How Good is Our Service - September 2024

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Voids performance has increased significantly in September to 80.1% from 70.3% in August, however this remains below our target of 85%. The impact of the increase in properties received recently requiring significant works and the drop in resource levels are still being felt and we continue to monitor this area closely with our priority being to improve performance moving forward.

Property Maintenance have achieved our target of 100% for Gas Servicing in September with 458 properties serviced in the month. We continue to achieve our target each month and we are confident this will continue throughout the remainder of the year.

Non-Emergency repairs performance in September exceeds our target of 12 days with an average turnaround of 9.7 days for the month. We continue to work towards improving and maintaining performance going forward.

Kitchen, Bathroom, Heating and Roofing upgrade programmes are ongoing, and progress continues in carrying out reactive and refurbishment works across the education and non-housing stock, with decoration works ongoing across the school estate.

A revised school lunch menu was implemented last year and feedback will be requested to shape future menu changes. Action plans continue to be reviewed and recommendations implemented to improve uptake in lower performing schools.

The uptake of Primary school free school meals during September was below target at 70%. The system issues reported in August are resolved and uptake figures this period reflect accurate reporting. The uptake in Secondary schools was above target at 54%. The service continues to focus on schools not achieving the set target with action plans implemented to improve the uptake in lower performing schools.

The Service continues to work with suppliers to source alternative food products, ensuring the menu complies with the revised regulations and meets all nutritional standards.

The service was awarded the Food For Life Served Here Bronze Award in December 2022 for Primary schools. and Early Years settings received this award in February 2024. The award status for Primary schools was renewed as part of the annual review process and we continue to work with the Soil Association to achieve the Silver award status.

The Estates service has robust measures in place to monitor performance with regards gas safety compliance across the Operational Estate. Officers continue to progress reactive repairs across the Education and Operational Estate. A programme of repair work to Milngavie PS, including gutter clearance, roof repairs and internal works were completed over both the Easter and Summer breaks. Additional reactive repairs have been identified within Milngavie PS, Bearsden PS and Balmuildy PS and they will be progressing throughout October. A temporary boiler was installed at Bearsden PS to replace the gas boilers which had reached the end of the economic life. New gas boilers will be installed as part of a package of works being managed by Major Assets, however the temporary boiler ensures the heating and hot water are not compromised until that point. A collapsed drain at Clober Primary School was repaired at the end of September with further works required to the boiler and boiler room given the impact of the collapsed drain.

The Quality Assurance team continue to inspect cleaning standards across the educational estate, with over 40 assets inspected and reports produced monthly. 

Estates Management continue to market vacant premises within the non-operational estate. At present the non-operational estate is over 94% occupied, with vacant suites in Southbank Marina now being actively marketed by agents, DM Hall. The Basement area within the Kirkintilloch Learning Centre will be occupied by Positive Achievements who will relocate from Hillhead Community Centre.

Officers continue to progress disposals with colleagues in Legal Services to ensure that capital receipts are delivered and ongoing liabilities i.e. non-domestic rates, utilities, security etc are reduced.

The Service continues to progress a wide range of capital projects both in pre-construction and construction phases. Works continue to progress at Twechar Outdoor Pursuits Centre, with practical completion expected in Spring 2025.

In August 2024, Council approved a revised route in principle for the Westerhill Development Road - design development progresses on this basis with further updated development costs due to be provided later in the year. Preparations are also underway for pre-application planning consultation events before the end of the year, with the first period of public consultation planned from Friday 8th November to Friday 29th November.

The pre-construction period is now complete in full for the Balmuildy Primary School, Bearsden Primary School and Milngavie Primary School projects. Following Council in August 2024, each project has now been paused and will be delivered at a future date subject to the availability of funding and an assessment of affordability in the wider context of the Councils’ financial position.

In September 2024, Council approved a further report on works in the short-term at Balmuildy and Bearsden Primary Schools which will improve the fabric condition of each building and preparations are now underway to undertake works at each school. A further report will follow on Milngavie Primary School later this year.

The project team at Lenzie Academy have been re-mobilised and are now progressing through the next stages of the design development process towards a planning application submission in 2025. The statutory Education consultation for the relocation of the school to the new site is now complete and a report on the outcome of the consultation period will be provided to Council before the end of the year.

Pre-construction development works continue to progress across projects including Broomhill and Hilton Depot, Milngavie Early Years Centre, Lenzie Public Hall, Westerton Primary School and the Campsie Memorial Hall refurbishment.

Development proposals for the next phase of the Council’s Affordable Housing Investment Programme are progressing through RIBA Stage 3. The proposal of application notice has now been submitted at Cleddans and the former Auchinairn Primary School site and pre-application consultation for both sites is now complete. The delivery of several areas of on-going capital investment across the Council’s existing Affordable Housing stock continue, including several significant measures to improve Housing Quality and Energy Efficiency.

The Service continues to develop the next phase of a building decarbonisation strategy for the school estate, operational estate and for the existing affordable housing stock, with a variety of surveys, pilot projects and further feasibility reviews planned throughout the remainder of this and next financial year. In addition to this, several projects remain underway at various stages of the development process, including the final stages of a significant programme of boiler replacement across the Primary School estate; remedial works to address RAAC at Bearsden Hub; works to replace the staff bothy at Mavis Valley; redecoration across the primary school estate; and the refurbishment of Torrance Community Centre.

• Achieved 100% compliance for Gas Servicing with focus on this continuing going forward.
• Positive levels of performance in non-emergency turnaround times with objective being to maintain and improve performance going forward.
• Kitchen, Bathroom, Central Heating and Roofing upgrade programmes ongoing with positive feedback being received from tenants across all contracts.
• Continue to monitor voids turnaround times with our priority being to improve performance in this area
• Assess and improve functionality of Total Mobile and the integration with Servitor to enable a more streamlined and efficient service. Continue to monitor and increase levels of performance in voids and non-emergency reactive repairs.
• Improve communications with customers and stakeholders to ensure the highest level of service delivery.
• Continue to utilise robust reporting mechanisms for enhanced performance and service delivery.
• Progress decoration works across the school estate.
• 100% of Operational Assets requiring a Gas Safety check within the year’s anniversary of the previous check are
• Schedule in the upcoming Gas Safety Checks, which are required during October and November with contractors.
• Improve uptake of nutritious school meals.
• Improve communications with customers and stakeholders to ensure the highest level of service delivery.
• Reduce FM overtime

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The Community Protection Service delivers on a broad statutory remit, with delivery measures centred on protecting public health and safety, well-being and consumer protection. During September 2024, the service continued to engage in the local Co-Production arrangement with Police Scotland, with regular community harm and risk meetings being held to provide the focus for joint work and activity to protect local communities across the East Dunbartonshire area. The service also continued to develop intelligence led approaches for all areas of work to target local public health, community safety and consumer protection activity towards the areas of greatest need, risk and priority.

The Environmental Health Team was engaged in the delivery of essential public health services throughout the reporting period, delivering regulatory activity across a range of statutory duties to protect the community from hazards in the environment and to regulate and facilitate the growth of responsible businesses. This includes both proactive interventions and reactive assignments to complaints and service requests.

The Community Safety Team continued to deliver a broad range of front-line work for the benefit of local communities during the reporting period, working closely with a range of colleagues and key partners to successfully deliver appropriate interventions and to make our local communities safer. Officers from the team were engaged in the delivery of services in relation to community engagement/support, antisocial behaviour, youth disorder, neighbour disputes, environmental incivilities, dog control, decriminalised parking enforcement, fly-tipping, mediation, pest control and mobile CCTV. The Community Wardens have also been developing further links within the local communities they serve, getting involved in several initiatives and events that have been taking place across the Council area.

The Trading Standards Team was engaged in the delivery of essential consumer protection and licensing services to local consumers and businesses to maintain and protect a fair-trading environment in East Dunbartonshire. Activity in September included ongoing promotion of the East Dunbartonshire Trusted Trader Scheme, co-production initiatives across social media highlighting banking scams and investigations into rogue traders. Licensing Advisors provided business support to applicants and stakeholders and conducted inspections of liquor licensed premises in the area. The Licensing Advisers and Trading Standards Officers in the team also continued to deliver reactive service request work along with project activity at a range of business premises across the area (including age restricted product sales monitoring, fair trading and taxi and liquor licensing). Gathering and dissemination of intel regarding sale and supply of age restricted products continued throughout the period and will be used to influence future test purchasing projects.

