How Good is Our Service - May 2025

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Voids performance in May is at 95%, equivalent to April’s performance, and exceeds our target of 85%.  We continue to monitor this area closely with our priority being to improve performance moving forward.

Property Maintenance have achieved our target of 100% for Gas Servicing in May with 348 properties serviced in the month.  We continue to achieve our target each month and we are confident this will continue throughout 2025/26 

Non-Emergency repairs performance in May is below our target of 12 days with an average turnaround of 12.7 days for the month, which is down from 11.4 days in April.  We continue to work towards improving and maintaining performance in this area going forward. 

Kitchen, Bathroom, Heating and Roofing upgrade programmes are ongoing, and progress continues in carrying out reactive and refurbishment works across the education and non-housing stock, with decoration works ongoing across the school estate. 

A revised school lunch menu was implemented during October 2024 with feedback received which has been used to shape future menu changes.  Action plans continue to be reviewed, and recommendations implemented to improve uptake in lower performing schools.  The launch of a new menu is expected to go live after the summer holidays.

The uptake of Primary school free school meals dropped slightly between April and May to 60.23%.  This is as a result of school holidays/trips and the residential trip for Primary 7’s, resulting in less pupils being in school.  The uptake in Secondary schools was 35.94%, which is consistent with the same period last year, however is lower than the previous month.  The 4th, 5th and 6th Years have been off on study leave which has resulted in lower uptake.  The service continues to focus on schools not achieving the set target with action plans implemented to improve the uptake in lower performing schools.  The Service continues to work with suppliers to source locally produced produce, with 52% of the school menus now using locally sourced produce.

Staff engagement with Catering and Cleaning staff has taken place over February and March with staff affected by the temporary closure of Milngavie Primary School while refurbishment works are undertaken.  Staff will be relocated to cover additional resource pressures at Torrance PS and St Nicholas’ PS as well as vacancies within the Milngavie area.  Additionally, staff engagement is ongoing with school crossing patrollers with a view of relocating patrollers currently at mechanised crossings to vacant crossing locations.  Recruitment of vacant locations will commence once existing patrollers have moved.

The service has robust measures in place to monitor performance with regards gas safety compliance across the Operational Estate.  Officers continue to progress reactive repairs across the operational estate, although currently focusing on H&S related repairs and ensuring assets remain wind and watertight.  Works to Bearsden PS roof above the ICT Suite were completed over the Easter holidays as well as internal decoration to the suite, however additional works are now required to replace an internal overflow pipe following further investigation which have been programmed in for the summer holidays. 

Works are ongoing at Castlehill PS, including brickwork repairs to the end gable as a result of the biomass flue being ripped from the wall during recent storms.  Additionally, works to the gym hall floor have been completed following water ingress as a result of the damaged roof sustained during the January storms.  Roof repairs at Lenzie Academy are progressing over the Music, Art and Maths bases on the school.  Works have been compromised as a result of the tiles required being discontinued however spare tiles have been sourced and works continue to be progressed. 

Works to Colquhoun Park PS, senior corridor are planned for over the summer holiday following significant water ingress from the flat roof in May 2025.

Estates Management continue to market vacant premises within the non-operational estate.  At present the non-operational estate is over 93% occupied, with vacant suites in Southbank Marina being actively marketed by agents, DM Hall.   The marketing of Lenzie Public Hall is due to commence in June.
 
Officers continue to progress disposals with colleagues in Legal Services to ensure that capital receipts are delivered and ongoing liabilities i.e. non-domestic rates, utilities, security etc are reduced. The sale of 53 Main Street, Torrance and land off Boghead Road, Lenzie concluded in the month of May generating a total receipt of £102,000.

The Service continues to progress a wide range of capital projects both in pre-construction and construction phases.  The project at Twechar Outdoor Pursuits Centre reached practical completion in early May 2025 and arrangements are in progress with the tenant for their occupation and opening of the facility to the public.

Design work continues to progress for the Westerhill Development Road project and the planning submission was made in March 2025.  The Stage 1 report for the project will be considered by Council in June 2025 and design development and cost planning for the project remains underway.

Works continue to progress at Bearsden Community Hub to remove and replace RAAC from the roof on the extension at the rear of the building.  Works are nearing completion at Bearsden Primary School, where the windows are being replaced and external stonework repaired, with practical completion expected in early June 2025.

The construction phase is now underway at Campsie Memorial Hall, with early works now making good progress.  The project remains scheduled for completion in early 2026.

The revised Housing Capital Investment Plan was approved by Council in March 2025, which instructed officers to continue to progress design development on the pipeline of development sites; and to finalise revised construction tender costs for the Twechar Canalside development site.  Planning submissions have been submitted for sites at the former Merkland School and Main Street in Torrance, with the application for the former Auchinairn Primary School to follow shortly.  A final report seeking approval to commence the construction phase of the Twechar Canalside development site will be considered by Council in June 2025.

Preparations for the refurbishment of Milngavie Primary School in Summer 2025 continue to progress, including the development of design proposals, tendering strategy for the project and decant arrangements for pupils at Torrance and St Nicholas’ Primary Schools.  The development of design proposals for the new Lenzie Academy project at Whitegates Park remain underway, with the proposal of planning application notice submitted in May and the first round of pre-application consultation events scheduled in June 2025.

The delivery of several areas of on-going capital investment across the Council’s existing Affordable Housing stock continue, including several significant measures to improve Housing Quality and Energy Efficiency.  The next phase of energy efficiency measures across Council and mixed tenure stock including the installation of cavity wall insulation to reduce heat loss from homes are due to commence in early June 2025.

The Service continues to develop the next phase of a building decarbonisation strategy for the school estate, operational estate and for the existing affordable housing stock, with a variety of surveys, pilot projects and further feasibility reviews planned throughout the remainder of this and next financial year.  

Works are on-going to repair the render at the entrance to Kirkintilloch Leisure Centre and the MUGA sports pitch replacement at Gartconner Primary School was completed in May 2025.  Following a tender exercise, a contractor has been appointed to undertake the refurbishment of Torrance Community Centre.  The building closed to the public during the reporting period and works are due to commence in early course.

• Achieved 100% compliance for Gas Servicing with focus on this continuing going forward

• Kitchen, Bathroom, Central Heating and Roofing upgrade programmes ongoing with positive feedback being received from tenants across all contracts

• Percentage of voids returned completed within target remains high and above our target with the objective being to maintain and improve performance in this area going forward

• Improved functionality of Total Mobile and the integration with Servitor enables a more streamlined and efficient service

• Continue to improve on non-emergency repairs turnaround times moving forward

• Improve communications with customers and stakeholders to ensure the highest level of service delivery

• Continue to utilise robust reporting mechanisms for enhanced performance and service delivery

• Progress decoration works across the school estate

• 100% of Operational Assets requiring a Gas Safety check within the year’s anniversary of the previous check are completed

• Schedule in the upcoming Gas Safety Checks with contractors which are required during June and July

• Improve uptake of nutritious school meals

• Improve communications with customers and stakeholders to ensure the highest level of service delivery

• Reduce FM overtime.

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The Community Protection Service delivers on a broad statutory remit, with delivery measures centred on protecting public health and safety, well-being and consumer protection. During May 2025, the service continued to engage in the local Co-Production arrangement with Police Scotland, with regular community harm and risk meetings being held to provide the focus for joint work and activity to protect local communities across the East Dunbartonshire area. The service also continued to develop intelligence led approaches for all areas of work to target local public health, community safety and consumer protection activity towards the areas of greatest need, risk and priority.

Throughout the reporting period, Environmental Health played a key role in delivering essential public health services, fulfilling a wide range of statutory responsibilities aimed to protect the community from environmental risks, and to support the development of responsible business. The work encompasses both proactive work such as routine inspections for food safety and reactive responses to complaints and service requests. In May the team completed the draft annual Food Safety Service Plan for 2025-26, which will be considered by Committee post recess, and the air quality grant funded programme was progressed with Scottish Government to assist in local air quality management.

The Community Safety Team continued to deliver a broad range of front-line work for the benefit of local communities during the reporting period, working closely with a range of colleagues and key partners to successfully deliver appropriate interventions and to make our local communities safer. Officers from the team were engaged in the delivery of services in relation to community engagement/support, antisocial behaviour, neighbour disputes, environmental incivilities, dog control, decriminalised parking enforcement, fly-tipping, pest control and mobile CCTV. Four new Community Wardens commenced employment with the authority.  The Wardens roles include the investigation of anti-social behaviour and noise, Decriminalised Parking Enforcement, response to dog fouling complaints and community engagement particularly with schools and younger people.

The Trading Standards and Licensing Enforcement team were engaged in the delivery of essential consumer protection and licensing services to local consumers and businesses to maintain and protect a fair-trading environment in East Dunbartonshire. Licensing Advisors carried out liquor licensing inspections to local premises.  Officers are heavily involved in the processing and advice provision in relation to summer events across the council area in terms of civic licensing and additional liquor licensing to bolster the sector during the summer.  This month’s activities included ongoing promotion of the East Dunbartonshire Trusted Trader Scheme visits and promotion of anti-scam materials and saw Trading Standards prepare for the introduction of legislation banning single use vapes.  Licensing Advisors provided business support to applicants and stakeholders, while linking in with other agencies.  Licensing Advisers and Trading Standards officers in the team also continued to deliver reactive service request work along with project activity at a range of business premises across the area (including age restricted product sales test purchasing and fair trading and civic / liquor licensing).  Gathering and dissemination of intelligence on subjects involved in sale and supply of age restricted products, high pressure selling and home improvements continued throughout the period and will be used to influence future projects and investigations

Our Resettlement Team continues to provide compassionate, high-quality support across all current resettlement programmes and asylum services. Using a human-centered approach, the team focuses on each individual’s unique needs and experiences, ensuring the resettlement journey is respectful, effective, and empowering. This personalised support not only promotes successful integration but also contributes to building stronger, more connected communities. A growing emphasis is being placed on asylum support, as local authorities across the country are experiencing rising caseloads.

The team remains dedicated to delivering a broad range of community-based initiatives that encourage long-term development and inclusion. These include interactive workshops, family-friendly activities, and collaborative projects designed to deepen local engagement and foster community empowerment. Through these initiatives, individuals and groups are encouraged to take an active role in shaping a resilient and thriving community.

Planning is already underway for a packed 2025/26 calendar of seasonal events and sessions, including spring/summer and autumn/winter programming. This will span multiple initiatives such as PPP, Wellness Kitchens, and Community First workshops, with a focus on areas like Community Grants Capacity Building and Health Issues in the Community (HIIC).

