Progress reported on Council’s Programme

Members at the Council’s full meeting on 11 January noted the progress made with implementing the priorities in the Highland Council Programme “Our Future Highland”.

Highlights include:

• Session 21/22, Highland was the second most improved local authority in Scotland for P1, P4, P7 literacy (10% increase) and numeracy (9% increase). Learners having more opportunities to develop skills for learning, life and work through relevant, real-life contexts. Highland has a positive destination rate of 94.5%. This has increased by 2% since 2019/20 and employment rates are the highest ever recorded at 38.7%.

• The Council approved the Families First strategy which is delivering a radical shift in spend in order that we can invest in family support and family-based care such as kinship and fostering, with the lowest numbers in purchased independent care out with the Highlands (53% reduction).

• Introduction of the Council’s in-house bus services on an initial ten routes. The vehicles have also been used to support events such as the Highland Cross and the Black Isle Show. Services are also being offered to primary schools for their swimming trips, providing additional cost avoidance.

• Implemented the early adoption of the 20mph project in 125 settlements throughout Highland, as part of a fully funded Transport Scotland project.

• The Council has delivered 136.9km of road surface dressing and 76.5km of surfacing work through additional investment of £12.8m in the Capital Programme.

• Implemented new Invitation to Pay arrangements in 16 car parks focussed on visitor hotspots, with a share of the income being passed to Area Committees for distribution.

• Completed 161 affordable council homes since the beginning of January 2023. 80 homes are on-site, completing by the end of 23/24, with a further 200 programmed to complete during 24/25.

• Funding of £1.926m has been allocated from the Council’s Housing Capital Programme towards works which include external wall insulation, new energy efficient heating, solar panels, and battery storage.

• Successful application to the Scottish Government’s Recycling Improvement Fund (£6.5m for improving the quantity and quality of collected recycling and reduce levels of residual waste).

• The Council’s Net Zero Strategy was launched on 5 October 2023, this sets out the Council’s approach to addressing the climate emergency and contributes towards Scotland’s national legally binding target to become Net Zero by 2045

• Council agreed to the submission to both the Scottish and UK Governments for approval of the Outline Business Case for the Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport, which was awarded in January 2023.

Convener of the Council, Bill Lobban said: “We have very real financial challenges ahead of us in the next 3 years. In the light of these challenges, we will need to re-prioritise and focus our efforts on achieving the best outcomes for communities across the Highlands.”

Vice Convener of the Council Ken Gowans said: “There have been a number of good achievements against the Council’s Programme commitments over the past 10 months. However, we continually need to review our progress and be responsive to the changing economic and demographic environment. While responding to the ever more challenging economic environment, we need to ensure we have a responsible approach based on sustainability which is flexible and responsive to ensure the best possible outcomes for the people of the Highlands.”

There has been good progress across most performance indicators, however performance remains below target for asset management suitability, which reflects the challenges of geography, resource, construction industry, materials inflationary pressures, and contractor availability. It also underlines the need to accelerate the Council’s asset rationalisation programme.

The performance indicator for People aged 65+ with long-term care needs receiving personal care at home is showing below target, with NHS Highland reporting levels of unmet need in terms of care at home. These challenges arise in terms of difficulties in recruiting both directly and by commissioning.

Members agreed that given the scale of the financial challenges facing Highland Council, the Council Programme will need to be recalibrated following approval of the Council budget in February 2024, considering available resource. This will include adjustments to accommodate additional activity required to deliver improvements in achieving best value from services and reducing spend.

A revised Delivery Plan will be framed around 6 Portfolios – Corporate Business Solutions; People Centred Approaches; Reconfiguring the Asset Base; Future Workforce; Income from Tourism; Green Energy and New Technologies – which will each be sponsored by a member of the Council’s Corporate Management Team and will promote cross-service teamwork. Within each Portfolio will be a series of programmes and projects which will either deliver a saving or an income stream to the Council or both; to be presented for approval as part of the Council’s budget meeting in February 2024.