Agenda Document Pack - Environment, Infrastructure and Economic Development Committee - 29/06/2022
Perth and Kinross Council · 29 June 2022
Back to Environment, Infrastructure and Economic Development Committee — 29 June 2022 and its agenda
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Securing the future… • Improving services • Enhancing quality of life • Making the best use of public resources Council Building 2 High Street Perth PH1 5PH 22/06/2022 A hybrid meeting of the Environment, Infrastructure and Economic Development Committee will be held in the Council Chamber on Wednesday, 29 June 2022 at 10:00. If you have any queries please contact Committee Services on (01738) 475000 or email Committee@pkc.gov.uk. THOMAS GLEN Chief Executive Those attending the meeting are requested to ensure that all notifications are silent on their device and other devices are in silent mode. Please note that the meeting will be broadcast online and recorded. The recording will be publicly available on the Council’s website following the meeting. Members: Councillor Andrew Parrott (Convener) Bailie Mike Williamson (Vice-Convener) Councillor Keith Allan Bailie Alasdair Bailey Councillor Steven Carr Councillor John Duff Councillor Angus Forbes Councillor Ken Harvey Councillor Noah Khogali Bailie Claire McLaren Councillor Willie Robertson Councillor Frank Smith Councillor Colin Stewart Councillor Richard Watters Councillor Jack Welch Page 1 of 68
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Environment, Infrastructure and Economic Development Committee Wednesday, 29 June 2022 AGENDA MEMBERS ARE REMINDED OF THEIR OBLIGATION TO DECLARE ANY FINANCIAL OR NON-FINANCIAL INTEREST WHICH THEY MAY HAVE IN ANY ITEM ON THIS AGENDA IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE COUNCILLORS’ CODE OF CONDUCT. 1 WELCOME AND APOLOGIES 2 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST 3 MINUTE OF MEETING OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE OF 14 MARCH 2022 FOR APPROVAL (copy herewith) 5 - 6 4 COMMUNITIES JOINT BUSINESS MANAGEMENT AND IMPROVEMENT PLAN 2022/23 AND SERVICE ANNUAL PERFORMANCE REPORT 2021/22 Report by Head of Business & Resources (copy herewith 22/149) 7 - 62 5 THE ROYAL NATIONAL MÒD Report by Head of Culture & Communities Service (copy herewith 22/150) 63 - 68 Page 3 of 68
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ENVIRONMENT AND INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE Minute of meeting of the Environment and Infrastructure Committee held virtually via Microsoft Teams on 14 March 2022 at 9.30am. Present: Councillors A Forbes, C Ahern (substituting for Councillor R McCall) ABailey, K Baird, M Barnacle, S Donaldson, J Duff, T Gray, A Jarvis, G Laing, AParrott, W Robertson, L Simpson, F Smith, and M Williamson. In Attendance: B Renton, Executive Director (Communities); C Mailer, Depute Director (Communities); M Butterworth, Head of Environmental and Consumer Services; B Cargill, R Lyle, J McCrone and B Watt (Communities); and S Hendry, K Molley, A Brown and M Pasternak (Corporate and Democratic Services). Apology: Councillor R McCall Councillor A Forbes, Convener, Presiding. The Convener led discussion on items 1-4 and 7 and Vice-Convener on item 5-6. 1. WELCOME AND APOLOGIES Councillor A Forbes welcomed everyone to the meeting and an apology was noted above. 2. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST There were no Declarations of Interest made in terms of the Councillors’ Code of Conduct. 3. MINUTE OF PREVIOUS MEETING The minute of the meeting of the Environment and Infrastructure Committee of 26 January 2022 was submitted and approved as a correct record. 4. ACTIVE TRAVEL STATEGY – CYCLING, WALKING AND SAFER ROUTES (CWSR) PROJECTS 2022/23 There was submitted a report by Environmental and Consumer Services (22/54) (1) detailing the Cycling, Walking and Safer Routes (CWSR) projects implemented in 2021/22; and (2) seeking Committee approval to the proposed list of Cycling, Walking and Safer Routes projects for 2022/23. Resolved: (i) It be noted that the schemes implemented from the Cycling, Walking and Safer Routes Grant Funding in 2021/22 as detailed at Appendix 1 to report 22/54. (ii) The list of works for Cycling, Walking and Safer Routes projects for the financial year 2022/23 as detailed in Appendix 2, be approved. 3 Page 5 of 68
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5. ANTI-IDLING There was submitted a report by Head of Environmental and Consumer Services (22/55) seeking approval to further enhance the Council’s commitment to cleaner air by utilising available anti-idling powers, to protect pedestrians and other road users from the effects of particulate matter. Resolved: The implementation of Anti-idling powers to be operated jointly by Regulatory Services and Parking Services, be approved. 6. SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT WITH PERTH AND KINROSS HERITAGE TRUST There was submitted a report by Head of Environmental and Consumer Services (22/56) providing an update on the collaborative working undertaken by Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust and the Council; and (2) seeking approval of the attached revisions to the Service Level Agreement for the provision of defined services by (i) the Trust in relation to archaeological and conservation services; and (ii) the Council in relation to the provision of professional and technical support. Resolved: (i) The attached Service Level Agreement specification for the provision of defined services to be provided by Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust and the Council, be agreed. (ii) It be agreed to maintain dialogue on the development of a Memorandum of Understanding as the basis for broader collaboration and investment in the historic environment with Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust and other partners. 7. PROPOSED ROAD HUMP ACROSS OLD EDINBURGH ROAD, BRIDGE OF EARN There was submitted a report by Head of Environmental and Consumer Services (22/57) proposing the introduction of a Road Hump within Old Edinburgh Road (OER), Bride of Earn; and (2) detailing the objections received (and the responses) from the consultation undertaken on this proposal. Resolved: (i) The comments and objection received in report, be noted. (ii) It be agreed to allow the installation of the proposed Road Hump as shown in Appendix 2 to report 22/57, as part of the Bridge of Earn to Newburgh Active Travel route. 8. ADDITIONAL BUSINESS Councillor A Forbes referred to his last meeting as Convener of the Environment and Infrastructure Committee. He thanked members and officers for their support throughout his time as Convener from 2018-2022.Members echoed the Convener’s tributes and thanked Councillor A Forbes for his professionalism. Page 6 of 68
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PERTH AND KINROSS COUNCIL Scrutiny and Performance Committee - 08 June 2022 Housing And Social Wellbeing Committee – 15 June 2022 Environment And Infrastructure Committee – 29 June 2022 COMMUNITIES JOINT BUSINESS MANAGEMENT & IMPROVEMENT PLAN 2022/23 AND SERVICE ANNUAL PERFORMANCE REPORT 2021/22 Report by the Head of Business & Resources (Report No. 22/149) 1. PURPOSE 1.1 This report presents the Joint Service Business Management and Improvement Plan 2022/23 and Annual Performance Report 2021/22 for Communities. It details progress against targets and improvement actions over the last year and sets out priority focus areas for the coming year to support delivery of the Council’s strategic objectives and outcomes. 2. RECOMMENDATION 2.1 2.2 It is recommended that the Scrutiny and Performance Committee: • scrutinises and comments as appropriate on the Communities Joint Business Management Improvement Plan 2022/23 and Annual Performance Report 2021/22. It is recommended that the Environment and Infrastructure Committee and Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee Committee: • approves the Communities Joint Business Management Improvement Plan 2022/23 and Annual Performance Reports 2021/22 for the areas which fall within their remit • notes the comments from the Scrutiny And Performance Committee on the format of future Business Management and Improvement Plans and Annual Performance Reports. 3. STRUCTURE OF REPORT 3.1 This report is structured over the following sections: • Section 4: Background • Section 5: Proposals • Section 6: Further Considerations • Appendix 4 Page 7 of 68
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4. BACKGROUND 4.1 Council Services produce a Joint Service Business Management and Improvement Plan (BMIP) and Annual Performance Report (APR) on an annual basis. This sets out the key actions which the Service will deliver in the coming year, to ensure better outcomes for everyone in Perth and Kinross, and to demonstrate how the Service contributes to the delivery of the Council’s strategic objectives. This also allows an opportunity to reflect on the progress made in the previous year. 4.2 These documents are an important part of the strategic planning framework for the organisation, translating the strategic objectives of the Local Outcome Improvement Plan and Corporate Plan into the contributions that each Service makes. Team plans are based on Service BMIPs, and will contain more operational detail. 4.3 The joint Service BMIPs and APRs are presented to Scrutiny and Performance Committee, and then to the relevant Service Committees. This report presents the Joint Business Management Improvement Plan for the period 2022/23 and Annual Performance Report for the period 2021/22 for Communities. 4.4 The documents were discussed at the Scrutiny and Performance Committee on 8 June 2022. The Committee agreed that there was a need to consider the format for future BMIPs and APRs from all services, particularly to simplify the document, make it shorter with less detail and ensure there is more information in areas where things have gone wrong. 5. PROPOSALS 5.1 The Service Joint BMIP and APR for this year has not changed significantly in terms of structure and format. The report includes performance summaries and end of year data, where currently available, along with comments on performance against priority areas identified last year. It also sets out information about how the Service is organised and structured to deliver and identifies key priority focus areas for the upcoming year, rather than a detailed plan. This approach was agreed last year, due to the impact of COVID-19, which has continued during 2021/22. 5.2 The updated Corporate Plan is currently being developed along with the Local Outcomes Improvement Plan. This will inform the priorities of our future Service APR/BMIP. The new Change and Transformation Strategy may also have an impact on the future delivery of services and our priorities. 5.3 The Council has also procured a performance management software system which will be introduced during 2022. This will change the way in which performance information is reported, once implemented. Page 8 of 68
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5.4 Following approval of the new strategic documents and the implementation of the new performance management software solution, service planning and performance reporting will be reviewed and new guidance will be developed for reports next year. 5.5 The APR and BMIP recognises the breadth of activies undertaken by Communities to contribute and support the strategic outcomes of the Council and its partners. The report provides a progress update on the key area of focus outlined within the previous report (Report No 21/160). 5.6 The Council faces significant financial challenges and we will continue to develop opportunities to work with our partners and communities to deliver on our aims set within the Perth and Kinross Offer. We will also seek to further develop transformative opportunities to respond to these challenges. 5.7 In the coming year, our key priorities will be to:- ▪ support business to grow and attract investment and higher value jobs into Perth & Kinross as outlined within the Economic Wellbeing Plan ▪ continue to deliver the Climate Change Strategy for Perth and Kinross, which sets out our plans and actions to lower our carbon usage, and meet our obligations on upcoming regulatory requirements – with a particular focus on transport and food this year ▪ work with other services and partners to mitigate the impact of the cost of living crisis on our residents, including preventing homelessness wherever possible ▪ narrow inequalities gaps and demonstrate a consistent and systematic approach to prevention, early intervention and fairness ▪ support the health and wellbeing of our residents, through our commissioning strategies and the development of PH20 ▪ ensure delivery of our Strategic Housing and Investment Plan, with a particular focus on rural affordable housing ▪ make the best use of funding available to maintain, or improve, our natural and built assets, including rationalisation, and continue to deliver the significant capital projects being undertaken across the Service ▪ further embed the ethos and culture of the Perth and Kinross Offer to ensure that it is at the heart of how we work. We are determined to build new relationships within our communities as we know communities are better at identifying their needs and designing solutions ▪ further develop a strong “locality based” approach and strengthen relationships with our communities and Community Planning Partners ▪ focus on the connections between leadership, organisational culture, and employee engagement so our staff feel empowered to be solution focused and think yes to do what needs to be done to improve people’s lives ▪ refocuss on collaborative working with all our partners including other Councils to unlock efficiencies, share best practice and allow us to offer services to our communities that would be otherwise be unachievable in the current financial context Page 9 of 68
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▪ deliver our existing transformation programme and develop further transformative opportunities for shared working, digitisation and efficiency to help meet the financial challenges ahead. 6. FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS 6.1 None. Author Name Designation Contact Details Fraser Crofts Head of Business & Resources 01738 475000 ComCommitteeReports@pkc.gov.uk Approved Name Designation Date Barbara Renton Executive Director (Communities) 15 une 2022 APPENDIX • Comunities Joint Business Management Improvement Plan 2022/23 and Annual Performance Report 2021/22. Page 10 of 68
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ANNEX 1. IMPLICATIONS, ASSESSMENTS, CONSULTATION AND COMMUNICATION Strategic Implications Yes / None Community Plan / Single Outcome Agreement Yes Corporate Plan Yes Resource Implications Financial None Workforce None Asset Management (land, property, IST) None Assessments Equality Impact Assessment None Strategic Environmental Assessment None Sustainability (community, economic, environmental) None Legal and Governance None Risk None Consultation Internal Yes External None Communication Communications Plan None 1. Strategic Implications Community Plan / Corporate Plan 1.1 This report supports the delivery of the Strategic Objectives within Perth and Kinross Community Plan (Local Outcomes Improvement Plan) 2017-2027 and Corporate Plan 2018-2022. 2. Resource Implications Financial 2.1 There are no financial implications arising from this report. Workforce 2.2 There are no workforce implications arising from this report. Asset Management (land, property, IT) 2.3 There are no asset management implications arising from this report. Page 11 of 68
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3. Assessments Equality Impact Assessment 3.1 Under the Equality Act 2010, the Council is required to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations between equality groups. Carrying out Equality Impact Assessments for plans and policies allows the Council to demonstrate that it is meeting these duties. 3.2 This report has been considered under the Corporate Equalities Impact Assessment process (EqIA) with the following outcome: (i) Assessed as not relevant for the purposes of EqIA. Strategic Environmental Assessment 3.3 The Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 places a duty on the Council to identify and assess the environmental consequences of its proposals. no further action is required as it does not qualify as a PPS as defined by the Act and is therefore exempt. Sustainability 3.4 Under the provisions of the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 the Council has to discharge its duties in a way which contributes to the achievement of sustainable development. Under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 the Council also has a duty relating to climate change and, in exercising its functions must act: • in the way best calculated to delivery of the Act’s emissions reduction targets; • in the way best calculated to deliver any statutory adaptation programmes; and • in a way that it considers most sustainable. 3.5 The information contained within this report has been considered under the Act. However, no action is required as the Act does not apply to the matters presented in this report. Legal and Governance 3.6 Not applicable. Risk 3.7 Not applicable. Page 12 of 68