The team continues to champion equality, diversity, and inclusion by working closely with local organisations and community partners. Their collaborative efforts help to build welcoming environments where all individuals feel respected and valued. As part of this commitment, several events are being developed for later this year, including International Women’s Day celebrations and participation in the “16 Days of Action” campaign in partnership with Violence Against Women and Girls initiatives.

Our team is working diligently to deliver an accessible and efficient community vaccination programme in partnership with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board. These clinics currently offer a year-round service of seasonal vaccinations including shingles and pneumococcal immunisations as well as winter flu and covid vaccines. Services continue to be offered at both Kirkintilloch Town Hall and Milngavie Town Hall to ensure wide community coverage

Housing manages 3,879 social rented properties; 3,798 of these are mainstream accommodation and 81 are used for Homeless Temporary Accommodation.  The service also manages 50 Lead Tenancies which are rented from either private landlords (29) or Housing Associations (21), to assist with accommodating homeless households.

At present, the Housing list for East Dunbartonshire has 3,296 applications - made up of the following:

General Waiting list 2,473 applicants waiting (5 of which are 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 609 applicants (10 of which are 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 253 applicants (14 of which are 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 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).

Within the last month, 5 properties were allocated.  All 5 were mainstream general needs properties.

They were let to the following queues:

• 2 to the priority homeless queue
• 2 to the transfer queue
• 1 to the general waiting list queue.

Community Protection Service

Environmental Health, Trading Standards and Community Safety Teams

• Delivery of effective services on a flexible basis to meet all statutory requirements and duties in relation to public health, community safety, consumer protection and licensing enforcement matters
• Delivery of local Co-Production activity between Community Protection and Police Scotland, with particular focus on effective tasking processes and the delivery of joint action plans and work to protect the communities of East Dunbartonshire
• Delivery of Business Improvement Plan activity relating to Community Protection - actions being implemented in accordance with set targets to deliver effective services in line with relevant corporate outcomes and with positive performance being reported
• Delivery of regulatory services that assist with economic recovery and that are designed to support local businesses and communities
• Officers have provided feedback on Environmental Health factors in relation to large developments including the City Deal infrastructure, and the new Lenzie Academy
• An Officer attended the Good Food Nation across Greater Glasgow & Clyde Planning Workshop. There is a legal duty for local authorities to create and publish a Good Food Nation Plan. It is intended to bring together actions that organisations are taking or will take to address a wide range of food related issues with outcomes relating to: social and economic, the environment, health and physical and mental wellbeing, economic development, animal welfare, education and child poverty. It will require input from the different services such as procurement, education, social care, economic development, environmental protection, cultural and leisure services and waste management
• Officers have been liaising with Roads department regarding an abandoned caravan in a council park at High Street, Kirkintilloch. A Notice has been served and looking to arrange to have the vehicle removed in cooperation with Roads
• An Officer has passed their Contaminated Land Proficiency test 
• Officers were involved in an outbreak of blue-green algae in Bardowie Loch. Officers visited the loch and the occurrence was confirmed by SEPA. Officers liaised with loch owners to ensure Loch was not used for swimming and signage put in place
• Deployment of mobile CCTV in Lennoxtown in relation to fly tipping incidents which resulted in a £500 fine being paid by the offender
• Mobile CCTV installed at Pump Track Menteith Avenue, Bishopbriggs following reports of anti-social behaviour and vandalism to newly opened site and improper use of electric scooters on the track
• Community wardens have been engaged in dog fouling initiatives within a number of parks across the council area, speaking to dog owners
• They have also been engaged in activities with schools and partner agencies in relation to tackling alcohol misuse in the council area and are planning more engagement with local partners
• Delivery of reactive service request work and targeted project work by the Trading Standards Team throughout the reporting period to maintain local compliance with consumer protection legislation.
• On-going promotion of the East Dunbartonshire Trusted Trader scheme through relevant channels, with the aim of attracting further local traders to join the scheme
• Delivery of work by the Licensing Advisers in the Team to assess local compliance with licensing conditions and make representations at Licensing Boards
• Provision of tailored advice to businesses requiring Public Entertainment Licences and/or amendments to liquor licences for the summer period
• Combined road policing and business engagement with emphasis on businesses offering home improvement services moving through the authority.  Provision of business advice and compliance checks being carried out.  

Community Planning and Partnerships

• The team have agreed a date for the 2025 Gaelic Harvest Festival which will be held on the 31 August at Mugdock Country Park, in line with supporting corporate delivery of the priorities within the Gaelic Language Plan 2024-2029
• The Ukrainian Permission Extension (UPE) Scheme is now open for applications and the Resettlement team are supporting UDPs in ED to ensure they are aware of the new scheme and signposting to help and support available
• Continuation of targeted community development support through a range of our delivery programmes including Pockets, Places and Prosperity and Community First.  These programmes are designed to focus on our priority communities and communities of interest, helping local organisations to be resilient, compliant, and strong.  The team are committed to fostering vibrant and thriving communities by ensuring our resources are directed to address poverty and inequalities and planning for events through 2025/26 are well under way
• Planning is now underway for the 2025/26 Community Grant Scheme with confirmation that there will be two rounds this financial year, one in July open from the 1st-25th July with outcomes early October, and the second opening 24th November -9th January with outcomes in March 2026, Funding has been secured through the UK Government Shared Prosperity Fund
• In partnership with the front-line workers, the team are collating progress on delivering the priorities within the Locality Plans, including the establishment of locality forums
• The Vaccination Programme in partnership with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has commenced its spring programme and the team continue to assist to ensure the smooth running of clinics at both Kirkintilloch and Milngavie Town Hall
• In collaboration with cross council services the equalities officer is collating progress on the delivery of the Gaelic Language Plan 2024-29 and year two progress report
• The team are coordinating the returns for the ED Equalities Mainstream and Outcomes report, and this continues at pace, while also planning a consultation for mid-July through to September to help inform future outcomes.

Housing Operations and Estates Team, and 
Homelessness and Prevention Team

Key Achievements

Housing Estates

• The Estates team received 7 new Reports of anti-social behaviour during the month of May, and 5 open cases were resolved
• There were 2 nominations from the Housing waiting list sent to a Registered Social Landlord operating in East Dunbartonshire to be considered for allocation to their housing stock. Discussions are ongoing with Clyde Valley Housing Association to agree a new Nominations Agreement
• Ongoing regular attendance this month included Housing Liaison meetings where cases of relevance to Social Work, Community Safety and Police Scotland are discussed, MARAC meeting with other agencies, CPC MISE group to discuss Child Protection issues, Safe and Together forums,  2-weekly meetings of the Community Harm and Risk Meeting (CHARM) with Police Scotland, Community Protection, Trading Standards and Licensing and regular meetings with Legal Services regarding dispute over title deeds in the housing estate, NOP’s and other legal matters
• Half day training session at Macgregor House this month focused on Corporate Fraud with an overview and was well attended
• The new on-line CRM system training has been issued for Housing staff using the system and now up and running
• The team is part of new Steering Group to re-establish and implement new procedures for processing and issuing Tenant Recharges.

Areas of focus

• Aim to identify any training needs and hold quarterly sessions for reviewing policies and procedures with officers
• Officers are contributing to an ASP (Adult Protection) Inspection. Contribute to the Allocations Policy review currently being undertaken
• Input to devising new procedures for Any Day Lets which has been introduced as part of IHMS implementation
• Attendance at new 2-weekly Community Harm and Risk Meeting (CHARM) with Police Scotland, Community Safety, Trading Standards and Licensing officers continues. Attendance at East Dunbartonshire Safe and Together steering group is ongoing
• Hold monthly budget meetings with HRA accountant to keep monitor budget. Weekly meetings with Void Team at Property Maintenance to focus on improving performance. Monthly attendance at new Housing/Social Work liaison meeting to discuss Throughcare cases and Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children
• Monthly void property meetings with Property Maintenance to jointly monitor and improve housing performance
• Work to reduce the Voids, - liaising with the property maintenance department to streamline this process
• Garden inspections, ensuring all tenants are keeping their gardens tidy in line with their tenancy agreements.

Homeless Team

Enquiries to the homeless team have significantly increased during May particularly from households who have no local connection to the area attending the Kirkintilloch office. Appropriate steps have been taken to address issued with other LA.  The waiting time on the list has increased significantly as has the numbers awaiting offer. This is due to low turnover of accommodation in the area and void times for settled accommodation.  

• 29 households made a homeless applications to the council
• 32 calls to homeless out of hours service 
• There are 286 applicants on the homeless list – none of which have been waiting longer than 3 years.  This is the highest number of homeless applicants on the list since 2019
• 14 offers of settled accommodation made to applicants on the homeless list 
• EDC tenants referred for Prevention assistance/advice (rent arrears)
• Project 101 new office being established.  Fire safety checks to carried out, intruder alarm to be fitted and wifi to be fitted. Estimated open date end June/start of July 
• Industry Street – tender published for the provision of housing support at Rapid Access Accommodation.  Estimated opening August/September 
• 1 referral to the rent deposit guarantee/private sector scheme
• 155 Landlord Registration enquiries;18 new, 55 renews, 82 updates.  Income of £6.873 collected
• The demand for temporary accommodation continues to be high, meaning that the council are at increased risk of not being able to meet statutory duty.  Although stock levels have been increased (by 40% over the past 12 months) there has been a low turnover of settled accommodation/void timescales which in turn are having an impact on homeless waiting times. Lead tenancies continue to decrease as landlords are looking to sell their properties
  • 8 tenancy sign ups 
  • 6 applicants on waiting list of temporary accommodation 
  • Current provision 
    • Rapid Access 12
    • 1apt 13
    • 2apt 31
    • 3apt 78
    • 4apt 17
    • New Temp identified 3
    • Temp returning to landlord 5.

Key areas of focus in May for the Communications & Engagement team included the Provost’s Community Champion Awards, Foster Care Fortnight and the launch of the new bin collection schedule online tool.

Media relations remained consistent this month with ten releases issued (7 in April), one photocall, (8 in April) and 19 media enquiries dealt with (19 in April).

All releases are on the Council website news section and the local coverage achieved equated to an equivalent advertising value of £10,600 (£6,048 in April).

Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn once again saw an increase in followers with the most popular posts this month relating to the upgraded BMX track in Bishopbriggs, launch of the bin collection schedule tool and an emergency road closure at the Devil’s Pulpit.

Across the Council’s four social media channels the average engagement rate was 2.02% (a good engagement rate is 0.5, anything above 1 is deemed great).

The Council website had 199,200 visits (excluding internal traffic) with the most popular page being Bins and Recycling with 23,207 views.

There were 6,000 call-to-action button clicks, 5408 of these being customers completing online forms for both the Council and EDLC.

The most watched video on Facebook was the Provost’s Community Champion Awards are back while on YouTube it was once again our Right Bin? Put it In waste video.

Seven videos were created this month with 60 design jobs completed overall.