During September, the team prepared for Challenge Poverty Week 7-13th October, linking with colleagues and community organisations to deliver initiatives aimed at raising awareness of poverty, inequalities and supporting individuals. These will include financial literacy workshops; health issues in the community workshops, access to local support services and community discussion on poverty-related issued. By raising awareness and offering practical resources, we aim to empower individuals and communities to take action, foster resilience and promote long-term solutions to tackle poverty.

Our Resettlement Team continue to deliver high-quality humanitarian resettlement support using a human centred approach. By prioritising the unique needs and experience of each individual, our dedicated team ensure that resettlement processes are compassionate, effective and dignified. This commitment to personalised support not only aids in successful integration but also strengthens our communities as whole.

The team in collaboration with colleagues and community delivered a well received Gaelic Harvest Festival on Sunday 25th August. The festival celebrated the rich traditions of the Gaelic language while raising awareness of its cultural importance. The event featured story telling; shinty, Gaelic trail and traditional activities that showcased Gaelic heritage fostering a sense of pride and connection among participants. By bringing together diverse groups through shared experiences, the festival encouraged collaboration in promoting and preserving the Gaelic language for future generation.

The team remains steadfast in their commitment to promoting equality, diversity and inclusion. They actively collaborate with local organisations and partners to foster inclusive communities, ensuring everyone feels a sense of belonging and is respected for their contributions.

After notable significant progress was made in the British Sign Language Plan as it has been approved at Council. The plan is currently in the branding process with comms and preparation and planning for filming of the signed BSL version are making good progress. The internal equalities action planning forum continues to be progressed.

Our Vaccination Team has been diligently ensuring the community vaccination programme runs smoothly. The Clinic Successfully moved to Kirkintilloch Town Hall on the 14th August, from the previous Merkland School site, and we continue to operate two clinics with the other venue remaining at Milngavie Town Hall. Both sites are now to be fully staffed by GGCNHS and supported by our FM staff. The winter programme commences on the 2nd of October for Flu and Covid vaccinations. The clinics will operate 2 days a week until the end of December 2024. Kirkintilloch Town Hall will operates on a Wednesday and Thursday and Milngavie Town Hall operates on a Monday and Thursday. Discussions with NHSGGC remain ongoing with provisional plans being discussed about the clinical programme for 2025 and beyond.

Round two of the Community Grant Scheme 2024-25 closed on July 26th with final decisions made on 5th September by the Community Planning Partnership Board. Payments have now been issued to successful organisations for a total of £117,389.

Round 3 of the Community Grant Scheme will open on the 25th November and funder ready workshops will be held to support organisations as below:

War memorial Hall, Balmuildy Rd, Bishopbriggs, G64 3BX – 12th November 2024 2-4pm

Craighead Community Centre, Craighead Rd, Milton Of Campsie G66 8DL – 28th November 2024 6-8pm

The team continue to offer a wide range of community activities designed to foster sustained community development. These opportunities have included workshops; family activities and collaborative projects iame4d at enhancing local engagement and empowerment. By participating in these initiatives, individuals and groups can contribute to the long-term growth, strengthen community ties and support shared goals for a thriving and resilient community.

Housing manages 3855 social rented properties; 3774 of these are mainstream accommodation and 81 are used for Homeless Temporary Accommodation. The service also manages 50 Lead Tenancies which are rented from either private landlords (29) or Housing Associations (21), to assist with accommodating homeless households.

At present, the Housing list for East Dunbartonshire has 3064 applications - made up of the following:

General Waiting list 2263 applicants waiting (27 currently on offer)

(Applicants who have somewhere to stay i.e., they are owner occupiers, a tenant of a private let, stay care of family etc. This queue allows the applicant to choose which area, house type etc they would like to move to).

Transfer waiting list  544 applicants (18 currently on offer)

(Council or Housing Association tenants who are looking to move to another Council or Housing Association property, either for a different size, or, for a different area. This queue allows the tenant to choose which area, house type etc. they would like to move to).

Priority waiting list 219 applicants (19 currently on offer)

(Homeless)

(Applicants who have no accommodation or will have nowhere to stay within the next 2 months. This queue does not allow the applicant to choose area or house type).

Priority waiting list 11 applicants (1 currently on offer)

(Urgent medical)

(Applicants who are unable to remain in their current home due to their medical condition. This queue allows the applicant to choose which area, house type etc. they would like to move to).

Within the last month, 10 properties were allocated.  9 were mainstream all of which were general need properties. 1 Buyback (bought from the open market) They were let to the following queues:

• 1 were let to applicants on the transfer queue
• 4 were let to applicants on the general waiting list queue
• 5 were let to applicants on the priority homeless queue.

Environmental Health, Trading Standards and Community Safety Teams

• Delivery of effective services on a flexible basis to meet all statutory requirements and duties in relation to public health, community safety, consumer protection and licensing enforcement matters
• Delivery of local Co-Production activity between Community Protection and Police Scotland, with particular focus on effective tasking processes and the delivery of joint action plans and work to protect the communities of East Dunbartonshire
• Delivery of Business Improvement Plan activity relating to Community Protection - actions being implemented in accordance with set targets to deliver effective services in line with relevant corporate outcomes and with positive performance being reported
• Delivery of regulatory services that assist with economic recovery and that are designed to support local businesses and communities
• Environmental Health Officers visited local independent grocers in response to a national Food Alert to check for illicit vodka that had been found in the supply chain. A counterfeit Glen’s Vodka product was contaminated with isopropyl alcohol, an industrial solvent which can cause alcohol poisoning when consumed.  No bottles were found at the local outlets checked
• Owing to conditions that were a risk to public health, Environmental Health staff accepted the decision of a local food business to voluntarily close when non-compliance was established during inspection. The business reopened the following evening after taking remedial action
• The service met with representatives from the Internal Audit Team about a recently completed audit on areas of environmental protection work that is delivered. Feedback and an Action Plan is currently being considered
• The service has been engaging with a glamping pod site regarding a caravan site licence inspection
• Work is ongoing to build content for the new EDC website in relation to Environmental Health topics
• Continued delivery of targeted patrols within our local communities aimed at tackling an increase in reports of low-level incivilities (particularly dog fouling and littering)
• Delivery of positive enforcement outcomes in relation to several fly-tipping and control of dog cases
• On-going delivery of programmes of decriminalised parking enforcement activity across the local authority area
• Delivery of investigative work and general casework on all ASB and neighbour dispute matters to support safer local communities within East Dunbartonshire
• Community Wardens continued to attend local surgeries and community run events. These events provide residents and members of the public the opportunity to speak directly (in confidence) with members of the Community Safety Team to report concerns, issues that they may be experiencing in their communities
• Delivery of reactive service request work and targeted project work by the TS team throughout the reporting period to maintain local compliance with consumer protection legislation
• Delivery of on-going workplan activity by Trading Standards to maintain local business compliance with legislative requirements relating to tobacco and nicotine vapour products
• On-going promotion of the East Dunbartonshire Trusted Trader scheme through relevant channels, with the aim of attracting further local traders to join the scheme
• Delivery of work by the Licensing Advisers in the TS Team to assess local compliance with licensing conditions.

Community Planning and Partnerships Team

• Continuation of targeted community development support through a range of our delivery programmes including Pockets, Places and Prosperity and Community First. These programmes are designed to focus on our priority communities and communities of interest, helping local organisations to be resilient, compliant, and strong. The team are committed to fostering vibrant and thriving communities by ensuring our resources are directed to address poverty and inequalities
• Deliver Round 3 of the Community Grant Scheme, opens 25^th November and closes 10^th January 2025
• Deliver two community grant scheme workshops
• The team support corporate delivery of the priorities within the Gaelic Language Plan 2024-2029, and successfully hosted a Gaelic Celebration Event at Mugdock Country Park on Sunday 25^th Despite the poor weather conditions this event was well attended with over 80 attendees. There were a variety of workshops promoting Gaelic heritage including Shinty and storytelling. Pupils form Meadowburn Primary also performed
• The team hosted a stall at the Canal Festival where they promoted the work ongoing within CPP, including awareness of Locality plans, CLD Activities such as HIIC (Health Issues in Community) and wellness kitchens, and promote Round 3 of the Community Grant Scheme. Footfall was good with particular interest from individuals enquiring about community grants.

Areas of focus

• In partnership with the front-line workers, the team are collating progress on delivering the priorities within the Locality Plans.
• In collaboration with ser4vicescollate progress on the delivery of the Gaelic Language Plan 2024-29
• The team are coordinating the returns for our mainstream and outcomes report
• Supporting the CLD Strategic Partnership to finalise the CLD Plan 2021-24.

