How Good is Our Service 2025/26 - Council Services

The Assets & Facilities Strategic Grouping comprises the services noted below. These services have the following core responsibilities:

Property Maintenance

The Property Maintenance service undertakes repairs and maintenance across the Council’s property estate, which includes circa 3,800 housing properties in addition to all operational and non-operational assets. Operationally this involves reactive repairs, void management, gutter cleaning/roof repairs, close painting, gas servicing, fixed electrical testing, and portable appliance testing. The service also undertakes a range of capital works on behalf of both Housing and other Council service areas.

• The service has managed to maintain good levels of performance across all indicators in the despite facing some challenges throughout the year and we are confident this will be maintained and improved going forward into next year
• The service continues to maintain optimal levels of performance in the delivery of Gas Servicing with 100% of properties having a gas safety check carried out within the anniversary date throughout the year
• Voids turnaround performance slightly exceeds our target with 85.4% of properties being returned within target timescales in what has been a challenging year for the service. The service has reviewed operational processes to align with the enhanced lettable standard over the period with further measures planned to ensure performance is improved in 2026/27
• Good levels of performance have been maintained in the delivery of emergency repairs and we continue to exceed our annual target. The number of repairs appointments kept continues to be at a high level with 99.9% of appointments being met. The average number of days to complete non-emergency repairs has continued at a similar level to last year with the average being 10.8 days over the year exceeding our target of 12 days. Of all customer satisfaction surveys completed in 2025/26, 91.87% of tenants said they were very or fairly satisfied with the service provided
• Property Maintenance has carried out newly implemented cyclical gutter cleaning and close painting programmes throughout the year which have been very well received by our tenants
• The service continued the delivery of the Housing Capital Programme this year, also well received by our tenants
• The service continues to deliver repair works across the education portfolio with decoration works ongoing across several schools.

Estates & Facilities

The Estates & Facilities service seeks to ensure effective stewardship and development of the Council’s assets in order that they contribute to the Council and its partners’ overarching vision and intended outcomes, maximising their effectiveness and supporting sustainable economic growth and place making.

Estates & Facilities ensures the Council remains compliant in respect of legislative requirements across the Operational Estate, including ensuring that all gas and oil boilers are serviced annually. All other plant within the operational estate is subject to annual inspections. The appointment of a new Compliance Officer provides the Service with a dedicated resource who monitors and ensures all servicing dates are met within prescribed timescales. Following two severe storms during 2025/26, the service ensured that schools and operational assets were safe to open, while managing reactive repairs, ensuring service continuity.

Estates Management manage all aspects of the non-operational estate including the leasing and day-to-day management of the Council’s investment property portfolio; acquisitions and disposals; non-domestic rates appeals, applications for wayleaves and/or servitudes and provision of cartographic services. The Estates Service helped secure total receipts of £0.197million from the sale of surplus land and property within the financial year.

The Building Performance Team have refreshed Asbestos Management Plans (AMP) for the Educational estate and Operational estate and are now reviewing the Non-Operational estate. The team continue to review new Scottish Government legislation with regards to delivering healthier building environs with regard to both new build and refurbishment projects, while managing the installation of such technology and monitoring the information being provided by the room sensor/detectors. The team continue to manage and monitor the Council’s energy contracts and spend and reviewing alternative energy options to help the Council meet national targets in relation to carbon reduction. Cleaning schedules have been updated for the Operational assets, while undertaking an audit to ensure cleaning standards remain high.

The Facilities Management team is responsible for the delivery of a cohesive building support service to all buildings owned or operated by the Council. Facilities Management provide a wide range of services which includes but is not limited to catering, cleaning, porterage and janitorial, security, minor repairs and maintenance and the provision of the school crossing patrol service. The Facilities Management service provides support to both the school and corporate estate including supporting the delivery of the Council’s accommodation strategy.

• Following a structure review, Council approved a 20% reduction in cleaning hours across the Primary, Secondary and Corporate Estate as part of a budget saving proposal. The new structure was implemented, which included a significant recruitment exercise to fill over 900 vacant weekly hours. That recruitment exercise is ongoing with over 600 hours now recruited for, with new cleaning regimes implemented across the estate to take into account the 4-day clean equivalent
• A full lunch menu offering with two hot main meal choices continued throughout 25/26 and significant work was undertaken to ensure feedback from the catering consultation was incorporated into the menu choices to ensure maximum uptake. The catering service continues to seek customer feedback through pupil and parent council’s to improve service delivery and increase customer satisfaction. The uptake of Primary and Secondary school free meals for 25/26 was consistent with the previous year although the annual target was not achieved in Primary schools however was in Secondary schools. The focus remains on improving the uptake of school meals in lower performing schools
• The service has achieved the target for locally sourced food products in the school lunch menu. The service continues to engage with suppliers to increase the inclusion of locally sourced products within the lunch menu. Snack n Play operated during the Easter, Summer and October holiday periods within five identified Primary Schools and FM supported this with the provision of janitorial, catering and cleaning services. A hot lunch was provided along with evening cleaning to ensure a safe environment was provided
• At the Council budget meeting in March 2025, the decision was taken to withdraw from the Food for Life scheme given the potential savings the Council could secure by not meeting the standards set by the Soil Association, while still providing and meeting the nutritional level requirements through school meals. The Service has continued to engage with the Soil Association with regards are menus through 25/26 and have managed to ensure that our menu’s meet our budgetary requirements while still obtaining the Bronze award status set by the Soil Association. As a result, the service will be reapplying for the accreditation with the Soil Association early in 26/27.

Development & Investment

The Development & Investment service seeks to ensure effective stewardship and development of the Council’s assets in order that they contribute to the Council and its partners’ overarching vision and intended outcomes, maximising their effectiveness and supporting sustainable economic growth and place making. The Service is responsible for the decarbonisation of the housing, learning and corporate estates in support of the Council’s Climate Action Plan ambitions.

The service maintains an active role in the monitoring, review and revision of the Council’s approved Capital Programme and Housing Capital Investment Programme and works closely with colleagues across the organisation to ensure that the Council continues to deliver against its capital expenditure commitments.

Rising borrowing costs, existing repayment commitments following the delivery of significant levels of investment in flagship capital projects in recent years and persistent construction price inflation continue to present significant and sustained risks to the deliverability of further significant capital projects in the short to medium term.

Despite this, teams across the Service have contributed towards a number of notable achievements during the course of 2025-26, including:

• The completion of several significant capital projects during the period, including the refurbishment of Campsie Memorial Hall; the construction of the Twechar Outdoor Pursuits Centre; the refurbishment of Bearsden Primary School; and the commencement of projects which include the refurbishment of Milngavie Primary School and a new-build Balmuildy Primary School
• Continued progress through the development of the next phase of the Council’s Affordable Housing Programme, which will deliver over 300 new homes across East Dunbartonshire, notably including the construction of no.15 new affordable houses in Twechar built to Passivhaus standard
• Completion of a wide range of capital projects to improve the condition, energy efficiency and accessibility of the Learning and Corporate estates
• Capital investment across the existing Council Housing stock, including the replacement of kitchens, bathrooms, central heating systems and roofs; the delivery of Mixed Tenure roof replacement projects; and the delivery of measures which improve the energy efficiency of homes across East Dunbartonshire.

View the full How Good Is Our Service Assets and Facilities April 2025 – March 2026 report from page two in the document below.

Community Services is responsible for the delivery of both strategic and operational services, including delivery of the Council’s statutory duties across a number of functional areas. The work is delivered by the following services and teams within the strategic grouping:

• Community Protection Service
  • Environmental Health Team
  • Community Safety Team
  • Trading Standards Team.
• Community Planning and Partnerships Service
  • Community Planning Team
  • Resettlement Team
  • Community Testing/Vaccination Coordination.
• Housing Operations – Estates Team
• Homelessness and Prevention Team

Community Protection delivers the Council’s statutory remits in relation to Environmental Health, Trading Standards and Licensing Enforcement, along with frontline service delivery on Community Safety matters. The Service is comprised of three teams, all of which have a distinct remit in terms of delivering statutory community protection duties. Delivery measures are centred upon the promotion of public health, public safety, well-being and consumer protection.

During the 2025-26 reporting period the service continued to actively engage in the local Co-Production arrangement with Police Scotland. This resulted in a significant amount of joint work and coordinated activity to protect communities across the East Dunbartonshire area, with several targeted initiatives being delivered (e.g., in relation to antisocial behaviour, youth disorder, bogus callers, licensing enforcement and parking issues). The service also continued to develop intelligence led approaches, with intelligence gathered from a range of different sources being used to target local public health, community safety and consumer protection activity towards the areas of greatest need, risk and priority.

The Environmental Health Team was engaged in the delivery of essential public health services throughout the reporting period to protect the community from hazards in the environment and to regulate and facilitate the growth of responsible businesses. Services in relation to food safety, public health in terms of nuisances and communicable diseases, occupational health and safety, noise pollution, air quality and contaminated land have all been delivered by means of planned interventions to local businesses, reactive responses to public health complaints and any required assessments of environmental conditions across the district.

Officers were involved in the delivery of full programme of inspection and sampling activity in relation to food safety, in line with the approved Environmental Health Food Service Plan 2025-26. An unusually high number of food safety enforcement actions needed to be carried out. The service participated in a European Commission audit to approved premises for food safety with positive feedback being received (the audit purpose being to verify the correct implementation of EU standards and legislation at a local level). The service has also responded to a range of requests from partnership agencies such as Food Standards Scotland in relation to food alerts for action around the sale of non-compliant / illegal food and the NHS in terms of infectious disease notifications and the requirement to carry out patient interviews. Local approval of the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Joint Health Protection Plan 2025 – 2027, which provides an overview of health protection (communicable disease and environmental health) priorities, provision and preparedness for the NHS Board area, was also obtained.

Environmental Health also continued to receive and deal with large numbers of enquiries and service requests relating to a variety of environmental regulation matters, with complex investigation being required in several cases. As well as responding to large numbers of service requests the team also responded to internal partners in Planning and Licensing on matters such as new developments and seasonal events respectively. In addition, officers from the team prepared and submitted the latest Annual Progress Report on standards of Air Quality within East Dunbartonshire to representatives at SEPA and Scottish Government – this report, which provides the latest monitoring results and discusses air quality management in the local area, is undertaken to fulfil the Council's duty to annually review and assess local air quality. Work was undertaken for several animal-related businesses, such as pet shops, who were due their routine licence compliance checks and a number of health and safety enforcement interventions were also delivered across a range of local businesses.

The Community Safety Team continued to deliver a broad range of frontline work for the benefit of our local communities during 2025-26. The delivery of these services helped to create safer communities across East Dunbartonshire, with community safety issues being tackled through effective deployment of resources and delivery of intelligence led activity. Throughout the reporting period, officers from the team were engaged in the delivery of services in relation to antisocial behaviour, youth disorder, neighbour disputes, environmental incivilities, dog control, decriminalised parking enforcement, fly-tipping, mediation, CCTV and pest control. Priority activity in 2025-26 included the commencement of enforcement of the new Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 parking prohibitions relating to pavement, double and dropped kerb parking across the Council area with effect from 1 September. Parking enforcement activity to support the traffic free schools’ pilot and all other school areas was also prevalent throughout the year.

The Team continued to experience high demand for service in relation to community safety issues throughout the reporting period. Officers therefore continued to work closely with a range of colleagues and key partners to successfully deliver appropriate interventions and to make our local communities safer, with programmes of enforcement and early intervention, prevention and diversionary activity all being provided. Positive enforcement outcomes were achieved on a wide number of fronts, with activity in relation to fly-tipping particularly to the fore. The Community Wardens also continued to develop links within the local communities they serve, getting involved in a significant number of initiatives and events that were taking place across the Council area.

The Trading Standards Team was engaged in the delivery of essential consumer protection and licensing enforcement services to local consumers and businesses throughout the reporting period to maintain and protect a fair-trading environment in East Dunbartonshire. Officers delivered targeted and risk-based programmes of enforcement work, with priority being given activities closely aligning to the local outcomes contained in the LOIP. Programmes of planned inspection, test purchasing activity and targeted co-production activities were delivered during the reporting period. The Trading Standards project plan was also rolled out across the year with several trading sectors being targeted to maximise consumer protection.

Priority activity during 2025-26 included work to bolster the Trading Standards Trusted Trader Scheme for the local authority area, with work being delivered to develop business participation in the scheme throughout the year. Joint enforcement work by Trading Standards and several partners on scam, doorstep crime and consumer fraud issues continued, focused upon the protection of our vulnerable and elderly populations from financial harm. Trading Standards engaged with the public through the deployment of the “scam van” as part of an awareness and prevention event whilst scam awareness training was also provided for local consumers in several local forums. Programmes of work to improve local business compliance with legislative requirements relating to the supply of tobacco and nicotine vapour products continued, with age restricted product test purchasing being a feature. With legislative developments and heightened media awareness around Nicotine Vapour Products, the reporting period also saw a noted increase in intel gathering and enforcement activity around these types of products. On the enforcement front Trading Standards Officers continued to investigate the supply of trademark infringing goods within the East Dunbartonshire Council area liaising with industry and partner organisations. Trading Standards Officers and Police Scotland also carried out a joint visit to retail premises which intelligence had linked to the supply of illicit tobacco resulting in a significant seizure of goods.