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4. Consultation Internal 4.1 The Communities Management Team were consulted during the preparation of this report. External 4.2 Not applicable. 5. Communication 5.1 Not applicable. 2. BACKGROUND PAPERS 2.1 The background papers referred to within the report are: • Communities Joint Business Management Improvement Plan 2021/22 and Annual Performance Report 2022/23. Page 13 of 68
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Appendix 1 Communities Annual Performance Report 2021/22_ V4.0 24th May 2022 4 Page 15 of 68
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1 Contents Page Introduction 2 Vision, Strategic Objectives and Service Priorities 4 Strategic Objectives Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life and Developing Educated, Responsible and Informed Citizens 5 Promoting a Prosperous, Inclusive and Sustainable Economy 10 Supporting People to Lead Independent, Healthy and Active Lives 14 Creating a Safe and Sustainable Place for Future Generations 19 Organised to Deliver Senior Management Structure 25 Customer Focus and Community Engagement 25 Preparing our People for the Future 26 Partnership Working 27 Financial and Resource Management 28 Performance, Self-Evaluation and Risk Management 29 Health and Safety 30 Key Performance Indicators for 2021/22 Glossary of Terms 31 44 Page 16 of 68
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2 Introduction We are pleased to present the Annual Performance Report 2021/22 for Communities. As you would expect, the last 12 months have again been challenging for our Service as we continued to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic and began our recovery from the huge disruption of the last two years. As we emerge from the pandemic, we find ourselves presented with a new set of equally challenging circumstances. The significant rise in the cost of living will affect everyone in Perth and Kinross, but particularly the most vulnerable people in our communities. We will play a key role in helping to protect people from escalating costs, and as you can read in this report, we have already started a wide range of work to support people who are finding themselves in financial difficulty. We continue to co-ordinate the response to child poverty across Perth and Kinross through our Local Child Poverty Action Report. This highlights the major partnership effort across Perth and Kinross to help and support families facing poverty. We are also supporting people in food poverty, working with community organisations and networks across the area and building on the connections we made with local groups during the Covid pandemic. We paid out over £200,000 to our housing tenants who were struggling to pay their rent through the Tenancy Sustainment Fund. We distributed over £160,000 to community groups to empower them to support local people who were struggling with food poverty. This vital work will continue and develop as our resident’s face rises in the cost of living. Our service also plays a key role in supporting our businesses and the local economy in these difficult times. We provided vital support to local businesses during the pandemic, distributing over £85m to 7,000 businesses in Perth and Kinross affected by restrictions. This helped businesses to remain solvent in the face of fast-changing Covid restriction guidance. We will continue to work with our business partners to enable a vibrant local economy which provides a range of employment opportunities for our people. Key to this will be the Perth and Kinross Economic Wellbeing Plan, approved in March 2021, which details actions that are being progressed to support the local economy to recover from the pandemic over the next few years. We will work with local community partners to diversify our economy, bring new investment and higher value jobs to the area, enhance the resilience of the rural economy, retain our young talent, improve digital connectivity, and address the future of retail. Tackling climate change will, of course, continue to be a focus for the Council, and our service has a large part to play. Our new corporate Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan will be the blueprint that leads this work as we move forward. We are establishing a Climate Commission for Perth and Kinross to ensure that we are acting now to protect our environment for future generations. We have delivered more walking and cycling friendly routes and worked to reduce, reuse, and recycle more of our waste. A new Perth and Kinross Climate Action website has also been published to provide one-stop climate change resource hub as requested by our residents. Page 17 of 68
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3 As a Service, we also recognise we need to change how we use our existing assets, any new assets we procure, and to how and where we work, so that we can minimise our impact on the climate. This will influence all our future investment choices. Through the ethos and principles of the Perth and Kinross Offer we will ensure that people are at the heart of everything that we do. The Offer Framework, developed and approved in December 2021, is based on the ambition that everyone in Perth and Kinross has something to offer. It aims to empower communities to make decisions – allowing people to be happier & healthier, and making Perth and Kinross a better, greener, and fairer place for people to live, learn, work, play and visit. To support this work, we recently started to deliver an Employee Offer Experience to all our staff, promoting our values and behaviour framework in terms of how we interact with each other and with our wider communities. We already see many examples of PK Offer in action, with Communities staff empowering local communities to develop their skills, abilities, and capacity to address their own needs. This is evident in groups, such as Local Action Partnerships, Local Resilience Partnerships, Bloom Groups and Estate Based Initiatives. The Offer will also underpin discussions with our residents and communities as we look at the services we can continue to provide in the future. All local authorities will continue to face financial challenges in the future. One of our priorities will be to grow collaborative working opportunities with other Councils and partners to unlock efficiencies, share best practice and allow us to offer services to our communities that could otherwise be unachievable in the current financial climate. Despite the many challenges we face, this is also a very exciting time for Perth and Kinross thanks to investment from the Council. The £26.3m City Hall Museum project is on track, the Cross Tay Link Road Scheme is progressing, we will host the 2022 Royal National Mòd in October 2022 and we are delivering the £90M PH20 project to redevelop Perth Leisure Pool and Dewars Centre. So, despite the major challenges ahead, we look to the future, confident that our dedicated staff will continue a wide range of services to make Perth and Kinross the best place it can be, within the resources at our disposal. Barbara Renton Clare Mailer Executive Director Depute Director Page 18 of 68
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4 Our Vision We support the Vision of the Community Planning Partnership, for our area: “Creating a confident, ambitious, and fairer Perth and Kinross, for all who live and work here” This report translates how Communities contributes towards the achievement of the vision and the strategic objectives set out within the Community Plan and Corporate Plan in the delivery of positive outcomes for our citizens and communities. The Perth and Kinross Offer supports our five corporate objectives and will build on existing success to grow this joint working approach into all areas of our work. A new community plan is under development for publication later in 2022. The annual report provides an update on the key areas of focus identified within the previous year’s joint Annual Performance and Business Improvement Plan (Report No 21/160). Within each section it also identifies key priorities for the coming year (2022/23) with the performance section providing an overview of our performance against targets. Page 19 of 68
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5 GIVING EVERY CHILD THE BEST START IN LIFE & DEVELOPING EDUCATED, RESPONSIBLE, AND INFORMED CITIZENS Our contribution: Teams across Communities have a key role in giving every child the best start in life and in helping to develop responsible and informed citizens. We continue to work with all partners to achieve positive outcomes in a range of ways. Overcrowding, homelessness, dampness, food and fuel poverty, poor neighbourhood condition, and negative aspects of place and community can have a detrimental impact on our children and young peoples’ developmental milestones, educational attainment, emotional wellbeing, and wider outcomes in life. Our contribution includes preventing and responding to homelessness by ensuring that families have immediate access to good quality housing. We recognise that good quality affordable housing, of the right size and close to family networks, employment and education can positively impact on children and young people. We also recognise the significant challenge faced by all services and communities in tackling and mitigating the impact of child poverty. We continue to support the ongoing development of the Child Poverty Action plan and have a key contribution to make in mitigating and addressing child poverty in the area. We play a significant role in supporting adult and community learning to increase life chances, skills and employability for local people through our statutory Community Learning and Development role as set out in the Community Learning and Development Plan. We work to meet our statutory responsibility to promote and grow Gaelic language and culture through the Gaelic Language Plan, with opportunities from Early Years to adult language learning. Open space allows children and young people to be physically active and challenge themselves, so they sleep and eat well and form healthy habits. We know that children and young people who play outdoors often have better social networks, are more confident and are more involved in their local communities. Our contribution is significant. We provide and maintain 149 high quality play parks, paths, and open spaces, along with a range of activity programmes and educational events that encourage family activity and sport. Our local spaces are well designed, maintained and free to use, so all children and young people can get involved – regardless of their background, gender, age, stage, or ability. We recognise the importance of the whole play landscape for children and young people, and, where appropriate, take measures to curb or calm traffic, provide well-lit footpaths and walk-ways, gathering spaces and litter bins. Our Community Safety team, work with communities and Police Scotland to address any concerns and ensure that young people feel safe. Our Public Transport team organise travel to school and, through active engagement with schools and parent teacher associations, we raise awareness and undertake enforcement of safe parking around schools. Performance Summary for 2021/22 The cumulative impact of our work during this challenging year has been significant. We have worked to mitigate the impacts of Child Poverty on our children and their families. This has included working across the organisation and with our community partners to provide opportunities to develop skills, maximise income and employment opportunities. This is further supported by the principles and ethos of the Perth & Kinross Offer which has our communities at the heart. Page 20 of 68
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6 Focus Area Update Delivering on the actions outlined in the Local Child Poverty Action Report to further reduce child poverty in Perth & Kinross We co-ordinated and supported the response to child poverty delivering on the actions outlined in the Local Child Poverty Action Report (May 2021). Our work to mitigate child poverty meant: Maximising incomes, reducing household costs, minimising food and fuel poverty, and maintaining affordable rents ▪ maintaining our rents at affordable levels ensured that no family paid more than 22% of its income in rent and most paid between 13% and 19% ▪ 157 houses were let through the affordable rent guarantee and 143 households were rehoused with the Rent Bond Guarantee Scheme ▪ an investment of £500,000 over the past 2 years to support council tenants to maintain their existing tenancy, preventing instances of homelessness ▪ £5.5m of client financial gain for struggling families through the provision of welfare rights advice to 1,309 families with dependent children and 113 minority ethnic families ▪ 183 new affordable houses were built exceeding our target of 150 ▪ Cash First approaches providing £4.9m of financial support to struggling families across Perth and Kinross ▪ £256,000 to support food security across Perth & Kinross, this included funding of £20,000 to Perth Food Bank and £20,664 for emergency food provision to ‘Broke not Broken’ ▪ school clothing grants to 15% of primary pupils and 10% of secondary school pupils Supporting the availability of affordable childcare and public transport to support parental employment ▪ £14,000 of funding for community transport and 2 demand responsive community transport schemes were in operation in West Kinross-shire and Kinloch Rannoch ▪ 4,000 applications for free bus passes for the under 22s were processed between January and March 2022 ▪ Free School Meals to 8,429 school pupils (73% of primary school pupils and 9% of secondary school pupils) ▪ 51 Early Learning Centre settings provide childcare for approximately 2,000 children ▪ Education Maintenance Allowance to 575 pupils ▪ £1.7m through the Pupil Equity Fund to help close the poverty related attainment gap The delivery of employment initiatives and investment in a range of activities to support fair employment and sustain and grow our economy ▪ £1.2m to deliver employability, skills training and support which helped 256 people find fair work and good jobs ▪ provided online learning and support to 110 adults ▪ established 5 Skills Academies in Hospitality, Digital and Green Skills, HGV and LGV Licenses for the haulage industry ▪ Graduate training opportunities provided to young people working on the City Hall and PH20 major capital projects Supporting digital connectivity within rural areas ▪ Digital access was provided to 3,000 children with digital access to support learning at home Page 21 of 68
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7 Focus Area Update Engaging with partners to deliver community benefits through training, employability skills and work placements as a dividend of the Council’s capital investment • Community benefits help provide a wide range of opportunities to communities, neighbourhoods and disadvantaged groups and secure real economic and social benefits for local people. The following link provides a map of the community benefits already delivered by suppliers through contracts providing goods, service or works in Perth and Kinross. • Using community benefits, alongside the Perth & Kinross Offer, we will further improve the lives of local people, enabling local communities to thrive, boosting employment and skills, securing long-term sustainability of facilities and contributing to cleaner, greener spaces for people to live, work and grow • Perth Transport Futures Project (PTFP) is a series of projects developed by the Council to support the economy to grow sustainably. Information on the PTFP and Phase 2, the Cross Tay Link Road (CTLR), is available at www.perthtransportfutures.co.uk. • Community benefit clauses were included in the CTLR construction contract awarded to BAM in August 2021. A Community Benefit and Social Value Strategy has been developed to ensure expectations are clear • The City Hall project is delivering several social benefits through its contractual relationship with BAM, the main construction contractor for this £26.6M investment in Perth's cultural tourism offer. This includes construction jobs and training opportunities for young people including through engagement with Scott Street; supporting 2 Graduate Trainee roles; and a schools engagement programme led by BAM to support wider STEM objectives. Working with our adult learning delivery partners to develop a blended learning model for adults focused on digital and wider job skills. • We commissioned seven partner organisations to deliver accredited learning opportunities which support adults into positive destinations. The total number of adults engaged was 197. • We also developed an on-line Adult Learning Hub delivering a range of courses supporting people into volunteering, improving well-being, English as a second language, Award Scheme Development and Accreditation Network (ASDAN) and Food Hygiene Certificates. 82 learners engaged in on-line learning with the PKC Hub. Maintaining and enhancing access to public libraries during the Covid pandemic and beyond Throughout the pandemic and lockdown periods, services were maintained via online borrowing and increased online/e-reading materials, delivery services to care homes, Click and Collect services and maintaining the Mobile Libraries to rural and remote communities. The total number of eLibrary issues significantly increased in 2021/22 at 665,176 compared to 51,530 in 2019/20. Further strengthening capacity and resilience in communities and 3rd sector organisations by The Perth and Kinross Council Volunteer and 3rd sector Upskilling fund distributed £80,000 to individuals and organisations. The project encapsulates the themes of the PK Offer with 116 successful applications out of 218 received for funding from groups across Perth & Kinross. The geographic spread of the applications received and the areas they serve are as follows: Page 22 of 68