Housing Operations – Estates Team

Key Achievements

The Estates team received 11 new Reports of anti-social behaviour during the month of September and 3 open cases were resolved. 5 nominations from the Housing waiting list were sent to Registered   Social Landlords operating in East Dunbartonshire to be considered for allocation to their housing stock. The percentage of tenancies sustained from September 2023 to September 2024 is 100%. This is indicative of the joined up approach with the rents team to engage with new tenants at an early stage of their tenancy. 

Housing Liaison meetings where cases of relevance to Social Work, Community Safety and Police Scotland are discussed are held on a 6 weekly basis, and the Housing service continues to attend a MARAC meeting with other agencies on a monthly basis. Monthly attendance is also required at CPC MISE group to discuss Child Protection issues.

Housing attends the 2-weekly meetings of the Community Harm and Risk Meeting (CHARM) with Police Scotland, Community Protection, Trading Standards and Licensing.

Involvement in supporting the implementation of a new IHMS is increasing due to the ‘go live’ date getting closer.  This requires the team to prioritise resources and time to the project and attendance at Train the Trainer sessions is an ongoing commitment.

The new on-line CRM  system training  has been issued for Housing staff using the system and staff will set aside time to complete the module.

Part of new Steering Group to re-establish procedures for processing/issuing Tenant Recharges.

Areas of focus

• Void rent loss has decreased as a result of closer joint working with the void and rewire/asbestos teams
• Aim to identify any training needs and hold quarterly sessions for reviewing policies and procedures with officers
• Officers are contributing to an ASP (Adult Protection) Inspection.
• Attendance at East Dunbartonshire Safe and Together steering group is ongoing
• Contribute to the Allocations Policy review currently being undertaken
• Input to devising new procedures for Any Day Lets which will be introduced as part of IHMS implementation
• Attendance at new 2-weekly Community Harm and Risk Meeting (CHARM) with PoliceScotland, Community Safety, Trading Standards and Licensing officers continues
• Hold monthly budget meetings with HRA accountant to keep abreast of costs
• Monthly attendance at new Housing/Social Work liaison meeting to discuss Throughcare cases and Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children
• Monthly meetings with Void Team at Property Maintenance to focus on improving performance
• Attendance at regular meetings with Property Maintenance, Shared Services and IT to finalise new Tenant Recharges procedures.

Homelessness & Prevention

Key Achievements

133 landlord registration applications received, these total an income of £6196.00 which is a decrease from last month(146 applications/£8052.00). 2 of these were new landlord applications, 53 renewals were completed and 58 were updated.

There were 28 temporary accommodation voids at the end of September there are 12 pre void and 4 new temp accommodations have been identified.

During September the Council did not place any households in unsuitable accommodation.  To date the Council’s has not breached the Unsuitable Accommodation Order during 2024/5.

There were 15 homeless applications taken during September which is a decrease compared to the previous month. 13 households contacted the out of hours service (same as last month).

There are 238 applicants on the homelessness list. 219 are awaiting offers (2 of which have been waiting longer than 3 years which is a breach of Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan-Although both are breaches of the Council’s RRTP both applicants require intensive pre offer checks due to their circumstances. (MAPPA)). 19 are under offer.

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Key areas of focus in September for the Communications & Engagement team included 999 Emergency Services Day on 9 September, Kirkintilloch Canal Festival and the new Council and HSCP website project.

Proactive media relations slightly decreased this month with four releases issued (14 in August), two photocalls (8 in August) and 24 media enquiries dealt with (10 in August).

All releases are on the news section and the local coverage achieved equated to an equivalent advertising value of £8,904 (£8,565 in August).

Increased positive sentiment was achieved on social media with a continued rise in overall followers across our channels. The top three posts on Facebook related to the Provost Community Champion Awards, Canal Festival and the deadline for the Pension Age Winter Heating payment. The top three X (Twitter) posts also included the Canal Festival as well as Baljaffray Primary school’s UNICEF UK Rights Respecting Gold award and 999 Emergency Services Day.

In September 2024, the Corporate Performance and Research team continued to fulfil required duties in relation to reporting of performance and risk management at a corporate level and provision of service level data and statistical support as well as continuing to ensure the Council has adequate insurance arrangements in place, providing advice and support in relation to insurance related queries and acting as a point of escalation in regards to any claims. All business-as-usual work was completed within agreed timescales.

The team also continues to undertake complaints handling at a corporate level, coordinating responses to formal complaints across all service areas, ensuring they are addressed appropriately, and adequate responses are provided within statutory timescales where possible.

A busy month for the Customer Services team with a focus on training for the new CRM system due to go live in October. Call volumes reduced from the previous month, so calls responded to reduced but percentage of calls responded to increased. In August 10,444 (76% of incoming calls) were responded to and in September calls responded to reduced to to 9,216 with the percentage of calls responded to increasing to 86%.  Call response time reduced again significantly from the previous month coming in just 6 seconds over target at 3 minutes 36 seconds compared to 6 minutes 34 seconds in August.

Customer services representatives attended the Housing Service’s annual Tenant Event, meeting and talking with many tenants about a range of Council services.

The Emergency Response team focussed on the final preparations for the move to the digital community alarm call handling platform in October. Training, data checking and reviewing work processes among the activities undertaken throughout September.

The Human Resources & Organisational Team has continued delivering its core function in September, leading on workforce centred activities including: payroll, TU engagement, policy development, resourcing, workforce and succession plannning, workforce analytics, people development, Job Evaluation, attendance and wellbeing improvement as well as providing strategic and operational employee relations support including case management and partnership working.

The Workforce Action Plans in line with the Workforce Strategy 2024-27, were approved by Council at the 26 September meeting as part of the wider SPPF Report.

September saw the launch of the pilot of Monthly pay, with over 150 employees from services across the Council and EDLT, voluntarily changing over to a monthly pay frequency in advance of the Council-wide change in April 2025. Briefings were provided to the Trade Unions and areas of the workforce who were joining the pilot.

During September, the Job Evaluation Steering Group was held to consider evaluations of role profiles. (membership of Trade Union Convenors and Executive Officers)

Forward planning for the October Leadership Forum, the second Forum of 2024, took place with the Communications & Engagement Team.

Communications & Engagement

• Continued migration of content to the new Council and HSCP websites
• Design of the British Sign Language Plan
• Working in partnership with Police Scotland on anti-fraud messages relating to local incidents
• Delivered online communications promoting the availability of Taxi Operator Licences
• Design and installation of information boards at Bearsden Hub
• Planning for second Leadership Forum of 2024 in October
• Continued to support Civic Office with events and speech writing.

Corporate Performance

• Analysis of the Council’s 2024 budget survey was undertaken in order to inform future budget setting
• The annual LGBF benchmarking report covering the full 2022/23 dataset was reported to Council
• Work furthered in the implementation of the new child friendly complaints handling best guidance principles that were recently issued by the SPSO
• Work was continued in preparation of the implementation of the new CRM system in relation to complaints handling and reporting
• Updated 2022 Census information was collated at ward level and is due to be distributed to Elected Members
• Continued assistance was provided to the change team in relation to the rollout of Oracle Fusion
• The team were granted access to the ACORN dataset which will allow for work to be undertaken around future service planning.

Customer Services

• Customer Services team answered 9,216 (86% of incoming calls), reducing call response times from the previous month from 6 minutes 34 seconds to 3 minutes 36 seconds
• Training undertaken across the team throughout September for system changes
• ERC team complete preparations for migration to digital alarm care system
• CCTV monitoring equipment replacement work continues in the ERC as part of the wider Public Realm CCTV replacement project.

Human Resources & Organisational Development

• Continued support for employees and managers on HR policy based and guidance noted, with support in attendance on ER case work
• Following Councils approval of the Workforce Strategy, in conjunction with Executive Officers and their leadership teams, action plans for each strategic portfolio were developed and submitted to Council
• Underpinning the Workforce Strategy is the wellbeing of the workforce. As such a number of financial wellbeing session were delivered, covering pension, financial budgeting and planning on a personal level, which were deemed a success by the workforce
• Within the HCM Project Board, continued to undertake preparatory work in advance of moving into Project phase in relation to implementing the new HR/Payroll system
• The People Development team delivered sessions across topics including M&H Refresher, Paediatric First Aid & Trauma Informed Practise Level 2
• Continued facilitation of regulatory training for frontline services via approved providers
• In total 73 delegates received training, across 4 topics via 10 sessions in Sept 2024
• Ongoing preparatory work in relation to launch of the next phase of e-Learning modules
• Moodle maintenance & development including Trauma Informed Practice videos upload, CRM Modules upload and update of Course Summary document
• In conjunction with a number of services to supported the First Aid & Driver CPC Tender, to ensure Councils learning and training needs are captured.