The Licensing Advisors delivered pro-active liquor licensing compliance inspections at local premises across the reporting period. Stakeholders were provided with advice on a range of civic and liquor licensing issues throughout the year and the advisers also represented the service at the relevant council boards to assist with the determination of licence applications. Officers continued to conduct targeted integrity test purchasing projects to measure compliance in relation to alcohol off sales and Challenge 25 verification policy. The Licensing Advisors were heavily in service provision for a range of seasonal licensed events across both the summer and festive periods. Enforcement action was also taken in several cases, with sanctions including a notice of liquor licence removal for an off-sale premise resulting from licence condition infringements and a Licensing Board review.

During 2025–26, the Community Planning and Partnerships Service has delivered a strong programme of work that supports residents, strengthens communities and contributes directly to the Council’s strategic priorities.

The service has played a leading role in developing and progressing key policies and strategies aligned to the Equality Act 2010, the Equality Act (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 and the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015. This includes continued delivery of the Local Outcome Improvement Plan and Locality Plans, with a clear focus on improving outcomes within our priority place areas.

A significant area of progress has been in advancing equality, diversity and inclusion. Extensive engagement with residents, employees and partners has informed the development of the Equality Outcomes for 2025–29, ensuring these reflect local priorities and lived experience. Delivery of the British Sign Language Plan has also progressed, improving accessibility and supporting more inclusive communication across services.

The service continues to deliver a person-centred, case management approach to resettlement, aligned to the New Scots Strategy. Individuals and families are supported from arrival through to integration within their communities, with coordinated support across Homes for Ukraine, Gaza Medivac, asylum dispersal and Afghan resettlement programmes. This work is underpinned by a strong commitment to human rights, contributing to activity aligned with the 1951 Refugee Convention and the Human Rights Act. In addition, the team has begun facilitating community conversations to build understanding, reduce misconceptions and strengthen community connections.

Community capacity building remains a core focus. The service has managed the Community Grant Scheme and Strategic Partnership Agreements, while continuing to coordinate the Community First programme, supporting local groups and communities of interest to build resilience and deliver local solutions. This has been complemented by targeted initiatives such as pocket, places and prosperity and the ongoing wellness kitchen programme, both of which contribute to reducing poverty and inequalities.
Progress has also been made in supporting community asset transfer, with officers working alongside community-controlled bodies to explore and develop opportunities for local ownership and stewardship of assets.

Cultural engagement has been further strengthened through delivery of initiatives linked to the Gaelic Language Plan. This includes successful community events such as a Gaelic Harvest Festival and a community-led Gaelic Day, helping to promote participation, celebrate heritage and increase visibility of Gaelic across the area. The service continues to collaborate with services, community and Bòrd na Gàidhlig officers to discharge duties in respect of the Gaelic (Scotland) Act 2005, and increase Gaelic use.

Partnership working continues to be a key strength. The service has worked closely with NHS Board - Greater Glasgow and Clyde to support the delivery of community vaccination programmes, ensuring local access to COVID-19, flu and other immunisations through clinics in Milngavie and Kirkintilloch Town Halls.

Overall, the service has delivered a broad and balanced programme of activity in 2025–26, with a clear emphasis on prevention, inclusion and community empowerment, and has made a measurable contribution to improving outcomes for local people.

Housing manages 3,906 social rented properties; 3,817 of these are mainstream accommodation and 83 are used for Homeless Temporary Accommodation. The service also manages 48 Lead Tenancies which are rented from either private landlords (27) or Housing Associations (21), to assist with accommodating homeless households.

At present, the Housing list for East Dunbartonshire has 3,444 applications - made up of the following:

• General Waiting list - 2,581 applicants waiting (5 of which are currently on offer) (Applicants who have somewhere to stay i.e., they are owner occupiers, a tenant of a private let, stay care of family etc. This queue allows the applicant to choose which area, house type etc they would like to move to)
• Transfer waiting list - 597 applicants (10 of which are currently on offer) (Council or Housing Association tenants who are looking to move to another Council or Housing Association property, either for a different size, or, for a different area. This queue allows the tenant to choose which area, house type etc. they would like to move to)
• Priority waiting list - 264 applicants (17 of which are currently on offer) (Homeless) (Applicants who have no accommodation or will have nowhere to stay within the next 2 months. This queue does not allow the applicant to choose area or house type)
• Priority waiting list - 2 applicants (0 of which are currently on offer) (Urgent medical) (Applicants who are unable to remain in their current home due to their medical condition. This queue allows the applicant to choose which area, house type etc. they would like to move to).

This year, 140 properties were allocated, 131 of which were general needs mainstream and 9 were sheltered.

They were let to the following queues:

• 60 to the priority homeless queue
• 37 to the transfer queue
• 43 to the general waiting list queue.

Housing Operations and Estate Management have continued to deliver a strong and resilient service throughout the reporting year, maintaining frontline delivery across tenancy management, estate management, anti-social behaviour, allocations, voids and customer support services during a period of sustained demand and operational pressure.

The service has demonstrated a positive commitment to supporting tenants and communities, whilst continuing to balance regulatory requirements, housing need, estate standards and tenancy sustainment responsibilities. Staff across the service have shown professionalism, adaptability and a strong customer focus in responding to increasingly complex casework and wider service pressures.

Throughout the year, the Team provided a visible presence within communities and continued to work collaboratively with internal departments and external partners including community safety, property maintenance, Police Scotland, homelessness services and support agencies. This joined-up approach has allowed the service to respond proportionately and effectively to tenancy issues, anti-social behaviour concerns and wider community matters.

Estate Management activity remained a key priority, with officers continuing to monitor environmental conditions across our communities, address estate concerns raised by residents and coordinate with relevant services to improve the overall appearance and safety of local neighbourhoods. Despite ongoing resource pressures and increased service demand, the team continued to deliver estate inspections, tenancy visits, enforcement activity and customer engagement across housing stock areas.

The Allocations Team has also continued to work extremely hard throughout the year in managing increasing housing demand and significant pressures across the housing register. Demand for social housing continues to exceed supply across many property types and areas, resulting in sustained pressure on the service and longer waiting times for applicants. Despite these challenges, the team has continued to process applications, assess housing need, manage transfers and homelessness referrals, and allocate properties in line with policy and legislative requirements. Officers have continued to support applicants sensitively and professionally, often dealing with complex circumstances and high levels of customer contact while ensuring allocations are carried out fairly, consistently and transparently.

The service has also continued to place significant emphasis on tenancy sustainment and early intervention. Officers have worked proactively with tenants experiencing vulnerabilities, financial hardship or support needs, helping to prevent tenancy breakdown and homelessness where possible. This approach reflects the service’s commitment to delivering a person-centred and trauma-informed approach while ensuring tenancy conditions and policies are applied fairly and consistently.

Performance across key operational areas has faced pressure but remained stable overall, particularly when considering the increasing complexity of housing management cases and the wider pressures currently impacting local authorities nationally. The service has continued to adapt to legislative, operational and customer expectations while maintaining business continuity and supporting organisational priorities.

Housing Operations has continued to support wider transformation and improvement activity throughout the year, including service review, policy development, improved data management, housing system developments and closer partnership working across services. Staff engagement and flexibility have been instrumental in supporting these improvements alongside day-to-day operational delivery.

While there remain challenges across the service, including increasing demand, complex tenancy issues, void pressures and financial constraints, the overall performance of Housing Operations and Estate Management during the year demonstrates a committed and hardworking service that continues to deliver positive outcomes for tenants and communities.

Ongoing staff training and adapting to the ever-changing demands and pressures facing the housing service whilst continuing to deliver essential duties of a front line housing service to tenants and the community overall.

There has been an overall increase in households making a homeless application. Due to low turnover of stock in the area and reduced number of properties in the private rented sector then waiting times on the homelessness list have increased.

• 281 homeless applications were taken; 11% increase compared to 2024/25
• 210 households were added to the homeless list
• 98.5% of investigations were completed within 28 days; 48.5% under 2 weeks, 50% 2-4 weeks and 1.5% over 4 weeks compared to 99% during 2024/5 59% under 2 weeks, 40% 2-4 weeks and 1% over 4 weeks
• There are currently 265 applicants on the homeless list. Two (1%) households have been on the homeless list longer than 3 year; 9% more applicants on the last than 2024/25
• 103 households were referred for housing support (21% homeless applicants); 10% increase compared to 2024/25 (% homeless referrals remained the same)
• 169 calls were received out of hours; 17% increase compared to 2024/25
• 93 households attended housing options appointments (87 (94%) did not need to make a homeless application following advice)
• 102 households were assisted via the furniture grant scheme (329 items provided)
• 104 households at risk of homelessness (section 11’s) were sent a Prevention information pack
• 70 households were provided with advice regarding accommodation in the private sector; 57% increase compared to 2024/25
• 24 households were provided with financial assistance to secure private rented accommodation; 23% increase compared to 2024/25
• The Team worked in partnership with Oxgang Primary to raise awareness of homelessness/housing options, deliver cooking lessons, food collection and make Christmas baskets for those in Rapid Access Accommodation
• 120 children in temporary accommodation were given Christmas vouchers/selection boxes (wrapped by Oxgang Primary Children)
• Project 101 moved to new premises during 2025/6, and now based at Townhead with an excellent facility for engaging young tenants
  
  • 88 households were referred to Project 101
  • A new Young Tenant Group was started with improved engagement and ideas
  • 48 cooking lessons delivered to young tenant.

Shelter Scotland Law Training. Officers have also completed trauma informed practice training, adult/child protection, mental health first aid and fire safety training where appropriate.

• 174 households were placed within temporary accommodation; 32% increase compared to 2024/25. The average stay (ALL) 190 days (285 non emergency); compared to 185 (230 non emergency) during 2024/25; increase of +3% (+24% non emergency)
• 215 homeless voids; 156 new properties and 9 lead tenancies returned to landlord and 15 new temps taken on
• 30 anti social behaviour complaints investigated
• New Rapid Access Accommodation was opened in January 2026; 9 households were placed in the service during 2025/6. The service has 24/7 housing support onsite. During 2025/6 x6 of the 9 placements were moved (average stay of 36 days). X2 moved to dual occupancy x1 moved to settled x3 to alternative temporary accommodation
• 93 households attended housing options appointments; 87 (94%) did not need to make a homeless application following advice
• 102 households were assisted via the furniture grant scheme (329 items provided)
• 104 households at risk of homelessness (section 11’s) were sent a Prevention information pack
• 8 households were assisted via the think differently fund (£1100 total spend); assistance included cost for birth certificate, quilt, Christmas presents, removal costs and transport.
• 7 households were provided with sim cards to access free data/minutes/texts (partnership with the good things foundation)
• 41 tenants at risk of losing their homes due to tenancy arrears were referred to the Homeless and Prevention Team for additional advice/assistance; x39 Council tenants, x1 private sector tenant and x1 RSL/HA tenant. Arrears at referral £63,645.77 reduced by £53,143.02 following advice/assistance
• 70 households were provided with advice regarding accommodation in the private sector; 57% increase compared to 2024/25
• 24 households were provided with financial assistance to secure private rented accommodation; 23% increase compared to 2024/25

During 2025-26 in terms of Landlord Registration there were 294 new registrations, 1,021 updates and 879 renewals. Income collected was £102,000. There were also 2 new Short Term Lets in the local authority area.

Read the full How Good Is Our Service Community Services April 2025 – March 2026 report from page 20 below.

Communications & Engagement

The Communications & Engagement team continue to support the management of the Council’s reputation through effective communications across digital and traditional channels. The team also provide internal communications for the workforce ensuring that every employee is kept informed and know how to access key information.

In 2025/2026 there was a slight increase in media releases issued at 114 (compared to 112 in 2024/2025) and 50 photocalls arranged (51 the previous year). There were 259 media enquiries – less than the 293 last year, but that figure was a significant increase on 2023/2024 (when 208 enquiries were received).

Social media continues to be increasingly important in reaching our residents and in 2025/2026 we saw our total audience rise by over 2200 followers.

The top three most seen posts on Facebook were in relation to a sneak peek look at the new play area planned for Bishopbriggs Park, the upgrade of the specialist BMX track at Langfaulds Park in Bearsden and an Amber Met Office Weather Warning for Storm Floris in August 2025.

The top three posts on X were about the approval of the Council’s budget for 2026/27, the Ward 3 by-election results and an emergency road closure.

We have continued to grow our LinkedIn and Instagram accounts during 2025/2026.