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8 training and development opportunities for volunteers. Most common themes: Sports (Coaching qualifications), First Aid, Mental Health First Aid and Counselling Courses Delivering year one of the new Community Learning and Development Plan 2022/25 as part of our wider recovery and renewal approach for individuals, families and communities impacted by Covid. The Community Learning Development Plan (CLDP) was published in March 2021, setting out key actions to support the recovery and renewal of communities. Delivery of the plan is ongoing, it will be refreshed and updated in September 2022. Specific completed actions include: • the distribution of over £168,000 was distributed to 21 community groups to support community-based food initiatives • ‘Share the Square’ project engaged over 50 community members reducing social isolation, improved mental health and creating working links with new partners including the Scottish Refugee Council Increasing digital participation through new initiatives to reduce social isolation and increase skills. A Digital Participation Working Group was established to increase levels of digital participation. Key milestones included: • commissioned research to develop a baseline of digital participation and produce an Action Plan to increase levels. The research is due to be completed in June 2022. • provided £20,000 to support wi-fi enabled printing across our CPK library networks. This allows any individual to send a print job to a CPK Library and collect it from one of the facilities when convenient • supported 11 community-led projects in 2021/22 with £20,000 of funding to allow them to increase digital participation in their communities. Examples of the initiatives supported include: ▪ installation of hardware for wi-fi in community facilities ▪ covering running costs of wi-fi provision in community facilities ▪ provision of tablets, laptops and other technology to support skills classes ▪ volunteer recruitment for supporting digital skills initiatives Financial Inclusion Project Through our Financial Inclusion project, we recruited two additional Welfare Rights Assistants to provide tailored advice and assistance to our tenants, enabling our Locality Housing Teams to focus on tenants in financial difficulties. To build on the success of the project, we will work in partnership with Perth’s Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) to also target tenants struggling financially due to the rise in the cost of living. Feeling the Pinch Financial hardship has a major impact on people’s wellbeing – many people struggle to heat their homes; pay their utility bills; meet housing costs; clothes and feed their children and pay for essential products. Our “Feeling the Pinch” raises awareness of the wide variety and range of support available in Perth and Kinross and nationally. We used a variety of Page 23 of 68
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9 channels and targeted methods of communication to reach the widest audience possible. Peer Mentor Strategy Through a multi-agency approach, the Safer Communities Team developed a new initiative to educate young people on the dangers of drug use. A pilot in Crieff High School has led to twelve young people undertaking an 8-week course to become Peer Mentors, to facilitate discussions with young people on the dangers of drug use. Focus Areas for 2022/23 We will: work with other services and partners to mitigate the impact of the cost of living crisis on our residents, including preventing homelessness wherever possible. This will include narrow inequalities gaps and demonstrate a consistent and systematic approach to prevention, early intervention and fairness. • taking forward the actions within our Local Child Poverty Action Plan • delivering on the actions within our Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan to ensure our continued success in tackling homelessness We will also review the public library service to maintain sustainable, high quality, effectively targeted services across Perth and Kinross Page 24 of 68
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10 Performance Summary for 2021/22 Focus Area Update The Economic Wellbeing Plan which outlines a programme of actions of support for People Business and Place People • The ‘Skills Passport’ (funding of £125,000) project launched in December 2021 and we have engaged with 24 individuals providing support with funding for training or equipment. 22 individuals received the grant, with a spend of £30,000 to date. Job roles and business start-ups range from bike mechanics, tilers, florists, mobile hair and beauty, driving instructor training, accountancy and property qualifications. • Launched in March 2021 the ‘Futures for Families’ Programme, funded by Parental Employment Support Fund, offers a tailored package of support to eligible parents, in or out of work, withh PROMOTING A PROSPEROUS, SUSTAINABLE, AND INCLUSIVE ECONOMY Our contribution: Together with other public, private and third sector partners, we invest in physical and digital infrastructure; business and skills development; events and festivals to sustain and grow our economy. We also want to attract new businesses and employment into the area and collectively continue our drive to make Perth one of Europe’s most sustainable small cities. Our Local Development Plan sets out policies and proposals to ensure our area continues to be an attractive place to live and has a good supply of housing and employment land. The Economic Wellbeing Plan sets out an ambitious economic development programme that will assist people, businesses, and places to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and reposition our local economy to respond to other challenges and opportunities. The Tay Cities Deal is already bringing significant investment to the area, as will new funding streams such as the Town Centre Fund, the Place Based Investment Programme, and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. It is important that we harness our investment to ensure that those most in need of employment are not excluded. We adopt an inclusive growth approach including, for example, the use of community benefit clauses in our contracts, whenever possible and by encouraging payment of the Scottish Living Wage. We try to influence employment rates and average earnings by supporting businesses and individuals directly, as well as through our partnerships with Growbiz, Business Gateway, and Employment Connections services. We will also continue to work with the private sector to ensure all households across Perth and Kinross can access superfast broadband and that our key settlements have access to a Full Fibre Network. We continue to focus on the delivery of efficient services to ensure that our tenants’ rents remain at levels that are affordable to them, based on local income levels. The impact of our work during 21/22 has been to sustain businesses and communities through the provision of timely, comprehensive advice, guidance, and financial support by mitigating as far as possible the continuing impacts of the pandemic, addressing the equalities gap, maximising income and keeping rents affordable in order to support both individuals and the local economy. Page 25 of 68
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11 assistance to secure well paid, highly skilled employment. 37 participants have registered to date. • The service also offers funded training grants, ‘Elev8’ Training Grant has delivered financial support to 11 clients. Examples of this include Teacher Training Diploma course, office equipment for studies and professional memberships to allow clients to progress personally/ professionally. • Across all Scottish Government funded ‘Young Persons Guarantee’ (YPG) and ‘No-one Left Behind’ (NOLB) activity we engaged with 273 people (April 2020 to December 2021). A wide range of sectors are supported through newly introduced skills academy provision including Digital Skills, HGV/LGV, Forklift, Green Skills, Construction and more. Business • We teamed up with Crowdfunder to launch the £150,000 Crowdfund Perth and Kinross Business Fund in January 2022. By matching up to £5,000 of crowd-sourced funding, this unique new project supports individuals, businesses, and communities to establish and grow businesses, projects and services to make a real difference to the local economy. • Launched in May 2021 the Micro Enterprise Fund has supported a diverse range of businesses and similarly a diverse set of ambitions. 126 applications have been approved (£115,901), funding a wide range of industries including indoor climbing centres, drystone masons, beauty salons, restaurants. This has allowed businesses to expand and grow and benefited them when most needed following the pandemic. • Throughout the pandemic over £85m was distributed to over 7,000 businesses affected by the restrictions. • During 2021/22, 13 Adapt Your Property Grants (funding of £350,000) was fully committed with 8 commercial properties coming back into use & 5 premises converted to residential use. • The Open for Business (funding of £200,000) was fully committed during 2021/22, with 51 retail, hospitality and customer facing business premises receiving support. Place • The ‘Perth City & Towns Christmas Campaign’ was run across Perth and Kinross encouraging people to shop local. • Based on the campaign - business surveys, comparing 2020 and 2021, key findings: ▪ in 2020, 43% of respondents spend £100 or more in independent shops, this increased to 51% in 2021 ▪ in 2020, 59% bought more online than usual Christmases. This number dropped to 39%, and 37% of respondents bought more in shops than previous years ▪ 28% of businesses reported online visits and sales up from 2020, which was also up by 23% on 2019 ▪ 29% of businesses performed financially better between 2019 and 2020, this increased to 42% from 2020 to 2021 • Through a marketing Minute of Agreement Visit Scotland conducted a dedicated digital campaign from October 2021 to January 2022 to raise awareness of the opportunities to “Live Life Well in Perthshire”, profiling the area as a must visit rural and city destination for outdoor adventures, connecting to nature, food & drink experiences and wellbeing. The campaign’s articles/features, advertising and social Page 26 of 68
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12 media activity generated over 100,000 landings on visitscotland.com Perthshire destination pages. • UNESCO City of Craft and Folk Art status was secured for Perth in late 2021, meaning our city joins a global network of designated cultural cities with tourism and creative industry benefits for our area. The designation is for life. Continuing to seek a funding solution to enable the Eco Innovation Park to progress We worked closely with local and national partners to progress a funding solution to enable the Perth Eco Innovation Park. The Council agreed to utilise prime borrowing costs to take forward Phase 1 of the project subject to an approved Business Case. This would be used to secure Tay Cities Deal funding and lever further public and private funding. Commencing procurement of the second phase of the Food & Drink Park We have been marketing sites at the Food and Drink Park for food and drink use and for general industrial. This process will continue into the next financial year. Ensuring the new Place Based Investment Fund is fully utilised to support community aspirations Funding was allocated to several existing Town Centre Fund projects* (see progress below) & for one new project the Letham Hub. Physical works on the Letham Hub started at the end of November 2021, the project is due for completion December 2022 and will open early 2023. Completing delivery of the £1.9m Town Centres Fund projects • Drummond Arms, Crieff* planned strip out and making safe. Works have now been completed and they also purchased the adjoining former RBS • Strathmore Community Hub* physical works are scheduled for completion by end of April, with official opening planned for mid-June • Loch Leven Car Park* - all works completed in early May 2022 • Public Wi-Fi* – work is on-going to finalise the connections to Kinross, Alyth, Comrie, Scone & Coupar Angus with all works due to be completed by mid-summer • Local Full Fibre Network* - project was completed in November 2021 with 136 Council buildings connected • Crieff Hotel, now purchased by Community Arts organisation & further plans subject to securing planning permission & further funding • Strathearn Hotel, Crieff – demolition was completed, and site is cleared Delivering the Royal National Mòd in 2022 The Mòd is expected to bring more than 7,000 visitors to Perth, with an expected boost of over £1m to the local economy. We are working with national agencies such as An Cuand community groups, including schools, to ensure that the benefit of learning Gaelic and an understanding of Gaelic language is available widely. The additional spend will benefit businesses and communities across the whole of Perth and Kinross Continue to work with the private sector to ensure all households across Perth and Kinross can access • We completed the Intelligent Street Lighting Project in 2021 by connecting 2,200 lights in the City Centre, main streets and urban areas of Perth to a new Central Management System. • Phase one of the smart waste project was completed in Perth providing intelligent management of waste and alerts when waste bins and recycling bells need to be emptied. Phase 2 is underway and will be ongoing until December 2022 Page 27 of 68
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13 superfast broadband and that our key settlements have access to a Full Fibre Network • The Open Data platform has been made available at https://data.pkc.gov.uk and further data on transport, the environment, population and society, energy and the economy and finance are being added. The Cross Tay Link Road Scheme (CTLR) Received planning approval by the Planning and Development Management Committee in October 2020. The Stage One Contract (Early Contractor Involvement and Advance Work) for the Cross Tay Link Road was awarded to BAM Nuttall Ltd in August 2022. The contract is progressing well, and Stage Two (Construction) is due to be awarded in August 2022. Further information on the project can be found on the website www.perthtransportfutures.co.uk. The £26.3M City Hall project Commenced on site in February 2021 and is on track for completion in early 2024. Community engagement programmes are underway to develop and grow new audiences for City Hall. This includes Raise the Roof, a large-scale project funded by Event Scotland as part of the 2022 Scotland’s Year of Stories, working with communities and artists to raise awareness of the City Hall project and of women’s stories across Perth and Kinross. 22 community groups are involved, learning and researching the women who lived and worked in their localities. UNESCO City of Craft and Folk Art Perth was designated UNESCO City of Craft and Folk Art in November 2021 after a competitive bidding process. This designation is permanent and a strategy to deliver economic and wider benefits is under development within the wider Cultural Strategy for Perth and Kinross. The designation will allow for specific partnership building with other UNESCO cities across the world to encourage increased awareness of Perth, bring tourism and potential projects to benefit the creative industries in Perth and Kinross. The designation will also strengthen funding applications from other sources for related cultural activities. Focus Areas for 2022/23 We will: Support business to grow and attract investment and higher value jobs into Perth & Kinross as outlined within the Economic Wellbeing Plan. This includes • ensuring delivery of key infrastructure projects to support the local economy, including the Cross Tay Link Road and the redevelopment of Perth City Hall as a cultural attraction • a particular focus on city and town regeneration as well as employability and skills to support income equality Page 28 of 68