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The Allander Resource Centre (ARC) has been recognised for Diversity in the Public Sector just 18 months after opening its doors. The honour came as part of The Herald and GenAnalytics’ 2024 Diversity Awards Scotland. Presenting the award, judge Elaine Boyd – who uses the ARC and is a Deputy Lord Lieutenant of East Dunbartonshire – passed on congratulations on behalf of King Charles III.

Average weekly attendances reduced during Period 6 to12,622 per week. Compared to 13,145 per week in Period 5 (when the two final weeks of the school holidays and poor weather pushed up the attendances)

Tennis, Sauna and Main Hall activities have achieved the highest income period since the facility opened and overall income has increased.

Comparing the first 6 months of the year against the previous year, income has increased by 48.6% and attendances have increased by 46.3%.

The Leisuredrome and Kirkintilloch Leisure Centre hosted National Fitness Day on Wednesday 18^th September 2024.

Free swimming, soft play, badminton, pickleball and group fitness classes were made available to EDLC members and our wider communities. The activities were enjoyed by many and the feedback from participants was very positive. Having started back in 2011, National Fitness Day has seen millions get involved each year and while bringing people together through physical activity has a hugely positive impact, the campaign has evolved to encourage everyone to view this day as just one step in a much bigger journey. This was evidence with EDLC as the membership offer introduced 70 new members.

Both the Libraries and the Museums performance targets were exceeded this period, with digital engagement continuing to be the strongest.  Libraries performance achieved 109% of target, while museums was 103% of target.

Period 6 included the 2024 Festival of Facts, which took place across East Dunbartonshire Libraries.  143 children aged 5-11 years enjoyed dinosaur themed events which included; a presentation about time travel, ancient humans, favourite dinosaurs, and the chance to make a dinosaur egg.

The Children & Families team offered a CPD training session to local nurseries staff, in partnership with Education colleagues, focusing on brain development using stories and song. The team also visited four schools as a follow up to the growing engagement with schools around Summer Reading Challenge.

ED Libraries took part in the Playlist for Life project, which uses music to engage with people who are managing dementia, and hosts a national PlayList For Life Day, on 20^th September.  Participants included those already involved with the Libraries’ Memories Scotland project and residents of Boclair, Westerton and Abbotsford House care homes.

Cultural Services played a key role in supporting local heritage groups during the period, which included displays in William Patrick Library and the Auld Kirk Museum from the Kirkintilloch & District Soroptomist Society 50^th Anniversary celebrations,  Kirkintilloch & District Society of Antiquaries display on “significant Personalities in the History of Kirkintilloch and their Legacy”, also at William Patrick Library, Milngavie Heritage Group launched their autumn exhibition in Milngavie Library and Westerton Library was part of Westerton Gala Day.

Doors Open Day took place in September delivered by the Heritage & Arts Service in partnership with East Dunbartonshire’s Heritage and History Forum.  This year saw 17 venues taking part across the authority and the event received overwhelming support and positive feedback.

Memberships increased by 63 from last month to 3,300 overall following the transition after the summer holidays, an increase of several hundred from the same period last year.

One of our swimming development members completed a 5K swim for charity this month. A fantastic achievement for Kieran Gollan who raised over £1,000 for Marie Curie after he progressed through all levels in our Lear to Swim programme.  His mum thanked staff at the Leisuredrome for their assistance on the day as well as David and the swimming development team for their dedication and support over the years.

Active Schools Coordinators completed their first aid refresher course during September. Delivered by Colin Wilkie at Kirkintilloch Leisure Centre, this yearly refresher ensures that the team are up to date and confident with their emergency first aid skills, allowing them to support volunteers and activity sessions confidently within their clusters.

The yearly Sportscotland Young Ambassadors (YA) conference took place at Hampden on 17^th September, with 2 young people attending from each EDC Secondary school. For the first time Woodland View School was also represented by 2 young people from their school. This is a great achievement and key development in the Active Schools young leader programming becoming more inclusive.

The YDance Dance Leader course took place on 27^th- 30^th September at Huntershill Sports Complex. The yearly training course provides three free places per EDC secondary school to gain an SQA level 4 qualification in Dance. This years course saw 21 young people complete the course and they will now work with their ASC to deliver voluntary dance sessions within their secondary and associated cluster primary schools.

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The Service has made very good progress against priorities in the Business and Improvement Plan (BIP) 2024-2027.

• His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIe) inspected Education Services as part of a National Thematic Inspection of local authorities looking at current priorities for improving school performance, what is working well and the challenges they face. Verbal feedback was extremely positive and a written summary of findings will be issued and shared with Education Committee. The inspection team were extremely impressed with the leadership of the service and with the involvement of our schools in ensuring the very best outcomes for young people. They reported on strong relationships and a culture of “high trust, high aspirations and high expectations”. A National Report of findings will be published in December 2024
• All schools and Early Year Centres (EYCs) have received focused and constructive School Improvement Plan and Standard and Quality report feedback from Quality Improvement Officers (QIOs). QIOs have had an initial Quality Assurance Visit to all establishment to discuss priorities and support continual improvement
• Scottish Qualification Authority (SQA) attainment reviews were completed with each secondary school.  Each school highlighted areas of strength and identified next steps for improvement.  At the Head Teachers Meeting authority SQA targets for next year were agreed
• Professional learning activities have all commenced for this academic session, including Champion networks which provide leadership opportunities
• The Parental Involvement Strategy Group has been reformed to develop an updated Parental Involvement and Engagement Strategy for Education. Consultation with parents will begin at the Parents’ Forum on 22 October 2024.

The following awards and achievements are commended:

• The Primary Wellbeing Support Service have been awarded The Royal Horticultural Society Level 4 Gardening Award.
• Westerton Primary School has been awarded the Gold Reading Schools Award
• The Secondary Wellbeing Support Service (SWSS) have received their Bronze Rights Respecting School Award
• Oxgang Primary School have received their Silver Sports Scotland Award.

• Locality Partnership Groups (LPGs) brought all Early Years Council and Funded Providers together to build on the strong relationship developed last year. There was a focus on self-evaluation, quality assurance processes and professional learning on Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA). The sessions were well attended, and feedback was positive
• The Early Years Teacher Professional Learning Community has restarted with one new teacher joining the group. Evaluation has shown that this has impacted on approaches to moderation, implementation of Talk for Writing, improved literacy experiences for children and it has supported the use of literacy and numeracy progression frameworks. Further focus will be on teacher role, providing play-based support and challenge, STEM, visits to other centres, learning dispositions, moderation and a sharing practice event
• Eight new modern apprentices started within our EYCs and will undertake a two-year training and qualification programme.  This pilot group will trial a direct route into the Scottish Vocational Qualification (SVQ) 3 - Social Services Children and Young People Course with protected time at the beginning and end of their contract period for bespoke professional learning and building of knowledge and understanding of the role.  An ‘introduction to early years’ induction was delivered on their first day by an Early Years Support Officer prior to getting started in their early years centre.  Ongoing partnership working between EYCs, the Early Years Support officer and the Early Years Careers Development Lead will be key to the success of the pilot.
• Early Progress Reports for all probationers have been submitted to the Local Authority. Almost all probationers are making satisfactory progress. A few probationers have been identified as requiring a higher level of support resulting in additional supports being identified as part of individual action plans
• The Literacy Strategic Group continues to make good progress in the development of progression frameworks for all literacy organisers from early to third level. These will be piloted throughout this session
• Read Write Counts Packs from the Scottish Book Trust have been delivered to all primary schools for primary 2 and primary 3 pupils. These will be distributed during the upcoming Scottish Book Week
• Improving Learning and Teaching for Numeracy and Mathematics has attracted 44 members, evenly split across early, first and second level with increased engagement from EYC funded providers. Three primary schools are receiving bespoke training.
• Developing the Young Workforce and Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) offices organised the first #KirkySTEMFest P7 transition event. Kirkintilloch High School STEM ambassadors supported P7 pupils from all cluster schools as they engaged in a day of activities provided by a range of industries
• Pupil Enquiry Based Learning Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) have been reviewed and revised to provide clear progression from Play through to Enquiry with 32 attendees.
• The Secondary Confucius Hub has been successfully relocated to Douglas Academy. This will ensure children and young people from the Douglas cluster will have the opportunity to continue with their Mandarin studies from primary into secondary education
• All project bids for the Confucius Hubs have been received, with the submission date for the Operational Plans for this session being October 2024. Both hubs will submit project bids to the value of £6400.