In May 2025, the Corporate Performance and Research team continued to fulfil required duties in relation to reporting of performance and risk management at a corporate level and provision of service level data and statistical support as well as continuing to ensure the Council has adequate insurance arrangements in place, providing advice and support in relation to insurance related queries and acting as a point of escalation in regards to any claims. All business as usual work was completed within agreed timescales. 

The team also continues to undertake complaints handling at a corporate level, coordinating responses to complaints across all service areas, ensuring they are addressed appropriately, and that adequate responses are provided within statutory timescales.

Throughout May the team continued to respond to customer enquiries via all contact channels. The Customer Service team answered 10,024 calls and attended to 585 customers in community hubs across all localities. Many enquiries related to recent changes to waste collection schedules for general bins. Although most residents are getting used to this change, the customer service team will continue to provide support and assistance when required. 

The Emergency Response Centre team continue to support community alarm customers, as well as handling urgent and emergency out of hours calls for all Council services such as housing repairs and roads. 

A key focus across the team is the ongoing development of the primary systems used to ensure the service delivered is efficient and responsive, with work continuing to measure performance accurately. 

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

Communications & Engagement

• Developed storyboard and script to create a Save Time, Do It Online video with subtitles and voiceover
• Delivered communications to inform residents of the latest developments related to the Lenzie Academy replacement project including promotion of public consultation event
• Co-ordinated communications to announce that construction is complete for Twechar Outdoor Pursuits Centre including photocall, media release, video, social media and website updates
• Completion of the intranet audit and content updates as part of the new intranet replacement project
• Promotion of key Education successes including Music School of Douglas Academy pupil being named Scottish Young Musician Solo Performer of the Year 2025 Runner-Up, Bearsden Academy awarded the Foundation level of the British Council’s prestigious International School Award, Early Level Conference in Kirkintilloch and East Dunbartonshire coming out top in Scotland for positive school leaver destinations
• Promotion of key awareness days including International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia and the lighting of buildings for Lyme Disease Awareness Month and Fibromyalgia Awareness Day.

Corporate Performance

• Analysis of year end complaints handling stats was undertaken and annual complaints handling report was prepared for submission to the June meeting of Council

• Annual Business and Improvement Plans across all service areas were collated and prepared for submission to the June meeting of Council

• Preparation is underway for the annual Local Government Benchmarking Framework report to be submitted to the first meeting of Council following summer recess

• The annual renewal of insurance arrangements was concluded

• An audit of complaints handling was undertaken by the internal audit team

• Continued assistance was provided to the change team in relation to the rollout of Oracle Fusion.

Customer Services

• Customer service team continues to handle customer enquiries via all contact channels, building expertise and knowledge of functionality of the new CRM
• The Emergency Response Centre team provide ongoing support to the telecare customers and teams, providing out of hours emergency telephone response and CCTV monitoring 
• Building on the development of primary systems for core Customer Service and ERC operations across the team.

Human Resources & Organisational Development

• Regular Joint Negotiating Group (JNG) weekly engagement with the Trade Unions continued on strategic and operation HR initiatives, including service reviews, and agreement on an update to Family Friendly policy to allow for submission to P&R committee
• Supported delivery of the May 2025 Leadership Forum, bringing together the managers and team leaders across the organisation to progress discussions on Employee Survey findings, updates to our Workforce strategy action plans and on the development of a Wellbeing campaign
• Continued support and guidance for employees and managers on HR policy and procedures, with support and progression on Employee Relations case work
• Within Payroll Services, the team have maintained and processed the payover of the various payruns within timescales, with the completion of a series of statutory returns
• The HCM Project Board, continues to oversee implementation of moving to the new HCM HR/Payroll system
• As the HCM project has progressed during May with a series of Key User Testing sessions were undertaken across Payroll and HR for the new system
• In conjunction with services, reviewed milestones within the Workforce Action plans, supporting updating of these
• The People Development team delivered sessions across a number of topics including SMART Working, Induction, H&S, EDC Policy sessions & Leadership topics. In total 191 delegates received training across topics in May 2025
• People Development undertook focussed work to support of upcoming EQIA Training & eLearning updates for Moodle. 

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Libraries commemorated the 80th Anniversary of VE DAY with VE Day Tea parties and a talk, at William Patrick library, on the German air crash in the Campsie Fells.  There was a week of drop-in activities and  tea and cake and entertainment at William Patrick Library’s Anniversary Victory Tea.  

Bishopbriggs Library was at the heart of the town’s Community Day on 17th May.  Almost 1,000 people attended the library’s event with stalls for crafts,  transfer tattoos, sunflower planting and a book sale – with people being encouraged to become library members. As part of the event, the library piloted an autism-friendly quiet space in the Event Room for children and families who may have found the noise and activity overwhelming.  Feedback from parents was that having a space to retreat to allowed them to recharge and extend their day out instead of having to go home early.  

This month the service marked dementia awareness week with the Memories Scotland group in Bearsden and Lennoxtown remembering trips ‘doon the watter’, holiday ice cream, Govan shipbuilding and Sir Alex Ferguson! Sir Alex had created a ‘Playlist for Life’ which the team shared with the group.
May also included Volunteers Week, and the Libraries Access & Outreach Officer held a volunteers award afternoon tea at Kilmardinny House. The event included a slide show and an afternoon tea to celebrate all of our volunteers hard work. Volunteers were presented with a thank you certificate, from EDLCT and EDVA.

Archives & Local Studies received 2,050 visitors and 235 enquiries. 
170 visitors attended the opening of the popular annual art exhibition of works by members of the Milngavie Art Club, while The West of Scotland Guild of Weavers Spinners and Dyers exhibited a collection of hand-made textiles at the Auld Kirk Museum. 

Capital works continued on the exterior of the pool hall nearing its conclusion. Preparation for moving onto the centre frontage got underway and new pedestrian traffic routes in and out of the centre were put in place. Plans also started for accommodating the Kirkintilloch Gala Day which takes place every year in the adjacent Woodhead Park, with the funfair coming to town.

The centre itself performed well financially being ahead of target for period 2. The Gym DD income remained strong and in line with period 1 which was pleasing.
Staff dealt with a serious first aid in the Sauna where prompt action by staff saved a customer’s life. Staff involved were personally thanked by EDLC General Manager and they were supported by the KLC Operations Manager in respect of their own personal well-being.

Following a second review it was decided that the beginners and advanced Tai Chi classes at Huntershill Sports Hub would be retained. Consideration was given in February 2025 when the class numbers had dropped but an improvement in recent weeks has resulted in both classes continuing. Varies changes have been implemented on a Saturday morning to the Leisuredrome Group Fitness schedule and will be trialled on a six-week period. 

On the 28th April the Leisuredrome launched the new Les Mills Virtual Spin programme. The new programme includes many more options to the previous platform including Les Mills Sprint, Trip and RPM classes. Initial feedback has been sought, and some changes have been informed by the mixed reviews. 

Scotia ASC held a regional swim meet at the Leisuredrome on Sunday 25th May with clubs across the West of Scotland competing. The club were also awarded Scottish Swimming AquaMark 1 that recognises the following:

• Be inclusive, adhere to equality standards and engage with the local community
• Develop safe, effective, well governed, welcoming, and friendly environments, based on good practice
• Improve the club experience for all members by having an agreed vision and culture
• Strive to be a long-term sustainable club focused on developing pathways for all.

Inclusive Sports Forum

The Inclusive Sports Forum met this month bringing together 14 key partners from a range of sectors including sportscotland, community clubs, the NHS and a number of local schools. As always, the forum sparked meaningful discussions around collaboration and inclusivity in sport. Team United delivered an engaging presentation highlighting how they engage young people with ASN in football and a representative from Cricket Scotland spoke about their innovative strategies for breaking down barriers to participation in their sport. Local aquatics club Kirkintilloch & Kilsyth Amateur Swimming Club also presented to the group sharing information about the success of their ASN water polo programme.  The next meeting will take place in October.

SuperTeams

The SuperTeams Primary School athletics competition took place at Huntershill Sports Hub with 15 schools participating in a range of events such as the long jump, shot-put and relay races. 134 pupils took part on the day with Wester Cleddens PS claiming the SuperTeams trophy. The event was run in partnership with Springburn Harriers Athletics Club. The strong links between our Active Schools team and community sports clubs such as Springburn Harriers continues to create effective pathways from school participation to involvement in local community clubs.

Teacher Netball CPD

The Active Schools team organised a netball CPD training course which was delivered by a tutor from Netball Scotland. This was offered to all teaching staff in East Dunbartonshire’s Secondary schools and was organised in response to requests from teachers who currently lead netball clubs but felt that they would benefit from some additional coach education training. The training focussed on the current netball rules and also covered content for drills and practices. Two courses were delivered with 19 teachers from a variety of schools taking part. The course was fully funded by Active Schools.

Rugby Volunteer Training Course

Active Schools organised a rugby volunteer training course aimed at volunteers delivering Primary school sessions across East Dunbartonshire. The training was led by Glasgow Warriors player Beth Tobin who has also been completing her probationary primary teaching year at Gartconner Primary School, Kirkintilloch. The training was attended by East Dunbartonshire primary teaching staff, support workers, student volunteers and local community volunteers. The training was a great success with extremely positive feedback. One participant stating “It was the most fun I have had at a CPD course in years”. Another said, “The course was fantastic, one of the best CPD courses I have attended.” 

Dance Festivals

This month saw both the Bishopbriggs and Bearsden clusters host dance festivals which were a showcase and celebration of dance in local schools. Extra-curricular dance clubs were arranged for pupils to learn their routines and sessions were delivered by a combination of students, secondary school pupils and school staff. The events were supported by local secondary schools with performances from senior pupils and a focus on the transition between primary and secondary school throughout.

Summer Activities 2025

The Community Sport Team launched a programme of Summer Activities for children and young people, available on the new Booking System, Course Pro. The system allows parents/carers to book directly, reducing administrative time for the team and a streamlined process for the customer. It also allows the team to monitor the popularity of activities, adapting the offer where and increasing access where possible. All information on the summer activities available can be found on the website, Summer Activities for Kids 2025 | EDLC.

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The Service has made very good progress against priorities in the Business and Improvement Plan (BIP) 2024-2027. 

• The Education Leadership Team (ELT) has completed the process of evaluating the progress of the Education Service against the priorities outlined in the Business and Improvement Plan (BIP) and Education Service Plan (ESP).  New plans for 2025 – 2028 have been completed and will be shared with Education Committee and Schools as appropriate
• The completed Education Services Standards and Quality Report for 2024 – 2025 has been completed and is being shared with schools.  This shows the excellent progress made across all schools and early years centres, supported by central officers
• All schools and early years centres have been evaluating individual progress and devising their Standards and Quality Reports and School and Centre Improvement Plans.  This is in line with Education Service Priorities outlined in the ESP.