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14 Performance Summary for 2021/22 SUPPORTING PEOPLE TO LIVE INDEPENDENT, HEALTHY AND ACTIVE LIVES Our contribution: Our staff play a central role in supporting people to live life well, wherever they live, and whatever their stage in life. Every day, we work closely with our partners, tenants, and residents to enable people to remain in their homes, preventing homelessness and ensuring housing needs are identified and met. Safe and secure housing is a basic human need, and through our Local Housing Strategy we ensure people have access to the right type of housing and support to enable them to live as independently as possible at home. Our Floating Housing Support Service enables vulnerable individuals at risk of losing their tenancy to live independently and maximise their independence. It aims to provide short term personal outcomes focussed support, on both a practical and emotional level, to help people live independently. We ensure that housing developments are flexible and meet the ‘housing for varying needs’ standards to address people’s existing and longer-term needs. Many of our new build properties are designed to facilitate independent living - for example wet floor showers, wheelchair access, assisted bathing facilities and additional bedrooms for carers. We undertake a range of minor and major adaptations, such as property extensions, the installation of safety rails and ramps, stair lifts and level access showers to allow people to live in their existing homes. We keep Perth and Kinross on the move, so that people stay mobile, connected and able to access services and activities. We manage and maintain the 2,700 kilometres of roads network, provide parking spaces for motorists with disabilities and supply around 2,500 blue badges each year. One in five households across Perth & Kinross do not have access to a vehicle. Our ongoing investment in public sector bus travel and community transport provides accessible transport to allow people to stay independent, participate in their communities and access vital public services and employment. Our community-based activities help people access the significant social and health benefits from interacting with each other, often across generations, and connecting with our outstanding natural environment. Our Community Greenspace team continues to support and encourage local groups, by providing hands on support. The 45 Bloom groups are the longest established of these partnerships and, have over 450 committee members. Together with hundreds of volunteers, they deliver over 20,000 hours of voluntary effort on an annual basis. This brings communities together, uniting them behind a single, common purpose, to make towns and villages better places to live and, creates a strong sense of civic pride. We have supported people to live independent healthy lives by working together with our partners and communities across a range of activities to improve and prioritise what matters most to our communities. We continue to minimise the impact and stigma of homelessness as well as listening to seldom heard voices to inform how we develop and improve our services. Page 29 of 68
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15 Focus Area Update Delivering the outcomes detailed within our Equalities Performance Report We continued to provide funding for specific communities to enable them to be sustainable and self-sufficient: • funding for a Gypsy/Traveller community empowerment project (£20k) through Financial Insecurity Funding • as part of our Covid Recovery Plan funding was allocated to community groups who worked closely with us during the pandemic to support communities including Pink Saltire (£10k), Perthshire Welfare Society(£5k) and Perth Chinese Community Association (£5k) Deliver the actions within our Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan (RRTP), to ensure our continued successes in tackling homelessness • Through effective prevention interventions, we further reduced homelessness by 5% during 2021/22 • Where homelessness could not be prevented, the duration of homelessness was further reduced to an average of 60 days against a target of 70 days • Despite ongoing challenges associated with the pandemic, we minimised the use of and length of stay in temporary accommodation to an average 51 days against a target of 65 days in the RRTP • We supported 889 people experiencing or threatened with homelessness to find or keep a home • Through our ‘Property Ready’ and ‘Prevention’ Funds, we assisted 292 people with essential goods to enable them to successfully move into their new home. • We developed and launched a new self-serve, online Housing Options service, making it easier for people to access a range of housing options • The average days spent in temporary accommodation remains the lowest in Scotland at 51 days against a national average for 2020/21 of 199 days. We have achieved the target of 65 days outlined in the Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan ahead of the targeted timescale of 2023/24. Increase the quality and number of affordable houses in both urban and rural areas We delivered 310 affordable homes within Perth and Kinross during 2021/22. Of these: • 227 were Social Rent (Council and Housing Association) (73%), 32 were Buyback properties. 51 were MMR (Mid-Market Rent) (20%) • all 51 MMR Homes (20% of total) were delivered within the Perth HMA. • We exceeded our Local Housing Strategy Target of 150 Affordable Homes by 160. In collaboration with the Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP), develop and progress the actions within the Housing Contribution Statement and • We continued to develop the Independent Living Panel to ensure people with particular housing and support needs have their needs assessed through a multi-agency approach. The right solutions enable them to live independently within their own community. The panel also ensures that future accommodation needs are factored into the Strategic Housing Investment Plan • A range of 10 independent living accommodation projects were progressed for people with particular housing and support needs. Three of the projects completed, providing 20 units of bespoke accommodation Page 30 of 68
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16 Local Housing Strategy to provide appropriate models of accommodation and support for our older and vulnerable tenants • Through our Wellbeing Project, older people living in the community were provided with tailored support to help address issues such as loneliness and isolation and support to access events and activities within our sheltered housing complexes. The Project provided support to over 50 people - on a one-to-one basis and set up local lunch clubs. We are currently working with a local primary school to develop an intergenerational garden at a local allotment site. Feedback has been extremely positive with many thankful for the support and encouragement to leave their home and make new friends We will revise our Local Housing Strategy in line with the key National Priorities within Housing to 2040 Due to the significant impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, Committee agreement was given for the review of the Local Housing Strategy (LHS) to be delayed for one year. This has enabled a full assessment of the impact of the pandemic on the local economy and allowed the necessary levels of consultation and engagement with stakeholders. A reviewed LHS will be available be late August 2022. The Strategic Housing Investment Plan 2022/23-2026/27 was agreed by committee in November 2021. We will work with partners and residents to develop and deliver a Good Food Strategy & Action Plan which will set out a vision for transforming the ‘food system’ As part of the Good Food Strategy & Action Plan a partnership was established including Tayside Contracts, Perth Leadership Forum and NHS Tayside • the Good Food Partnership has successfully joined a Sustainable Food Places, a national network that brings together pioneering food partnerships that are driving innovation and best practice on all aspects of healthy and sustainable food. • we are currently recruiting a Project coordinator to help support the development of the Strategy & Action Plan in 2022/23 • we are also continuing to work with Food Banks and community- based food security initiatives across Perth and Kinross to reduce food poverty and insecurity following Covid Review our commissioning arrangements with Live Active Leisure (LAL) within a new Sport and Activity Strategy and with the Health &Social Care Partnership This work will be taken forward in 2022/23 as the continued impact of Covid on Live Active Leisure (LAL) venues and services limited progress in 2021/22. Deliver a Participatory Budgeting programme for 3rd sector groups aimed at reducing isolation for elderly and vulnerable adults This project was re-designed to pilot the digital inclusion initiative Circles of Support which involves family members, friends, and volunteers to support vulnerable adults to stay in their homes and communities. This is now being led by Health and Social Care Partnership. A co-ordinator has been appointed to take this forward. Page 31 of 68
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17 Other Key Activities Update Supporting Refugees Like many other Councils, we are supporting people from Ukraine to settle into accommodation. We are undertaking a range of activities such as property and disclosure checks to ensure that appropriate hosting arrangements are in place for everyone who arrives under the sponsorship schemes. • to date, we have worked with our communities to welcome over 93 people from Ukraine and are aware of a further 267 looking to come to the area once their visas are processed. • over 20 children have enrolled in our local schools and ESOL provision has been expanded to provide additional capacity to meet growing demand. • we are also progressing data regarding 400 people who have expressed an interest in being a host. Digital Inclusion Project Through our Digital Inclusion Project, we focused on supporting our most vulnerable tenants to become digitally included. 236 devices were purchased along with relevant data allowances. Over 100 tenants have been supported through the Project. Think Yes Housing Locality Teams have continued to use the Think Yes budget to support local tenants in their communities. During 2021/22 a total of 126 payments were allocated from the fund supporting with the top-up of meters, the provision of white goods and assistance with moving costs. The £90M PH20 leisure development project Currently at approved Outline Business Case (OBC) stage and Council allocated capital funding in February 2022. A Joint Project Board will be established in summer 2022 and work is underway to procure and deliver PH20 via a Design and Build contract. Focus Areas for 2022/23 We will: work with other services and partners to mitigate the impact of the cost of living crisis on our residents, including preventing homelessness wherever possible. This will include: • taking forward actions to mitigate the impact of poverty (skills development, employability, food, fuel transport) • delivering the good food strategy to support the activities involved in producing, processing, transporting and consuming food • increasing the quality and quantity of affordable houses and housing options in both urban and rural areas • revise our Local Housing Strategy in line with the key national priorities within Housing to 2040 • work in partnership with the Health & Social Care Partnership to progress actions within the Housing Contribution Statement and Local Housing Strategy to provide appropriate models of accommodation and support Page 32 of 68
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18 support the health and wellbeing of our residents by: developing our new Sport and Activity Strategy, and our commissioning arrangements with Live Active Leisure (LAL) and with the Health and Social Care Partnership with a focus on wider wellbeing and tackling health inequalities • taking forward the PH20 project to redevelop Perth Leisure Pool and Dewars Centre Page 33 of 68
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19 Performance Summary for 2021/22 Focus Area Update Establishing the Perth & Kinross Climate Change Commission to provide scrutiny and oversight and to champion and connect with businesses and communities • Following approval from Council on 30 August 2021, the establishment of a Perth and Kinross Climate Change Commission has been progressing with an external expert panel. • Children and young people are at the heart of this process, with 25% of spaces reserved for young people under 25. Applications for Commissioners opened in March 2022 with the Commission expected to be operational by late-Spring 2022. CREATING A SAFE AND SUSTAINABLE PLACE FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS Our contribution: Responding to the climate change agenda is a key challenge for local authorities. We lead the delivery at local level on policy and targets as outlined in national Climate Change, Energy, Waste and Fuel Poverty strategies. We recognise that we need to effect transformational change to existing assets we have, new assets we procure and to how and where we work, our investment choices will contribute positively to this. Our outstanding natural landscapes, and the high quality of our urban environment, play an important role in supporting economic growth, improving health and wellbeing, and providing us with a strong sense of identity, while being a principal reason why so many people choose to visit, live and work in Perth and Kinross. By working with a range of partners, we are committed to ensuring that everyone in Perth and Kinross has the right to live in a safe and secure environment, within neighbourhoods that are well maintained and have a positive community spirit. Our Safer Communities Team operate throughout the area. Their preventative role provides reassurance to members of the public while providing valuable information for Community Planning Partners to reduce the risk of harm to people in communities. Our Regulatory Services team (which include Environmental Health and Trading Standards) educate and empower and, only when necessary, use their enforcement powers to protect the health, safety and wellbeing of Perth & Kinross. Our Traffic and Network team, work with elected members and communities to identify locations where road safety improvements, such as road re-design, road crossings and vehicle activated signs, are required. We lead the design and installation of these solutions to support the continued safety of road users and pedestrians. The development of our Climate change strategy, action plan together with the establishment of our commission ensures that we are acting now to protect our environment for future generations. This strategy brings together several service areas to ensure that, as a Communities Service, we can influence and deliver on our contribution to mitigate the impact of climate change such a more walking and cycling friendly routes and worked to reduce, reuse and recycle more of our waste. This year has seen more engagement with communities providing funding, assets and practical support to develop stronger communities and support establish the Perth and Kinross Offer. Page 34 of 68
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20 Focus Area Update Finalising the Climate Change Strategy for Perth and Kinross, setting out our plans and actions to lower our carbon usage, reduce our costs, and meet our obligations on upcoming regulatory requirements The Council unanimously approved its Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan on 15 December 2021 and, in February 2022, committed to fund the top-priority actions in the plan. The Strategy and Action Plan have been published on the new Perth and Kinross Climate Action website, to provide one-stop climate change resource hub as requested by our residents Continuing to implement actions in local flood risk management plans, producing a final report for 2016-2022 and consulting to develop a new plan for 2022- 2028. • The Flooding Team continued to implement the identified actions and have engaged in a national public consultation on the second cycle of flood risk management plans, published by SEPA in December 2021. • Scottish Ministers issued a direction deferring the publication of the final reports for 2016-22 and the second cycle of local flood risk management plans from June 2022 to December 2022. Work to develop these documents will take place from May 2022. Progressing road safety projects which underpin the Road Safety Framework to 2030 which sets out a long-term road safety, Vision Zero The Road Safety team continued its ongoing programme of Route Action Plan activities identifying road safety issues and undertaking remedial measures along the routes. Working alongside colleagues in Transport Planning, the Public Transport Unit (PTU), Traffic & Network and Roads Maintenance Partnership (RMP) are providing responses to the 2023-2033 Tactran Regional Transport Strategy (RTS) consultation • Officers liaised with Tactran and were involved, as part of the development work, in the production of a new Regional Transport Strategy. • Tactran continue to take forward schemes which have a local PKC perspective including work on Park and Ride and rail development projects. • Tactran also take an active involvement in schemes the Council are currently taking forward including Perth West, Mobility projects and are involved in the Council Climate Change group on transport. Monthly liaison meetings, as part of a wider regional grouping, includes transport officers from Dundee, Angus and Stirling Councils. Supporting the health and wellbeing of people in Perth & Kinross by taking forward Scotland’s ambition that communities are shaped around people and place, enabling walking and • 11 Cycling Walking Safer Routes projects were delivered during 2021/22 at a cost of £839,000 • over 70 20mph speed limits were introduced to encourage active travel and contribute towards a safer environment Page 35 of 68
