Leader responds to performance report
A report to Council on Statutory Performance Indicators shows that Highland Council maintains steady improvement in service performance.
Leader of the Council Margaret Davidson said:
“This report reflects a great deal that is good and improving and also highlights areas where we can do better. The statistics need careful interpretation and the narrative contained is very helpful in providing useful context.
“We are never complacent and we must remember that behind many of these statistics are our dedicated staff and Highland people.
“It is pleasing that a greater proportion of adults are accessing social care services through a direct payment, as part of an increasing number of self-directed support arrangements managed by NHS Highland on the Council’s behalf. We will continue to work with the NHS to shift the balance of care to ensure that more people can live independently in their own homes and communities.
“The number of young people referred to the Children’s Hearing System on offence grounds fell once again, and the number of young people regarded as persistent offenders also significantly reduced. This is a positive trend we hope will continue.
“The number of businesses supported by the Economic Development team and Business Gateway and the number of Business Gateway start-ups has increased. This is good news and we want to do everything we can to encourage and support local businesses which are the lifeblood of our economy.
“In the week of International Women’s Day it is positive to note that the Gender pay gap has decreased from 8.6% to 7.2%. However, I look forward to the day when there is no gap. That is the ultimate goal we must pursue as well as ensuring our young people have fair and equal opportunities to achieve the best they can.
“Highland pupils generally perform as well or better than their peers in other authorities and we also remain committed to entering children of all abilities for those qualifications where they have an opportunity to succeed. Highland has an impressive track record of our children entering fulltime education or employment on leaving school as recently reported.”
She continued:
“This Council is continually seeking improvement and our performance and our redesign projects demonstrate this. With reducing resources we can’t always do everything that we would like to do, but we must focus on doing what we do as well as we can.”
The Performance Report can be found at: https://www.highland.gov.uk/meetings/meeting/3944/highland_council
The Council provides a wide range of information on its performance through Service performance reports, the Annual Corporate Performance Report, the Annual Public Attitudes Survey to the Citizens’ Panel, The Council’s website; and a range of publications, such as press releases, and the Council’s Highpoints magazine.
https://www.highland.gov.uk/info/20009/performance/692/how_we_are_performing