• Meadowburn Primary School was accredited as a UNICEF UK Bronze: Rights Respecting School by the Accreditation and Standards Committee
• Craigdhu Primary School has been asked to be a case study of good practice as a UNICEF UK Gold: Rights Respecting School by the Accreditation and Standards Committee
• Secondary pupil representatives from the EDC Pupil Forum My Voice, My Choice participated in a consultation exercise with colleagues from EDC Economic Development on 2 May 2025 about East Dunbartonshire’s new Economic Development Strategy.

Early Years, Primary, Secondary and Supporting Families

• The Professional Learning Community (PLC) came together for the annual Play Pedagogy Forum.  Guest speakers were Glasgow City’s Play Pedagogy leads and Education Scotland’s Outdoor Learning leads.   A ‘post’ practitioner evaluation was completed.  Following the forum, reciprocal practitioner visits to Glasgow schools and EYCs have been planned for March 2026, and the Education Scotland leads have made contact with 2 EDC establishments where they are keen to showcase innovative practice on their website
• The Early Years’ Enhanced Transition document, developed by a working group will be used to support the transitions of all children who have been allocated a Tier 2 or Tier 3 Primary 1 placement for August 2025, as well as a small number of children requiring enhanced transition to mainstream Primary. This launch followed an evaluation of the pilot (2023-2024)
• Early years to school transition liaison meetings in each locality allowed for early years centres to share transition reports and information about individual children feeding into schools. This year specialist provisions attended the meetings to collect the newly introduced report and discuss key information about children with additional support needs. This event had the highest attendance to date and the feedback was very positive from teachers and practitioners
• The Leadership Strategic Framework and Parental Involvement Strategic Framework have been finalised and approved by the Education Leadership Team. These will be shared with Education Committee, all schools and early years centres in the new session
• The Parental Involvement Officer has provided Parent Councils with guidance and resources to support them meet the requirements of the changes to the Disclosure (Scotland) Act
•  A new cohort of 101 Probationers has been allocated by the GTCS to the Local Authority. 46 Secondary and 55 Primary will begin the Teacher Induction Scheme in August
• The Quality Improvement Officer in collaboration with the Scottish Equity Fund lead has developed a process for collating and allocation student placements for Session 2025/2026. There continues to be no National system since the withdrawal of the GTCS from SPS in 2024. Guidance has been provided to schools to support them with the new processes
• The Quality Improvement Team visited all schools and centres to carry out quality assurance attainment visits, focusing on projected attainment data in achievement of curriculum for excellence levels
• A total of 14 practitioners from the secondary, primary, and ASN sectors have enrolled in the Improving Our Classroom programme, set to begin in early June. This year-long accredited programme is designed to enhance classroom practice and raise pupil attainment. Three primary schools have committed to the Improving Our Schools programme, a year-long initiative that engages all practitioners and senior leaders within each school. Additionally, two secondary schools have departments participating in the Improving Our Departments (IOD) programme. IOD focuses on enhancing learning and teaching, implementing data-informed targeted interventions, and raising attainment and achievement
• The Literacy Development Officer, along with three selected practitioners, has been accepted onto Education Scotland’s Learning to Read in the Early Years Professional Learning Programme. The Literacy Development Officer will train to become the Local Authority Lead Facilitator, while the three practitioners will prepare to serve as facilitators within the programme
• 5 primary schools have signed up to participate in the Reading Recovery training programme this session. This professional learning programme takes place over the course of a year. Reading Recovery is an early literacy intervention designed to target and support learners to reach age-expected levels in reading and writing
• Principal Teachers of Curriculum from all eight secondary schools participated in moderation workshops for all curricular areas covering all stages of the Broad General Education (BGE). 85% of Principal Teachers strongly agreed and 15% agreed that this supported effective professional dialogue across schools. Moderation focused on assessment, pupil resources and courses of work. All staff involved shared this was effective in consolidating a shared understanding of Curriculum for Excellence attainment levels. All staff involved strongly agreed that working collaboratively with peer Principal Teachers of Curriculum further supports approaches to improvement across schools
• Principal Teachers across all schools engaged in a series of 20 separate development days to engage in professional dialogue around curriculum review and improvement. All staff were able to identify benefits to learners from the work undertaken including sharing creative resources to increase learner engagement and sharing approaches to pedagogy
• Staff contributed to the West Partnership group looking at senior phase profiling practice with a review to providing guidance to schools on skills development and manging skills progression.

Additional Support Needs (ASN) and Children’s Services

•  A Quality Review was carried out in Woodland View to evaluate key aspects of practice, including learning, teaching, support for all learners, and whole school approaches to inclusion. The review process involved classroom observations, engagement with staff and learners and analysis of planning and assessment evidence. Key themes and findings have been identified and will be shared as part of the next stage of feedback and reflection with the school team
• The annual Child Protection training has been updated to reflect national and local priorities. Bitesize sessions have been arranged to provide an overview of the sessions, including suggested tasks. This will help ensure a robust understanding of safeguarding children and young people with clear expectations afforded to the child protection officers who deliver the sessions
• Lairdsland Primary School hosted a CIRCLE training day for all schools on 22nd April. The training introduced CIRCLE advisors and school leaders to the CIRCLE Participation Scale with the expectation that all staff will receive training on the Inservice day in August 2025. The Participation Scale is a tool that will help all staff identify and assess supports that help children and young people to participate fully within learning
• Staff from 2 Schools and 1 Early Years setting participated in a Moving and Handling training session with EDC trainers at Woodland View School on 06 May 2025
• Most of the central ASN and Educational Psychology teams participated in Accidental Counsellor training on 13 May 2025, delivered by Resolve. The training focussed on key themes in supporting others, identifying iissues, underlying parent and staff anxieties and challenges, suggesting options for helpful responding, and suggesting how best to address the expectations of others
• Staff from 3 Secondary Schools participated in Mentors in Violence Protection (MVP) training session at Kirkintilloch High School with EDC trainers on 15 May 2025.

Educational Psychology Service (EPS)

• The EPS continues to contribute to Authority Working Group to plan for implementation of Education Strategic Trauma Plan 2024-2027.  EPS has facilitated Transforming Connections follow up sessions in which participants reflected and identified impacts of trauma training for their own wellbeing and practice
• The SHINE Authority level reports have been received, and plans are in place to produce a short evaluative report to support education establishments to follow up using the SHINE data to inform their interventions to address mental health and wellbeing
• 16 multi-agency staff are undertaking preparation before embarking upon Level 3 training. 3 multi-agency staff are preparing to deliver a level 1 Non Violent Resistance (NVR) course in 2025-2026. An NVR PLC has taken place with plans to co-ordinate and support roll out of NVR parent and school interventions in 2025-2026
• In May 2025, the Nurture Steering Group met and were updated on the all-sector practice sharing event, the presentation to the National Community Mental Health Network and presentation to DCYPP.  Steering group members were asked for feedback on the work of the group across the year. CALM level 1 training was offered to primary Nurture teachers and Family Learning Assistants who had not previously completed it. This was a full day session, and the feedback was very positive
• In May 2025 the work of the 3-year Early Years’ Nurture programme was shared at the Early Level Conference, which was attended by over 400 practitioners.  The work of 2 EYCs was showcased, and the impact of the programme and evaluation evidence were shared
• The Secondary Wellbeing Teachers had their final PLC of the session in which they reflected on the year and in particularly on the use of the Stirling Children’s Wellbeing Scale. The group collaboratively identified potential focuses for next session
• School support and challenge visits continue to take place. A PLC session was held on 21st May focussing on data analysis and improvement planning. All schools in the pilot have planned actions in relation to attendance on their SIPs for session 2025/26. A review of the PLC programme this year indicated schools found it a ‘safe space’ to share challenges in relation to attendance, that they benefitted from challenge discussions and were inspired and felt supported by practice sharing
• 16 muti-agency staff have been trained in Talking Mats and 2 education staff have been trained as trainers giving us the capacity to train 32 practitioners next session. Talking Mats have released a trial parent mat which they are currently evaluating and 11 multi-agency Talking Mat-trained staff will attend a workshop in June to learn how to use the mat with a parent and child and provide evaluation information
• Consultation on the Dyslexia Strategy has begun with parents, children and young people to inform further review. A questionnaire has been disseminated to parents through schools and a focus group with primary school children has been conducted, with a secondary focus group planned in June. The redrafted guidance has been linked with the literacy framework and strategy. A consultation with school ASN leads has been planned for June.

School Planning and Improvement

• Lenzie Academy project continues to progress.  Consultation workshops have been held with the school, with future consultations planned for June.  Sign off on the floor plans have been confirmed for the project. Meeting with Lenzie Community Council and a tour of a new build secondary school was also completed
• Bearsden Primary project nears completion.  Progress has been excellent.  This has been due to the relationships with the school community and the main contractor.  Project is due to be completed prior to the end of session with all works carried out
• Milngavie Primary project planning continues with the awarding of the transport contracts for the duration of the decant. Preparatory work continues for the two decant schools along with continual consultation with staffing for each school where Milngavie will be decanted too.  Transition visits have also taken place to the respective schools
• Balmuildy Primary new build project has continued with the finalisation of the plans and timeline taking place with the Major Assets Project Team
• Workforce planning are completing recruitment for the Permanent Supply Pool – Primary Teacher vacancies were advertised.  These will be interviewed for in early June with award prior to end of the school session to the successful candidates.

Skills for Life, Learning and Work

• Youth Services planned and delivered the Skills Pathway Programme for targeted secondary aged young people during the exam diet.  Fifty young people from S4-S6 across six secondary schools engaged in the programme. The target group were young people with minimal exam requirements or those seeking opportunities to develop skills, confidence and wellbeing.  Activities included cooking sessions, outdoor education and a construction offer. These sessions focused on developing practical life skills such as teamwork, communication and resilience.  To remove barriers to participation, transport for activities, and lunch was provided where required.  Young people were provided with the opportunity to visit HMP Glasgow construction site, facilitated by Kier Construction. The visit offered an insight into the construction industry, deepening their understanding of the variety of roles and skills involved, and highlighting the career pathways and professional standards required within the sector.

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The month of May saw the Finance Team preparing for the year end tasks required for the collation of 2023/24 accounts and planning for the 2024/25 year end.   The closure of remaining 2024/25 financial periods are being progressed to support this process, with an accelerated timeline, alongside usual year end tasks.  There are timeline risks associated with these processes, with the team operating across three financial periods.  As the finance team moves into a critical period of demands on the team, an additional 1 FTE resource has been identified to temporarily supplement existing teams and to help manage the external audit process and timeline risks.  Movement into Phase 2 of the ledger system with HCM is also in progress and this has been staffed with an additional 0.5 full time equivalent within the Finance team as a further temporary resource.  However, the Service is currently working with 2 less accountants.