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21 cycling to be the most popular mode of travel for short everyday journeys Further reduce, reuse, and recycle municipal waste, to meet national targets including 70% recycling/composting of all waste by 2025 and ambitious emission reductions targets. We will work towards meeting the ban on biodegradable waste to landfill by 2025 and ensuring a more rapid transition to a fully circular economy • An application was submitted to the Scottish Government Recycling Improvement Fund for £2.3M to enable Perth & Kinross to transition to a new twin stream recycling service. This will allow residents to recycle a wider range of materials and will support consistency of collection across Scotland. • The roll out of a twin stream service will assist with improving the recycling rate, quality of recycling and managing the climate related impacts of waste. • To meet the requirements under the ban on biodegradable waste to landfill officers have been working on preparations to procure a new treatment solution for residual waste by the end of 2022. Developing a Food Waste Action Plan as part of the Good Food Strategy, promoting reuse and repair of products, and enhancing our recycling infrastructure including delivering new recycling services in Perth City Centre. We will also aim to improve the quality of recycling with an ongoing project to tackle contamination in the dry mixed recycling service. As part of the commitments under the Climate Change Strategy & Action Plan, a Food Waste Action Plan is under development. This has been informed by a public consultation and will included waste reduction, recycling and home composting projects supported by a behavioural change communications campaign. A project to tackle contamination in the dry mixed recycling is being undertaken (average of 24.2% in 2020/21). • Phase 1 (September – December 2021) included 6 routes across Perth selected due to known hotspots. New contamination training was delivered to all crews resulting in a reduction in overall contamination for duration of monitoring (average 19%) including a reduction in rejected bins per route. • Phase 2 (April 2022) Carse of Gowrie, Stanley and Luncarty has just been completed and results are being collated. • Phase 3 will include Blairgowrie and Rattray and a Communications Plan has been developed and will be communicated to Elected Members for the relevant areas in advance. Further phases will be planned for later in 2022. As part of the Perth and Kinross Offer, we will develop our approach to enable communities to influence how resources are allocated in line with the 1% Participatory Budgeting target. The Perth and Kinross Offer Framework was approved in December 2021 and through the implementation of the 5-year plan we will continue to work with local communities to encourage and enable local decision making. Overseeing delivery of £600,000 Community Investment Funding • The first round of CIF in Sept – Nov 2021 resulted in over 80 community-led projects being funded with a total of £400,000 of funding dispersed. Page 36 of 68
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22 (CIF) to local community groups • A second funding round was completed in February / March 2022 to distribute a further £200,000 of funding and a further £410,000 will be distributed in 2022/23. Delivery of Letham Wellbeing Hub which will be a key asset for the local community, managed by Letham 4 All, and providing a wide range of services Work to refurbish the Hub commenced in December 2021 and will open early 2023. Work with Local Action Partnerships to identify equalities priorities and needs and allocate funding to key community projects addressing local priorities 3 Local Action Partnerships developed new Locality Action Plans (LAP), aligned with the revised strategic priorities of the Local Outcomes Improvement Plan which is focused on strengthening equality across Perth and Kinross. LAPs have distributed funding to support grassroots priorities including: • Investment in community assets and sports facilities • Funding for local youth outreach work • Provision of a school uniform bank as part of a local foodbank initiative • Start-up costs for a community food larder Working with community groups interested in managing their own assets through the Community Asset Transfer process of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act. • 8 expressions of interest have been received in 2021/22. The Community Asset Team (CAT) work with these groups to help them find the best solution • to further support community groups through the asset transfer process, the CAT Team have developed and published a simple self-assessment tool for groups to consider their own capacity to take on an asset at the beginning of the process. This tool is available along with all of the other CAT documentation on our website at Community Asset Transfer - Perth & Kinross Council (pkc.gov.uk) • The CAT Team continues to support the North Inch & Muirton Community Council with their plans to take on the management of the local Community Centre. £35,000 of investment was made in 2021/22 to upgrade the toilets and internal spaces and a further £40,000 will be made available in 2022/23 to provide further improvements prior to a new Management Committee taking on responsibility for the Centre. Continuing to promote Participation Requests as a way for communities to become involved in public service improvements and redesign. No Participation Requests have been received in 2021/22. They are promoted on our webpage and are further promoted as one of the many ways in which community groups can engage with the Council Participation Requests - Perth & Kinross Council (pkc.gov.uk) Delivering planned investment - Improving our Road Networks We delivered the largest roads maintenance programme in recent years, with an investment of £14m of improvements to the network. Continued investment in the road network, targeting repairs at the right time, with resurfacing and surface dressing delivering further improvements to the condition of our roads. In 2021/22, against a targeted improvement of 0.5% per annum, the Council achieved a 3.5% improvement in road condition. Page 37 of 68
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23 Improving Community Greenspaces and biodiversity in Perth and Kinross • Community Greenspace modified our grounds maintenance regimes and grass cutting on 31 selected sites towards the end of the growing season prior to a more extensive trial programme in 22/23. They were aimed at making longer term changes to contribute to tackling climate change, improvements for biodiversity and pollinators and a reduction of chemical use and CO2. • The Council allocated £0.5m in the Community Greenspace capital programme towards a new 3G pitch in Rattray. Community Greenspace set up a partnership project group between Blairgowrie & Rattray Community Football Club (BRCFC), who involved the SFA, Sport Scotland, and the Council. The group delivered the project on time and budget, opening in January 2022. • Community Greenspace had a key role in delivering the Visitor Management measures in 21/22, recruiting, employing the 7 seasonal Visitor Rangers and chairing the multi-agency P&K Visitor Management Group to coordinate resources and activities which welcomed responsible visitors to the area and helped to manage some of the impacts on communities in the hotspot areas. • The North Inch Golf Course business plan for 2022 – 2027 was approved in January 2022 and continues the excellent performance in previous years with income going from £42,206 in 2014/15 to £136,512 in 2019/2020 and over £170,000 in 2021/2022. The course condition and popularity have never been so good. Youth Issues Through a multi-agency response, an approach was developed to support young people in Perth & Kinross to help address a slight increase in anti-social behaviour and risky behaviour. The Strategy was delivered through the key areas of engagement, support, patrol, enforcement. CCTV Project Through the City CCTV Operations Project, public space CCTV in Tayside was ‘joined-up’ which allowed Police Scotland to implement a new monitoring centre in Dundee. The project enabled key CCTV cameras in Perth to be replaced with new digital versions - significantly increasing reliability and definition, and therefore enhancing community safety Noise Application The Safer Communities Team introduced a new tactic known as the Noise App, this is an application which can be installed on the Smart Phone of anyone experiencing anti-social noise and allows them to record the noise as it happens. Community Led Road Safety Based on feedback and concerns raised by local communities, a Road Safety and Sustainable Transport Co-ordinator was appointed to promote and lead on road safety issues. The Officer works closely with communities on road safety issues. Work with communities to identify priorities and needs for local infrastructure and the economy, using Local Place Plans and Community Action Plans Through commissioned funding, LEADER and STAR Development have supported the creation of Community Action Plans for the following communities: • Round 1: Crieff, Meigle & Ardler, Blairgowrie & Rattray and Dunkeld & Birnam. Dunkeld and Birnam looking to establish a Development Trust to deliver the Plan • Crieff establishing a Uniting Crieff Forum to deliver the plan and engage partners. Round 2 is underway for the following Page 38 of 68
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24 communities: Alyth, Pitlochry and Auchterarder with on-line surveys taking place to identify priorities Developing a Council fleet Electric Vehicle Strategy • The PKC original Low Emission Vehicle strategy document was produced in 2019. Following 2 years of covid restrictions there is re-established momentum of transition from fossil fuel to low emission. • Fleet are buying new electric vehicles and the transport planning team are installing new chargers around the council area, with transport Scotland funding assistance. Focus Areas for 2022/23 We will: Continue to deliver the Climate Change Strategy for Perth and Kinross, which sets out our plans and actions to lower our carbon usage and meet our obligations on upcoming regulatory requirements. This will include • developing a mobility strategy • developing an electric vehicle strategy, • enhancing our waste management arrangements and • improving our biodiversity approaches Page 39 of 68
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25 Senior Management Structure of the Service The Communities Senior Management Team (SMT) is responsible for providing strategic leadership and direction for the work of Communities. The SMT comprises of: Customer Focus and Community Engagement The Perth & Kinross Offer places people at the heart of everything we do and recognises that everyone has something to offer in our area. It builds upon our existing success of working with, and for, our communities and sets out our commitment to balance the relationship between people who design and deliver services and those who ultimately use them. The Offer acknowledges that communities have many strengths and assets and are good at identifying their needs and designing solutions. It also recognises that when staff are empowered to do what needs to be done and given the freedom to “think yes” and be solution-focussed, we see improved outcomes for people and communities. We have many examples of the PK Offer in action with our employees empowering local communities to develop their skills, abilities and capacity to address their own needs. This is evident in groups, such as Local Action Partnerships, Local Resilience Partnerships, Bloom Groups and Estate Based Initiatives. Narrowing inequalities gaps and building family and community capacity are challenges which sit at the heart of our role as public servants. This is reflected in the commitments of the PK Offer, our CPP Key Themes and our overarching strategic objectives. By focussing on dealing with the symptoms of disadvantage and inequality by tackling their root causes, we make a difference to our most vulnerable citizens to give people an equal chance in life while balancing the sustainable use of public resources. Performance Summary 2021/22 Focus Areas Update Ensure people are at the heart of everything that we do Empower communities to make decisions – allowing people to be happier, healthier, and more resilient Our P&K Offer Framework was approved in December 2021, setting out how we will work within and with our communities empowering them to identify their own priorities and working in collaboration to achieve them. We have developed and started delivery of our Employee Offer Experience sessions for staff. The Equalities Team have continued to undertake Equality Conversations with different and diverse groups across Perth 3. ORGANISED TO DELIVER Page 40 of 68
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26 & Kinross – providing a range of opportunities depending on the needs of people and taking into account the restrictions faced. Make Perth and Kinross a better, greener, and fairer place for people to live, learn, work, play and visit Empower our own staff to do what needs to be done to improve people’s lives, being solution-focussed and thinking “yes” Direct our Resources to where communities need them most and Meet people’s needs in a better way through working with us. Through the Employee Offer Experience, we have been promoting our values and behaviour framework in terms of how we interact with each other and with the wider community. We are also promoting our ‘Eyes and Ears of PKC to underpin the concept of accountability in our workforce. Sessions are designed to give staff guidance and information encouraging them to be more risk positive, think yes and put the needs of our communities first. Our Leadership Masterclass programme goes further to enable managers to increase knowledge and skills to deliver The Offer. We provided people from equality protected groups with accessible information including crisis support, increased awareness and kept people informed about services and opportunities to support them via our website. We continue to support/celebrate key dates in the Equalities Calendar such as the Show Racism the Red Campaign work in local schools. We worked with community groups and third sector organisations to co-ordinate an activity programme for people seeking asylum in Perth and Kinross. We also promoted support through our social media channels in a variety of areas including summer projects for school and provided continued funding for partner organisations in relation to specific equality work such as PKAVS Minorities Hub, Saints Community Trust and MECOPP Gypsy/Traveller Carers Project. Improve our digital services to make contacting and accessing services simpler We have set up a social media team, to ensure we are responding quickly and efficiently to queries and concerns through our social media channels. Working with colleagues in housing and communities’ teams we have accessed Digital Devices for Equality Protected Groups where required. Preparing our People for the Future At the very heart of Communities is the commitment and dedication of the people who work in the Service. Without their dedication, we would be unable to deliver such high-quality services. We are committed to investing in the support and development of our people. To ensure our workforce continue to maintain high standards and have the capabilities and resilience to meet the changing demands of public service delivery in a post COVID environment, we have developed our Organisational Development Plan 2021 – 23. This has been designed to support the commitment of the Perth & Kinross Offer and sets out our principles in organisational development along with a programme of activity around 4 key themes: cultural change, leadership, employee development, and health and wellbeing. Performance Summary 2021/22 Focus Areas Update Design, develop and implement our Our ‘Culture Leads’ group continued to work across the organisation as a sounding board for cultural change, Page 41 of 68
