Golden Wedding Reception
North Lanarkshire Council · 16 March 2023
Back to Policy and Strategy Committee — 16 March 2023 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Policy and Strategy Committee Does this report require to be approved? ☒ Yes ☐ No Ref Date 16/03/23 Golden Wedding Reception From Chief Officer (Legal and Democratic) E-mail aitkena@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 1. Background 1.1 In order to co-incide with her own 50th Wedding Anniversary on 20 November 1997, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth invited a number of couples, who had married in 1947, to a Special Golden Wedding Garden Party at Buckingham Palace. 1.2 An advert was published throughout Lanarkshire, and the Lord Lieutenant received 188 applications to attend the event in London. The subsequent allocation to Lanarkshire was 18 places, which resulted in 170 couples not being invited to attend. 1.3 Following discussions between North and South Lanarkshire Councils, it was proposed that a Lanarkshire Golden Wedding Reception be held for those 170 couples. This was agreed at the meeting of the Council held on 3 July 1997. 1.4 It was agreed at the Civic Functions Group meeting on 7 January 1998, that a jointly hosted Lanarkshire Councils Wedding Reception be held in 1998 and annually thereafter. Since 1998 the event has alternated between North and South Lanarkshire Councils, with costs evenly shared between them. Executive Summary This report details the current arrangements to mark the occasion of a Golden Wedding anniversary and proposes changes to the model from 2023 onwards. Recommendation That Committee approves the cessation of the arrangements for holding an annual Lanarkshire Golden Wedding reception, from 2023 onwards. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority Enhance participation, capacity, and empowerment across our communities Ambition statement (19) Improve engagement with communities and develop their capacity to help themselves
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2. Report 2.1 Since the introduction of the Golden Wedding event in 1997, the number of couples attending the event has decreased, with 90 couples attending the event in 2022. 2.2 The last Golden Wedding Reception was hosted by South Lanarkshire Council in October 2022. The total cost of the event was approximately £6,000, which was then split between the two authorities. This was a reduced cost from previous years, due to reutilising gifts from stock. 2.3 Typically, the total cost for holding the event is £10,000. In addition to the tangible cost, there is also a significant amount of staff resource required to organise this event. 2.4 The Civic Functions budget has been considerably cut over the past few years. The cost of holding the Golden Weddings event is approximately a quarter of the Civic Functions budget, which reduces the capacity for civic recognition for other areas in the community. 2.5 Moving forward, it is proposed to cease the practice of holding an annual Golden Wedding reception, which would release additional funds and increase opportunities for civic recognition for other individuals, organisations and charities throughout North Lanarkshire. 2.6 South Lanarkshire Council have been advised of the proposal and further discussion will be held with South Lanarkshire, subject to the recommendation being approved at Committee. 3. Measures of success 3.1 Improve opportunities for other individuals, organisations and charities to receive civic recognition. 4. Supporting documentation None. Archie Aitken Chief Officer (Legal and Democratic)
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5. Impacts 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality- and-fairer-scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts have been discussed and agreed with Finance? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Allow resources to be utilised for other Civic Function purposes, which would see a greater number of requests for civic events and recognition being able to be considered by the Council. 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts have been discussed and agreed with People Resources? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts have been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.6 Technology / Digital impact
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Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Where the impact identifies a requirement for significant technology change, has an assessment been carried out (or is scheduled to be carried out) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? It is anticipated that if the report is approved that appropriate communications to the public would follow. 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed? 5.10 Armed Forces Covenant Duty Does the report require to take due regard of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty (i.e. does it relate to healthcare, housing, or education services for in-Service or ex- Service personnel, or their families, or widow(er)s)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the provision which has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the particular needs of the Armed Forces community to make sure that they do not face disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public services.