The Council continues to deliver against an ambitious capital programme supported largely by borrowing. 
Treasury Management Reporting continues to highlight the increasing revenue costs associated with the current programme with ongoing affordability being challenged within a tight funding settlement.  Reports to Council have provided updates on the programme, the associated costs and any mitigations required.  The final Treasury Management Report will be provided after recess.

The team has supported the budget process, with the Council’s budget being agreed in March, providing a balanced position in a highly challenging financial context and are now working towards the manual entry within the budgeting system and this is expected to be finalised by the end of June.

The Revenues and Benefits team have continued to progress Council Tax and Benefits services and administration of the Scottish Welfare Fund.  

The Council Tax Collection Rate at 19.15% is very slightly behind the target of 19.44% for the year.   The Council’s Recovery and Enforcement Procedures continue to be applied, and individuals being signposted to the exemptions and discounts available as appropriate.

The Shared Services Team continues to provide support across all Council services.    The Homecare Team continues to support an initiative from the Planning & Commissioning Team, processing variations in addition to their normal workload.  The Transactional Finance Team are working with colleagues in the HSCP to review process for contract variations in Homecare Services.   The Transport Team continue to update the transport requirements for Education and Social Work colleagues for the academic year 25/26.    The General Team have continued the 25/26 annual letting process: updating calendars, pricing and holidays. 

The ICT Services team continues to support the Council’s information technology systems and services to ensure high availability and performance in line with agreed service levels.  The Team resolved 991 tickets in May and dealt with 264 telephone calls.  ICT continues to support the migration of services to Microsoft 365 (M365) in partnership with the Business and Digital Change Team.  The ICT Security team continues to monitor the estate and perimeter defences alongside ongoing improvements to ensure that our systems and data are protected.

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 by 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; pre tenancy 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; having a weekly presence at Kirkintilloch Job Centre to provide additional support for tenants in receipt of the housing element of Universal Credit; and escalating arrears actions to include court action or eviction for serious rent arrears cases . The Rents Team commitment to reducing active rent arrears has seen a decrease of £123,216.73 on same period as last year (week 8).
 
The Tenant Participation Team continues to  ongoing support to active Tenants and Residents Association.

During May the Business & Digital Change Team continued to support services across the Council in the delivery of key strategic digital development projects.

The Team also continues to support our corporate business systems, ensuring incidents are resolved promptly and that all systems remain supported and upgraded in line with an agreed plan.  We also ensure our systems are reliable, resilient, scalable, standardised, value for money and secure.

Work continues towards completion of several audits on the 2024/25 plan as the team provides assurance over key areas of risk, making recommendations and following up on these to improve the control environment. Planning of the 2025/26 plan is underway with work being progressed in several areas.  The audits nearing completion are School Funds, Consultation & Engagement, Council Tax refunds and the Key Controls within Mugdock Park.    
 
Work has also begun on the year end governance processes, such as the Annual Follow-Up for 24/25, which supports the completion of the Annual Audit Report and Audit Opinion for 2025/26. 

The Corporate Fraud Team continues to prioritise the investigation of referrals and the proactive vetting of applications across key service areas, including Housing, Education, Licensing, and Estates. This work is essential to safeguarding access points and preventing fraud or error from entering council systems.

As part of this effort, the team has received a total of 6,047 data matches from the National Fraud Initiative (NFI)—a data matching exercise led by Audit Scotland to detect fraud and error. These matches were released in phases and have now all been received. The team has begun reviewing the high-risk and high-value matches, and this work is expected to continue throughout the remainder of the year.

In addition, a tailored training programme has been developed and delivered to staff within Housing Services. A similar training initiative is planned for employees in Revenues & Benefits. While the development of an in-house anti-fraud and bribery training package has been temporarily paused due to resource constraints, it will resume when capacity allows.

Finance 

• The 2023/24 year end is now underway with an agreed timetable for accounts production.  The timetable is a stretch target for the team, with multiple competing priorities ongoing
• The team is reviewing timelines for the 2024/25 year end
• The Oracle Fusion General Ledger system project has now been signed off as Green status with a few legacy tickets to be completed.  Phase 2 with HCM and PBCS/Fusion has now commenced and likely to last for 18 months
• Staff development is a key focus and given a challenging external recruitment market, the service is continuing to upskill existing staff where possible.  A practice of grow your own is hoped to be followed over the next few years
• The Treasury team continues to monitor cash flow closely, ensuring that there is liquidity for all Council activities.  Additional borrowing continues to be taken in line with the Council's capital programme expenditure. 

Revenues and Benefits 

•  In the month of May, the team issued:
  • 3,000 Council Tax bills and 9,500 Benefits notifications; and,
  • 200 Non-Domestic Rates bills
• 400 crisis grants and community care grant applications were received
• The team received and dealt with 1,350 documents for Council Tax queries and reduction and 475 for benefits.  In addition, the team received over 2,000 ATLAS notifications from DWP
• The team dealt with 600 telephone enquiries.

ICT Services 

• ICT Services are working closely with the Business and Digital Change Team to implement M365
• The Infrastructure Team:
  
  • Installed 60 Interactive Panels at Lenzie Academy
  • Completed Windows 11 build for roll out to corporate users
  • Completed switch replacement at the Records Office
  • Liaised with Major Assets Team to finalise the ICT requirements for Torrance Community Centre refurbishment
  • Specifying the requirements for the Milngavie Primary School decant.
• ICT Security have:
  
  • Monitored incident reporting through partners
  • Addressing remediations for the annual IT Health Check
  • Maintained the Council’s perimeter defences
  • Monitored the migration of devices onto newly configured hybrid platform
  • Completed various remediations and investigations across the estate.

Shared Services 

• The Residential Team added 136 service agreements to CareFirst for clients moving into care homes or for supported living services within their own homes
• The Homecare Team added 341 service agreements to CareFirst for clients receiving a homecare service or a direct payment
• Direct Payment Audit Team – 29 audits completed, 28 standard and 1 final audit finalised for clients receiving self-direct support
• The EMA Team reviewed the information on the website to prepare updates for academic year 2025/26.  

Housing Rent Arrears

• Active Tenant Rent Arrears were £879,037.16 which is a decrease of £123,216.73 on same period as last year (week 8)
• 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
• A Tenant Participation Working Group meeting held at Hillhead Community Centre, Kirkintilloch. This was attended by tenants, tenant representatives, elected members and EDC staff.

Business & Digital Change 

• The Business Systems Team have successfully upgraded 1 system in the period. They have also managed 14 incidents, supported 6 transformation projects, remediated 1 PSN security vulnerability and completed 1 new Interface
• Key User Training (KUT) for Oracle Fusion (new HR system) have now been successfully completed. These sessions allowed users their first experience of using the new solution based on the agreed design.  System integration testing has also begun, and the Project Team are currently planning for User Acceptance Testing
• The Housing Management System is currently being upgraded from version 22.2 to 25.1.  Testing is underway, progressing well, and remains on track
• Development continues Phase 2 of our CRM Platform. Achievements this period include: finalisation of our replacement for the Mavis Valley booking system and additional developments for the Early Years portal. Plans are also underway to replace our queueing platform in all Customer Service hubs and the current scheduling platform used in Mugdock Park
• Procurement completed on the Sheltered Housing telecare upgrade and the replacement of our remaining analogue alarm estate. This will now be reviewed by the Legal Team before moving to contract award
• A process mapping exercise is underway within Shared Services.  This exercise seeks to identify inefficiencies, standardise work and improve processes.  Current priorities include; Blue Badge applications, Housing, Music Licensing and Transactional Finance
• A business case has been completed and initially reviewed for the replacement of our existing legacy fleet management application, TranMan(Fleet Management System) with a view to moving to a modern, cloud hosted solution and removing the need for paper timesheets, mechanic reports etc.

Internal Audit 

• The team is working on completing the revised 2024/25 Internal Audit Plan, in line with available resources
• Advice is continuing to be provided by Internal Audit in line with the Internal Audit Charter to support the enhancement of governance arrangements, risk management and controls
• Initial work has begun on the 2025/26 plan.

Corporate Fraud 

• Corporate Fraud is investigating allegations received, focusing on suspected fraud or error within Education, Housing and Revenues Services and on the remaining cases resulting from the NFI

• The initial review of NFI data matches was delayed due to vacancies within the team.  Recruitment interviews have been successful and new starts have started in April, which will allow for the sifting exercise to be undertaken

• The team also continues to undertake vetting on applications, from a number of services, in order to prevent to fraud and any potential reputational damage

• The team is focused on maximising its value adding activity through prioritising large value cases, which in some instances are challenging to resolve and may require an update of the policy base to support action – specifically the creation of a Communications Data Policy.

   

   

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The HSCP and its staff continue to work hard to ensure quality delivery of the Council’s operational delivery of statutory social work services, which are integrated with NHS services under the strategic governance of the Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) Board. Service quality and outcomes associated with these specific social work services are the main focus of this report with particular reference to three identified performance indicators in accordance with the Council’s strategic approach to business improvement planning.

The wider objective is that improved customer and organisational outcomes can be achieved through successful integrated planning and collaborative delivery of health and social care functions, under single management, with a combined budget, working to a single set of outcomes and operating to a single Strategic Plan. The impact and performance of all of these integrated health and social care services overall are reported on a quarterly and annual basis to the HSCP Board and through agreed representation and reporting arrangements, to the Council.

During May 2025, the HSCP has performed above target on all identified performance indicators.

Key Achievements:

• Just Enough Support is a strengths based approach involving local community assets; improving outcomes despite tightening eligibility. The train the trainer approach, which has built staff confidence and contributed to a strengths-based culture in East Dunbartonshire, has been highlighted on the Personal Outcomes Network website
• Promotional activity in support of:
  • Power of Attorney resources and overview event
  • Demystifying Death Week
  • Foster Care Fortnight
  • Mental Health Awareness Week.

Areas of Focus:

HSCP Wide

• Improve quality and relevance of information on HSCP website and maximise the potential of HSCP website to enable people to manage their own health and care needs
• Implement year one of the East Dunbartonshire Public Health Framework
• Refresh Digital Strategy in line with the new Strategic Plan 2025-30
• Review and refresh the HSCP Medium-Term Financial Strategy
• Review of Business Support Function
• Review of HSCP Management Structure
• Develop the 2025-2030 HSCP Workforce Plan.

Children and Criminal Justice Services:

• Implementation of Children's Social Work Services Review 
• Introduction of Just Enough Support (Fair Access, Transport, Eligibility Criteria). 