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27 employee engagement programme to further embed our culture and ethos Progress our approach to organisational, team and individual development, developing and nurturing our people at all levels Establishing Perth & Kinross Council as a learning organisation which offers equality of opportunity for all employees developing our organisational values & behaviour framework. We also carried out regular employee engagement activity to understand employee views on how they are feeling, current working patterns and our organisational culture. Work was targeted in particular areas to provide specific support, in addition to coaching, listening ear and health & wellbeing opportunities. In response to feedback a number of areas have been progressed such as a ‘Leading and Working in Teams’ programme for managers as well as more general skills through Management SVQs. We also developed a 12 month Leadership Masterclass programme covering various topics to increase skills and knowledge and have created Managers Toolkit & Guidance around different areas. Focus Areas for 2022/23 We will: • further develop the connections between leadership, organisational culture, employee engagement and empower our staff to be solution focused and think yes to improve people’s lives Partnership Working As we move forward, a priority will be to grow collaborative working opportunities with other Councils and partners to unlock efficiencies, share best practice and potentially allow us to offer services to our communities that could otherwise be unachievable in the current financial climate. The way we work constantly evolves as we make better use of digital technology, redesign office space, communal areas and public spaces, and work flexibly in terms of patterns of work, mobile working and working from home. The pandemic required us to embrace digital opportunities, use our property estate and office accommodation differently, develop new skills and work practices, and adapt our leadership and management practices. Performance Summary 2021/22 Focus Areas Update Contribute to the development of the Perth & Kinross Offer • Our Community Planning Partners have signed up to the principles and the approach of the Perth and Kinross Offer • We have started to deliver on the commitments within the Framework, engaging with all our Partners and third sector organisations to consider collaborative opportunities. • We will continue to develop the way we work in line with Working Smarter principles, adopting a flexible and agile approach to this with staff, partners and communities. Page 42 of 68
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28 Focus Areas for 2022/23 We will: • further embed the ethos and culture of the Perth and Kinross Offer to ensure that it is at the heart of how we work. We are determined to build new relationships within our communities as we know communities are better at identifying their needs and designing solutions. This will include discussions about how best deliver services in a reducing financial context • further develop a strong “locality based” approach and strengthen relationships with our communities and Community Planning Partners Financial and Resource Management The Communities Service manages a gross annual revenue budget of c£100m and a 6-year capital budget of £347m. The Housing Revenue Account has an annual revenue budget of c£33m and a 5-year capital allocation for investment of £65m. There are just under 1200 full time equivalent staff working in the Service across a broad range of disciplines and locations. As part of the Budget Setting process for 2022/23 the Service received additional funding for priorities including economic development, climate change, poverty and roads infrastructure. The capital budget also approved funding of up to £90m for the PH20 Leisure Vision which will replace Perth Leisure Pool and the Dewars facility with an estimated delivery timescale of 2028. In order to help balance the budget, staff slippage targets across the Council were increased to 4%. This will impact on service delivery and performance, potentially resulting in longer response times and/or reduced quality and output in some areas of activity. All existing and additional revenue and capital budget commitments approved by Council will be delivered through the appropriate planning and allocation of resources to best meet the desired outcomes. We face the ongoing challenge of meeting an ever-increasing demand for high quality services with decreasing resources both in terms of funding and staff. In addition, the Service is facing significant cost increases in both revenue and capital expenditure due to rising inflation and supply chain issues. In additions long lead times for some commodities will inevitably impact on service delivery and performance. Furthermore, some of our large income generating activities are struggling to recover to pre-pandemic levels including for example commercial waste, parking and commercial rent. We will continue to do everything we can to mitigate these issues which are out with the direct control of the Council. One of our key strengths is the ownership our staff have for managing capital and revenue budgets, with financial decisions being made by staff closest to the delivery of services. We have robust financial monitoring and governance arrangements in place which ensures the sound financial management and stewardship of the Service across all revenue and capital related activities. Our approach to asset management and rationalisation is a key part of our response to the financial challenges ahead covering the 6 key asset streams of Roads & Structures, Property, Greenspace, Fleet, Housing and IT. Asset management strategies will allow us, both at an organisational and service level, to articulate why we have an asset, how we can maximise the benefits and positive outcomes from having the asset and allow us to better understand the short, medium and long term investment requirements to maintain the asset in a safe and fit for purpose condition. Page 43 of 68
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29 Supporting our tenants to maximise their incomes and meet their rent obligations continues to be challenging. Many households on low incomes are struggling to meet their daily living costs, exacerbated by the current cost of living crisis. The impact of universal credit is evident in our arrears level, and we continue to progress a range of measures to support our tenants through a range of initiatives. We continue to monitor the effects of universal credit and financial hardship on our tenants, as well as the HRA business plan, to ensure we are planning effectively and demonstrating affordability and sustainability to mitigate these impacts as far as possible. Focus Areas for 2022/23 We will: • make the best use of funding available to maintain, or improve, our natural and built assets, including rationalisation, and continue to deliver the significant capital projects being undertaken across the service • ensure the service makes the best use of the resources allocated to it (financial, IT, people, assets) in delivering on the priorities and outcomes and address the financial challenges to deliver a balanced budget • develop our service transformation and change programme to support the delivery of the Corporate Transformation & Change strategy. By reviewing what we do, how we operate and where and how we deliver services as we seek to overcome these significant challenges to deliver vital services for our people and communities Performance, Self-Evaluation and Risk Management The Service has a significant contribution to the overall strategic objectives which are developed and delivered through engagement with communities and our staff. Performance plans are developed from this Business Management and Improvement Plan (BMIP) into team plans and individual work plans. The Senior Management Team is accountable and responsible for the delivery and review of BMIP outcomes and objectives. We have revised our Performance Framework to further enhance our systematic approach. We undertake a range of benchmarking activities through forums such as the Scottish Housing Network; Housemark; Association of Public Service Excellence; the Local Government Benchmarking Framework and its family groups including Active Asset Management. This allows us to measure our performance at a national level and identify innovative and new ways of working to drive improvement. As our services are publicly funded, we are accountable to the public for the spending decisions we make and the services we deliver. Through our public performance reporting arrangements, we continue to raise awareness of our services, how well we are doing and where we need to improve. Risk management is embedded within the day-to-day operations of the Service and forms part of our Performance Management Framework. Our risk profile is regularly reviewed in line with the Council’s risk management policy and procedures, ensuring risks are also escalated to the appropriate forum. The Communities Service are the risk owners in relation to several of the key here Risk management - Perth & Kinross Council (pkc.gov.uk) facing the Council e.g., Climate Change, Economic Wellbeing, Poverty & Equalities, Asset Management and Health & Safety. Page 44 of 68
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30 Performance Summary 2021/22 Focus Areas Update Embed our Performance Management and Risk Management Frameworks across the Service to evidence that performance is driving both strategic planning and ongoing improvement. Throughout the Service, we have continued to review and update our team plans to reflect delivery of our priorities by taking risk-based and self-evaluation approaches. Our approach to planning and performance has been demonstrated both at an organisational and operational levels from development of the Perth and Kinross Offer; continued planning to mitigate the impact of child poverty; development of locality profiles as well as supporting teams throughout the service in operational improvement activity by reviewing and refining our processes and maximising our use of technologies. Focus Areas for 2022/23 We will: • continue to develop our performance management arrangements across the Service, and lead on the introduction of a new corporate performance management system • revise our self-evaluation model ‘How Good is Our Council?’ Health and Safety We fulfil the corporate role to support the entire organisation in meeting its legal obligation as well as providing a duty of care to employees and people who may be affected by our activities. We follow the corporate governance arrangements for Health, Safety and Wellbeing and ensure that staff and elected members across the Council are familiar with the Corporate Occupational Health and Safety Policy, and guidance. We consult with all staff through the Service Health & Safety Consultative Committee. Membership of the Committee includes senior managers from every area within the Service as well as safety representatives from all the trade unions. As society starts to return to a more normal post pandemic environment, the Council will continue to manage and mitigate the ongoing impact of Covid with risk assessments and safe systems of work being reviewed regularly to ensure they remain fit for purpose and in keeping with the latest Scottish Government guidance. For some Council staff, and where this fits with customer needs, hybrid working will become more prevalent leading to different challenges and opportunities from a health and safety perspective requiring oversight, guidance, and advice from the Corporate Health & Safety team. Focus Areas for 2022/23 We will continue to work proactively with Services and Trade Unions to review and monitor key risk areas, risk assessments and safe systems of work to provide assurance that measures are in place to manage health and safety well across the organisation. Page 45 of 68
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31 Performance Tables GIVING EVERY CHILD THE BEST START IN LIFE & DEVELOPING, RESPONSIBLE AND INFORMED CITIZENS Housing Key Performance Indicators for 2021/22 (Data covering to year end unless otherwise stated) Indicator (Source) Performance Targets 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 Number of families presenting as homeless (Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee) 139 83 107 Regulatory guidance advises the setting of targets would not be appropriate Comments on performance during 2021/22 and targets: The total of 107 presentations from families in 2021/22 is an increase of 24 presentations compared to the previous year. It should be noted, however, that presentations from families in particular were suppressed due to the impact of the pandemic. The final position for 2021/22 is 23% lower that the number of presentations from families in 2019/20 (pre-pandemic). Number of overcrowded households (Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee) 122 116 117 110 100 100 100 Comments on performance during 2021/22 and targets: The number of overcrowded PKC tenants in Perth and Kinross has increased to 117 against a target of 110. We make every effort to reduce overcrowding, while understanding that applicants prioritise other factors such as specific property types or areas of choice. Monitoring arrangements are in place; however, the number of overcrowded households can only reduce when there is appropriate housing available to allocate. There is no national average available for this indicator. Culture and Communities Key Performance Indicators for 2021/22 (Data covering to year end unless otherwise stated) Indicator (Source) Performance Targets 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 Percentage of residents satisfied with local libraries (Environment and Infrastructure Committee) 81% 78% N/A 78% 82% 82% 82% Number of library visits, in person and online (Environment and 1,508k 3,469k 1,062,804 N/A 350k 350k 350k Page 46 of 68
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32 Infrastructure Committee) Comments on performance during 2021/22 and targets: Overall satisfaction performance has declined slightly, however visitors did report back positively on their visit saying it felt safe and clean and that they would make return visits in the future. Library visits reflect, albeit not completely, the number of people actively engaging with all services as many other routes to engage, were made available. This included, online, click and collect and home deliveries. Annual comparison of data is still not possible at this stage. Data for the period that any services were operational, showed month on month growth, overall visits were still running at approx. 30% of that of pre-pandemic levels. Whilst Libraries were open, 1,389 individuals also made use of the People’s Network computers that are in-venue, demonstrating continued demand for this service. 71,525 physical items/books have been issued over the course of the year in comparison to 358,448 issues in 2019/20. This is all against the backdrop of the Covid pandemic in 2019/2020 and into 2020/21, which meant library buildings and some services were closed/suspended for significant periods until theummer of 2021. Service Level Agreements for Arm’s Length External Organisations (ALEOs) delivering culture and leisure services are due for review in 2022/23, with revised KPIs and performance targets agreed. Note: Satisfaction figures are based on LGBF information and data is not available for 2021/22. Key Performance Indicators for 2021/22 (Data covering to year end unless otherwise stated) Indicator (Source) Performance Targets 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 New Indicator for 2021/22 Numbers of adult learners supported to improve their employability or digital skills (this includes commissioned services via the Adult Learning Partnership) (Environment and Infrastructure Committee) 1319 110 279 N/A 350 350 350 Comments on performance during 2021/22 and targets: The PKC on-line Adult Learning Hub delivered a range of courses supporting people into volunteering, improving well-being, English as a second language, ASDAN and Food Hygiene Certificates. Commissioned services delivered ESOL provision and digital learning and employability skills. Communities Service adult learning has been delivered exclusively on-line throughout 2021/22. Page 47 of 68
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33 PROMOTING A PROSPEROUS, INCLUSIVE AND SUSTAINABLE ECONOMY Housing Key Performance Indicators for 2021/22 (Data covering to year end unless otherwise stated) Indicator (Source) Performance Targets 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 Gross arrears as a % of gross rent due for the reporting year (Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee) 8.37% 10.75% 10.69% 8.5% 8.5 8.4 8.3 Rent collected as a % of the total rent due in the reporting year (Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee) 98.36% 96.91% 99.08% 98.7% 98.8 98.9 99 Comments on performance during 2021/22 and targets: In 2021/22 we encouraged tenants to enter payment arrangements to avoid legal action and sustain their tenancy as at the end of February, we had 1,384 tenants on a payment arrangement. During the year we have managed to reduce the percentage of tenants in arrears to 31.74%. Some of the improvement in performance in 2021/22 include the support to 196 tenants to reduce their arrears balance through our Tenancy Sustainment Fund. We also saw the increase in the rent collected to 99.08% in 2021/22 against a local authority average of 98.6% in 2021/22. Planning and Development Key Performance Indicators for 2021/22 (Data covering to year end unless otherwise stated) Indicator (Source) Performance Targets 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 Economic impact of events supported by the Council (Environment and Infrastructure Committee) £19.4m 0 0 £12m £13m £14m £15m Number of new businesses started up with support from Business Gateway (Environment and Infrastructure Committee) 262 267 220 300 300 300 300 Page 48 of 68
