The new Scheme of Governance is coming soon!

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The council follows clear procedures to ensure that all decisions are lawful, accessible and transparent. The new Scheme of Governance, setting out how the Council makes strategic and operational decisions, goes live on January 27, 2017.

From this date onwards, report authors will report to councillors at committee meetings in a different way. You must use the new corporate report template, which is available – along with report writing guidance – on Arcadia.

The new Arcadia page also has links to all Scheme of Governance documents, which describe the decision-making process and financial regulations; as well as advice for members and officers.

A programme of training, including an ALDO course, will follow to help key officers understand the new approach. Authors looking for further information or training should contact Ann Riddell who will be able to support.

This marks the biggest change to council committees and decision-making since Aberdeenshire Council was formed in 1996.

Under the new approach, policy committees will be able to make financial decisions relating to service budgets, which will help the council make decisions more quickly. And increased flexibility within services regarding procurement is expected to lead to fewer reports coming before committees for approval.

In addition, the council’s scrutiny role will be shared among policy and area committees, with an ongoing stand-alone focus on audit matters, including work relating to the Integrated Joint Board for health and social care.

The new committee structure created to support the Scheme of Governance would be as follows:

Existing committee name New committee name
Education, Learning and Leisure Education and Children’s Services
Infrastructure Services Infrastructure Services
Policy and Resources Business Services
Social Work and Housing Communities
Scrutiny and Audit Audit