Adult Services:

• Review Care at Home services to focus on reablement expansion to mitigate demand growth 
• Continue with the work streams associated with the Learning Disability review and agreement obtained to take forward the John Street review 
• Explore potential of developing an all-age learning disability function
• Review and develop new commissioning strategy for Adult Commissioned Services 
• Review the model of delivery for HSCP clinical mental and learning disability health services across adult and older people care group
• Adult and Children & Families Services Commissioning Review 
• Review of adult Social Work delivery model.

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Land Planning & Development have progressed a number of significant work streams during May 2025 in line with the Business Improvement Plan commitments.  

• Work on the preparation of Local Development Plan 3 (LDP3) is ongoing.  Officers have been preparing for reporting the Evidence Report for LDP3 to Council in June 2025.  If approved, the Evidence Report will be submitted to the Planning and Environmental Appeals Division to undertake a Gate Check assessment

• Officers from the Land Planning Policy Team attended a workshop on options for encouraging more intermediate affordable housing in the area

• Work is continuing on identifying priority projects for inclusion in the Council’s new Greenspace Strategy, which will replace the Green Network Strategy and Open Space Strategy.  Work is continuing on an updated Open Space Audit which will support the development of the strategy.  Work is also ongoing to finalise a Food Growing Strategy for the area

• Following early engagement on a new Economic Development Strategy (EDS) held between February 2025 and April 2025, officers are analysing the responses received and finalising the preparation of a socio-economic baseline for the strategy.  This work will lay a foundation for moving to the next stage in developing the EDS, which is to consider options for the direction and content of a draft strategy

• The Economic Development and Place Policy Officer has prepared a response to the Economy and Fair Work Committee’s Call for Views on the Community Wealth Building Bill.  The response was provided as a Technical Note and was submitted to the committee on 23 May 2025

• Work on the monitoring and delivery of the Circular Economy Strategy is ongoing. 

• Further progress was made on the development of the Draft Climate Action Plan (CAP) including updates being made to the CAP to reflect feedback from Strategic Leadership Team and the development of additional information on funding streams available to support the CAP in advance of a further engagement session with SLT in June 2025
• Funding bids to support feasibility studies for heat networks were submitted to the Scottish Government to support delivery against actions in the Local Heat & Energy Efficiency Strategy (LHEES) Delivery Plan. Regular meetings were also held with colleagues in assets to establish a coordinated approach between the LHEES and the Capital Assets Management Plan and to help to drive forward implementation of the LHEES Delivery Plan
• Requests for data to estimate the Council’s carbon footprint were sent to colleagues in waste, assets, fleet, human resources and other teams to prepare the Public Bodies Climate Change Duty Report and Carbon Management Plan for 2024/25.  Scottish Government were contacted to clarify when area-wide emissions data by local authority area would be made available
• A committee report was taken to PNCA in May on the Scottish Government’s Draft Statutory Guidance for public bodies on the implementation of the 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. The consultation closed 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. The consultation closed on 19 May 2025
• Additional content on the Nature-Based Investment Study was developed to quantify the current greenhouse gas emission absorption potential of nature in East Dunbartonshire and set out options to leverage additional public and private investment to support environmental outcomes, contribute towards the Council’s net zero targets and deliver meaningful action to preserve and bolster flourishing biodiversity.  The study will likely need to be progressed in phases due to limited availability of funding
• Meetings were held with National Energy System Operator (NESO) and the Sustainability Team is collating information 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 have been 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 - are incorporated into the Council’s response
• Following the Council’s Employee Travel Survey, a draft Employee Travel Plan is being produced to support the targets set out in the CAP and show delivery against employee input from the travel survey.  Detailed feedback has been provided to the consultants to ensure the Employee travel Plan aligns with the CAP and is shaped by the responses from the Employee Travel Survey
• The Sustainability Team are piloting of an informal partnership with Glasgow Caledonian University’s Master’s 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 who are writing dissertations in areas that could add value to the Council’s work delivered presentations to relevant members of LP&D
• A Strategic Environmental Assessment service continues to be provided to colleagues across the Council including for the Greenspace Strategy and Food Growing Strategy. Sustainability input has also been provided for various planning applications in addition to ad-hoc projects from other Council teams.

• The Team is currently working with colleagues in Business & Digital Change and ICT on a major update of our ArcGIS software which will ensure our software is up-to-date and which will introduce improved functionality.  We are experiencing issues with the dated version which we are currently running including server layers not loading. We anticipate that the update will be completed around the end of May/early June

• Uniform live 10.7.21 upgrade has been successfully completed

• The Team are currently working with a number of Teams across the Council on a range of GIS projects including Customer Relationship Management and RMMS (roads management system) Integration, Greenspace Strategy Mapping, , Mapping support for FOI, , The Team also continues to support the preparation of the LDP Evidence Report

• A new GIS Service & Error Reporting Action app: we have received multiple requests through this system. The team has resolved most of them. Examples include a request to transfer existing Supply teaching annual questionnaire MS word document to survey123, Shapefiles data requests, CAD format data requests, updating GIS data /Online Maps, Ordnance survey data requests

• The Team completed multiple address register/update requests and several address queries and new ArcGIS online accounts requests from Teams across the Council.

• Transition to the new IHMS system continues to be supported by the IHMS Project team. Officers are utilising both Test and Live environments until snagging is complete
• Systems officers are assisting with day-to-day processing of direct debits and the set-up of rent accounts in both Test and Live IHMS and continue to monitor/escalate issues as they arise
• Performance Monitoring Officers continue to complete monthly statistics and dashboards that inform the HGIOS Report and Annual Return on the Charter. In addition, a Quarterly Return is voluntarily submitted to Scotland’s Housing Network that informs an annual benchmarking analysis against other social landlords
• Performance Monitoring Officers are completing a monthly Voids Return for Scotland’s Housing Network who are actively monitoring voids timescales nationally
• Policy officers continue to work on revising the Council’s Allocations Policy  
• Both Policy and Housing Estates teams are preparing to progress a feasibility study into the cost effectiveness and viability of lock up garages and garage ground sites
• Procurement of a new Digital Telecare system provider is now complete. The project team are ensuring the successful transition of analogue telecare to digital telecare throughout the sheltered housing complexes and will deliver in-person briefings to tenants at each site. Asbestos surveys will be carried out at each site to ensure that operatives commissioned can access properties safely
• The Housing Estates Officer is working closely with sheltered housing Wardens to ensure a robust service is provided to tenants during the Telecare switchover to the new system and to minimise disruption to tenants as equipment is removed and replaced
• The Housing Estates officer is delivering 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. 

• Working with numerous public sector agencies to ensure all support mechanisms to help business and create jobs are fully utilised, including development of new skills & technologies.  Cost of doing business continues to be a concern and resources to help and inform businesses continue to be priority with combined support materials available through the Find Business Support website.  A range of support is provided via the team and the Business Gateway contract to new emerging and existing businesses. This includes provision of local business support grants to support start up and growth SMEs

• Digital Boost will no longer be funded through Scottish Government although webinars will continue to be delivered by Business Gateway National.  The team are using currently available expertise to support companies on their digital journey, as well as developing further internal expertise

• 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 and regeneration grant set to go live later this summer (2025). 

• The team continues with a range of work to ensure the delivery of the Council’s City Deal project. The Outline Business Case (in-line with City Deal & HM Greenbook requirements) was approved at the Glasgow City Region November 2024. Work is underway on the Full Business Case stage for the two project elements – Bishopbriggs Town Centre Civic Space and Westerhill Development Road
• The Westerhill Regeneration Area (WRA) planning guidance and its associated delivery plan is now adopted under LDP2. Work is taking place to examine how different aspects of the WRA can be supported to a delivery stage, out with the current City Deal Projects
• Work is ongoing on the Westerhill Development Road (WRA) which is currently at DMRB Stage 3. The planning application has been submitted
• Work continues on the next stages of the design process for Bishopbriggs Town Centre.  The A803 project is now out with the scope of City Deal, but work continues to look at how this can be funded and delivered through other means
• The team are working with the Glasgow City Region Programme Management Office on the proposed use of additional City Deal funding that has been allocated to all eight member local authorities for the Enabling Commercial Space programme. At P&R in May, approval was given to utilise the funding to help deliver commercial floorspace in the Southbank area, linked to the Councils asset strategy for this location. 

• The Campsie Memorial Hall project in Lennoxtown secured funding from the Scottish Government’s Regeneration Capital Grant Fund, and is now on site
• The programme management of the Shared Prosperity Fund is ongoing to support services and projects across the Council. A range of projects have been identified and are being progressed for implementation up to end of March 2025. Work to prepare projects for a fourth year of SPF funding has also been undertaken over this period
• The Lennoxtown Main Street Improvement Project has concluded the development of technical designs. Progress to the construction phase will be subject to external funding, which is being examined including a pending application with Transport Scotland for Tier 2 Active Travel Infrastructure Fund funding. Feedback has been received from Transport Scotland, and in May a formal outcome was still pending [NB: Funding has now been awarded, which will enable the delivery of the first phase of works at Main Street]
• 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 designs have been developed in partnership with the local community. Officers will finalise the design via further community consultation later in 2025
• Construction of the Twechar Canalside Outdoor Pursuits Centre is now complete, and work is ongoing in relation to the lease arrangement ahead of the centre opening later in 2025
• Work is ongoing with the Milngavie BID and Kirkintilloch BID as they move through year one of a five-year term. 

• 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 project is now finished and in its defects stage. Monitoring of the new signals will be carried out six months post completion with the findings being reported to Council. Detailed updates have been provided in various Technical Notes
• 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 well on the A807 Active travel route, and construction has concluded for Phase 1a. The associated TROs for the project have been approved. Design and consultation work will be starting for the next phases through 2025/26
• The BetterPoints East Dunbartonshire App has been launched to promote active travel. The Traffic Free Schools continues, and approval has been received (at May 2025 PNCA) to deliver the initiative in a second back of schools to enhance accessibility and sustainable modes of transport for children and school communities
• Work is progressing 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 to develop a delivery option to increase regional and local Electric Vehicle charging network provision. 

• During the reporting period the planning side of the team has determined 67 applications and validated 57 applications
• The Building Standards team have received 116 building warrants and approved 91 applications
• The Enforcement Team opened 9 new cases and closed 2 cases
• The Development Applications team have been busy preparing reports for the forthcoming Planning Board Meeting in May
• The Team have been supporting the Councils Major Assets team with pre application technical advice in relation to the proposals for the WDR project
• Both Planning and Building Standards teams continue to offer support and informal advice to customers through our daily duty service Monday to Friday. 

• Completion of the Twechar Canalside Outdoor Pursuits Centre 
• Secured funding for the Lennoxtown Greenspace Projec
• Funding bids to support feasibility studies for heat networks were submitted to the Scottish Government to support delivery against actions in the Local Heat & Energy Efficiency Strategy (LHEES) Delivery Plan.