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34 Key Performance Indicators for 2021/22 (Data covering to year end unless otherwise stated) No. of businesses supported by a growth programme (Environment and Infrastructure Committee) 75 33 37 50 55 60 65 Area of available Serviced business land (Ha) (Environment and Infrastructure Committee) 30 32.05 32.05 (September 2021) 14.9 14.9 14.9 14.9 Comments on performance during 2021/22 and targets: We have supported local businesses facing unrivalled challenges from the COVID-19 restrictions. More than £85m has been distributed to 7,000+ businesses. In addition, we have provided ongoing business support to start-ups and micro-businesses through Business Gateway and Growbiz and working closely with Perthshire Chamber of Commerce and Federation of Small Businesses. We have commissioned an Employment Land and Property market study to inform our Employment Land Strategy. The study should be completed by the end of June 2022 and will be used to develop the future Perth and Kinross Local Development Plan and Council’s Property Investment Strategy. Note: Latest figures for Service Business Land Indicator will be available September 2022 Key Performance Indicators for 2021/22 (Data covering to year end unless otherwise stated) Indicator (Source) Performance Targets 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 Perth City Centre Footfall (Nos) % above the national level (Environment and Infrastructure Committee) -34.60% 16.4% -10.2% 4% 4% 4% 4% % of vacant retail units in Perth City Centre? (Environment and Infrastructure Committee) 8.5% 11.7% 9.9% (Feb) 8.8% 8.5% 8.2% 7.9% Comments on performance during 2021/22 and targets: The Council is continuing to provide further support to retail and other businesses to help economic recovery through a range of measures including business advice, destination promotion via improvement to the Perth city website, media and digital channels: employment and business support; digital incentives and platforms providing current market/consumer intelligence; grant assistance for Page 49 of 68
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35 repair and conversion as well as providing guidance to support business re-opening and temporary occupation of space to improve trading space and capacity. Support for temporary occupation of space continued until March 2022. Page 50 of 68
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36 Key Performance Indicators for 2021/22 (Data covering to year end unless otherwise stated) Indicator (Source) Performance Targets 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 % of working age population unemployed, based on the Job Seekers Allowance claimant count (Environment and Infrastructure Committee) 2.0% 4.6% 2.7% 2% 1.0% 1.0% 1.0% No. of unemployed people supported into work as a result of Employability programmes supported by the Housing & Environment service (Environment and Infrastructure Committee) 269 246 N/A 460 475 500 525 Comments on performance during 2021/22 and targets: % of working age unemployed has reduced compared to the previous year, the latest figure of 2.7% is lower than the Scotland figure of 3.8%. Since 2020 there has been limited opportunity for face to face engagement with clients. However, we continue to support people into employment through initiatives such as our Skills Passport officially launched in December 2021, Futures for Families Programme, Elev8 Training Grant and various Employer Recruitment Incentive schemes. Note: Data for unemployed people supported into work is not yet available. Source for data is taken from the SLAED return, due date July 2022. Key Performance Indicators for 2021/22 (Data covering to year end unless otherwise stated) Indicator (Source) Performance Targets 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 % of residential and business premises with access to Next generation broadband (Environment and Infrastructure Committee) 86.5%% 87.4% 88.5% 97% 100% 100% 100% Page 51 of 68
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37 Comments on performance during 2021/22 and targets: The % of premises with broadband access increased over last two years. We connected 136 Council buildings to gigabit capable full fibre broadband as part of the £5m Local Full Fibre Network programme completed in November 2021 and turned on free public Wi-Fi in the main streets Kinross, Alyth and Pitlochry. Works to install Wi-Fi to Comrie, Scone & Coupar Angus are due to be completed by mid- summer Culture and Communities Key Performance Indicators for 2021/22 (Data covering to year end unless otherwise stated) Indicator (Source) Performance Targets 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 Percentage of residents satisfied with local museums and galleries (Environment and Infrastructure Committee) 77% 74% N/A 74% 77% 80% 80% Number of visits to museums that are funded, or part funded, by the council (Environment and Infrastructure Committee) 249,734 108,777 258,884 N/A 115,000 200,000 300,000 Comments on performance during 2021/22 and targets: Museum buildings were closed for the greater part of 2020/21 so analysis of performance against target/trend is not possible. As with libraries, local restrictions had an impact on visits, with Perth Museum & Art Gallery performing at its best in the period July – Sept when movement was freer, and the impact of the staycation bounce back was becoming more noticeable. Overall visitors did report back positively on their visit, saying it felt safe and clean and that they would make return visits in the future. This is all against the backdrop of the Covid pandemic in 2019/2020 and into 2020/21, which means that Museums and other services were still closed/suspended for significant periods until the Summer of 2021. Note: Satisfaction figures are based on LGBF information and data is not available for 2021/22. Page 52 of 68
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38 SUPPORTING PEOPLE TO LIVE INDEPENDENT, HEALTHY AND ACTIVE LIVES Housing Key Performance Indicators for 2021/22 (Data covering to year end unless otherwise stated) Indicator (Source) Performance Targets 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 Number of housing options interviews completed (Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee) 2,733 2,297 2,214 Regulatory guidance advises the setting of targets would not be appropriate Number of households presenting as homeless (Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee) 758 670 610 Regulatory guidance advises the setting of targets would not be appropriate Number of applicants assessed as homeless (Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee) 597 550 520 Regulatory guidance advises the setting of targets would not be appropriate Number of people who slept rough the night before their homeless application (Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee) 34 24 36 Regulatory guidance advises the setting of targets would not be appropriate Average days in temporary accommodation (All types) (Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee) 71.0 79 51 80 80 75 65 % of allocations to homeless households in permanent settled accommodation (Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee) 42.7% 46% 35% 50% 50% 50% 50% Comments on performance during 2021/22 and targets: There was a slight reduction in the number of housing options interviews undertaken during 2021/22. We also introduced a new self-service, online Housing Options service to facilitate online applications whilst still maintaining a range of other options for accessing these services The target for allocations to homeless households is an indicative measure included in the Common Allocations Policy. We have reduced the backlog of homeless applicants waiting for an offer of housing to around 46 so it is not possible to meet this ‘target’ as there are so few homeless applicants on the waiting list. This is a positive outcome. Page 53 of 68
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39 The average days spent in temporary accommodation remains the lowest in Scotland at 51 days against a national average for 2020/21 of 199 days. We have achieved the target of 65 days outlined in the Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan ahead of the targeted timescale of 2023/24. Key Performance Indicators for 2021/22 (Data covering to year end unless otherwise stated) Indicator (Source) Performance Targets 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 Average time (in days) taken to complete approved applications for medical adaptations in the reporting year (Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee) 33.32 44.72 40.72 65 60 55 50 Comments on performance during 2021/22 and targets: Adaptations performance during 2010/2022 was an average of 40.72 days with a total of 227 adaptations completed. The national average for this indicator in 2020/21 was 58 days. Our revised process introduced during 2018/19, including the scheduling of all minor adaptations by our work planners, and continuing to outsource all major adaptations to our Capital Programme or Term Maintenance contractors contributes to this performance. It also ensures that our in-house trades teams can focus on voids and responsive repairs. We continue to install modular access ramps to reduce the timescales associated with the installation of fixed permanent access ramps. Key Performance Indicators for 2021/22 (Data covering to year end unless otherwise stated) Indicator (Source) Performance Targets 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 % of tenants satisfied with the overall service provided (Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee) 94.77% 82.9% 82.2% 95% 95% 95% 95% % of tenants satisfied with opportunities given to them to participate in the landlords decision making (Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee) 98.74% 75.40% 76.3% 98.74% 99% 99% 99% Comments on performance during 2021/22 and targets: We conducted a Tenant Satisfaction Survey of 1,000 tenants in February and March 2022. This consisted of telephone and door to door surveys. Improvements have been made in most categories of satisfaction apart from the overall satisfaction and in value for money. Early indications show that the satisfaction levels across the local authority sector have declined around 4-5% points since pre-pandemic surveys. Scottish Average Satisfaction with overall service in 2020/21 was 88.9%. Scottish Average for % tenants satisfied with opportunities to participate in 2020/21 was 86.6% Page 54 of 68
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41 Culture and Communities Key Performance Indicators for 2021/22 (Data covering to year end unless otherwise stated) Indicator (Source) Performance Targets 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 New Indicator for 2021/22 Numbers of community groups supported to increase their capacity (Environment and Infrastructure Committee) 220 270 236 N/A 270 270 270 Comments on performance during 2021/22 and targets: Community Capacity Building forms an important part of CLD activity in our communities and this indicator reflects the work of the Communities Service in supporting groups to achieve their outcomes. Activities from April 2021 to March 2022 focussed on the ongoing work in communities to recover from the impact of Covid and included work to ensure that groups were able to ▪ support socially isolated individuals ▪ address food, fuel and financial poverty by deliver food shopping and other essential supplies to those self-isolating ▪ address mental and physical wellbeing concerns in the community ▪ distribute key information about local support services ▪ apply for CIF funding and other grant monies to support delivery of their activities Key Performance Indicators for 2021/22 (Data covering to year end unless otherwise stated) Indicator (Source) Performance Targets 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 Percentage of residents satisfied with leisure facilities (Environment and Infrastructure Committee) 77% 74% N/A N/A - most services closed/ suspended due to Covid restrictions 75% 75% 75% Number of attendances to pools, indoor and outdoor sport and leisure facilities (Environment and Infrastructure Committee) 1,258k 63k 352k (Dec 2021) tbc tbc tbc tbc Comments on performance during 2021/22 and targets: Attendance levels increased compared to the previous year, however, COVID-19 continued to have an impact on accessibility and the operation of local leisure facilities throughout periods of 2021, impacting attendance levels. Recovery to the in-person visits was also hampered by significant flood damage from adverse weather conditions to the main Perth Leisure Pool late in 2020 which has had to remain closed and did not re-open until Sept/Oct 2021. Note: Satisfaction figures are based on LGBF information and data is not available for 2021/22. Page 56 of 68
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42 CREATING A SAFE AND SUSTAINABLE PLACE FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS Environmental Key Performance Indicators for 2021/22 (Data covering to year end unless otherwise stated) Indicator (Source) Performance Targets 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 Municipal waste collected that is recycled or composted (%) (Environment and Infrastructure Committee) 52.5% 47.4% 50.6% (April to Dec) (unvalidated) 60% 60% 65% 65% Emissions from council properties (tonnes CO2) (Environment and Infrastructure Committee) 12,106 10,119 10,751 Comments on performance during 2021/22 and targets: We have increased our municipal waste collected that is recycled or composted from 47.5% in 202/21 to 50% in 2021/22. (Please note that this figure is yet to be validated) So far there has been a reduction in electricity consumption due to energy saving measures and a number of staff continuing to work from home due to COVID restrictions. Energy for heating, primarily gas, fuel oil and biomass, has increased due to extra ventilation requirements due to COVID mitigation measures but this has been minimised by improved heating controls. Key Performance Indicators for 2021/22 (Data covering to year end unless otherwise stated) Indicator (Source) Performance Targets 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 Vacant residential / commercial premises brought back into use (Environment and Infrastructure Committee) 139 93 134 135 135 135 135 Comments on performance during 2021/22 and targets: Despite the Covid-19 impact on commerce, 134 vacant/commercial properties were brought back into use - increasing from 93 in 2020/21. Page 57 of 68
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43 Housing Key Performance Indicators for 2021/22 (Data covering to year end unless otherwise stated) Indicator (Source) Performance Targets 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 No of new publicly available social housing units including buy backs, conversions and empty homes conversions (Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee) 250 246 310 200 200 200 200 Comments on performance during 2021/22 and targets: As at March, there were 310 completions in Perth and Kinross which includes 227 social rent (council and housing association), 32 buy-backs and 51 mid-market homes. PKC regularly reviews the Strategic Housing Investment Plan, both internally and with Registered Social Landlords and the Scottish Government’s More Homes Team to ascertain progress towards delivery for completion. Key Performance Indicators for 2021/22 (Data covering to year end unless otherwise stated) Indicator (Source) Performance Targets 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 Overall % of new tenancies sustained for more than a year (Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee) 87.6% 86% 87.4% 89% 90% 91% 92% Comments on performance during 2021/22and targets: We have had a slight increase in our overall tenancy sustainment rates for 2021/22. Analysis of tenancies which were sustained was undertaken and as noted previously many of the tenancies ending within 12 months were because of positive factors such as the outgoing tenant purchasing their own accommodation, moving to larger accommodation following a change in their household size and moving out with the area for employment reasons. A key priority for the service is to ensure that all tenants are provided with the right support and assistance to enable them to sustain their tenancy. A new framework was implemented in January 2021, to ensure there is robust ownership and accountability for tenancy sustainment across the housing service. The Scottish average for the % of new tenancies sustained for more than one year was 90.9% in 2020/21. Page 58 of 68
