival.

In discussion it was confirmed that the proposed pilot festivals would be considered as trial runs for 2007 and that there was a possibility of running further pilots in other Areas of the Council before 2007. There was also some discussion of the timing and name for the proposed festival and of the definition of traditional culture. It was suggested that, if the festival was to focus on traditional Highland culture only, there was a need to give separate consideration to how local arts/music events were supported which were not regarded as traditional. Consideration should also be given to the range of cultural events to be included and to how the pilot festivals and other events were marketed not just abroad but within the Highlands.

The Committee AGREED that:-