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Throughout May, the Democratic Services Team continued to support the internal governance of the Council, in addition to certain regulatory functions.  Six governance meetings took place during May.  Officers continued to support Members with paperless meetings and use of the Modern.gov App.  Preparations are well advanced for the use of Modern.gov to support the maintenance and publication of Members’ Registers of Interest.  In addition, work is underway to develop the system for use in the preparation, approval, and publication of Technical Notes and Contract Standing Orders waiver forms.  In time, it will also be used to support public engagement and consultation, and a petitions function.

As part of the annual Primary and Secondary Schools Registration process, the Team has made arrangements for the Placing Requests Appeals scheduled to be held in June 2025.  A total of five Appeal Committee meetings will take place and these will be facilitated by Officers from Democratic Services.  Notification of Hearing letters were issued.  Supporting the Appeals Committee represents a significant commitment from both Officers and Members.

The Team continues to engage with the Electoral Commission, Electoral Management Board and Association of Electoral Administrators in preparation for future electoral events, particularly the Scottish Parliament elections scheduled for May 2026.  This is the most complex and demanding electoral event that the Team administers, and so detailed planning will commence immediately after the Council recess.

The Team continues to support Children’s Hearings Scotland as part of the North Strathclyde Area Support Team.  Ongoing support was also provided to Community Councils.  With regards to the Community Council annual grants, paperwork was issued to Community Councils for completion and submission to the Council.  These submissions are now being assessed by the team prior to any grant being processed.  The Team continues to participate in local and national resilience partnership meetings and training exercises.

The Council continues to deliver registration services during May and when able, supported colleagues in neighbouring authorities.  In addition, the service continued to engage with partners across Greater Glasgow as part of ongoing resilience planning for winter and other potential incidents, in relation to both storage and registration.

The service continued to support Members and the Strategic Leadership Team.  Officers from SLT Support and Members Support participated in the Civic Committee and delivered many of the decisions of that Committee.  The Information Management Team continued to provide important support and advice to the MS365 implementation team, in addition to business-as-usual support in relation to freedom of information and data protection.

• Registration & Customer Services completed 65 birth and 198 death registrations in May.  16 marriages and 1 Civil Partnership were also registered in this period

• Citizenship ceremonies saw 2 new citizens receive British citizenship

• Continued development of the new committee administration system, which included further support for report writers, elected members and development of additional functionality

• Information Management received & processed 156 FOI/EIRs and 13 SARs (Subject Access Requests).

The indicators chosen for monthly reporting represent transactions where Legal Services involvement is nearer the end of the process.  Each indicator relates to services which are important to individuals and Council Services, but that also have an impact on the local economy.  They also represent areas where performance was not previously as good as it might have been, which resulted in the introduction of the PIs.  Whilst performance is consistently high, the continued application of the PIs ensures that this remains the case.  It also ensures that any change in performance is identified and addressed early.

Performance against all indicators for Legal Services for May is 100% except for one taxi application and one open market purchase.

Legal Services continues to support services across the Council in the delivery of projects, contracts and otherwise to manage legal risk.  This includes advice and work on confidential matters that cannot be included in a public report.

• During May, the Team processed 6 contract review forms and 4 contract award letters, 6 open market purchases, 18 taxi licence applications, and 6 housing repair grants.  All were granted within the required timescales except for one taxi application and one open market purchase.  Considering this, it is not proposed to take any steps currently other than to continue to monitor progress against the set PIs

• The Team continued to provide support to the wider City Deal team with advice and support including Appointment of City Deal Full Business Case Consultancy contract, supporting negotiation of the pre-construction services delivery agreement for the Westerhill Development Road with the selected contractor, providing legal advice and support in relation to continued development of the full design and build construction contract for the Westerhill Development Road

• Property and planning work included purchase of 2 Braehead Street, Kirkintilloch, lease of Suite 1, Springfield House, landlord consent to Twechar Community Action for sub-lease to a pharmacist for Part of the Twechar Health Living & Enterprise Centre which provides the charity with key income

• Contracts and procurement work in this period included contract for electrical rewire works, variation of oracle fusion implementation partner contract, contract for replacement refuse collection vehicles, issue of National Care Home uplift variation letters and completion of delivery agreement for the refurbishment works at Milngavie Primary School.  The team also made the traffic order reducing various residential streets in and around Twechar to 20mph

• Grants offers accepted included funding grant for Gaelic Specific Grant 2025/26, funding grant for private water supplies and funding grant for Air Quality

• The Litigation Team continued to provide support to Social Work in relation to adults with incapacity and permanence planning and to Education on a variety of matters.  The Team continues to provide advice on a wide range of confidential matters including employment advice and support the Housing Service.

During May, the Procurement Team continued to support services across the Council in the delivery of various projects, including ongoing support to several strategic procurements/projects, particularly in relation to City Deal, ICT, Business & Digital Change, and various Capital projects.  In particular, the Team continued to be heavily involved in data cleansing, Solution redesign, Communication planning, Key User training and support, Data Reconciliation and Supplier data correction as part of the ongoing management of the new Fusion Financial system.  This has placed a significant demand on the resources of the Team as it is responsible for four of the six ongoing workstreams.  In addition to the above, the Team is now testing for a major upgrade to the Fusion system and the implementation of the Supplier Portal model.  The upgrade is of such magnitude that it requires to be managed as a project in its own right and will require support from other Council services.  

The Team also continuously works to manage and support the operational activity in terms of the buyers work centre, Fusion catalogue management, supplier management and payment processing, and in May remained focussed on delivering against the increased demand from Services around queries in relation to Fusion, whilst managing the ongoing implementation, remodelling and updating of the System.

During May, the Team was heavily involved with multiple Capital programme requirements, system software renewals, Transport Contracts, School Building Summer planned maintenance and Housing New Build Maintenance support

The team has been co-ordinating the actions instructed by SLT regarding additional authorisations and prioritisations around spend controls, and the contract requirements against budgets, through newly implemented governance procedures and controls.

• Providing ongoing support to the City Deal team in relation to Contract requirements and alternative procurement route options

• Supported key Capital, Business & Digital Change projects such as Oracle Fusion upgrade , Fusion HCM Phase 2, Westerhill Development Road, , school estate Professional Fees, school maintenance works, School Transport contracts whilst supporting workforce of the future planning and Business as Usual workstreams

• Contract workstreams in progress for key maintenance programme works for the School Summer holiday period

• Participation in extensive meetings and workshops to train, test, reconcile data transfer and solution implementation for the Oracle Fusion Redwood upgrade

• Completed renewals for support and maintenance of business-critical systems to facilitate workforce of the future

• Ongoing support to the /implementation of Fusion to support the technical requirements for Payment integrations, Managed Stores and e-invoicing

• Ongoing data analysis in preparation of the 2025-2026 Annual Procurement Strategy to include alignments with organisational Climate Action Planning, Circular Economy Strategy, Community Wealth Building & the City Region Community Wish List planning

• Processing and payment of Welfare Support Payments in line with Council support requirements

• Processing Year end invoices, payments and Fusion housekeeping actions

• Continued efforts to improve payment KPI’s, planning and communications for Oracle Fusion

• Continued Business Critical expenditure considerations within Buyers Work Centre

• Ongoing work on the review of Contract Standing Orders for alignment with organisational changes, financial management and Procurement governance

• Continued Fusion Redwood upgrade actions and communications in alignment with the quarterly Oracle schedules, managing the backlog resulting from the system downtime and managing business as usual

• Continued workstreams for the Oracle Fusion upgrade to Redwood Self Service Procurement, including testing and revisiting personalisation to consider business impacts

• Continued workstreams for the implementation of the Oracle Fusion Supplier Portal, including testing and revisiting system set up prior to roll out in June#

• Review of resourcing considerations to support Project workload and business as usual priorities.

Throughout May,  the Strategic Commissioning Teams focus remained on  supporting the HSCP to identify and progress transformation, redesign and management savings and providing daily oversight and support to the commissioned market.  

• Finalised planning protocol geared towards delivering management efficiency whilst improving and strengthening oversight & governance across a key strategic service area

• Reviewed and updated Options Appraisals to help inform strategic decision making 

• Progressed plans to support and integrate individuals with complex health needs who are currently in long stay hospital settings, into more appropriate / homely community settings

• Contributed to and supported the progression of several HSCP strategic and service reviews and provided added value by providing project management and budget management advice and expertise

• Finalised a Report which sets out how the HSCP complied with The Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019 during the period 1st April 2024-31st March 2025.  Following IJB and Council approval, the Report will be published prior to being submitted to the Scottish Government by 30th June 2025

• Reviewed & updated financial frameworks underpinning strategic reviews to ensure accuracy, alignment with the HSCP’s medium term financial plan and respective commissioning delivery plans

• Continued discussions with providers with a view to bottoming out actual service costs, implementing spend control measures and mitigating and/or reducing projected deficits

• Commenced mapping and market analysis of commissioned Children & Criminal Justice services to help inform strategic planning & development of related commissioning strategy 

• Reviewed Commissioned Services Market Risk Assessment to update and inform on service baseline and associated risks, commissioned spend and contractual status

• Supported care home provider to address service issues and make the improvements necessary to ensure individual needs & outcomes continue to be met.

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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:

• 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 colleagues in Procurement, 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.

The team continue to deliver both planned and reactive maintenance to both carriageways, footways, and street lighting assets. The Service continues to work towards full resource capacity with some vacancies for operational posts. 

The Roads Network Team Leader and Senior Roads Technician continue to oversee the cyclical Safety Inspections and responses to ad-hoc enquiries. 

The Streetlighting Team are also working on their 2025/26 Capital Programme 

The Roads Network Operations Team will complete the Roads Winter Maintenance Period in mid-April for both carriageway and footway winter maintenance. 

The Roads Development, Structures, Traffic, Flood Risk and Drainage Teams continue to work on and contribute to multiple projects including Road Coring, Flood Defence Maintenance, Bridge Inspection/Replacement and Signalisation/TRO Projects across various area. 

The Team also continue to work with Legal colleague to oversee the TRO process associated with the potential implementation of 20mph speed limits across various geographical areas starting with Bearsden and Twechar.

The Team is also coordinating with external contractors to delivery multiple traffic surveys with the information used to determine the next steps for various proposals. This information is used as evidence to either support the need for action or validate the decision not to take forward a proposal if it is not supported by evidence. 

The Traffic Officer also liaise with Police Scotland colleagues to monitor any road related incidents.

The three geographical based teams have completed the winter grounds maintenance tasks with a view to commencing spring and summer grounds maintenance tasks. The teams are also undertaking street cleansing of all adopted council roads and pavements including litter collection, leaf clearance, mechanical sweeping, and servicing of street litter bins. 