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44 Key Performance Indicators for 2021/22 (Data covering to year end unless otherwise stated) Indicator (Source) Performance Targets 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 Average length of time taken (hours) to complete emergency repairs (Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee) 3.04 2.76 2.97 4.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 % Tenants satisfied with the repairs service (Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee) 98.6% 97.5% 98.8% 92% 93% 94% 95% Comments on performance during 2021/22 and targets: The service continues to focus on emergency repairs as a priority and reported 2.97 hours against a target of 4.0 hours. The 2020/21 national average for this indicator was reported at 4.22 hours. Customer satisfaction with repairs remains high and there has been a 1.3% increase in the reporting year from 97.5% during 2020/2021 to 98.8% during 2021/2022. The Scottish average for repairs satisfaction was 90.1% in 2020/21. Key Performance Indicators for 2021/22 (Data covering to year end unless otherwise stated) Indicator (Source) Performance Targets 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 Average calendar days to re-let properties (Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee) 28.4 32.8 44.6 29 29 29 29 % of rent due in the year that was lost due to voids (Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee) 0.82% 1.11% 1.33% 0.9% 0.9% 0.9% 0.9% Comments on performance during 2021/22 and targets: Our average void re-let time has increased to an average of 44.60 days during 2021/22 in comparison to 32.88 days during 2020/21. The total number of properties that were void during the reporting year reduced to 717 in comparison to 771 properties during 2020/21. Covid-19 restrictions have delayed the void process as safety protocols and increased cleaning regimes were introduced. The closure of suppliers during lockdown caused delays along with the continued increased demand for specific construction materials. The shortage of skilled tradesmen, particularly electricians continue to cause delays in completing safety checks. The utilities crisis has also caused further delays. As we have continued to respect the wishes of new and transfer tenants who have been unable to attend viewings or move into their new tenancies due to self-isolating or shielding this has also impacted upon our void timescales. We have struggled to meet the target of 29 days during 2021/22 with year-end performance reduced to an average of 44.6 days at 31 March 2022. This is reflected in national performance figures across Local Authorities. Page 59 of 68
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45 Key Performance Indicators for 2021/22 (Data covering to year end unless otherwise stated) Indicator (Source) Performance Targets 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 % of properties meeting the EESSH (Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee) 82.3% 82.2% 82.0% 100% 100% 100% 100% % of ASB complaints resolved within locally agreed targets (Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee) 94.8% 95.9% 95.3% 90% 90% 90% 90% Comments on performance during 2021/22 and targets: There was a slight decrease in the percentage of properties meeting EESSH. This is due to delays with our internal energy efficient programmes and our inability to refurbish some building elements due to the impact of Covid, material and labour shortages. The Scottish average for EESSH compliance in 2020/21 was 89.0%. Performance in relation to Anti-Social Behaviour complaints resolved reported an annual figure of 95.3% against a target of 90%. The year-end performance for 2020/21 for this indicator was 95.9%. Despite the slight reduction in resolving ASB complaints there was an overall reduction in the number of complaints received from 748 to 720. The reduction in resolving ASB complaints was due to an increase in more complex and challenging cases. The Scottish average for this indicator was 94.4% in 2020/21. Culture and Communities Key Performance Indicators for 2021/22 (Data covering to year end unless otherwise stated) Indicator (Source) Performance Targets 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 Number of community groups supported in the asset transfer process (Environment and Infrastructure Committee) 11 5 7 5 10 10 10 number of groups receiving Community Investment funding (Environment and Infrastructure Committee) 127 0 141 0 80 N/A N/A Numbers of Participation Requests (Environment and Infrastructure Committee) 2 1 0 1 4 N/A N/A Comments on performance during 2021/22 and targets: ‘Expressions of Interest’ have been received in 2021/22. The Community Asset Team (CAT) continues to work with these groups to help them find the best solution – this need not necessarily be a full Asset Transfer, although we anticipate at least one of these groups will seek to go down this route in 2022/23. 141 projects received Community Investment Funding in 2021/22, totalling £589,333.82. No Participation Requests have been received in 2021/22. We continue to promote participation requests as a way for communities to become involved in service improvements and redesign. Page 60 of 68
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46 GLOSSARY OF TERMS PTFP Perth Transport Futures Project CTLR Cross Tay Link Road ASDAN Award Scheme Development and Accreditation Network CLDP Community Learning Development Plan CPK Culture Perth and Kinross YPG Young Persons Guarantee NOLB No-one Left Behind OBC Outline Business Case UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization RRTP Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan MMR Mid-Market Rent HMA Housing Market Areas HSCP Health and Social Care Partnership LHA Local Housing Strategy SEPA Scottish Environmental Protection Agency LAL Live Active Leisure PTU Public Transport Unit RMP Roads Maintenance Partnership? RTS Regional Transport Strategy CIF Community Investment Funding BRCFC Blairgowrie & Rattray Community Football Club SFA Scottish Football Association LAP Local Action Partnership CAT Community Assessment Team SMT Senior Management Team CCTV Closed Circuit Television MECOPP Minority Ethnic Carers of People Project SURE Service User Review and Evaluation ALEOs Arm’s Length External Organisations LGBF Local Government Benchmarking Framework NHST National Health Service Tayside CPP Community Planning Partnership BMIP Business Management and Improvement Plan ESOL English to Speakers of Other Languages. Page 61 of 68
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47 ERIC Employee Resource and Information Centre (PKC) PKAVS Perth & Kinross Association of Voluntary Service Ltd CEAG Community Equalities Advisory Group Page 62 of 68
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PERTH AND KINROSS COUNCIL Environment, Infrastructure and Economic Development Committee 29 June 2022 THE ROYAL NATIONAL MÒD 2022 Report by Head of Culture & Communities Service (Report No 22/150) . 1. PURPOSE 1.1 This report updates the Committee on the extensive planning underway for The Royal National Mòd 2022, anticipated outcomes of the event and the financial implications of hosting the event. 2. RECOMMENDATIONS 2.1 It is recommended that Committee: • notes the resourcing and delivery arrangements for Mòd Pheairt 2022 • requests a further report is brought back to Committee on the impact on Mòd Pheairt in due course. 3. STRUCTURE OF REPORT 3.1 This report is structured over the following sections: • Section 4: Background • Section 5: Proposals • Appendix 4. BACKGROUND / MAIN ISSUES 4.1 The Royal National Mòd is taking place in Perth from the 14-22October 2022. This will be the first time the event has taken place in the area since 2004 and the 11th time the event has taken place in Perth and Kinross. 4.2 The Royal National Mòd, known as The Mòd is an eight-day festival celebrating Gaelic language and culture organised by An Comunn Gàidhealach. It is held annually in a different Scottish town/city and celebrates Gaelic language and culture. There are over 200 competitions throughout the event ranging from traditional instruments like accordion, fiddle, piping, to solo Gaelic singing, storytelling, poetry, sport and choir competitions. The first half of the week is dedicated to children’s competitions, while the second half is for adults. It draws in fluent and learner Gaelic speakers alike, with a host of other interested attendees. 5 Page 63 of 68
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4.3 It is estimated that the Mòd could attract more than 7,500 visitors to Perth generating direct and indirect expenditure in the city of around £1M. Assuming total previously approved investment by Perth and Kinross Council of £216,000, every £1 invested by the Council should generate a further £5. 4.4 In addition to the direct economic impacts, the event enhances the profile and reputation of the area through substantial press and media coverage reaching around 9M viewers in the past. The BBC will host a number of programmes from Perth during the Mod and will use the lecture theatre at Perth Museum and Art Gallery as their studio. We are aiming to develop a media partnership with a local newspaper to host information about the Mòd. 5. PROPOSALS 5.1 An Event Planning Group led by Perth & Kinross Council and An Comunn Gàidhealach is engaging with key partners including The Gaelic Society of Perth, Horsecross Arts, Culture Perth & Kinross and Live Active Leisure to deliver the Mòd. 5.2 A local voluntary support committee was established in March 2022 to support the delivery of the Mòd. This group is responsible for finding local volunteers, programming a series of local events and relaying information to the Gaelic community in Perth and Kinross. 5.3 An Comunn Gàidhealach, who organise the Mòd will be funded by the Council to cover venue hire, accommodation, live streaming, production team, event equipment, chairperson fees, an evaluation report and media support. 5.4 The Mòd will be taking place in the following venues across Perth; Perth Concert Hall, Perth Theatre, St John’s Kirk, St Matthew’s Church, North Inch Community Campus, Bells Sport Centre, Perth Museum & Art Gallery. 5.5 A school engagement programme began in April 2022 which will include 10 primary schools and will be managed by Education and Children’s Services officers. There will be Gaelic language sheets and awareness raising of the Mòd within schools. 5.6 The Mòd Fringe is under development with involvement from many of our cultural partners. We will launch an Open Call in June 2022 to anyone who wants to be part of the Mod Fringe programme with a funding pot of £5000 which local businesses can apply to (to a max of £500) to help them put on Mòd related activity during the Mòd. Several businesses have already planned activity including music, exhibitions and whisky tasting. Page 64 of 68
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5.7 Engagement with the local business sector has included the delivery of a Business Engagement Webinar on 23 March with case studies of business success from the most recent Mod in Inverness. We provided attendees with information on how they could get involved in the Mòd and the economic benefits the Mòd will bring to the area. We are developing a Gaelic Language Tourism Toolkit which will give businesses the knowledge to meet and greet visitors in Gaelic. 5.8 There will continue to be engagement both with the Gaelic community and non-gaelic speaking community through a series of public events, press and social media. 5.9 Shinty will be played in Perth for the first time in 11 years. The Mòd Shinty Cup featuring Tayforth Camanachd and Aberdour Shinty Club will take place on Pitch Number 5 of the North Inch on Saturday 15 October, ensuring there is a mix of events for people to get involved in. 5.10 There will be a wider programme of events across the whole of Perth and Kinross including Pitlochry, Aberfeldy and Birnam and will be marketed as part of our destination promotion of the area to key visitor markets. Authors Name Designation Contact Details Anna Day Fiona Robertson Service Manager – Public Programming Head of Culture & Communities Service 01738 475000 ComCommitteeReports@pkc.gov.uk Approved Name Designation Date Barbara Renton Executive Director (Communities) 15 June 2022 • Appendix - None Page 65 of 68
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ANNEX 1. IMPLICATIONS, ASSESSMENTS, CONSULTATION AND COMMUNICATION Strategic Implications Yes / None Community Plan Yes Corporate Plan Yes Resource Implications Financial Yes Workforce No Asset Management (land, property, IST) None Assessments Equality Impact Assessment None Strategic Environmental Assessment None Sustainability (community, economic, environmental) Yes Legal and Governance None Risk None Consultation Internal Yes External None Communication Communications Plan None 1. Strategic Implications Community Plan 1.1 This section should set out how the proposals relate to the delivery of the Perth and Kinross Community Plan in terms of the following priorities: (i) Giving every child the best start in life (ii) Developing educated, responsible and informed citizens (iii) Promoting a prosperous, inclusive and sustainable economy (iv) Supporting people to lead independent, healthy and active lives (v) Creating a safe and sustainable place for future generations 1.2 This report relates to Objective No (ii) and (iii). Page 66 of 68
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Corporate Plan 1.3 This section should set out how the proposals relate to the achievement of the Council’s Corporate Plan Priorities: (i) Giving every child the best start in life; (ii) Developing educated, responsible and informed citizens; (iii) Promoting a prosperous, inclusive and sustainable economy; (iv) Supporting people to lead independent, healthy and active lives; and (v) Creating a safe and sustainable place for future generations. 1.4 This report relates to Objective No (ii) and (iii). 1.5 This report also links to the Council’s Gaelic Language Plan 2018-2023. 2. Resource Implications Financial 2.1 We have £216k earmarked in our accounts and available to support the MOD from 2022/23. This will be the Council’s direct contribution and will include a payment to An Comunn Gàidhealach of £190,000 to support the core activity of the Mód including venue hire, tech hire, infrastructure and staffing. A full breakdown of expenditure by An Comunn Gàidhealach is being prepared – the majority of the cost will be spent on venue hire. The remaining £20,000 will be spent on the fund for fringe activity, infrastructure costs (such as road closures), marketing and street dressing. 3. Assessments Equality Impact Assessment 3.1 Under the Equality Act 2010, the Council is required to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations between equality groups. An equality impact assessment needs to be carried out for functions, policies, procedures or strategies in relation to race, gender and disability and other relevant protected characteristics. This supports the Council’s legal requirement to comply with the duty to assess and consult on relevant new and existing policies. Strategic Environmental Assessment 3.2 The Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 places a duty on the Council to identify and assess the environmental consequences of its proposals. No further action is required as it does not qualify as a PPS as defined by the Act and is therefore exempt. Page 67 of 68
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Sustainability 3.3 Under the provisions of the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 the Council has to discharge its duties in a way which contributes to the achievement of sustainable development. Under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 the Council also has a duty relating to climate change and, in exercising its functions must act: • in the way best calculated to delivery of the Act’s emissions reduction targets; • in the way best calculated to deliver any statutory adaptation programmes; and • in a way that it considers most sustainable. 3.4 The activities in this report will contribute towards sustainable economic development in Perth and Kinross. Legal and Governance 3.5 The consideration of the report is in line with the Council’s Scheme of Administration and specifically the role of the Enterprise and Infrastructure Committee in developing measures to support and promote economic activity and to plan key infrastructure. Risk 3.6 Risks and the controls required to mitigate any risks will be reported through the Council’s risk management process where the Council is the lead on individual projects. 4. Consultation Internal 4.1 The Head of Finance has been consulted. External 4.2 An Comunn Gàidhealach. 5. Communication 5.1 The Council Communication’s team have developed a logo for Mòd Pheairt 2022 and will provide an email signature. A press plan is being developed. 2. BACKGROUND PAPERS Mod 2022 (October 2021). Am Mòd Nàiseanta Rìoghail 2021 – The Bid for Perth (June 2017). Perthshire Mòd Feasibilty Assessment- Final Report (January 2014). Page 68 of 68