• Whole Family Wellbeing Fund is supporting the implementation of Sleep Action training and Non-Violent Resistance Training and Talking Mats to targeted multi-disciplinary staff across East Dunbartonshire
• All schools are participating in implementation of the CIRCLE Framework to develop inclusive practice within schools, this is supported through a Professional Learning community attended by CIRCLE advisors from each school
• Two school-based social workers have been appointed to develop early help supports to families living within Kirkintilloch and St Ninian’s catchment schools
• Following consultation with families, children and young people East Dunbartonshire Council is working alongside East Dunbartonshire Voluntary Action to commission additional third sector supports for families based upon National Principles of Holistic Family Support
• Future developments include the recruitment of additional home link workers to support children, young people and families who have difficulty in attending school and appointment of a Local area Co-ordinator to support the wellbeing of neuro-diverse 8-14 years olds and their parents/carers
• All primary, secondary, ASN establishments remain committed to ensuring children’s rights through the implementation of the UNCRC and Rights, Respecting School with 7 establishments receiving Gold and 9 establishments receiving silver awards.

• CIRCLE and Up, Up and Away! Early Years, Primary and Secondary PLCs are underway with the expectation that all primary and secondary schools should have completed the environmental audit and agreed an implementation plan from their self-evaluation by October.
• Evaluation data has been analysed for pupils involved in core nurture and preliminary analysis indicates a significant improvement in pupil wellbeing following participation in a nurture group.  Full report covering early years, primary and secondary interventions will be available in October.
• The first PLC of this session has taken place for two secondary schools with associated primary schools, with input from the Attainment Advisor.  Some schools have submitted their action plans.
• The authority approach has been revised so that pupil enquiry will be standardised across all participating schools.  Professional learning has been opened out to all schools to develop an overarching picture of approaches schools are taking to pupil enquiry with the purpose of developing a coherent model based on research and evidence-based principles.   
• The Early Years Play Pedagogy programme launched in September for Early Years and Primary practitioners based on needs analysis of headteachers audits from session 2023-2024. Play pedagogy PLCs have been adapted this session to provide collaboration across EYC and Primary schools with 67 attendees.

• School Planning & Improvement Team have been assisting with the Major Assets and Estates Teams with the continued project of a new build Lenzie Academy and relocation
• Education Scotland completed their part with the Education Stake Holders for the Lenzie Academy relocation project.  School Planning 7 improvement Team supported Education Scotland in doing this. This will be incorporated and presented to later Council meeting
• Review of paused Major Asset Projects with interim scope of works being finalised with Major Assets & Estates Teams.
• Education Census for all pupils and staff was performed.  The results and being cleansed prior to submitting to Scottish Government
• Role projections for the full school estate have begun with the projections for the next 5 school sessions being analysed.

• Fourteen parents started on a new Parental Employment Programme with the council. The programme provides parents on low incomes with a six-month paid work experience placement in several service areas including Early Years and Support for Learning.  Participants also get access to accredited qualifications relevant to their role. In previous years the programme has been very successful in helping participants access permanent employment within the council and helps to address recruitment issues. The programme aims to address child poverty through helping low incomes parents access good quality sustainable employment.

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The month of September saw the Finance Team preparing for the year end tasks required for the preparation of 2023/24 accounts.   The Oracle Fusion General Ledger system project has now been signed off as Green status with a few legacy tickets to be completed.   Final and residual external audit queries on the 2022/23 accounts are also being completed.

The Council continues to deliver against an ambitious capital programme supported largely by borrowing.

Treasury Management Reporting continues to highlight the increasing revenue costs associated with the current programme with ongoing affordability being challenged within a tight funding settlement.  Reports to Council have provided updates on the programme, the associated costs and any mitigations required.

The Revenues and Benefits team have continued to progress Council Tax and Benefits services and administration of the Scottish Welfare Fund.  Some senior officers have retired in recent months and the service continues to adapt to those changes.

The Council Tax Collection Rate at 55.63% is marginally behind expectations (56.02%) at this stage.  The profile of payments can change with people’s economic circumstances and more people choosing to pay their Council tax over 12 rather than 10 months.  Collection of Council tax continues to be closely monitored with the Council’s Recovery and Enforcement Procedures being applied and individuals being signposted to the exemptions and discounts available as appropriate. 

The Shared Services Team continues to provide support across all Council services.   The Transport team informed successful concessionary transport applicants which took effect after the September Weekend.  The Homecare Team continues to support a new initiative from the Planning & Commissioning Team processing variations in addition to their normal workload.  The Team have been supporting the new CRM project through testing of various forms including the new EMA process.

The ICT Services team continues to support the Council’s information technology systems and services to ensure high availability and performance in line with agreed service levels.  The Team resolved 1,311 tickets in August and dealt with 330 telephone calls.  ICT continues to support the migration of services to Microsoft 365 (M365) in partnership with the Business and Digital Change Team.  The ICT Security team continues to monitor the estate and perimeter defences alongside ongoing improvements to ensure that our systems and data are protected.

The maximisation of housing rental income and pursuit of rent arrears continues to be a priority for the service, to safeguard income.  There is a dedicated team of Officers, whose role it is to actively pursue rent arrears and provide advice and support to tenants struggling to pay their rent.  This includes issuing letters, home visits, telephone calls, emails, etc, which begin as soon as arrears are accrued on a rent account; pre tenancy advice on rent charges, payment options and discussing rent affordability to new tenants at the time of offer acceptance of their new tenancy; signposting tenants struggling financially to relevant support services to ensure household incomes are maximised; having a weekly presence at Kirkintilloch Job Centre to provide additional support for tenants in receipt of the housing element of Universal Credit; and escalating arrears actions to include court action or eviction for serious rent arrears cases.  The Rents Team commitment to reducing active rent arrears has seen a decrease of £88,812 on same period as last year (week 26).

The Tenant Participation Team continues to provide direct ongoing support to active Tenants and Residents Associations.

The Business & Digital Change Team continues to support services across the Council in the delivery of key strategic digital development projects. 

The Team also continues to support our corporate business systems, ensuring incidents are resolved promptly and that all systems remain supported and upgraded in line with an agreed plan.  We also ensure our systems are reliable, resilient, scalable, standardised, value for money and secure.

Work continues on the 2024/25 plan with work recently completed including the Circular Economy Strategy and Support Payments.  The audits nearing completion are Allpay consultancy work, Environmental Protection and Payroll. 

The team have responded to requests from management for consultancy work and advice where this contributes to the control environment, governance arrangements or enhances risk management.

The Corporate Fraud Team has been focusing on the investigation of referrals received and proactive vetting of applications for services such as Housing, Education, Licensing and Estates to secure the gateways by preventing fraud or error entering the systems. 

Preparatory work has commenced on the forthcoming National Fraud Initiative (NFI), which is a data matching exercise undertaken by Audit Scotland to identify fraud and error.  The Council are required to submit data from services such as Creditors, Housing, Licensing, Payroll and Revenues & Benefit.  The data will then be analysed against other public and private sector data to identify instances of fraud and error.  The resulting matches will then be released for sifting then investigation in December 2024.

The team continues to work with colleagues from the Business and Digital Change Team and delivery partners SWORD to develop a new fraud management system.

The Corporate Fraud team have commenced development of in-house anti-fraud and bribery training package but this has been paused in order that resources can be devoted to development of the new fraud management system. 

Finance

• The Oracle Fusion General Ledger system project has now been signed off as Green status with a few legacy tickets to be completed.
• The team continues to respond to external audit queries on the Council accounts as the external auditors finalise their work on 2022/23 accounts.
• Staff development is a key focus and given a challenging external recruitment market, the service is continuing to upskill existing staff where possible.
• The Treasury team continues to monitor cash flow closely, ensuring that there is liquidity for all Council activities. Additional borrowing continues to be taken in line with the Council's capital programme expenditure.
• The 2023/24 year end is now underway with an agreed timetable for accounts production. The timetable is a stretch target for the team, with multiple competing priorities ongoing.
• Projections as at Period 4 have been prepared and issued as a technical note.

Revenues and Benefits

• In the month of September, the team issued:
  • 2,450 Council Tax bills and 6,050 Benefits notifications; and,
  • 250 Non-Domestic Rates bills.
• 280 crisis grants and community care grant applications were received.
• The team received and dealt with 1,640 documents for Council Tax queries and reduction and over 6,000 for benefits. In addition, the team received over 2,100 ATLAS notifications from DWP.
• The team dealt with 2,250 telephone enquiries.

