31 December a programme of dates of meetings for Full Council, Policy Page: 241 Committees, and Area Committees for the twelve months commencing 1 May

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1 Page: 240 Business Services REPORT TO ABERDEENSHIRE COUNCIL 28 SEPTEMBER, 2017 TIMETABLE OF MEETINGS 2018/19 1 Recommendation 1.1 The Council is recommended to approve the timetable of Council, Policy Committee and Area Committee meetings for 2018/19 as set out in Appendix 1 to the report. 2 Discussion 2.1 Standing Order requires that the Council shall, not later than 31 December in each year, determine dates of meetings to be held by the Council during the 12 months commencing on 1 May following. A proposed timetable of meetings for 2018/19 is attached as Appendix 1 to this report. This follows closely the timetable operating currently and provides for six cycles of Policy Committees meeting every 8 weeks where possible and Area Committees meeting every 3 weeks, not including school holiday periods. 2.2 The timetable also includes:- (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) a proposed date for a meeting of the Vacation Committee and dates for Vacation meetings of the Area Committees in July, if these should be required, a provisional date for a meeting of the Council in February to consider the Revenue Budget/Council Tax, the actual date to be confirmed after advice from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, a date for a special meeting of the Infrastructure Services Committee in June to shorten the gap between regular meetings of the Committee before and after the vacation period, primarily to consider development control applications, a date for a special meeting of the in July, to ensure that the Committee can adequately fulfil its monitoring obligations in the gap between regular meetings of the Committee before and after the vacation period, and quarterly meeting dates for the recently established Sustainability Committee, as agreed at its inaugural meeting on 30 August The Head of Finance and Monitoring Officer within Business Services have been consulted in the preparation of this report and any comments received have been incorporated within the report and they are satisfied that the report complies with the Scheme of Governance and relevant legislation. 3 Scheme of Governance 3.1 The Council is able to consider and take a decision on this item in terms of Standing Order which requires Full Council to determine by no later than

2 31 December a programme of dates of meetings for Full Council, Policy Page: 241 Committees, and Area Committees for the twelve months commencing 1 May the following year. 4 Implications and Risk 4.1 An equality impact assessment has been carried out to assess whether the proposed timetable would conflict with religious holidays. Although some of the dates in the timetable coincide with dates of a variety of Christian, Islamic, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, Shinto, Confucian, Daoist and Baha i holy days, there is no evidence to suggest that people would be prevented from attending committee meetings on these dates and accordingly no adverse impact has been identified. 4.2 The proposals in this report do not require any additional staffing or finance. 4.3 The following Risks have been identified as relevant to this matter on a Corporate and Directorate Level Aberdeenshire Corporate Risks ACORP009 Operational Risk Management (including health and safety) Business Services Directorate Risks BSSR003 Future Governance Ritchie Johnson Director of Business Services Report prepared by:- Ann Riddell, Principal Committee Officer 10 September 2017

3 APPENDIX 1 Page: 242 TIMETABLE OF MEETINGS /19 MAY 2018 Tuesday 1 Tuesday 8 Thursday 10 Tuesday 15 Wednesday 16 Thursday 17 Tuesday 22 Thursday 24 Tuesday 29 Thursday 31 Infrastructure Services Committee Sustainability Committee Education and Children s Services Committee Communities Committee JUNE 2018 Tuesday 5 Tuesday 12 Thursday 14 Tuesday 19 Thursday 21 Tuesday 26 Thursday 28 Business Services Infrastructure Services Aberdeenshire Council JULY 2018

4 Thursday 5 Page: 243 Tuesday 17 Tuesday 24 Thursday 26 (Vacation) (Vacation) (Vacation) (Vacation) (Vacation) (Vacation) Vacation Committee AUGUST 2018 Tuesday 21 Thursday 23 Tuesday 28 Thursday 30 Infrastructure Services Committee Education and Children s Services Committee SEPTEMBER 2018 Tuesday 4 Thursday 6 Tuesday 11 Wednesday 12 Thursday 13 Tuesday 18 Thursday 20 Tuesday 25 Thursday 27 Communities Committee Sustainability Committee Business Services Committee Aberdeenshire Council OCTOBER 2018 Tuesday 2

5 Page: 244 Thursday 4 Tuesday 9 Thursday 11 Tuesday 30 Infrastructure Services Committee Education and Children s Services Committee NOVEMBER 2018 Thursday 1 Tuesday 6 Thursday 8 Tuesday 13 Wednesday 14 Thursday 15 Tuesday 20 Thursday 22 Tuesday 27 Thursday 29 Communities Committee Sustainability Committee Business Services Committee Aberdeenshire Council Infrastructure Services Committee DECEMBER 2018 Tuesday 4 Thursday 6 Tuesday 11 Thursday 13 Tuesday 18 Education and Children s Services Committee