The top three posts on LinkedIn were about planning permission being granted for phase 5 of the Bishopbriggs Relief Road, the £31.5m rebuild planned for Balmuildy Primary School in Bishopbriggs taking a step forward and a video of some drone footage of the work going on at Milngavie Primary School.

Instagram’s top three posts were about the completion of work to remove RAAC from the roof of Bearsden Community Hub, a video about the introduction of phase two of the Council’s Traffic-free Schools project and the start of the pavement parking ban enforcement.

The top three most watched videos on YouTube were our videos about residents having their say on the 2026/27 budget, the live stream of the Council’s budget meeting on 5 March 2026 and the opening of Twechar Outdoor Pursuits Centre.

The top videos on Facebook were about a sneak peek of the newly refurbished Campsie Memorial Hall, a guide to what you can recycle in East Dunbartonshire and the return of red squirrels to Mugdock Country Park.

Design activity saw 690 jobs completed which includes videos, posters, signage, infographics and documents whilst 2269 website updates were carried out for the Council, EDLC, HSCP and schools over the year.

Some key achievements include:

• Produced and delivered communications plans for four flagship education projects: major refurbishment of Bearsden Primary (completed June 2025) and Milngavie Primary as well as construction of replacement schools for Balmuildy Primary and Lenzie Academy. Project webpages, media releases, photocalls and social media posts with engaging graphics keep school communities and the wider public updated with progress at these sites
• Delivered communications plans to promote the enforcement of the Pavement Parking ban with a combination of offline and online messaging including Council Tax letter leaflet insert design and co-ordination, press releases, posters and graphics, telephone messages and social media messaging
• Supported the planning and delivery of 18 consultations across service areas including creation of videos, posters, online and paper surveys, webpages, social media, press releases, letters, community engagement and post consultation reporting and results
• Creation of 41 videos including animations to promote key projects, services and campaigns including hedge maintenance, Blue Badge applications, playpark openings, budget and Traffic Free Schools
• The successful migration of the Council’s employee intranet from The Hub to the Employee Zone which included auditing, user testing, manual content migration and implementation of a new structure
• Supported the Civic Office on key activities including Community Champion Awards, event speeches, school quizzes, Remembrance Day event organisation and Christmas Card competition.

Corporate Performance and Research

The Corporate Performance and Research team continue to play a lead role in the development of strategic planning, performance reporting and statistical support across all Council service areas. In 2025/26 the team continued to fulfil all statutory duties in relation to reporting of performance and provision of data returns in the required timescales.

A selection of key achievements from the team for 2025/26 include:

• All business-as-usual work was completed within timescales, including statutory data returns, annual renewal of the Councils insurance procedures, publication of annual, quarterly and monthly performance reports and bespoke requests for data, area statistics and research
• Despite the volume of complaints remaining at a record high complaints handing timescales have improved with a reduction in the average amount of time taken to respond to complaints and a slight increase on total number of complaints meeting target timescales
• Improved management reporting of complaints with a detailed breakdown of complaints statistics broken down by service area being provided to service managers on a quarterly basis
• Revised internal guidance on complaints handling was completed, and an officer toolkit is now available for officers on the Council website. Training on complaints handling has also been made available and delivered
• Positive progress was made in the implementation of Child Friendly Complaints handling procedures, with Child Friendly complaints handling being included on our CHP and officer training materials. Awareness of the principles and guidance has also been raised to all senior managers at the leadership conference and service management teams
• Analysis was undertaken of the Councils’ Budget Survey with results broken down by different levels of detail s depending to suit different target audiences
• Annual Local Government Benchmarking performance reports that went to Council in October 2025 and March 2026 indicated that contrary to the national trend the Council’s overall performance against our specified benchmarking indicators continues to improve despite reduction in funding for services and increased demand
• Focused data support was provided to Health and Social Care partnership to assist with the development of new methods of service delivery
• Dedicated support continued to be provided to the change team to assist with the rollout of Oracle Fusion
• The undertaking of a benchmarking exercise to assist the Council with budget setting for 2026/2027 and beyond.

Customer Services

The Customer Services Team continued to deliver day to day Customer Services across digital, telephone and face to face channels, aiming to respond effectively to enquiries at first point of contact and liaising with other Council services in more complex situations. Reception services were also delivered across Council business facilities leased to tenants.

Hub opening hours were were revised in April in line with Budget savings, this enables greater flexibility in assigning customer service agents to respond to enquiries via phone which remains the channel with greatest customer demand. Bearsden Hub re-opened in March following the completion of essential repairs, this was welcomed by residents, customers and the customer service team.

The team provided Registration services with 5.1 FTE Assistant Registrars in conjunction with the Council Registrar registering 771 births, 2,205 deaths, 2 still births, 323 marriages and 16 civil partnerships across 2025. This was a total of 3,315 registration events and the customer service agents/assistant registrars carried out 3,152 of these or 95% (registration data is collated by calendar year 2025).

The team were involved in digital transformation projects throughout 2024/25 and this continued into 2025/26, with significant progress made in the development of new digital systems including Hub appointment booking functionality in the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. Initially, customer service agents are using this to book hub appointments before being made available to customers for self-service appointment booking on the website. This is part of our approach to increasing digital access to services, ensuring customers have greater choice in how they engage with the Council.

The Emergency Response Centre team continued to operate 24/7 throughout the year, handling community alarm activation calls in both East and West Dunbartonshire. The team handle calls out with normal working hours where the Council is required to respond to urgent or emergency situations such as road traffic incidents, weather related incidents, and emergency repairs for Council tenants. The team also continued to monitor Town Centre CCTV, supporting Police Scotland and Community Safety colleagues in addressing public safety. The project to replace Town Centre CCTV encountered some technical challenges with transmission, however it continues to progress well.

The Community Alarm call handling system was replaced with a new digital platform Chubb Sky Response with East Dunbartonshire Council among the early adopters to undertake a shared procurement process for the system. Development is ongoing with productive collaboration between Local Authority users of the system and the Scottish Digital Office, sharing best practice and knowledge ensuring the system functionality is continually improving. The ERC team continue to have a key role in the analogue to digital programmes being undertaken by both East and West Dunbartonshire Local Authorities, this will be ongoing until the telecom infrastructure suppliers make the final switchover in January 2027.

Ahead of the digital switchover, it is necessary to replace the analogue telecare equipment in the six sheltered housing complexes across the authority, this programme progressed at pace with only one complex to be completed by May 2026. The emergency response centre team ensured customer information was up to date and newly installed digital alarms were successfully connecting to the response centre.

Recruitment was undertaken across the team to fill vacant posts in Customer Services and the Emergency Response Centre. To ensure we are continually improving the service we deliver, refresher training is ongoing for all in the team with a focus on Complaint Handling to provide agents with a greater knowledge and understanding of the Council’s complaint handling process.

Key Achievements of the team in 2025/26 included:

• Effectively handled 110,656 calls with an average response time of 7 minutes 48 seconds, in addtion the team also handled 18,305 Social Work calls, 1,720 appointments and 9,164 drop-in customers across the Hubs
• Provided support to residents and Waste Services through changes to waste collection schedules and the very busy seasonal garden waste permit scheme
• Continued to support the development of primary systems used across the team, including the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system and the digital call handling platform Chubb Sky Response for community alarms. This includes scheduling Hub appointments in the CRM and improved performance reporting functionality from both the CRM and the Sky Response platform
• Supported up to 5000 Community Alarm Care customers to live independently at home in East Dunbartonshire and West Dunbartonshire Council areas, handling a total of 227,163 alarm activations throughout the year
• The Emergency Response Centre team also handled 6,157 out of hours calls with an average time to answer of 35seconds, ensuring the appropriate action was arranged for urgent and emergency situations
• The Emergency Response Centre team continues to provide support to both East and West Dunbartonshire’s analogue to digital programmes, including a key role in the work undertaken to replace analogue telecare equipment in sheltered housing complexes across East Dunbartonshire ensuring vulnerable residents can continue to access vital alarm services
• Monitoring public realm CCTV and providing Police Scotland colleagues with footage downloads in support of public safety and criminal investigations and supporting the project to replace the CCTV system including the equipment within the emergency response centre
• Customer services provided support and assistance to the Civil Contingencies team when a fire in a former school forced the evacuation of nearby residents, including supporting the standing up of a rest centre through the night
• Supporting the delivery of Registration Services in conjunction with the Council Registrar, the team completed 95% of the registrations undertaken in 2025.

HR & Organisational Development

The Human Resources & Organisational Development Team lead on workforce centred activities including, policy development, resourcing, workforce and succession plannning, workforce analytics, people development, Job Evaluation, recruitment and retention, attendance and wellbeing improvement as well as providing strategic and operational employee relations support including case management of discipline, grievance and absence and partnership working.

Delivery focus in 2025/26 has included:

• Trades Union engagement continued a weekly basis and has been focused on strategic matters facing the Council, such as service review and redesign to continue to meet the needs of East Dunbartonshire residents within available resources
• Continuing to support services through discipline, grievance, performance improvement and absence management cases to ensure legal compliance and mitigation of risk
• Continuous cycle with Job Evaluation and Teacher Job Sizing being processed accordingly. The Council has positively achieved the delivery of real time Job Evaluation and Teacher Job Sizing
• Introduction of new/ updated Policies – Charter of Commitment, Drug, Alcohol & Substance Misuse, Career Break, Dignity at Work, Sexual Harassment, with continued and planned workstream with TUs to consider other policies
• Supporting organisational changes and budget decision outcomes across the organisation and in line with Workforce Action Plans developed with Executive Officers
• Provision of training & development through sourcing and provision of essential training requirements across the workforce, including external training providers where required and delivery of Council training courses across service areas to meet demand and need
• Promotion of Moodle across the organisation to raise awareness of training resources available. Development of the Council’s Moodle e-learning platform to develop and launch EDC policy-based courses
• Supporting the Oracle Fusion Project Phase 2 to deliver a new HR and Payroll system to replace Itrent. Significant resourcing from the service is supporting the implementation plan and milestones of this project
• Payroll Services maintained and processed the payover of the various payruns within timescales, with the completion of a series of statutory returns. Also implementing the Local Government Employees and Teachers pay awards
• Building on the success in April 2025, of migrating over 3000 local government workers to a single monthly payroll. Implemented a revised Overtime claim form and process, allowing for a more efficient process for employees, managers and payroll, reducing time take to process and
• Throughout the year facilitated employee briefing sessions, financial awareness sessions, communications to employees via letters and the employee zone
• Support the EDACT to embed Trauma Informed Practice across the organisation and the roll out of an e-learning module
• Concluding Discipline and Grievance cases as timely as possible whilst always ensuring early intervention and informal resolution principles apply
• Working with line managers across Council services in relation to advice, guidance and management of long term and short-term absence in line with the Councils Attendance Management Policy
• Continued support to employees and line managers across the spectrum of Employee Relations.

Read the full How Good Is Our Service Customer Services & Organisational Development April 2025– March 2026 from page three of the document below.

The purpose of the Education Service is to deliver excellence and equity for all children, young people, families and communities. The Education Service strives to improve attainment and outcomes for all learners, with a particular focus on reducing inequalities and narrowing the poverty-related attainment gap.

The purpose of this Report is to evaluate progress in improvement priorities set out in the Business Improvement Plan, April 2025 - March 2026, in line with statutory duties. The Report summarises performance and achievements and sets out key areas of focus for improvement that inform the Education Service Plan (ESP) 2025 - 2028 and policy and planning across the Service.

Refreshed Vision, Values and Aims

The Education Service conducted a comprehensive consultation with all stakeholders to review the Vision, Values and Aims of the service. A high level of responses were received, and the voice of all stakeholders was considered in the final agreed version.

The visual representation of the Vision, Values and Aims was carefully considered. The symbolisation of mind, knowledge, growth, and success is at the heart of the concept. The graphic combines the brain representing critical thinking; the light bulb as a symbol of ideas and innovation; the heart as a symbol of care, compassion and emotional intelligence; the open book as the traditional symbol of knowledge and learning and finally the laurel symbolising growth, harmony and aspiration.

The new Vision for the Education Service ‘Excellence for All - A commitment to excellence, equity and inclusion that empowers all children and young people to succeed in learning and life’ combined with the carefully chosen values of respect, courage, creativity, fairness and trust encapsulate the skills, actions and values expected for all our staff, children and young people.

Underpinning our commitment to continuous improvement for all, five aims were identified as overarching priorities. These aims will be measured against the Education Service improvement priorities to ensure a key focus on improving outcomes for all.

These are as follows:

Equity & Opportunity
To reduce barriers, promote equity, and enhance opportunities so all learners can thrive in a diverse, inclusive and creative learning environment.

Family & Community Partnerships
To work collaboratively with families and communities, putting children’s rights at the heart of decision making and supporting family wellbeing.

Learning and Teaching
To deliver high-quality innovative learning and teaching, that supports wellbeing, achievement and attainment for all.