ICT Services

• ICT Services are working closely with the Business and Digital Change Team to implement M365.
• The Infrastructure Team:
  • Completed the installation of network monitoring equipment to assist resolving issues with Wi-Fi and network bottlenecks.
  • Continued to progress the preparatory work for rolling out of Windows 11.
  • Progressed the upgrade of the underlying network software for the Education estate.
  • Supported the upgrade of the Income Management System.
  • Progressed the upgrade of CCTV with modifications in the ERC
    • ICT Security have:
  • Maintained the Council’s perimeter defences.

Shared Services

• The Residential Team added 119 service agreements to CareFirst for clients moving into care homes or for supported living services within their own homes.
• The Homecare Team added over 300 service agreements to CareFirst for clients receiving a homecare service or a direct payment.
• Direct Payment Audit Team – 23 (19 standard and 4 final audits) direct payment audits finalised for clients receiving self-direct support.
• The Transport Team awarded concessionary seats to pupils, where capacity allowed, and all parents and guardians notified of the outcome by e-mail.
• The EMA Team continues to process applications on an ongoing basis as they come in.

Housing Rent Arrears

• Active Tenant Rent Arrears were £1,257,818 which is a decrease of £88,812 on same period as last year (week 26).
• The Rents Team continues to support the change team with the development and implementation of the Integrated Housing Management System (NEC), which should go live late October 2024.
• Housing Officers continue to utilise all avenues to maximise rental income and reduce rent arrears, escalating actions against tenants whose rent arrears are increasing, and providing advice and assistance to tenants who engage and need additional support.
• Appointments with a Housing Officer are available at Kirkintilloch Job Centre every Tuesday morning to assist tenants in receipt of the Universal Credit housing element.
• A Tenant Event was held at Kilmardinny House in Bearsden on Wednesday 25 September 2024
• Reducing active tenant rent arrears continues to be a priority for the Housing Service.
• Former Tenant Arrears are £829,978 with the team continuing to work on former rent arrears to bring this figure down.

Business & Digital Change

• The Business Systems Team has successfully upgraded 3 systems in the period. They have also managed 15 incidents, 11 system integrations and supported 6 projects.
• Key achievements in the period within the Digital Development Programme for 2024-2025 have focused on the final preparations for Go live of several new systems. These are all due to be launched in the next period:
  • New Housing Management System, (NEC Housing, replacing Saffron)
  • New Customer Relationship Management System
  • New websites for EDC and HSCP
  • Transition from analogue to Digital Telecare
• In addition, 1 new project formally commenced; the replacement of the current HR system (Itrent) with Oracle Fusion HCM
• Significant progress was also made on the following projects:
  • Displacing Legacy notes-based email relay services.
  • One Drive pilot commenced with 2 of our 6 pilot areas. The remaining 4 pilot areas will be deployed in the next period.  The new services enhance service continuity by providing access to documents even during network outages using cloud to local computer storage document synchronisation capability.

Internal Audit

• The team continues to work on the 2024/25 Internal Audit Plan.
• Advice is continuing to be provided by Internal Audit in line with the Internal Audit Charter to support the enhancement of governance arrangements, risk management and controls.
• An initial draft of an Audit & Risk Management Committee self-assessment has been prepared and discussed with the Convenor ahead of consideration at the next committee meeting.
• Work is underway on obtaining updates from services on outstanding audit actions.

Corporate Fraud

• Corporate Fraud is investigating allegations received, focusing on suspected fraud or error within Education, Housing and Revenues Services and on the remaining cases resulting from the previous National Fraud Initiative.
• Preparation work is underway for the next NFI exercise with the team checking the format of datasets received from services prior to upload.
• The team also continues to undertake vetting on applications, from a number of services, in order to prevent to fraud and any potential reputational damage.
• The team is focused on maximising its value adding activity through prioritising large value cases, which in some instances are challenging to resolve and may require an update of the policy base to support action – specifically the creation of a Communications Data Policy.

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The HSCP and its staff continue to work hard to ensure quality delivery of the Council’s operational delivery of statutory social work services, which are integrated with NHS services under the strategic governance of the Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) Board. Service quality and outcomes associated with these specific social work services are the main focus of this report with particular reference to three identified performance indicators in accordance with the Council’s strategic approach to business improvement planning.

The wider objective is that improved customer and organisational outcomes can be achieved through successful integrated planning and collaborative delivery of health and social care functions, under single management, with a combined budget, working to a single set of outcomes and operating to a single Strategic Plan. The impact and performance of all of these integrated health and social care services overall are reported on a quarterly and annual basis to the HSCP Board and through agreed representation and reporting arrangements, to the Council.

During September 2024, the HSCP has performed on or above target on all three of its identified performance indicators.

• The Allander Resource Centre was a winner in the Diversity in the Public Sector category at The Herald & GenAnalytics Diversity Awards 2024. Judges noted the integration with the community, fostering partnerships, and the delivering of a vital inclusive service in a public sector space.
• Promotional activity in support of:
  • Alcohol and Drug Partnership attendance at Kirkintilloch Canal Festival
  • Henry healthy family workshops
  • Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival
  • National Suicide Prevention DayFalls Awareness Week
  • Future Care Planning sessions
  • Survey on HSCP buildings to help the organisation improve and become more trauma informed.

HSCP Wide

• Develop HSCP Strategic Plan 2025 onwards.
• Review and reframe locality focussed working to deliver community-led support approach in line with agreed strategic direction to address the financial context.
• Improve online accessibility and signposting to information and services through further development and promotion of the HSCP website.
• Progression of Property Strategy to redesign and refresh current accommodation.
• Implement actions in the HSCP Digital Strategy.
• Conclude consultation on the HSCP draft Communications & Engagement Strategy and Action Plan.

Children and Criminal Justice Services

• Continue to develop as a Trauma Informed organisation.
• Prepare for the launch of Phase 2 of The Promise Plan 24/30.
• Ongoing implementation of Children’s House Project model.
• Implement Children & Young People’s Mental Health & Wellbeing action plan.

Adult Services

• Development of improvement plan following the outcome of Joint Inspection of Adult Support and Protection arrangements and delivery of improvement actions.
• Review of Learning Disability accommodation-based services.
• Review of commissioned services for adult mental health and alcohol and drugs services to further implement a recovery focused approach.
• Devise and deliver year 1 actions of the East Dunbartonshire Dementia Strategy Action Plan.
• Preparation for Adult Services Inspection & Completion of Adult Services Integrated Audit Self Evaluation project.
• Implement the 2024/25 actions of the Older Peoples Social Support Strategy.
• Maximise efficiency within in-house adult social care services.

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Land Planning & Development have progressed a number of significant work streams during September 2024 in line with the Business Improvement Plan commitments. 

• Work on the Evidence Gathering process for Local Development Plan 3 is ongoing. A revised Development Plan Scheme setting out the work programme for LDP3 has been published on the Council’s website.
• Officers have been hosting Evidence Topic Group sessions in Southbank House giving stakeholders the opportunity to comment on and inform the preparation of the policy schedules within the Evidence Report. The following sessions have been held to in September:
  • Protection and Heritage – 05/09/24
  • Neighbourhoods and Wellbeing – 10/09/24.
• Work is continuing on identifying priority projects for inclusion in the Council’s new Greenspace Strategy, which will replace the Green Network Strategy and Open Space Strategy. Audit work on play facilities is continuing and surveyors are nearing completion with the assessment of play areas and facilities across East Dunbartonshire.  Officers are also liaising with the Procurement Service to commission an update to the Open Space Audit.
• Consultants have been appointed to undertake surveys of potential new Local Nature Conservation Sites. Onsite surveying work began in September.  Work is also continuing on the Kelvin Valley feasibility study with onsite surveying expected to commence in October.
• The East Dunbartonshire Economic Partnership met on 25 September 2024 and was an opportunity for:
  • the new Economic Development & Place Policy Officer to meet the partners responsible for delivering Local Outcome 1 of the LOIP,
  • the Terms of Reference and purpose of the group to be revisited and updated; and
  • information to be shared between the partners on recent economic development delivery and activity in the area.

• The Economic Development & Place Policy Officer is continuing to work with internal services on the monitoring and delivery of the Circular Economy Strategy and continue early discussions on a refreshed Economic Development Strategy. The officer is also supporting the preparation of the evidence gathering process for LDP3 by contributing to topics related to the local economy and economic development. 

