Positive results from annual Council performance survey
Highland Councillors are being advised that not only is the public increasingly satisfied with the majority of key services provided by the Council, but that the Council is meeting the large majority of targets set out in its Corporate Plan and the Strengthening the Highlands programme.
The Annual Performance Survey carried out in May and June this year was sent to the Citizens’ Panel with a 54% response rate (1,153 responses) achieved, which can be generalised to the adult population of the Highlands. This is the second year the survey was sent to the Citizens’ Panel. The results were analysed independently by the UHI Centre for Remote and Rural Studies.
Overall the results are very positive and show improvements in levels of satisfaction with contact and with services, continuing the trend over previous years.
Key results include:
A report to be considered by the Council at its meeting on Thursday 8 September states that the scale of the increase in satisfaction is remarkable and may be explained by Service improvements and Services being valued more following the budget consultation in 2011.
The top five most important services continue to be: roads repairs and potholes (returning to first position); winter road maintenance; refuse/bin collection; recycling facilities; and primary education. The first 3 are found in the top 5 by at least half of all respondents. Primary and secondary schools are seen in the top 5 of importance for over 50% of families with children. Libraries, primary education, home care and residential homes all show the greatest increase in terms of perceived importance.
The top five community safety concerns are speeding cars, dog fouling / littering, alcohol misuse, vandalism and anti social behaviour by young people. Over half of all respondents were worried about these activities.
Fewer people appear to have made a complaint (14.5% down from 18%.5%) and levels of satisfaction in how complaints were handled improved from last year (up to 36% from 30%).
The report concludes: “On balance the Council is viewed positively in 12 out of 13 qualities, including for the first time the qualities of listening to local people, providing value for money, treating all residents fairly, being efficient and involving people in how it spends its money. Generally Highland communities are regarded as safe and good places to live in and high levels of people volunteering are sustained.”
The survey results are available from the home page of the web site and copies can be inspected/obtained from Service Points and Libraries.
Council Convener Sandy Park said: “The results from our latest performance survey are tremendously encouraging and reflect extremely well on our staff, who are to be congratulated for maintaining such high standards of service to the public.”
At the same time, Councillors have been told that performance against the Corporate Plan and the Strengthening the Highlands Programme remains strong, with 87% of the commitments (100 out of the total of 115) completed, progressing well, on target or performance is being maintained.
For 11 commitments (10%), there is mixed performance and there are four commitments which have not been met (3%).
In 2010/11, the amount of residual waste disposed to landfill outwith the Highlands increased by 1,522 tonnes to 70,559 tonnes, compared to the previous year. The target is to reduce this figure.
Waste recycling was maintained during 2010/11 at 34% (34.6% in 2009/10). The target of 40% by 2010 has not been achieved, however the roll out of alternate weekly collections has contributed towards an increase in the recycling rate and this will be consolidated when the roll out is completed in July 2012.
The amount of municipal waste collected that is land filled continues to reduce from a baseline of 73.9% in 2006/7 to 65.7% in 2010/11. While the target of 60% has not been met, the improvement achieved reduced the amount the Council had to pay in landfill tax.
The Council is also demonstrating improved performance in Statutury Performance Indicators reported to Audit Scotland with 22 indicators improving by 5% or more in 2010/11, with four indicators showing a decline of 5% or more.