Child Centred and Future Focussed
To provide an education system based on relationships and collaboration to prepare every learner for a successful future.

Inclusion and Empowerment
To foster a nurturing and inclusive environment where everyone feels respected, safe and inspired to achieve their full potential.

The Chief Education Officer is responsible for the strategic leadership of the Education Service and for advising the local authority on functions as set out in the Education (Scotland) Act 2016. The Chief Education Officer has direct line management responsibility for the Education Leadership Team (ELT) and all Head Teachers and Heads of Early Years Centres.

The Education Leadership Team (ELT) have strategic remits to support planning, improvement and performance across the Education Service. ELT membership includes:

• Chief Education Officer
• Quality Improvement Manager (QIM) Early Years and Primary
• Quality Improvement Manager (QIM) Additional Support Needs (ASN) and Children’s Services
• Quality Improvement Manager (QIM) Secondary and Provision
• School Planning and Improvement Manager
• Principal Educational Psychologist (PEP)
• Skills for Life, Learning and Work Manager

Quality Improvement Officers (QIOs), Central Officers and Educational Psychologists support quality improvement and the implementation of actions in the Education Service Plan.

Our Schools and Early Years Centres

The Education Service provides high quality provision across:

• 21 Early Years Centres and 1 ASN specialist Early Years provision
• 32 Primary Schools
• 8 Secondary Schools
• 1 ASN School
• 3 Primary and 3 Secondary Enhanced Learning Resources (ELR)
• Primary and Secondary Well-being Support Services
• 31 Early Years providers in the private, voluntary, and independent sector, including Childminders who are in contract with the Council to deliver funded Early Learning and Childcare hours.

View the full How Good Is Our Service Education April 2025 – March 2026 report in the document section below.

Finance & Digital Services provides support to all services in the Council in the management and safeguarding of resources, and provides a lead for digital transformation. The areas covered include Finance, Revenue & Benefits, Business & Digital Change, Shared Services, Rent Arrears, ICT Services, Internal Audit and Corporate Fraud. In carrying out these services, we aim to meet statutory obligations, current best practice and provide a responsive and quality service to our internal customers and external stakeholders. The Strategic Grouping contributes to the Corporate Governance of the Council through the Statutory Roles of the S.95 Officer and the team’s focus on supporting and strengthening controls and monitoring legislative compliance.

Finance 

The Finance team has been working with Executive Officers and Managers to monitor the in-year position, working towards reporting the year end outturn. The team has supported the implementation of the new Oracle Fusion system whilst managing other financial management, reporting, external audit and budgeting requirements in the context of limited resources. Key achievements for the team in 2025/2026 were:

• Supporting Mazars on their audit of the 2023/24 annual accounts
• Local Finance Returns being finalised
• 2026/27 budget submitted and approved
• Completion of Scottish Government returns for funding and benchmarking purposes, and
• Preparation work for production of the 2024/25 annual accounts and the 2025/26 annual accounts.

Revenues and Benefits

The Revenues and Benefits team process the collection of Council Tax, Non Domestic Rates, benefits administration and the Scottish Welfare Fund. Key achievements delivered in 2025/26 were:

• Issued almost 82,000 bills over the year including 49,300 during the annual billing period, and handled the response to these efficiently and effectively
• Promoted the use of the Citizens Access Portal which allows residents to check the status of their Council Tax account, apply for Single Person Discount, and make changes to Direct Debit instructions
• Increased the number of e-bills for Council Tax from 2,200 to over 3,200
• Processed almost 110,000 (90,000 24/25) benefit notifcations
• Issued 5000 Non Domestic Rate bills
• Dealt with almost 19,000 Council Tax enquiries including letters, aplpication forms for discounts and queries.The team dealt with over 4,500 (3,400 in 24/25) Scottish Welfare Fund applications
• The Accuracy & Performance Team conducted sample testing across the system reporting 99% accuracy.

ICT Services 

The ICT Services team continues to support the Council’s information technology assets and systems to ensure high availability and performance in line with agreed service levels. The ICT Services team works closely with the Business and Digital Change Team to deliver the Transformation Programme including the delivery of Oracle Fusion HCM. The Infrastructure team works with the Major Assets team planning and delivering projects. The Security Team monitors the Council’s ICT systems and perimeter defences to ensure the security of data and information systems.

Key highlights for 2025/26 are as follows:

• Installed 796 Interactive panels across the school estate
• Replaced 327 laptops with Windows 11 devices and carried out in place upgrades on a further 700 devices
• Supported major assets team with additional classrooms at Gartconnner Primary School, the opening of Bearsden Hub and Torrance Community Centre
• Transitioned Concil to new VPN system impoving the experience when working remotely
• Supported the Information Management Team in replacing printers across the estate
• Replaced Council Firewall with new features which improve security and performance
• Upgraded the Council’s Internet filtering and reporting solution.
• Renewed Council’s PSN accreditation
• Supported Business and Digital Change colleagues in the provision of project delivery across multiple systems.

Shared Services 

The Shared Services Team provide transactional and admin support activities to support a wide range of Council Service areas including Education and Social Work. The team also provide front line service support to Community Letting.

Examples of key achievements delivered in 2025/26 are as follows:

• Processed just under 3000 Blue Badges
• Processed almost 1400 Free School Meal and Clothing Grant applications
• Processed over 1350 placing requests for Education and dealt with 300 school registrations
• Administration of the new Independent Review Officer (IRO) process for Social Work
• Supported new overtime process for multiple services and HR/ Payroll colleagues
• The Residential Team added over 1,100 service agreements to CareFirst for clients moving into care homes or for supported living services within their own homes
• The Homecare Team added over 4,000 service agreements to CareFirst for clients receiving a homecare service or a direct payment
• The Direct Payment Audit Team carried out just under 270 audits
• The Education Maintenance Allowance Team dealt with over 340 applications.

Housing Rent Arrears Rents and Tenant Participation

For the financial year 2025/26 the rent arrears outcome was £552,544.94, which exceeded the set target of £570,000. This was a decrease of £39,885 against the financial year end outcome for 2024/25 a 6.73% reduction.

This reduction in arrears compares well against the average rent arrear increase of 4.24% across 15 other Local Authorities, who provided year end information to the Scottish Rents Forum, with only 5 others reducing arrears within this group. Within this comparison group the average tenant rent arrears are £609.07, whereas the average tenant rent arrears for EDC tenants are £296.91, which is also the lowest.

The team have continued to reduce rent arrears despite ongoing economic challenges being faced by many tenants, by making the best use of resources available while also delivering on efficiency savings. The maximisation of housing rental income and pursuit of rent arrears continues to be a priority for the service, to safeguard income.

This is achieved through a dedicated team of Officers, whose role is to actively pursue rent arrears and provide advice and support to tenants struggling to pay their rent. This includes issuing letters, home visits, telephone calls, emails, etc, which begin as soon as arrears are accrued on a rent account; providing early intervention advice on rent charges, payment options and discussing rent affordability to new tenants at the time of offer acceptance of their new tenancy; signposting tenants struggling financially to relevant support services to ensure household incomes are maximised; and providing additional support to tenants receiving Universal Credit housing element by having a presence in Kirkintilloch Job Centre every Tuesday morning. Rent arrears procedures are actioned towards tenants in rent arrears, with a firm but fair approach being applied and, where reasonable, serious rent arrear cases are escalated for court action and then eviction.

The Tenant Participation Team continues to provide direct ongoing support to active Tenants and Residents Associations.

Key Achievements

• Active Tenant Rent Arrears were £552,544.94 which is a decrease of 6.73% on the year end outcome for 2024/25 and compares well against others where there is an overall average increase of 4.24%
• Housing Officers continue to utilise all avenues to maximise rental income and reduce rent arrears, apply a firm but fair approach when escalating actions against tenants whose rent arrears are increasing, and also provide advice and assistance to tenants who engage and need additional support
• Weekly Tuesday morning appointments for tenants at Kirkintilloch Job Centre with Housing Officers and Work Coaches to assist those in receipt of the Universal Credit housing element
• Annual rent setting consultation carried out during December 2025, giving tenants an opportunity to express their views on proposals for a rent increase for 2026/27
• Five Tenant Participation Working Group meetings held in May, August, October 2025, and January, March 2026. This was attended by tenants, tenant representatives, elected members and EDC staff
• Three Sheltered Housing Forum meetings were held in May, August and November 2025. This was attended by tenants, external services and EDC staff
• Facilitated an information stall at Kirkintilloch Town Hall in April 2025 promoting Tenant Participation and providing general housing advice at the East Dunbartonshire HSCP & Partners Meet the Services Event
• Three online issues of the Taking Part newsletter published in April, August and December 2025 with links emailed to all EDC tenants where they have provided their contact email address. Newsletter available on EDC website and advertised on EDC social media platforms
• Supported 2 Tenants & Residents Associations facilitate an estates walkabout and community litter pick which was attended by tenants, tenant representatives, elected members and EDC staff.

Business & Digital Change

The Business & Digital Change Team brings together two key services: Business Systems and Project & Change Management. These multi-disciplinary teams drive transformation, change and modernisation across all services within the Council, influencing and leading a culture of innovation and collaboration.

The Business Systems team ensures the effective and efficient development, deployment, management and support of the Council’s Business Systems across all Council services.

The Project Management & Change team manages the successful delivery of a range of multi-disciplinary and cross functional projects; ensuring the effective provision of project and change management integral to the Council’s Digital Development programme. They also support development of long-term innovation to maximise opportunities for transforming services across the Council. The team also includes the remit of Project Governance, ensuring best practice is deployed in all aspects of programme/project delivery

Key achievements delivered in 2025/26 are as follows:

• The Business Systems Team have successfully maintained 83 Business Systems. This has included 34 system upgrades throughout the year, effectively managing 133 incidents, 5 integrations, completing 2 PSN remedial activities and supported several digital transformation projects throughout the year
• Replacement HR & Payroll system design stage completed. Key User Training delivered. Multiple iterations of User Acceptance Testing, Data migrations and Parallel Payroll Processing tests in progress
• Successfully stabilised the housing management solution resolving all go live issues, delivering key letters and reporting capabilities to support business operations, reducing reliance on Smartsheet based processes and progressing plans for Phase two focused on enhanced customer functionality
• Supported auditors by extracting and providing data from both current and legacy applications, ensuring transparency and accuracy throughout the audit process
• Delivered multiple CareFirst training sessions strengthening team capacity and improving service delivery, while successfully implementing a key milestone through the introduction of automated payment processes for voluntary organisations within Adult Services
• Successfully developed and rolled out a Disclosure Scotland application using the Power Platform, streamlining processes in managing disclosure requirements
• Supported the organisation wide rollout of Windows 11, ensuring a smooth transition for users and maintaining business continuity
• Our transition to Digital Telecare nears completion – East Dunbartonshire Council now sits at 98% digital devices in the field, with the remaining 4 installations being prioritised by our colleagues in the HSCP
• Started the modernisation of our Sheltered Housing complexes throughout East Dunbartonshire to digital telecare. Five sites have now been completed, and resident feedback has been excellent. Using dispersed units to give our most vulnerable residents confidence in audio quality and promote longer, safer independent living
• The CRM platform continues to deliver innovation with internal development – Replacements for our Customer HUB booking system, Mavis Valley Waste booking and Early Years portal are now live. Dozens of other applications/forms have also been developed and launched ranging from Employee Exit documentation to Tree Inspection forms
• Future developments for the CRM will include a replacement platform for Mugdock Country Park events and resource booking and the replacement of our FOI database
• Supported the second season of the Garden Waste permit launch.

Internal Audit

The Audit Team’s work is underpinnned by the Internal Audit Plan which sets out areas of audit focus for the year ahead. The team completed 57% of the 2025/26 Plan, with 17 out of 30 planned outputs delivered by 31 March 2026. A further eight audits were in progress at the year end. With regards to outputs, these were lower than planned due to vacancies in the team resulting in a lower number of audits being completed by the year end. The work performed in the year nonetheless focused on areas of risk for the Council, to enable the provision of the year end audit opinion on controls, governance and risk management. The detail of the work of the team including the annual audit opinion is reported separately to the Audit & Risk Management Committee in June 2026.

Corporate Fraud

Throughout 2025/2026, the Corporate Fraud Team continued to provide a counter fraud service to the Council, and full details of the results achieved will be reported to the Audit & Risk Management Committee.

The team delivers both proactive and reactive services, with a primary focus in the proactive space being on tenancy fraud and school registration fraud. In the reactive space, referrals received from both external and interal sources continue to predominantly fcous on Council Tax related issues. The team also continues its work on whistleblowing cases, liasing closely with HR where appropriate, and providing advice to services on fraud prevention. The team have also received data matches from the National Fraud Initiative, this being a data matching exercise cordinated by Audit Scotland and The Cabinet Office. This biennial exercise is nearing its conlcusion, with most matches concluded on. The team continues to collaborate closely with a number of services, in particular, Customer Services, Estates, Housing, Revenues and Benefits, providing advice and undertaking vetting of applications to strengthen gateways and prevent fraud from occuring.