• Further progress was made on the development of the Draft Climate Action Plan (CAP) including core parts of the document being prepared for distribution among Executive Officers. Additional internal feedback will be sought to allow a coordinated Draft CAP to be taken to Council at the earliest opportunity, prior to public consultation. The Vision, Themes and Objectives have been assessed by consultants Ricardo to provide critical feedback through a Strategic Environmental Assessment Stage 1 Report. The autumn CAP Newsletter has been distributed.
• Council approved the draft Local Heat & Energy Efficiency Strategy (LHEES) and Deliver Plan for a public consultation. Preparation for the consultation has been undertaken to allow it to run from the 1^st of October. This includes a targeted marketing plan being developed in collaboration with the Communications and Engagement Team and a bespoke stakeholder engagement event being scheduled for the 23^rd of October.
• Data has been gathered on the Council’s carbon footprint for the 2023/24 financial year and emissions in the East Dunbartonshire Council area for the 2022 financial year. This information will allow an enhanced Carbon Management Plan to be drafted, which will provide an analysis of the Council’s corporate emissions and total emissions in East Dunbartonshire, in addition to a technical note on the Public Bodies Climate Change Duty Report.
• A Nature-Based Investment Study has been scoped to quantify the current greenhouse gas emission absorption potential of nature in East Dunbartonshire and set out options to leverage additional public and private investment to support environmental outcomes and contribute towards the Council’s net zero targets by quantifying the estimated emission absorption potential of nature while delivering meaningful action to preserve and bolster flourishing biodiversity. Following changes to the Nature Restoration Fund criteria, new funding sources are being actively sought to progress the study.
• Additional sessions for the Community Carbon Literacy Training Programme have been scheduled. A total of 59 people have now completed the accredited Community Carbon Literacy Training in addition to 6 people who attended the online introductory session. The training is being actively promoted and new sessions are being organised every month in the 2024/25 financial year.
• Officers attended workshops to provide input for the Scottish Climate Intelligence Service that was held in September.
• Discussions were held with community groups and input was provided to support the establishment of a Community Climate Hub.

• The Team is currently working with colleagues in Business & Digital Change and ICT to prepare for a major update of our ArcGIS software which will ensure our software is up-to-date and which will introduce improved functionality. We are experiencing issues with the dated version which we are currently running including server layers not loading.  
• The Team are currently working with a number of Teams across the Council on a range of GIS projects including Customer Relationship Management and RMMS (roads management system) Integration, allotments waiting list integration with ArcGIS, LNCS sites mapping, River Kelvin Feasibility Study work, Survey123 Notifications and the preparation of the Local Heat & Energy Efficiency Strategy. The Team also continues to support the preparation of the LDP Evidence Report.
• The Team have completed multiple Idox requests from Teams across the Council. These requests are related to updating the Idox templates.
• The Team completed multiple address register/update requests and several address queries and new ArcGIS online accounts requests from Teams across the Council.

• Implementation of a new IHMS is progressing further, user acceptance testing (UAT) is now complete allowing issues to be rectified or escalated as appropriate prior to confirming a date considered safe to enter into a live environment.
• Systems Officers are assisting with data cleansing of the current Saffron IT system as well as Housing folders, to ensure a smooth transition when migrating to the new IHMS, while also assisting with day-to-day processing of direct debits and the set-up of rent accounts.
• The Systems team has completed the National Fraud Initiative audit.
• Performance Monitoring Officers continue to complete monthly performance statistics and dashboards that inform the HGIOS Report and Annual Return on the Charter. In addition, a Quarterly Return is voluntarily submitted to Scotland’s Housing Network that informs an annual benchmarking analysis against other landlords.
• Policy Officers are reviewing the current Allocations Policy, gathering views from Stakeholders and have begun a process of engagement via workshops on key aspects of the policy. 
• Policy Officers are undertaking a desktop review of the Local Housing Strategy 23-28 in order to prepare an Annual Update to be submitted to Ministers in December 2024.
• Procurement of a new Digital Telecare system is ongoing. The project team are ensuring the successful transition of analogue telecare to digital telecare throughout the sheltered complexes and will deliver in-person briefings to tenants at each site.
• The Housing Estates Adviser is working closely with the sheltered wardens and concierge to ensure a robust service is provided to tenants during the Telecare switchover to the new system and to minimise disruption to tenants as equipment is removed and replaced.

• Working with numerous public sector agencies to ensure all support mechanisms to help business and create jobs are fully utilised, including development of new skills & technologies. Cost of doing business continues to be a concern and resources to help and inform businesses continue to be priority with combined support materials available through the Find Business Support website.  A range of support is provided via the team and the Business Gateway contract to new emerging and existing businesses.
• The Digital Development Grant has been launched and is fully subscribed based on available funding via the Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF). Applications are now being processed. The Green Business Support grant is underway, again funded by UKSPF and this will help businesses analyse how they practice and identity green measures and support that can be provided via a grant process. The team continues to develop the site enabling and regeneration grant set to go live later in 2024. The Social Enterprise Grant has now closed for applications and has been fully allocated.
• Digital Boost will no longer be funded through Scottish Government although webinars will continue to be delivered by Business Gateway National. The team are using currently available expertise to support companies on their digital journey, as well as developing further internal expertise.
• Growth and inward investment enquiries are being supported and coordinated by the team, directing them primarily to masterplan locations (Kirkintilloch Gateway, and the emerging Westerhill masterplan area).

• The team continues with a range of work to ensure the delivery of the Council’s City Deal project, including the preparation of Outline Business Case (in-line with City Deal & HM Greenbook requirements) which are required to unlock the funding from the region.
• The final Westerhill Masterplan and its associated delivery plan was approved as planning guidance at Council this month. Work is ongoing on the Westerhill Development Road which is currently at DMRB Stage 3. A planning application for the WDR will be submitted in 2024, with statutory consultation planned in advance.
• Work continues on the next stages of the design process for Bishopbriggs Town Centre and Bishopbriggs Park. The A803 project is now outwith the scope of City Deal, as per report to Council on 21^st

• The project to improve Regent Gardens in Kirkintilloch Town Centre has been completed. The Campsie Memorial Hall project in Lennoxtown secured funding from the Scottish Government’s Regeneration Capital Grant Fund and design development work has commenced following the procurement of a design team.
• The programme management of the Shared Prosperity Fund is ongoing to support services and projects across the Council. A range of projects have been identified and are being progressed for implementation up to March 2025.
• The Lennoxtown Main Street Improvement Project is ongoing with work about to conclude on the development of technical designs. Progress to the construction phase will be subject to external funding decisions.
• Work is well underway on the Twechar Canalside Outdoor Pursuits Centre project, and work is ongoing in relation to the lease arrangement ahead of the centre opening next year.
• The Milngavie BID was successful in re-ballot, and Kirkintilloch now has a BID. Operating Agreements for each BID are in place and the BIDs are starting to develop projects identified in their respective business plans.
• Analysis of the success of the Canal Festival is ongoing.

• The construction phase of Canniesburn Toll Improvement Project is on site, and works are progressing to project completion. Detailed updates have been provided in various Technical Notes.
• Feasibility and design works are progressing on a range of active travel infrastructure projects included in the Local Transport and Active Travel Strategies, including works to improve various active travel paths. Canal Street is part of the John Muir Way and a key link onto the canal towpath. This project is now complete and provides a greatly improved link between the old Strathkelvin Rail active travel link and the canal towpath.
• Work is progressing on the A807 Active travel route, with detailed design and procurement of the main works contractor. The BetterPoints East Dunbartonshire App has been launched to promote active travel.
• Work is progressing on key functions of the team including: working on a range of Traffic Regulation Orders at various stages of the statutory process, liaising with the network operator and maintenance contractors of the public electric vehicle charging network and continuing to assist in resolving access issues.
• Work is ongoing in partnership with the Glasgow City Region to develop a delivery option to increase regional and local Electric Vehicle charging network provision.

• During the reporting period the planning side of the team has determined 67 applications and validated 50 applications.
• The Building Standards team have received 79 building warrants and approved 102 applications.
• The Enforcement Team opened 7 new cases and closed 3 cases.
• The Development Applications team have been busy preparing reports for the next forthcoming Planning Board Meeting.
• Both Planning and Building Standards teams continue to offer support and informal advice to customers through our daily duty service Monday to Friday.

• Adoption of the Westerhill Masterplan Planning Guidance
• Delivery of Evidence Topic Groups to support the Local Development Plan Evidence Report.