6 Thursday 20 Communities Committee Page: 245 JANUARY 2019 Thursday 10 Tuesday 15 Thursday 17 Tuesday 22 Thursday 24 Tuesday 29 Thursday 31 Business Services Committee Aberdeenshire Council Infrastructure Services Committee FEBRUARY 2019 Tuesday 5 Thursday 7 Tuesday 12 Thursday 9 Tuesday 19 Thursday 21 Tuesday 26 Wednesday 27 Thursday 28 Education and Children s Services Committee Aberdeenshire Council (Revenue Budget) Communities Committee Sustainability Committee Business Services Committee MARCH 2019 Tuesday 5 Thursday 7 Aberdeenshire Council

7 Tuesday 12 Thursday 14 Tuesday 19 Wednesday 20 Infrastructure Services Committee Page: 246 Thursday 21 Tuesday 26 Thursday 28 Education and Children s Services Committee Communities Committee APRIL 2019 Tuesday 16 Thursday 18 Tuesday 23 Thursday 25 Tuesday 30 Business Services Committee Aberdeenshire Council

8 Page: 247 EQUALITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT Stage 1: Title and aims of the activity ( activity is an umbrella term covering policies, procedures, guidance and decisions). Service Business Services Section Legal and Governance Title of the activity etc. Timetable of Meetings 2017/18 Aims of the activity Author(s) & Title(s) To agree a timetable of Council, Policy Committee and Area Committee meetings for 2017/18 Ann Riddell, Principal Committee Officer St Stage 2: List the evidence that has been used in this assessment. Internal data (customer satisfaction surveys; equality monitoring data; customer complaints). N/A Internal consultation with staff and other services affected. N/A External consultation (partner organisations, community groups, and councils. N/A External data (census, available statistics). Interfaith Calendar Other (general information as appropriate). N/A

9 Stage 3: Evidence Gaps. Page: 248 Are there any gaps in the information you currently hold? N/A Stage 4: Measures to fill the evidence gaps. What measures will be taken to fill the information gaps before the activity is implemented? These should be included in the action plan at the back of this form. Measures: Timescale: Stage 5: Are there potential impacts on protected groups? Please complete for each protected group by inserting yes in the applicable box/boxes below. Positive Negative Neutral Unknown Age Younger Age Older Disability Race (includes Gypsy Travellers) Religion or Belief Gender male/female Pregnancy and maternity Sexual orientation (includes Lesbian/ Gay/Bisexual) Gender reassignment (includes Transgender) Marriage and Civil Partnership

10 Stage 6: What are the positive and negative impacts? Page: 249 Impacts. Please detail the potential positive and/or negative impacts on those with protected characteristics you have highlighted above. Detail the impacts and describe those affected. Positive (describe the impact for each of the protected characteristics affected) Negative (describe the impact for each of the protected characteristics affected) Stage 7: Have any of the affected groups been consulted? If yes, please give details of how this was done and what the results were. If no, how have you ensured that you can make an informed decision about mitigating steps? N/A Stage 8: What mitigating steps will be taken to remove or reduce negative impacts? These should be included in any action plan at the back of this form. Mitigating Steps Timescale Stage 9: What steps can be taken to promote good relations between various groups? These should be included in the action plan.

11 Page: 250 Stage 10: How does the policy/activity create opportunities for advancing equality of opportunity? Stage 11: What equality monitoring arrangements will be put in place? These should be included in any action plan (for example customer satisfaction questionnaires). Stage 12: What is the outcome of the Assessment? 1 No negative impacts have been identified please explain. Although religious holidays for various religions coincide with some of the committee meeting dates, there is no evidence to suggest that people would be unable to attend meetings because of that. 2 Negative Impacts have been identified, these can be mitigated - please explain. * Please fill in Stage 13 if this option is chosen. Please complete the appropriate box/boxes 3 The activity will have negative impacts which cannot be mitigated fully please explain. * Please fill in Stage 13 if this option is chosen * Stage 13: Set out the justification that the activity can and should go ahead despite the negative impact.

12 Page: 251 Stage 14: Sign off and authorisation. 1) Service and Team 2) Title of Policy/Activity Legal and Governance Committee Services Timetable of Meetings 2017/18 Sign off and authorisation. 3) Authors: I/We have completed the equality impact assessment for this policy/ activity. 4) Consultation with Service Manager 5) Authorisation by Director or Head of Service Ann Riddell Position: Principal Committee Officer 20/09/17 Signature: Position: Signature: Position: Position: Signature: Position: Signature: Position: 6) If the EIA relates to a matter that has to go before a Committee, Committee report author sends the Committee Report and this form, and any supporting assessment documents, to the Officers responsible for monitoring and the Committee Officer of the relevant Committee. e.g. Social Work and Housing Committee. 7) EIA author sends a copy of the finalised form to: eia@abdnshire (Equalities team to complete) Has the completed form been published on the website? YES/NO