View the full How Good Is Our Service Finance and Digital Services April 2025 – March 2026 from page 23 of the document below.

The Council’s Land Planning & Development Strategic Grouping encompasses the following teams and the following paragraphs summarise their delivery story for 2025/26 and contributions towards local outcomes:

Land Planning Policy

Responsible for the preparation, consultation and publication of the Council’s Land Use, Greenspace and Biodiversity and Economic Development Policy which includes the East Dunbartonshire Local Development Plan and associated guidance and strategies, Economic Development Strategy, Circular Economy Strategy, Green Network Strategy, Open Space Strategy, Greenspace Strategy and Local Biodiversity Action Plan; leading and delivering Community Planning Local Outcome 1, development and monitoring of other land use planning, greenspace, biodiversity and economic development plans and strategies; and contributes to the development and delivery of the Regional Spatial Strategy and the Glasgow City Region Economic Strategy.

• Work on the new Local Development Plan for East Dunbartonshire is ongoing. The Evidence Report for Local Development Plan 3 (LDP3) was approved by Council on 19 June 2025 and submitted to the Planning and Environmental Appeals Division of the Scottish Government (DPEA) to undergo Gate Check assessment on 18 August 2025. The Council subsequently received the outcome of the Gate Check assessment on 05 November 2025. The Reporter found that whilst the Evidence Report provided a comprehensive summary of evidence gathered on topics relevant to the preparation of the next LDP for East Dunbartonshire, there was an insufficiency of information regarding education and healthcare infrastructure, and the setting of an Indicative Local Housing Land Requirement. Officers have been working with relevant internal services to address the matters set out in the Reporter’s recommendations. A revised Evidence Report was subsequently presented to Council on 2 April 2026 for approval. Thereafter, and upon completion of final administrative and other tasks, the revised Evidence Report will be submitted to the DPEA to undergo a further Gate Check assessment
• In order to address the Reporter’s recommendations, the Land Planning Policy Team have contacted the stakeholders that had previously commented on the Indicative Local Housing Land Requirement to advise of a proposed minor methodological change, and to give those stakeholders an opportunity to comment on the change. The period for comments ended on 18 February 2026. All comments received will be taken into account in preparing the revised Evidence Report
• A Call for Ideas and Sites consultation as part of the preparation of the Proposed Plan for LDP3 was undertaken between July 2025 and September 2025. To support the consultation, the following sessions have taken place:
  • Online information session
  • Drop-in session in Kirkintilloch Town Hall
  • Drop-in session in the Fraser Centre, Milngavie
  • Schools engagement session - held at Bearsden Academy with pupils from Turnbull High and Kirkintilloch High also in attendance
• Officers will consider all of the information received during the consultation as part of the preparation of the Proposed Plan
• As part of the ongoing preparation of LDP3, an updated Development Plan Scheme (DPS) was approved by the Place, Neighbourhood & Corporate Assets committee on 06 November 2025 and has been published on the Council’s website. The Land Planning Policy team have also circulated multiple newsletters to provide updates on the on-going development of the Local Development Plan
• The team has continued to support community groups who have expressed an interest in developing a Local Place Plans (LPP) for their area by providing information about key requirements, contents and processes for ‘registration’ by the planning authority, as well as facilitating coordination between different groups. All LPP’s received by the Council are to be placed on a ‘Local Place Plans Register’ on the Council’s website where they demonstrate that the minimum legislative requirements have been met. To date, one LPP has been registered (Lenzie Local Place Plan - Whitegates Walkway-Cycleway), a copy of which is now available on the Council’s website
• The Land Planning Policy Team has been contributing to the ongoing reforms of the planning system by preparing and coordinating Council responses to the following Scottish Government consultations:
  
  • Draft guidance on Planning Obligations and Good Neighbourhood Agreements
  • Permitted development rights to support the provision of new homes
  • Onshore electricity generation - Electricity Act threshold: consultation
  • Accelerating home building - incentives and penalties to speed up housing delivery: consultation
• The Land Planning Policy Team Leader has been leading on a review of the first year of the National Planning Improvement Framework (NPIF), which has included:
  
  • Providing feedback on the NPIF process to National Planning Improvement Team
  • Ensuring that the monitoring arrangements for implementing the actions in the NPIF are undertaken
  • Meeting with officers from Inverclyde as our peer planning authority
  • Coordinating a meeting with the Chief Planner, Development Applications Planning Team Leader and representatives of the National Planning Improvement Team to provide updates on progress with the Improvement Action Plan; and
  • Production of a report providing an update on the first year of implementing the National Planning Improvement Framework for East Dunbartonshire, prepared in conjunction with National Planning Improvement Team.
• The Land Planning Policy Team received a request to consider trees at Whitegates Park in Lenzie for Tree Preservation Order status. A report on the matter was approved at Policy and Resources Committee on 3 February 2026, with the order coming into effect on 5 March 2026. A period for making representations to the order ran until 10 April 2026, after which it is intended that the order will be taken back to committee for confirmation (subject to representations received)
• Work has begun on a new Economic Development Strategy for East Dunbartonshire. The preparation of the strategy is being overseen by the East Dunbartonshire Economic Partnership, which includes representatives from relevant partner organisations and internal Council services. Officers have also collaborated with the Glasgow City Region Intelligence Hub to produce a a draft socioeconomic baseline including strategic topics and data from official sources to inform the preparation of the strategy. An initial public engagement stage seeking views from local businesses, organisations and residents was undertaken between 17 February 2025 and 11 April 2025. This included undertaking online surveys, a public forum, drop-in sessions at various locations across East Dunbartonshire and dedicated events for young people. All responses to the consultation have been collated and analysed, and will be used to create a foundation for developing the new EDS
• Officers have engaged with the Community Wealth Building Practitioners Network, which brings together Scottish local authorities to share best practices and experiences to ensure that economic development benefits local communities. The network provides a platform for ongoing learning and updates on the Community Wealth Building (Scotland) Bill, latterly the Community Wealth Building (Scotland) Act 2026, and has informed the preparation of the new Economic Development Strategy. In addition, the Economic Development and Place Policy Officer prepared a response to the Economy and Fair Work Committee’s Call for Views on the Community Wealth Building Bill (which has now passed). An information session on the Community Wealth Building Bill with internal and external partners was also held on 6 August 2025
• A revised implementation and monitoring framework for the Circular Economy Strategy, which was adopted in 2023, was approved at Council on 2 October 2025. This included giving consideration to the implications for the Council as a result of the introduction of the Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024.

Sustainability Team

Develops and delivers the Council’s sustainability policies, strategies and guidance and ensures compliance with sustainability, climate change and transport legislation including Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) obligations placed on the Council. The Team leads on the preparation, consultation, monitoring and review of the Climate Action Plan, Local Heat & Energy Efficiency Strategy, Carbon Management Plan, Public Bodies Climate Change Duty Reporting process, Food Growing Strategy, climate modelling, Local Transport Strategy, Active Travel Strategy and Parking Management Plan.

• The Draft Climate Action Plan was approved by Council for consultation in October (EDC/035/25/RS). The consultation, which was organised in collaboration with the Corporate Communications team and EDVA, ran from 13 October 2025 until 19 December 2025. It included drop-in sessions, a school engagement event, targeted events for disadvantaged communities, a digital event, and bespoke events in response to requests from communities. The consultation was also covered in 12 local newspapers / magazine articles, including in the Glasgow Times, Kirkintilloch Herald, Milngavie and Bearsden Herald and Bearsden and Milngavie Community Magazine, numerous posts on Facebook, X, Linkedin and Instagram, and information sent to staff through employee news
• A report was taken to the Community Planning Partnership Board to provide an update on the Draft Climate Action Plan and its public consultation (CPPB/008/25/RS). A presentation providing an update on the draft Climate Action Plan and consultation was also delivered to Community Planning Partnership Board. Requests for further engagement at the meeting were followed up on including a presentation on the draft CAP being delivered to HSCP’s Management Team and meetings being held with Skills Development Scotland. A report was also taken to Community Planning Partnership Board to provide an update on East Dunbartonshire Climate Action Hub’s work for 2026/27 and the Council’s collaboration with the Climate Action Hub (CPPB/002/26/RS)
• £50,000 of Scottish Government funding was secured to support a feasibility study for a heat network in central Kirkintilloch, based on an opportunity identified in the Council’s Local Heat & Energy Efficiency Strategy (LHEES) Delivery Plan. An update on progress of the Council’s LHEES Delivery Plan and Circular Economy Strategy were included in a Council Report in October 2025 (EDC/035/25/RS) and the feasibility work was completed in March 2026
• Recruitment of a Sustainable Transport Policy Officer and a Climate Change Policy and Strategic Environmental Assessment Officer were completed and their inductions were held. The Climate Change Policy Officer joined the team on 1 September 2025 and the new Sustainable Transport Policy Officer joined on 6 October 2025.
• Place Neighbourhood & Corporate Assets committee approved the Public Bodies Climate Change Duty (PBCCD) Report and Carbon Management Plan (CMP) for 2024/25. Both reports expand on emissions gathered in previous years by including estimated emissions from employee commuting and homeworking using data gathered from the Council’s employee travel survey. The PBCCD Report was submitted to Scottish Government in advance of the deadline and initial discussions were held to schedule the 2026 employee travel survey
• PNCA Committee approved the publication and delivery of the finalised Food Growing Strategy 2026 - 2031 for East Dunbartonshire. The extensive engagement that was undertaken in the development of the Food Growing Strategy is summarised in an accompanying report and updates were added to the Council’s webpage
• A committee report was taken to PNCA in May 2025 on the Scottish Government’s Draft Statutory Guidance for public bodies on the implementation of the Public Sector Climate Change Duties. The report contains an analysis and summary of the 266-page guidance document in addition to proposed Council responses to the consultation. A response to the consultation was submitted before it closed on 23 May 2025.
• A Technical Note on the Scottish Government’s consultation on the Draft Just Transition Plan for Transport was prepared and distributed in May. The report contains an analysis and summary of the document in addition to proposed Council responses to the consultation. A response to the consultation was submitted before it closed on 19 May 2025
• A Technical Note on the Scottish Government’s consultation on minimum energy efficiency standard regulations for domestic private rented sector under the Draft Energy Efficiency (Domestic Private Rented Property) (Scotland) Regulations was shared for internal feedback prior to it being distributed in August. The report contains an analysis and summary of the proposals in addition to proposed Council responses to the consultation. A response to the consultation was submitted before it closed on 29 August 2025
• The Council responded to consultations on both the draft and proposed finalised versions of the Climate Change Plan. Information on both along with proposed responses were circulated with a Technical Note. The response on the draft was submitted in September 2025 and on the proposed finalised version in January 2026
• The Sustainability Team piloted an informal partnership with Glasgow Caledonian University’s Masters in Urban Climate and Sustainability programme to give postgraduate students the opportunity to complete their thesis in an area related to the Sustainability Team’s work while providing the students with an insight into local government’s role in sustainability policy. Three students wrote dissertations in areas that could add value to the Council’s work in summer of 2025, and one of the postgrads went on to secure employment at another Scottish local authority
• Feedback was provided to Climate Ready Clyde on a draft Concordat between CRC and the Council and to inform the forthcoming Climate Ready Regions Project Pipeline. Input was provided to Climate Ready Clyde on Council adaptation work to inform the forthcoming Climate Ready Regions Project Pipeline and some match funding was secured for a Nature Based Investment Study which the Service is proposing to carry out in 2026/27, subject to securing further external funding
• Updates were made to the Council’s School Travel Plans and to support a refresh of the Parking Management Plan to reflect the range of relevant Council transport initiatives that have progressed over recent years
• The Sustainability Team engaged with Strathclyde Partnership for Transport to update the Council’s Employee Travel Survey in partnership with the Communication and Engagement Team. The survey went live in February 2026 and over 400 responses were received
• An evaluation of the Community Carbon Literacy Training Programme was undertaken in April 2025. The training was delivered to a total of 179 attendees in 2024/25: 141 completing the accredited training, 21 completing a focussed session, 5 completing the in-depth ‘Train the Trainer’ course and 12 participated in a youth session
• A Strategic Environmental Assessment service has been provided to colleagues across the Council. Sustainability input has also been provided for various planning applications in addition to ad-hoc projects from other Council teams
• The Sustainability Team submitted input to National Energy System Operator (NESO) on grid infrastructure upgrades in East Dunbartonshire to inform NESO’s work on the future energy needs to promote growth in Scotland. Colleagues from across the Council were contacted to ensure that all major work that is planned that would have implications for the grid - such as heat decarbonisation, transport decarbonisation and major developments - were incorporated into the Council’s response. Input was also provided to NESO on the UK’s Strategic Spatial Energy Plan.
• Four CAP Newsletters were distributed to outline a range of Council actions on sustainability related activities during the year
• The Sustainability Team attended a training session hosted by the Scottish Climate Intelligence Service (SCIS) on the new ClimateView tool which will enable live modelling of the Council's emissions and means of sharing live CAP actions with stakeholders in future. Following an invitation, a presentation was delivered to all SCIS staff on the Council’s work on the Just Transition to help to guide where SCIS could add value through their capacity-building work and the ClimateView platform
• The eight Active Travel Strategy evidence reports that were taken to by PNCA in January 2023 have been reviewed and were updated to reflect more recent local, regional, and national developments
• A presentation was delivered in January 2026 in partnership with Skills Development Scotland to provide career advisors across East Dunbartonshire with an outline of emerging green job projections and potential pathways to such opportunities to help to disseminate this information to young people and those who influence them. Input was also provided for the forthcoming Community Learning and Development Action Plan on opportunities such as this collaboration on green skills and collaborative engagement through the forthcoming Climate Change Forums.