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Throughout September, the Democratic Services Teams continued to support the internal governance of the Council, in addition to certain regulatory functions.  Since August of last year, the Democratic Services Team has been continuing with the implementation the Council’s new committee management system, Modern.Gov.  The system is now used for writing committee reports, managing the diary, preparing, and issuing agendas and the publication of committee papers to the Council’s website.  The App has been rolled out to Members and briefings sessions tool place.  The App will assist Members in using electronic versions of Committee papers and is key to the introduction of paperless meetings from 1^st October.  In addition, work is underway to develop the system for use in the preparation, approval, and publication of Technical Notes and Contract Standing Orders waiver forms.  In time, it will also be used to support public engagement and consultation, and a petitions function. 

Following the General Election in May, Members will be aware that the Election Act 2022 introduced new measures which applied for the first time at the General Election.  These included the introduction of voter ID and changes to postal votes and accessibility issues.  Officers, through the Electoral Management Board, Electoral Commission and Association of Electoral Administrations are currently assessing the impact of these change to the electoral process and feeding into various studies and reports.  A further Technical Note will be issued to Members once the analysis is available.

In addition to the above, the service continued to support Members and the Strategic Leadership Team.  The Information Management Team continues to provide important support and advice to the MS365 implementation team, in addition to business-as-usual support in relation to freedom of information and data protection.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

• Registration & Customer Services completed 50 birth and 138 death registrations in August.  35 marriages were also registered in this period. 
• Continued development of the new committee administration system, which included support for report authors and the production and distribution of committee and board agendas and preparations for paperless meetings.  Democratic Services also assisted the roll out and installation of the Modern.Gov App to elected members and senior officers as progression towards paperless meetings.
• Information Management received & processed 101 FOI/EIRs and 9 SARs (Subject Access Requests).

The indicators chosen for monthly reporting represent transactions where Legal Services involvement is nearer the end of the process.  Each indicator relates to services which are important to individuals and Council Services, but that also have an impact on the local economy.  They also represent areas where performance was not previously as good as it might have been, which resulted in the introduction of the PIs.  Whilst performance is consistently high, the continued application of the PIs ensures that this remains the case.  It also ensures that any change in performance is identified and addressed early.

Performance against all indicators for Legal Services for September is 100% except for housing repair grants which was 83%.  This represents one grant which was late as a result of an administrative oversight.

Legal Services continues to support services across the Council in the delivery of projects, contracts and otherwise to manage legal risk.  This includes advice and work on confidential matters that cannot be included in a public report.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

• During September, the Team processed 3 contract award letter, 37 taxi licence applications, and 6 housing repair grants.  All were granted within the required timescales except for one housing repair grant due to an oversight.  Considering this, it is not proposed to take any steps currently other than to continue to monitor progress against the set PIs.
• The Team continued to provide support to the wider City Deal team with advice and support including supporting initial discussions on procurement of ground investigations for the Bishopbriggs Town Centre project and supporting Major Assets Projects City Deal Team and external consultants with contract scope preparation for the WDR construction contract.
• Property and planning work included the completion of the final affordable house shared equity at the former Lenzie Primary School development, conclusion of missives on purchase of 20 affordable housing units at Roberston Homes’ Thorn Road development in Bearsden with 8 of the units purchased, varied missives for the sale of 48 Drymen Road to confirm the sale price as £700,000 and to fix a new planning longstop date for the end of January 2025 and open market purchase of 4 Lyle Square. 
• Contracts wok included in this period included completion of novation between the Council and new provider for Whitefield Lodge Care Home reviewing draft construction contract for Bearsden Hub works,  contract for a Care Management and Scheduling System, contract for renewal of the existing multi-use games area sports pitch at Gartconner Primary School, Kirkintilloch, contract for new variable message signs, contract for water quality management service, variations to support Oracle Fusion upgrade and main contract for services.
• Grants offers accepted included road safety improvement fund and place-based investment programme.
• The Litigation Team provided assistance with the high volume of placing requests considered by the Placing Requests Appeals Panel.  The Team continued to provide support to Social Work in relation to adults with incapacity and permanence planning and to Education on a variety of matters including ASN Tribunal work appeals and advice to colleagues in HR.  This included successfully defending a court challenge to historic parking tickets.

During September, the Procurement Team continued to support services across the Council in the delivery of various projects, including ongoing support to several strategic procurements/projects, particularly in relation to City Deal, ICT, Business & Digital Change, and various Capital projects.  In particular, the Team continued to be heavily involved in data cleansing, Solution redesign, Communication planning, Key User training and support, Data Reconciliation and Supplier data correction as part of the ongoing management of the new Fusion Financial system.  This has placed a significant demand on the resources of the Team as it leads four of the six implementation workstreams.  In addition to the above, the Team is now planning for a major upgrade to the Fusion system and the implementation of the Supplier Portal model.  The upgrade is of such magnitude that it requires to be managed as a project in its own right and will require support from other Council services. 

The Team also continuously works to manage and support the operational activity in terms of the buyers work centre, Fusion catalogue management, supplier management and payment processing, and in September remained focussed on delivering against the increased demand from Services around queries in relation to Fusion, whilst managing the ongoing implementation, remodelling and updating of the System.

During September, the Team was heavily involved with multiple Capital programme requirements, system  software renewals, Housing New Build Maintenance support while continuing embedding of the replacement for the Oracle Financial system and next phases of the project.  This has placed a significant demand on the resources of the Team.  The Team also continuously works to manage and support the operational activity in terms of the buyers work centre, Iproc catalogue and supplier management and payment processing.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

• Providing ongoing support to the City Deal team in relation to Contract requirements and alternative procurement route options.
• Supported key Capital, Business & Digital Change projects such as Oracle Fusion upgrade, Lenzie Academy, IHMS, Westerhill Development Road, school estate Professional Fees, school summer maintenance works whilst supporting workforce of the future planning and Business as Usual workstreams.
• Participation in extensive meetings and workshops to train, test, reconcile data transfer and solution implementation for the Oracle Fusion upgrade.
• Completed renewals for support and maintenance of business-critical systems to facilitate workforce of the future.
• Ongoing support to the /implementation of Fusion to support the technical requirements for Payment integrations, Managed Stores and e-invoicing
• Ongoing data analysis in preparation of the 2023-2024 Annual Procurement Report to include alignments with organisational Climate Action Planning, Circular Economy Strategy, Community Wealth Building & the City Region Community Wish List planning.
• Processing and payment of Welfare Support, ALT Fuel & EBSS Payments in line with Council support requirements.
• Completed planning and communications in relation to Christmas payment processing timescales.
• Continued efforts to clear backlog of invoices planning and communications for Oracle Fusion
• Initiated Business Critical expenditure considerations within Buyers Work Centre.
• Ongoing work on the review of Contract Standing Orders for alignment with organisational changes, financial management and Procurement governance.
• Continued End of Financial year planning in alignment with the implementation of a new finance system, managing the backlog resulting from the system downtime and managing business as usual
• Commenced planning for the Oracle Fusion upgrade to Redwood Self Service Procurement
• Commenced planning for implementation of the Oracle Fusion Supplier Portal
• Review of resourcing considerations to support Project workload and business as usual priorities.

During September, , the Strategic Commissioning Team provided oversight and leadership to the commissioned market during unprecedented times as demand pressures, on-going workforce and recruitment issues and the cost-of-living crisis continued to challenge the sector.  The Team also continued to support the HSCP to progress key strategic priorities and inform the progression of budget related decisions in relation to commissioned services and has been integral in preparing information and reports for consideration by the HSCP Board and then leading on several implementation streams. 

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

• Finalised HSCP budget saving proposals and progressed implementation following IJB approval.
• Engaged with providers on a group and individual basis regarding the HSCP’s budget savings & future commissioning arrangements. 
• Contributed to the HSCP’s five-year Strategic Plan reflecting local / future commissioning requirements.
• Supported development of HSCP’s Annual Delivery Action Plan setting out the key commissioning activities over the next year
• Following IJB approval, finalised plans to implement  Scotland Excel’s Care and Support Framework Agreement and local contracting arrangements
• Continued to support the progression of key commissioning actions underpinning the Learning Disabilities Strategic Review
• Supported the transition of children to adult services and implemented plans to alleviate delayed discharge via the identification of suitable residential accommodation.
• Continued to build on and strengthen the commissioning collaborative approach with Sector Leads via regular engagement and co-design & co production discussions.
• In line with national policy, progressed & implemented Children and Families Scottish Living Wage uplifts.
• Supported development of Children & Families Fair Access policy
• Contributed to the development of a local Advocacy Strategy for children, adults & older people.

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