Highland Council maintains steady improvement in service performance 2021/22

The Annual Report of Statutory Performance Indicators (SPIs) and Best Value for financial year 2021-22, was scrutinised by members of The Highland Council when they met today (Thursday 9 March 2023).

Members noted the detail of the report that indicates 68% (63/92) of the indicators with full data available are performing on target (equal to or better than the target) or within the performance threshold. 29 indicators (32%) were not achieved, but of those, 15 showed improvements.  Further explanatory information in respect of these indicators is detailed here (Item 14).

Leader of the Council, Cllr Raymond Bremner said: “This report highlights the significant challenges faced by Highland communities and of our dedicated staff. Close analysis of the data will strongly influence the Council’s plans for recovery, improvement, and transformation over the next twelve months.

“Despite the unprecedented challenges facing us as a Council, we continue to strive to be a high performing council, and a performance framework, which sets ambitious, yet realistic targets, is fundamental to this.”

All SPIs will be reviewed during the summer of 2023 to reflect the new Council Programme commitments and to reflect on the financial budget for 2023/4 budget which was agreed on Thursday 2 March 202.  This will ensure the SPIs are aligned to Council priorities and the numbers being measured and monitored are realistic.  In addition, where targets were not in place for 2021/22 but have subsequently been approved, these will also be included.  For example, primary literacy and numeracy, targets for which have subsequently been approved at Education Committee (increase by 8% and 7% respectively).

The emerging trends from the Local Government Benchmarking Framework (LGBF) data reports that COVID continued to impact upon the following:

• Adult Social Care – home care and residential care, adult care quality ratings, delayed hospital discharges, hospital re-admissions;
• Children’s Services – educational attainment, pupil attendance, early years quality ratings, Child Protection re-registrations and placement stability;
• Corporate – staff absence, council tax collection and support services;
• Culture and Leisure – usage levels and digital shift;
• Economic Development & Planning – claimant count (working age & 16-25), employment support and business start-ups, planning applications and processing;
• Housing – housing quality, housing management and rent arrears;
• Environment – recycling and street cleanliness.

These trends are the same as reported last year and the local information reported for Highland is very similar to the national picture.

In addition to Covid still affecting parts of the Council and its activities, there are other factors affecting the level of demand for Council services and the context they were delivered in.  These include:

• Increased demand for welfare services including applications for the new fuel poverty scheme set up during the year;
• increased levels of vulnerability and exacerbated inequalities;
• shut down and/ or slowdown in economic activity impacting on businesses
• effects from other sectors including NHS hospitals and supplier and contractor engagement.

Mainstream budgets continue to be hit by additional expenditure due to higher costs created by price volatility and substantial income loss. Wider societal implications affecting service demand and delivery included increased financial hardship due to the Cost of Living crisis, increased levels of vulnerability, the economic impact of lockdowns and restrictions on businesses and the effect on partner sectors such as the NHS and suppliers and contractors.

Work is underway to deliver improved performance and outcomes in some key Council service areas, with investment proposals for Education and Children’s Services to improve outcomes for young people and families; additional investment in roads and a focus on supporting and developing Council staff to deliver improved services.

It should be noted that where indicators are shown as not meeting the target, this does not automatically signal a lack of improvement. Indeed, in several cases the figures show that that improvement is being achieved, but it is not yet meeting the expected pace of change required.

The annual report to Council provides quantitative data however, the Council also provides a wide range of information on its performance through service reports to strategic committees, the website, social media and a range of publications. www.highland.gov.uk/performance

The Performance Report can be found at:  Item 14 - Annual Report 2021/22