Development Applications - Planning

Manages all Development Management functions including the processing of planning applications and the validation function in line with locally and nationally set performance targets; and carries out planning enforcement.

Development Applications - Building Standards

Fulfils the Council’s role as Building Standards verification authority and delivers associated Building Standards services in line with locally and nationally set performance targets.

• The teams processed and determined over 665 planning applications and 1125 building warrant applications this year. This ranged from small scale householder applications to major residential and commercial projects which are subject to detailed consultation with key internal departments such as Neighbourhood Services, Environmental Health, Education, Legal and external statutory consultees such HES, SEPA and Scottish Water
• Through the planning process the team secured developer contributions towards Sustainable Transport, Green Infrastructure, Open Space, Nature Conservation, Affordable Housing, Community Facilities Education and Primary Healthcare
• By the end of 2025/26 a total of £20,634.45 had been received through pre application charging as an established income stream
• The team work closely with Housing and Major Assets colleagues with regard to Council led projects and contribute towards the delivery of new community facilities such as schools, nursery sites, new Campsie Memorial Hall , Twechar and other Affordable Housing projects
• The Validation Team have focused efforts on improving targets for issuing letter to applicants confirming whether their planning application is valid. With an average performance of 68% of applications receiving a letter within 5 working days over 2025/2026. Whilst this is below the target of 80% it does represent an improvement on last years figure of 56%
• The Team have received and responded to eight Proposal of Application Notices during the reporting period. This has given the team the opportunity to engage with the developer, front load the application and promote the use of Processing Agreements
• The Enforcement Team have also continued to deal with a high number of new cases. A total of 68 cases were taken up and 117 cases closed. The majority of cases resolved were done so through the use of negotiation and co-operation avoiding the need for any formal action. Cases have ranged in scale from domestic breaches to trees being removed in Conservation Areas and unauthorised commercial activity
• The Development Applications team have been continuing to focus on a longer term Workforce Strategy and had positive support from the Council’s Early Career Programme Lead having successfully recruited our Grad Plus within a permanent Enforcement officer post allowing for succession planning within the service. We are also successfully supporting two members of the Building Standards team with undertaking a degree course which will result in homegrown qualified Building Standards surveyors. 

Regeneration and Town Centres

Deliver a range of key regeneration services and projects. Including: town centre initiatives, capital development projects, external funding and resource generation, tourism and events, regeneration opportunities, and support the development of new related area focused plans, strategies and policies.

• The Lennoxtown Main Street Improvement Project is in the construction phase. This will see major enhancement to the village centre environment improving the Main Street as a trading environment, somewhere to access local services, and to visit. The Lennoxtown Greenspace Project aims to repurpose disused red blaes pitches at Station Road and Ferguson Parks to provide outdoor recreation spaces, enhance biodiversity, and improved active travel routes. The project has secured funding from the Scottish Government’s Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme (VDLIP). The VDLIP funding will deliver improvements to Station Road Park where it’s anticipated works will begin in 2026
• The Campsie Memorial Hall in Lennoxtown was completed at the end of 2025/26, marking another investment in the village as part of ongoing regeneration work directed by the 2106 Charrette, 2018-2023 Lennoxtown Place Plan, Local Development Plan 2 and supporting the Lennoxtown Locality Plan 2023. The refurbished facility is run by a community organisation and working within available budget has been upgraded to suit their needs and aims to deliver flexible community space
• The Twechar Canalside Outdoor Pursuits Centre project opened early 2025/26 to provide a new community run facility to deliver better access to outdoor pursuits for local people, skills and training opportunities. The project was enabled by external funding secured by the team and supports long term regeneration of the village
• The team has worked closely with the Milngavie BID, and the new Kirkintilloch Town Centre BID which are in a five year term (ending 2029). BIDs generate budget for the business community to be directed by the businesses community, and this places an important role in long term town centre performance and vitality
• The team continues to secure, manage and administer a range of external grant funding to enable the delivery of Local Outcome 1. The team has engages with various funding streams to support a range of projects. In this reporting period funding from the Vacant Derelict Land Fund, and Transport Scotland Active Travel Fund Tier 2 has been secured, to the value of £1.5m
• The programme management of the Shared Prosperity Fund is ongoing, with a 4th year of funding provided to all local authorities in the UK. A range of projects were identified and progressed across the Council for implementation by end of September 2026. Work started towards the end of 2025/26 with the Glasgow City Region in the development of proposals for UK Government Local Growth Funding, which has been committed to certain areas in the UK, including the Glasgow City Region (which has been allocated £60.9m (capital and revenue funding). An initial ‘transition’ fund allocation has been confirmed for skills and business support. Work is ongoing to determine the allocation levels and use for remaining revenue funding and the capital funding
• Work is took place to develop a follow up business case to set out more details on what is required to prepare a Visitor Levy and how a Visitor Levy could operate in East Dunbartonshire. The work will set out options for consideration at the relevant Council committee in 2026/27.

The City Deal Team 

Develop and deliver the commitments of the Council’s City Deal Project – East Dunbartonshire Place & Growth Programme. Again, predominately through the securing of large amounts of external grant funding, projects can be progressed to deliver on Local Outcome 1. This will deliver transport and connectivity improvements, economic regeneration and investment, place making and town centre renewal in the Bishopbriggs/Westerhill area

• The team has successfully secured Full Business Case approval (in-line with Glasgow City Region & HM Greenbook requirements) in February 2026 to ensure the delivery of the Council’s City Deal projects. This final stage of the iterative business case process unlocks the funding from the region
• Work is ongoing to promote Westerhill Regeneration Area (WRA) as a significant new employment area within the Glasgow City Region with organisations such as Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Development International. Efforts are focused on key industry sectors and clusters, supporting City Region ambitions for high productivity, high growth investment. Design stages for the WRA active travel network are progressing with funding secured through the Transport Scotland Active Travel Infrastructure Fund Tier 2– delivery will be subject to future alternative funding applications
• Land acquisition for the Westerhill Development Road (WDR) has completed. Construction contracts for the WDR and for Bishopbriggs Town Centre Civic Space have been awarded and will commence on-site in Summer 2026
• The A803 Route Corridor (now deferred from the City Deal Place and Growth Programme funding), is progressing with smaller sub-projects along the route being progressed through design stages, funded via the Bus Infrastructure Fund. Applications for other funding to support construction were made in 2025/26, with reporting to committee on this outcome scheduled for May 2026. delivery is subject to securing alternative funding
• Internal planning is progressing for the new City Deal grant fund from Glasgow City Region for Enabling Commercial Space. Project deliverables include the creation of high-grade office accommodation and/or commercial floorspace at Southbank House, designed to enhance the success and growth rates of new enterprises and small businesses, thus maximising their impact on economic development.

Business Support team

Deliver programmes and services to support business and facilitate sustainable economic growth and business development. This includes the delivery of projects from the Economic Development Strategy and Economic Recovery Plan and direct proactive engagement with on-going support to local businesses, through Business Gateway to encourage and support new start business, business growth, and sustainability job creation and inward investment.

• The team has been delivering business support via the ongoing Business Gateway contract in relation to start up, growth businesses and local expert help
• The team progressed green business and digital adoption support over 2025/26, enabled through Year 4 Shared Prosperity Fund allocation. The grants have proved very popular and now fully subscribed. With SPF ending 2025/26, work is now underway to examine business support programmes that can be funded through the Local Growth Fund and the ‘transition’ revenue allocation for 2026/27, confirmed at the Glasgow City Region Cabinet in March
• Increased Start Up Support - the team are currently working on mentorship programmes for start-up businesses to help them with marketing, finance and digital requirements, as better preparation at start-up can help businesses to be sustainable longer term. The annual ongoing Business Grants (start up and growth) are ongoing and now fully subscribed
• Business start-ups showed a marked increase in 2025/2026 from with the achievement of 140 new start-ups and 220 planning to start enquiries completed. This provides a solid pipeline of potential start-ups for the coming year
• Growth and inward investment enquiries are being supported and coordinated by the team, directing them primarily to masterplan locations (Kirkintilloch Gateway, and the emerging Westerhill masterplan area). The team are working with City Deal team looking at promotional methods and opportunities to encourage investment at Westerhill. The Site Enabling & Regeneration Fund which opened in 2025/26, offering grant support to parties interested in developing proposals for regeneration and commercial development
• Business Gateway CPD adviser sessions continue through their annual National Conference and online training and information sessions to ensure skills are continually updated
• Scottish Boost Digital Boost funding is no longer be available. The team is providing a level of this type of support through the Digital Development Grant, 1-2-1 business support by Officers and where required local experts, and Webinars which will be delivered via Business Gateway National.

The Traffic and Transport Team

Lead on the delivery of the Local Transport, Active Travel Strategies and the Parking Strategy as well as the development and delivery of key transportation infrastructure programmes, initiatives and projects which incorporate place making principles for the development of sustainable places, town centre first principles, economic growth and reduction of inequalities. All projects are externally funded and delivered in partnership with organisations such as Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, Transport Scotland and Paths for All to encourage and support a change in travel behaviour, healthier communities and improved access to employment. 

• The team continue to work closely with colleagues in Education to deliver cycle and scooter training in primary and secondary schools across East Dunbartonshire through the iBike Programme
• The construction phase of Canniesburn Toll Improvement Project is now complete. The activation of the new traffic light system took place over October and November 2024. The defects stage concluded in 2025/26. The Capital project is now complete and improvements adopted as part of the area road network . This has delivered major investment and improvements to the operation of the round-about for all users, and improved drainage systems at the location
• Feasibility and design works are progressing on a range of active travel infrastructure projects included in the Local Transport and Active Travel Strategies, including works to improve various active travel paths
• Work is progressing with the A807 Active travel route, with construction completed for Phase 1a. The associated TROs for the next stage of the project were agreed at November 2025 PNCA Committee. Preparation is underway for detailed design and programme setting of Stage 1b. The Capital Paths programme is on site across different locations
• The Traffic Free Schools project continues, and approval was been received (May 2025 PNCA Committee) to deliver the initiative in a second phase of schools to enhance accessibility and sustainable modes of transport for children and school communities. Lennoxtown Primary, Meadowburn Primary and Thomas Muir Primary are the chosen schools to pilot the scheme in the 2025/26 academic year. The scheme is proving popular with requests for new schools to be introduced. Monitoring work is ongoing of the existing phases and a report will be brough to a future meeting of PNCA on the outcomes of the monitoring and recommendations for any third phase. Any third phase will need to take cognisance of available resources, internal and of key external partners such as Police Scotland
• Feasibility and design works are progressing on a range of active travel infrastructure projects included in the Local Transport and Active Travel Strategies, including works to improve various active travel paths throughout the area
• A number of Capital Path projects have been implemented and well progressed in 2025/26, including works at Jubilee Path, Craigdhu Wedge, Pennys Path, Cluney Park, Torrance and Crothachy
• The BetterPoints East Dunbartonshire App continues to promotes sustainable transport and active travel. Enabled by external funding, the app allows users to track their sustainable travel journeys and earn rewards for travelling in such a way
• Work has progressed on key functions of the team including: working on a range of Traffic Regulation Orders at various stages of the statutory process, liaising with the network operator and maintenance contractors of the public electric vehicle charging network and continuing to assist in resolving access issues
• Work is ongoing in partnership with the Glasgow City Region (GCR) to increase regional and local Electric Vehicle charging network provision. Tenders have been received by the GCR from Charge Point Operators, and these are being assessed.

GIS Team 

Delivers the Council’s Geographic Information Services (GIS) obligations in line with the requirements of national GIS standards and provides a corporate GIS service; and provides technical support for the delivery of Land Planning & Development functions, alongside supporting teams across the council. Over the past year, the team has made significant progress in supporting the councils’ goals through geospatial data management and providing IDOX and GIS services to different teams.

