Highland Council maintains its ambition for steady improvement in service performance

12th March 2022

The Annual Report of Statutory Performance Indicators (SPIs) and Best Value for financial year 2020-21 set against the context of COVID, was considered by members of The Highland Council when they met on 10 March 2022.

The report tells the story of how COVID has impacted significantly across the Council's SPIs and this context, combined with a change in the way the Scottish Government has measured some performance indicators, means that an overall assessment of Council performance cannot be made. This position is not unique to Highland and is reflected across Scottish Local Authority reporting for 2021/22.

Performance data demonstrate how the Council's KPIs, that focus on those essential front-line services which have been most affected by COVID. This has led to rapid redesign of services, redeployment of staff to critical COVID activities, and staff shortages due to COVID related absence and isolation.

This highlights the extent to which pre-pandemic targets are unrealistic in the context of 2 years of the cumulative impact of the pandemic.

Mainstream budgets were and continue to be hit by additional expenditure due to higher costs created by social distancing (for example, waste collection delivery arrangements), price volatility and substantial income loss. In contrast, there were additional funding streams for some areas of COVID response such as business grants.

Throughout this period, there were changing service delivery demands and activity levels resulting from the initial emergency response, which required the redeployment of many staff and shifted the focus of service delivery priorities. There were service closures, such as culture and leisure and recycling centres and some services were paused including routine property maintenance, repairs and inspections. Through service redesign, there was a greater reliance on virtual delivery with face-to-face support prioritised for the most vulnerable. There was a wholesale shift to homeworking and changes in patterns of recruitment with increased demand for cleaning and care staff.

Wider societal implications affecting service demand and delivery included increased financial hardship and levels of vulnerability, the economic impact of lockdowns and restrictions on businesses, public perceptions and behaviour around risk and safety and the effect on partner sectors such as the NHS and suppliers and contractors.

There were significant challenges for schools due to national and local lockdowns and ongoing school closures linked to outbreaks, which have had an impact on attainment and assessment.

Work is already 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 climate action and a focus on supporting and developing Council staff to deliver improved services. The Council's Education Committee also approved a range of improvement measures at its meeting on 24 February.

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.

Leader of the Council, Cllr Margaret Davidson commented:"This report sets out the extraordinary context of the past 2 years and the impact of COVID on everything and everyone. Close analysis of the data will strongly influence the Council's plans for improvement and transformation over the next year.

"We must remember that behind many of these statistics are our dedicated staff and Highland people. Our staff have been extraordinary and have continued to provide essential frontline services and thousands of businesses and individuals have been supported throughout this difficult period."

Chief Executive Donna Manson added: "Our staff have proven to be resilient, agile, responsive and compassionate to the unprecedented challenges over the last two years and we have learned a great deal which we can take forward out of the pandemic and continue to work with partners and communities on recovery and a sustainable future"

"We are ambitious to be a high performing council, and a performance framework which sets ambitious targets and regularly monitors our progress is fundamental to this. The significant impact of the pandemic on service delivery means that the performance targets agreed in the 2017-22 Corporate Plan will need to be reviewed later this year as part of a performance recovery plan."

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 HERE