• Idox – Uniform, Unimap web & DMS: The GIS team has continued to provide technical support to users of the Uniform and Enterprise software, which is utilised by number of council teams. The team also coordinated with the Business Digital team to plan and implement an upgrade of Uniform, Unimap web and DMS, ensuring that the Idox system remains up to date.  In addition to core Idox responsibilities, the team continued to monitor the stamper application on daily basis to ensure it is running as. The team continue to support the Development Applications Validation Team with issues regarding Scottish Government portal when they arise. Multiple requests on the IDOX system have been actioned and new templates have been created for planning decisions and updates to contact details where required. New Microsoft Access databases have been created and existing ones modified to allow for more advanced data to be extracted from Uniform. These reports have been made and altered for the Trading Standards, Environmental Health, Planning and Building Standards teams
• GIS - Spatial Data Support: The team continue to provide ongoing support for GIS spatial data across the council. This includes management and maintenance of the GIS data & system. The GIS server upgrade was successfully completed. All spatial datasets were migrated to new server database and all the GIS applications and maps services were transferred to new server
• The contract with ESRI (GIS Software/service provider) was renewed for a further three years, ensuring continued access to spatial system and maintenance
• The team have worked on several projects across the council within the past year. The GIS team have also produced several maps for teams such as City Deal, Roads, Education, Environment and Community Planning to be used within reports and public releases. Throughout the production of all maps, the team ensured compliance with Ordnance Survey guidelines on copyright statements and best practice in partnerships with ESRI and Ordnance Survey
• The team has launched a new GIS Service & Error Reporting form to streamline the GIS related requests and ensure timely support provided across the councils. Following this, an GIS Service & Error Reporting action app was developed using the ArcGIS online platform to streamline all the request coming from GIS Service & Error Reporting form. This app help GIS team to process the request and closed the status real time. The team also prepared a Dashboard view that provide total number of request open, closed requests and other relevant statistics. These two developments are highly significant for GIS team, as they have greatly improved the workflow and request tracking
• The team continue to provide ongoing support on the ArcGIS online platform. Over the past year, the team have created new users account as required, updated numerous web maps and help teams using the platform. They also supported the use of Survey123 and Storymaps by assisting with form design and functionality. Multiple surveys were successfully completed on survey123 to support a range of service area
• The team have also worked with Education to do regular distance checks for the most effective school routes, alongside the yearly work routing new pupils to their closest Primary or Secondary
• Street Naming and Numbering process has been carried out for large new developments and smaller developments. The team continue to liaise with Royal Mail regarding the Waterside Consultation which is ongoing. The team continue to resolve address queries and addressing issues from EDC residents, Scottish Assessors, Customer Services, Housing, Health and Social Care and other EDC Council Departments. Over 50 Road Adoption Plans have been completed, and the team have also been working with the Road Services to ensure the NSG (National Street Gazetteer) data is in alignment with the One Scotland Gazetteer (OSG) within East Dunbartonshire. The team have continued with the ongoing continuation of work with the Improvement service to ensure BLPU and address are accurate in the OSG. The team have also made the necessary updates, when required, to enable the daily data upload process to complete successfully and attending all Improvement Service meetings to keep up to date with the latest processes and protocols from the Scottish Government.

Housing Policy and Performance Team

Lead on the delivery of the Local Housing Strategy, Housing policies and performance monitoring in line with legislative requirements and standards set out in the Scottish Social Housing Charter. This includes the housing contribution to the Health and Social Care Partnership Strategic Commissioning Plan to meet national health and wellbeing outcomes.

• A new Integrated Housing Management System (IHMS) delivered by NEC is being phased in to replace the much older Saffron system. Systems Officers assisted with data cleansing of Saffron and Housing folders, to ensure a smooth transition as migration took place, while continuing with day-to-day processing of direct debits and the set-up of tenant’s rent accounts. User Acceptance Testing (UAT) was carried out that allowed issues to be rectified or escalated as appropriate prior to confirming a date considered safe to enter into a live environment. Staff continue to work closely with the IHMS project team to resolve any issues. NEC is now being utilised fully by Housing Services while preparations for upgrades and further system enhancement takes place
• Performance Monitoring Officers are working on capturing and validating all data required for the Annual Return on the Charter (ARC) that is due to be submitted on 31 May 2026 with no data errors
• Performance Monitoring Officers are completing a monthly Voids Return for Scotland’s Housing Network who are actively monitoring voids timescales nationally
• Officers continue to complete monthly performance statistics and dashboards that inform the HGIOS Report. In addition, a Quarterly Return is voluntarily submitted to Scotland’s Housing Network that assists with an annual benchmarking analysis against other landlords
• Policy Officers have been reviewing the Council’s Allocations Policy, gathering views from Stakeholders and began a process of customer engagement via workshops on key aspects of the policy. The team will now consider and implement changes to the Policy in line with the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 following the introduction of secondary legislation. Work on this will continue into Financial Year 2026/27
• Policy Officers are undertaking a desktop review of the Local Housing Strategy 23-28 that was successfully submitted to Ministers in December 2024. A new updated Strategy is required to demonstrate the Council’s vision for housing management and development for a further five year period.
• Installation of a new Digital Telecare system is ongoing. The project team are working closely with Chubb to ensure the successful transition of analogue telecare to digital telecare throughout six sheltered housing complexes and has delivered five out of six in-person briefings to tenants at each site. Positive feedback has been received from tenants at each site
• The Housing Estates Adviser is working closely with the sheltered wardens to ensure a robust service is provided to tenants during the switchover to the new system. The team is aiming to minimise disruption to tenants as legacy equipment is removed
• The Housing Estates Officer continues to oversee delivery of Health and Safety training to Concierge officers and Wardens and is responsible for delivery of Toolbox talks on various topics to maintain knowledge of standards and procedures when carrying out duties in relation to their respective roles
• The Policy Team has arranged and hosted staff training for all Housing staff on a monthly basis from January 2025 on a variety of topics.

Key Achievements

• £50,000 was secured from Scottish Government for a feasibility on a heat network in Kirkintilloch town centre. The study was completed in March 2026
• The draft Climate Action Plan was approved by Council for public consultation in October 2026
• The Council’s Food Growing Strategy and latest version of the Carbon Management Plan were approved by PNCA Committee in November 2025.
• Twechar Outdoor Persuits Centre Complete
• Campsie Memorial Hall complete
• Lennoxtown Main Street (phase 1) started on site
• Range of Capital Paths improvements delivered
• Traffic Free Schools Project moving into a second phase
• Delivery of popular green and digital business support
• Business Start up rates increased
• Progression of the two City Deal projects through FBC stage, and securing Enabling Commercial Space Project funding
• Generally for Place & Business Development, the securing, managing and administration of significant funding streams which is required to delivery on a wide range of Council policies and strategies relating to Local Outcome 1 and sustainable travel objectives
• An Employee Travel Survey was undertaken in February 2026 and received over 400 responses
• Implementation of phase 1 of the Integrated Housing Management System
• Approval of the initial Evidence Report for Local Development Plan 3, and submission to the DPEA for Gate Check examination.

Read the full How Good Is Our Service Land Planning and Development April 2025 – March 2026 from page 50 in the document below.

Strategic Commissioning

During 2025/26, and set within the context of increasing demand and expectations, unprecedented financial pressures and workforce challenges, the Strategic Commissioning Service continued to strengthen its role in shaping effective, evidenced based services to meet the needs and outcomes of vulnerable individuals across our local communities. Informed by the provision of advanced technical commissioning expertise and commercial acumen and underpinned by a robust strategic & financial risk based approach, the Service was instrumental in progressing and supporting delivery of the HSCP’s Transformation and budget savings priorities. Crucially, this dedicated support ensured the HSCP was best placed to make informed decisions about investment and disinvestment opportunities across the commissioned landscape whilst ensuring the delivery of a balanced budget.

The demands on the Service cannot be underestimated. External forces over recent years including the Pandemic, cost of living crisis, Brexit and on-going workforce issues caused a fundamental shift in the market and necessitated the HSCP to recalibrate its strategic and financial priorities. The consequential impact resulted in the need for a shift in the resources and skills base across the Service. Accordingly, a revised service structure was developed, approved and is pending implementation. In the meantime, the Service continues to pool limited resources and existing skills base to respond to daily demands and changing priorities. Despite the challenges set out, the Service remained focussed & committed and continued to prioritise workstreams accordingly - thus ensuring delivery of a consistent, efficient and highly valued service.

Overview of Progress

• Demonstrated strong strategic leadership – maintained strategic focus, aligning commissioning priorities with organisational objectives, national policy and local needs
• Led on and supported effective service design and delivery via established and/or new relations with key stakeholders
• Built on and strengthened collaborative approaches which enabled the Service to respond flexibly to emerging needs and support integrated approaches across sectors
• Developed enhanced analytical capabilities to ensure commissioning decisions were informed by clear evidence of impact and demand which in turn help strengthened the HSCP’s strategic and financial decision making
• Improved coordination between partners and commissioned providers
• Increased focus on outcomes and value for money
• Enhanced strategic oversight & governance across commissioned services.

More specifically the Service:

• Established a planning framework geared towards improving and strengthening oversight and governance across a key service area
• Aligned to the HSCP’s budget savings agenda, identified significant budget savings to support the HSCP deliver a balanced budget
• Aligned to Un-scheduled Care priorities, successfully transitioned individuals placed in long stay hospital settings, into more appropriate / homely community settings
• Played an integral role in the progression of strategic reviews & provided added value by providing project management, budget management & commercial expertise
• Aligned to The Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019, supported the HSCP to comply with the Acts annual reporting requirements
• Reviewed financial frameworks underpinning strategic reviews to ensure accuracy & alignment with the HSCP’s medium term financial plan
• Completed market analysis across key service areas to inform and improve strategic and financial decision making
• Strengthened links with Housing Colleagues regarding current & future housing options whilst ensuring strategic alignment with the SHIP (Strategic Housing Investment Plan)
• Collaborated with GGC Board wide colleagues to design a service delivery model capable of supporting cross boundary complex needs
• Played an integral role in supporting progression of multi-agency inpatient redesign approach geared towards alleviating acute and community pressures
• Successfully negotiated an out of area service extension & established a robust person-centred transitional pathway to support an individual back to the local community. The partnership approach demonstrates the value of working collaboratively with providers to ensure statutory obligations and strategic and operational priorities are met
• Aligned to the HSCP’s Transformation Programme, scoped and appraised future modelling options to inform and advance strategic reviews
• Established long term commissioning arrangements to support delivery of the Mental Health and Alcohol & Drugs Service Review outcomes
• Intervened across the commissioned market to manage and support any emerging sustainability issues
• Provided leadership to the market during periods of bad / stormy weather - including co-ordinating contingency plans, RAG’s & identifying alternative temporary support arrangements
• Aligned to the HSCP’s Strategic Plan, led on and supported delivery of key priorities detailed within the Annual Delivery Plan
• Aligned to national policy, implemented the 2025/26 Scottish Living Wage Uplift
• Aligned to national agreement, implemented the 2025/26 National Care Home Contract Uplift for care home staff and nursing staff rates in accordance with Agenda for Change
• Aligned to the Fair Access Policy for Adults, established a comprehensive 2025/26 Schedule of Rates
• Act as the key strategic interface between the HSCP, partners and providers
• Aligned to the Coming Home Report, established a collaborative approach with a local provider to develop a bespoke core and cluster service model for complex needs
• Generated significant management, service and cost efficiencies via the transfer of invoices to an automated pay system.

Legal Services

Legal Services is split into three teams – City Deal, Commercial and Litigation & Licensing.

The Legal Services City Deal Team provides support to the Council’s City Deal teams in delivering projects as part of the wider Glasgow City Region City Deal’s regeneration. This includes advising on and supporting the negotiation of the range of legal agreements required for the construction phase of both the Westerhill Development Road project and Bishopbriggs Town Centre Civic Space project including contracts for land acquisition, a range of professional consultancy services and construction.

For the Commercial Team, support continues to be provided in furtherance of Council priorities as well as “business as usual” work. The team continues to work closely with the Procurement Service in ensuring contracts are put in place so the wider Council can continue to provide services to customers. Work includes contracts, grants, planning agreements, data protection and conveyancing including open market purchases.

Contracts and construction work included contract for refurbishment works at Torrance Community Centre, contract for refurbishment works at Milngavie Primary School, the design and build development agreement and ancillary documents for the new Balmuildy Primary School and Early Years centre, significant pre construction work for AHIP2 project, supporting contract work for Oracle Fusion, contracts awarded for emergency demolition of Campsie View School, contracts for demolition of Merkland School, Auchinairn School and Lister Petter Building, contract awarded for Installation & Maintenance of Electrical VehicleChargers, award for Lennoxtown Main Street IPC Works, various data sharing agreements to deliver key services including with public sector partners like Police Scotland,

As well as ongoing conveyancing and lease work, property and planning work included discharge of title burden at Huntershill House for £20,000 plus an overage provision for potential additional payment various section 75 agreements to obtain contributions towards affordable housing, education, open space and primary healthcare.

The team has also continued to ensure a quick turn around in supporting Services to apply for grants from both the Scottish and UK Governments including providing advice to ensure the Council meets its Fair Work First obligations. In addition, the team continues to assist the Housing Service with the purchase of residential housing (both new build and open market), existing shared equity homes (together with the sale of shared equity homes) and purchasing of affordable home units from developers to increase the provision of affordable housing within East Dunbartonshire and securing affordable housing via section 75 agreements. Quite often, open market purchases transactions are completed in very short timescales in order to ensure a property is secured.

The team also supported services with implementation of Traffic Regulation Orders including many that generated significant public interest such as orders for on-street parking, 20mph speed limit orders, orders for the A807 project and restriction of traffic for schools during pick-up and drop-off times.

The team also supported the development, as part of the Artificial Intelligence Working Group, of the Council's Artificial Intelligence Policy which was adopted by Council as policy in March 2026.
Throughout the last year, the Litigation and Licensing Team continues to support the Council’s services in the management of various complex matters both at the pre-litigation stage and during litigation. Main areas of work including housing, Education including ASN Tribunals, Social Work, employment and general litigation.

Non-litigation work by the team includes support to HR and Services in relation to employment matters and advising on education matters including participation as a core member of the Equally Safe at Work Group to facilitate working towards Bronze level accreditation for the Council, supporting the review of sexual harassment policy and dignity at work policy. The Council continues to receive a disproportionally high number of placing request appeals which results in several weeks of appeal hearings. Work included supporting Social Work in relation to adults with incapacity and permanence planning, obtaining a Permanence Orders, resolving an appeal to the Sheriff Appeal Court in relation to a housing matter, successfully defending an appeal to the Secretary of State against a decision by the Council to revoke a licence for storing fireworks, successfully obtained a dismissal for a court case where an application sought compensation for the refusal to grant a licensing application, resolution of a long running case to remove equipment from land to support an AHIP2 project, dismissal of a case which sought to challenge the Council’s Fair Access Policy. The team has also coordinated the response to a notice from the Scottish Covid Inquiry which asked for a signification amount of information.

The team continues to provide close support to colleagues in social work in respect of sensitive and often emergency matters involving children, families and vulnerable adults and has seen an increase in both the urgency and volume of this work. The team has also provided training to Social Work including training in relation to permanence planning. Members of the team continue to act as legal advisors to the Council’s Adoption and Permanence Panel.
The team has also been focusing on assisting the taxi and private hire trade. This has included consultation and engagement with stakeholders on new stances, a review of booking office licences which has resulted in new conditions, and work to review the regulation of testing centres. Work was also carried out to encourage an increase in taxi operator numbers in the area. In addition, the team continues to provide a supportive and proactive service to local community groups making applications for Public Entertainment Licences. Often applications are received at short notice prior to the date of a proposed event, and the applicant is inexperienced in the application process. The team has worked with these groups to ensure that community events go ahead with appropriate safety measures in place and in accordance with Council policy. The team continues to receive praise from community groups, including community councils, for support with events.

A significant amount of work from the whole of Legal Services has been dedicated to the provision of support and advice to quasi-judicial boards including the Civic Government Appeals Board; the Licensing Board; Non-Domestic Rates Appeal Board; HR Appeals Board; Housing Appeals Board and the Local Review Body. This has included supporting the Licensing Board in revoking licences of those deemed not to be fit and proper.

In addition to the above, the Litigation and Licensing team was heavily involved in supporting school placing requests. The Council continues to receive a disproportionally high number of placing request appeals which results in several weeks of appeal hearings. This is time consuming and labour-intensive for both Legal and Democratic Services who work closely with Education in dealing with these appeals. Part of the support provided to placing requests also includes representation both at the Sheriff Court and the ASN Tribunal.

As always, the service continues to provide strategic advice and support to its colleagues in other services on the full range of legal issues at any time facing the Council. This work is frequently complex and resource intensive and much of it is not suited to detailed public reporting due to its confidential and/or sensitive nature. The service also continues to improve its own workflows and processes to ensure work and advice is provided in a more efficient manner.

Corporate Governance/Democratic Services

The Corporate Governance Service provides Democratic Services, Technical Support for Registration Services, Civil Contingencies, support for the East Dunbartonshire Children’s Panel as the North Strathclyde Area Support and Community Council Support. and. In addition, Democratic Services delivers the successful management of all electoral events in East Dunbartonshire and regularly reviews the alignment of polling districts to constituency and ward boundaries as required by the Boundary Commission and Boundaries Scotland.
Democratic Services supports the Council’s decision-making process and in 2025/26 serviced approximately 92 Committees, Boards, Panels, Fora & Working Groups. Many of these were held in a Hybrid format with Members & Officers attending in-person and joining on-line as well as meetings which were fully in person or fully on-line. Members of the public were able to observe in person or via the Council’s YouTube live stream.

Democratic Services spent the late 2025 and early 2026 preparing for an unscheduled Council by-election which took place on 29 January 2026, with the Count taking place at the close of poll.
Democratic Services has also spent a large part of 2025/26 developing arrangements and preparing for the Scottish Parliamentary Election for the Strathkelvin and Bearsden Constituency and the West Scotland Region scheduled for 7 May 2026. The Notice of Election was published on 16 March 2026, and the Notice of Poll was published on 1 April 2026. The Team worked closely with colleagues in West Dunbartonshire Council as Ward 1- Milngavie and Ward – 2 – Bearsden North form part of the Clydebank and Milngavie Constituency. Officers also worked closely with the Regional Returning Officer at Renfrewshire Council. The Count for the Constituency and Regional ballots took place on Friday, 8 May 2026.

During 2025/26, Democratic Services managed the Committee process for the consideration and determination of approximately 66 Placing Request Appeals. The majority of these Appeals Committees were held in June 2025. In addition to servicing the appeal hearings, Democratic Services issues the papers for the appeals, minutes the hearing and then issues determination letters.

Democratic Services continued to support the East Dunbartonshire Children’s Panel and North Strathclyde Area Support Team with Panel Member and Panel Practice Advisor recruitment for the local and regional area, and Panel Member reappointments. The Team also continued to support Community Councils and process annual grants.

Democratic Services continued to lead the Council’s civil contingency response to weather related incidents, with Amber and Red weather warnings and other incidents, developing and maintaining plans and policies, co-ordinating the cascade of national briefings and information and liaising with and co-ordinating services across the Council. This work also includes responding to incidents (e.g. fire at the former Campsie View School, discover of unknown chemicals in Lenzie etc). In addition, it undertakes the Council’s work in relation to counter terrorism activities under PREVENT and CONTEST and represents the Council at various meetings etc in support of this. The Team is also an active participant in various civil contingency groups and networks including the Local Resilience Partnership, and other similar bodies.

The Technical Officer – Registration Services and the Customer Services /Assistant Registrars continued to provide outstanding service to the general public, registering 812 births, 2,284 deaths, 330 marriages (of which 310 were conducted by the Council) and 20 Civil Partnerships were conducted/ registered and 1 still-birth in 2025/26, and supported registration services in neighbouring local authorities. These services, which support citizens through significant life events and time of great change, have increased in importance to residents, particularly post pandemic, and also as proof of identity to secure access to a variety of benefits. In addition to the above, the Service arranged and administered regular Citizenship Ceremonies throughout the year, which is the final step in becoming a British citizen. The ceremony is a formal occasion that welcomes those who wish to attain full citizenship of the UK.

The service continues to support the Civic Office and in 2025/6 ensured that many wedding anniversaries, significant birthdays, investitures and local organisations reaching key milestones, were able to celebrate in the company of the Provost and Depute Provost. Significant support is also provided to the Lord Lieutenant of Dunbartonshire’s Office.

The Members Support and Strategic Leadership Support Teams have continued to provide support across both Members and senior leaders in the organisation. In addition, the SLT Support Team plays a key role in supporting service delivery and also supports the democratic decision-making process by carrying out key tasks in the preparation of committee reports. The Team is also a key part of the wider Elections Team and so played an important role in the 20 January 2026 Council-By Election. The Members Support team remains available to provide support to Members which is, as far as possible, tailored to the needs and work styles of different Members.

The Information management team supports the wider Council with data protection matters including subject access requests and freedom of information requests. The team also manages mail, printing and records management. For 2025/26, 93.8% of freedom of information requests (including environmental information requests) were completed on time and 93.6% of subject access requests were answered on time. This is very high completion rates compared to other public bodies and in response to an increasing volume of requests.

Corporate Procurement

The Corporate Procurement Team drives Procurement Governance and Compliance across Council services whilst supporting the Transformation agenda, City Deal, capital projects and priority contract workstreams.

Key priorities for the Team have focused on; Fusion Implementation (the Council’s new financial management system), Key contractual requirements, Transformation Projects, Capital Programme, City Deal, Key IT Systems, Business Grant Payments and the payment of external payees.

The work of the team in support of the Fusion Implementation cannot be underestimated. The Corporate Procurement Team is the centralised support for those dealing with ordering goods/works/service and the management of the Council’s payees. This has been a huge commitment and demand on the resouces of the Team, the ongoing implementation and quarterly upgrades of Oracle Fusion have been delivered without additional resources and in addition to business as usual work. The entire Corporate Procurement Service has been involved in this work, often going above and beyond to juggle the demands of of the implementation and the need to maintain business as usual.

All delivery being aligned to the Authority's Procurement Governance arrangements and Organisational priorities, providing guidance, advice, training and skills development to ensure an embedded procurement governance approach.

Overview of Progress

• Various tender workstreams to support organisational objectives and business as usual workstreams via contract entries in the contract register 2025/2026
• Completed the Quarterly upgrades of the new Financial Management System
• Continued to support as Lead Subject matter Expert resources to the Oracle Fusion upgrade project
• Supported the ongoing implementation process for the Integrated Housing Management System
• Supported contractual arrangements for capital projects
• Support and progress key City Deal tender workstreams
• Supported Educational Estate upgrades & remedial work packages
• Secured contractual support for key corporate Business Systems to ensure continued service delivery to support Digital Workforce approaches
• Publication of Annual Procurement Report for 2025-26
• Preparation of the Annual Procurement Strategy for 2026-2027
• Supported key transformational projects such as Fusion Phase 2 HCM, IHMS, etc.
• Continuous approach to capacity and resource management
• Completed procurements and awarded contracts for a programme of works to improve the overall health of the Council’s Business Systems assets including IDOX, GIS, etc.
• Supporting flexible Social Care contracting to secure continued delivery of care to those most vulnerable
• Application and support through Scottish Procurement Policy Notes to support prompt payments, contractual reviews and assessment of provider claims via contractual opportunities
• Systematically reviewed prompt payment of third-party goods, services and works
• Ensured processing of payments of Business grants to local businesses
• Continued review of opportunities to support payment processing improvements through the increased usage of invoice scanning and e-invoicing
• Testing for upgrade to Redwood i-Supplier Portal for Council Suppliers and Contractors to provide real time information on purchase order information and invoice payment updates
• Testing Fusion upgrade functionality, developing training documentation and communications for Redwood Self Service procurement ahead of roll out early 2026-2027 to approximately 700 system users.

Read the full How Good Is Our Service Legal and Regulatory Services April 2025 – March 2026 from page 41 in the document below.

Over the course of 2025/26 the Roads and Neighbourhood Service continues to oversee the maintenance function and safe operation of the adopted public carriageway/footway network, adopted open spaces (including trees), cemeteries, domestic, commercial waste & recycling collection, fleet, and transportation within East Dunbartonshire. In addition, the Service also oversees the management and operations of Mugdock Country Park.

This Service area is divided into eight portfolio groupings with the addition of the Corporate Health and Safety Team during 2025/26.

• Roads Network Operations
• Roads Technical & Engineering
• Streetscene Technical Support (including Bereavement and Arboriculture)
• Streetscene Operations (including grounds maintenance, street cleansing and cemetery operations)
• Waste Services (including domestic & commercial waste & recycling collections)
• Fleet Services (including fleet operations, maintenance, and transportation)
• Mugdock Country Park
• Corporate Health & Safety Team.

Each team has specific areas of responsibility; however, they all operate, and function collectively as required. Within their own areas, each team has several service accountabilities contributing to local outcomes.

The various sections within the portfolio groups continue to progress both revenue operation/maintenance work and internally and externally funded capital projects with support from colleagues in Procurement, Legal, Finance and Health & Safety. Several projects are time specific due to the external funding conditions to it is very important to make best use of the time available to bring these projects to fruition for the benefit of local communities. Multiple projects have been completed over the course of 2025/26 with some multi-year project straddling more than one financial year.

All teams continue to monitor, and track spend to ensure budgets are closely managed in line with essential spend instructions. Some individual budget lines have exceeded their individual limits, but these have been balanced with underspends on other budget lines and increased income. Overall Roads & Neighbourhood Services revenue budget is underspent in 2025/26.

Read the full How Good Is Our Service Roads and Neighbourhood Services April 2025 – March 2026 from page 77 in the document below.