The team also continue to manage the Councils tree stock. The team manages burials in the eight operational cemeteries. 

The Streetscene Operations Team were heavily involved in the work during and following Storm Éowyn ensuring roads and open spaces were cleared of flooding and storm damaged trees. It should be noted the some of this work is ongoing.

The team continue to work with community groups regarding Environmental Improvement Projects including path improvement, play area renovations, amenity planting, cemetery, and allotment development. 

The team continues to analyse the results of the first Ash Dieback Surveys which will inform the actions that need to be prioritised to address this important issue. Ash Dieback Information will be communicated over the coming months as this is an issue that will become more prominent, and it is important to update elected members and communities on potential tree work resulting from the completed surveys.

The team are also currently overseeing the delivery of the remaining landscaping works to finish the  Climate Ready Park Project in Etive Park, Bishopbriggs 

The team is also progressing several Play Area improvement and replacement projects throughout East Dunbartonshire and about to commence the 2025/26 play area redevelopment works. 

The Streetscene Operations Team were heavily involved in the work during and following Storm Éowyn ensuring roads and open spaces were cleared of flooding and storm damaged trees. It should be noted the some of this work is ongoing.

The team have completed the winter maintenance period. The monthly visitor number continue to exceed expectation, and the team area focused on enhancing the visitor experience to the country park with various improvements planned to key attractions in line with the Mugdock Country Park Strategy. 

The Mugdock Country Park Team were heavily involved in the work during and following Storm Éowyn ensuring the Park was open for business shortly after the storm. It should be noted the some of this work is ongoing.

The Waste Team has continued the frontline service operations for the collection of over 400,000 assorted household bins over the month of April, providing residual, recycling, food, garden and special waste collections on behalf of the Authority. The team has also managed the waste and recycling collections from over 400 of our local commercial premises and provides recycling disposal provision at the Mavis Valley Recycling Centre.

The Waste service have continued to work with our Clyde Valley partners through the period on the treatment and disposal contract for all residual household waste.  The Council processed 1484 tonnes of waste through this contract in April, ensuring our waste undergoes treatment for recycling extraction prior to being sent through an Energy from Waste process.

The Fleet team continue to manage the transport operations including the Councils Goods Vehicle Operator Licence and compliance across all services. This includes provision and management of the maintenance workshops, annual testing, statutory inspections, and management of Drivers in line with obligations and conditions laid out in the Councils commitment to the Scottish Traffic Commissioner. 

Fleet Management has worked in partnership with services and officers from procurement in order to specify, tender and procure further vehicles and associated items of specialist plant, suitable for service users’ needs and to coincide with contracts terminating through the financial year. Tenders are currently out for the replacement of specialist vehicles, plant & equipment for Greenspace and Streetscene, Waste Management and other front-line services. 

Replacement vehicles continue to filter through from suppliers for Roads and Environment, Property Maintenance and Social Services. The team at Fleet Management continue working to transfer systems and equipment and arrange the de-fleeting and disposal of the outgoing vehicles. 

The fleet service continues to support and manage Transport Operations for the provision of Additional Support Needs Transport service for Education and Integrated Health and Social Care, including delivery of school meals on behalf of the authority. This service has provided additional support for other services throughout the period.

The Corporate Health and Safety team provides a range of occupational safety and health services, including advice on statutory guidance, safety action notices, safe working and training, incident reporting and investigation, including RIDDOR.  The H&S Team continues to work cooperatively with Trade Union colleagues to review incidents statistics and other health and safety activities.

Ongoing and comprehensive health and safety assistance is provided to services throughout the council, HSCP and EDLC, conducting multiple site visits to offer expert guidance, address emerging issues, and assist with the completion of risk assessments and safe systems of work.  Inspections of depots and a secondary school also took place in May. During this period, the team have been working closely with Waste and Fleet in their H&S committee, Mugdock Park with reviewing the Gaelic Festival, Education, Early years Centres, HSCP John Street and School Improvement Team for minor projects. 

Various teams received assistance through workplace, manual handling and individual risk assessments in collaboration with HR colleagues, specifically for Mugdock Country Park and Education, as well as continuing to review First Aids needs assessments with HR People Development. 

H&S training in April focused on H&S inductions, Legionella and Control of Contractors and UFAS. Safety alerts were issued this month on “Safety through planning and PPE” and short training sessions were updated such as “Bloodborne viruses” and “the use of axle stands, and chassis stands” to support safe operations as a safety targeted approach. 

The focus continues for Construction Design and Management (CDM) compliance with site visits, inspections, reviewing construction phase plans, risk assessments and method statements for refurbishment, general estate repairs, new builds, paths, roads and greenspace projects for various teams.  Work has been ongoing for Baldernock and Cadder cemeteries, for D&I, Housing, Assets and Major Assets teams projects such as Twechar Housing, Bearsden PS, Torrance Community Centre, King George V Pavilion, Campsie Memorial Hall, Kilmadinny Loch and Milngavie Town Hall, among other construction projects.

To support Estates & Facilities team in their CDM works, reviews were undertaken for repair works in educational establishments such as St Helen’s PS, Gartconner PS, Castlehill PS, Milngavie PS, and other corporate buildings.

Fire Risk Assessments are conducted in accordance with the predetermined schedule.  Officers undertake routine inspections and continue to carry out site visits to address any fire safety concerns and offer expert advice. In May there was a focus on Housing sites and the review of the fire risk assessment process for domestic premises and buildings. 

The team continue to promote reporting of health and safety incidents throughout the council and programme health and safety inspections of council workplaces.

Carriageway and Footway surface defects and service level agreements (SLA):

Between 01/05/2025 and 31/05/2025, we have identified 246 defects in East Dunbartonshire Council carriageways and footways. We have completed 205 repairs on time (approx. 83.34%), 13 repair late (approx. 5.28 %) and 28 repair (approx. 11.38 %) are in list for action and are still within SLA (incomplete).

Below chart compares our last three months performance:

Between 01/03/2025 and 31/03/2025, East Dunbartonshire Council completed 18 scheduled safety inspections. Three of these inspections are related to Footway inspections and 15 of them related to carriageway inspections. All inspections were completed and comply with East Dunbartonshire Council tolerance between inspections dates. Details of these inspections are as below:

Details of these inspections are as below:

East Dunbartonshire Council winter maintenance team completed 61 actions between 01/03/2025 and 31/03/2025 and approx. 252.9 tonne salt/ grit were used during this time. Please see below summary report of winter maintenance actions between 01/03/2025 and 31/03/2025.

Structures

• 2024/25 General Inspections programme complete.
• 2024/25 Principal Inspections programme near completion, with two structures requiring a CCTV revisit with traffic management.
• Review & response to abnormal load requests.
• Assisting other departments in the assessment of non-council assets.
• FB70 Redhills Footbridge, Lennoxtown. Footbridge relocation and scour protection works complete.
• Procurement process underway for FY25-27 structures framework contract.

Development

• Site visits to monitor progress on developments currently under construction.
• Site meetings to inspect developments and identify remedial works prior to adoption by EDC.
• Assist planning with development applications, distribute to officers for their comments on potential future developments.
• Process road adoption enquiries from internal and external departments.
• Process road opening permits and temporary traffic management permits.
• Remedial works now being carried out at Drumgrew Roundabout by Network Rail.
• Coordination of future works relating to development sites. 
• Roadworks continue to monitor all incoming works on Roads Register. Q4 Inspections agreed and sent for invoicing.
• 2025-26 SRWR Inspections sent to confirm with Utilities. Attended Local RAUCs meeting in March 2025.
• Street lighting programme added to Roads Register for 2025/26
• Temporary Traffic Light invoices processed and invoiced on completed works: continuing.
• Fixed Penalty notices issued for March 2025.

Traffic

• 20mph for Bearsden/Twechar public consultation completed and committee reports being prepared.
• School safety markings completed for 6 locations in Bearsden
• Queens Court Ramp project: Factor asked to pause because some residents submitted their objection to the installation
• Responding to Lining Requests and refreshing faded road markings.
• Commenting on various licences i.e. street trader licences, public entertainment licences and occasional licences.
• Commenting on planning applications.
• Responding to Lining Requests and refreshing faded road markings and street signs throughout Bearsden
• Disabled Bays TRO public consultation underway.

Flooding and Drainage

• River Glazert Restoration Project, Lennoxtown – Planning Application submitted awaiting decision. 
• Kelvin Tributaries River Restoration & NFM Project – Consultants are progressing with works and Green Action Trust are Project Managing on behalf of EDC. Ongoing.
• Completed Capital works on Catter Gardens – Milngavie
• Completed survey investigation works at Bishopbriggs Town centre for City Deal Team
• Started capital works for Mains Estate – Milngavie
• Road space booked for major capital jobs that will use GCC framework

Streetscene Operations

• Preparations underway for the commencement of the Summer cyclical works and completion of winter works.
• Street cleansing and mechanical sweeping; removal of fly posting and uplifting of fly tipping, mechanical street sweeping and installing replacement or additional bins.
• Countryside verge litter pick programme carried out 
• Graffiti removal.
• Ongoing cemetery operations, digging and carrying out interments, installing headstone foundations, benches etc
• Winter cyclical works ending; pruning of shrub beds and tree works. Winter gritting.
• Checking and clearance of culverts
• Play park inspection 
• Education and Leisure Trust pitch maintenance, athletic and football initial lining for schools.
• Replacement of damaged bins.
• Responding to Customer Service Requests and complaints.
• Removal of dead animals and excess waste at recycling centres.
• Seasonal recruitment for Care of Gardens service.
• Removal of dead animals and excess waste at recycling centres.

Streetscene Technical Support

• Bishopbriggs Park – brief complete and with procurement – now out for framework agreement
• Play Areas – Westerton – brief complete with procurement  - now out to framework agreement
• Play Areas – Kincaid (MOC)  - brief complete and with procurement  - now out to framework agreement
• Play Areas – annual external safety inspection complete – repairs ongoing
• Cemetery Management Rules – internal review ongoing noting recent wider Scottish Govt consultation – Scottish Govt regs now being finalised and implemented
• Headstones/Memorials Inspection  – inspections ongoing at Old Aisle Cemetery – ‘make safe’ arrangements where required will commence shortly 
• Cadder Cemetery Extension – works ongoing with consultant – initial design being reviewed with Pre Application to Planning now submitted
• Ash Dieback Survey on Roadside – updated survey received – a small number of trees require urgent works – ownership is a mixture of public and private – contact with private owners now made – EDC trees addressed. Further analysis of other trees and works ongoing with a number of notices now sent to private owners to progress
• Schools Estate – tree survey findings now being analysed – orders have raised for any priority works over the next 3 months
• Tree Planting – number of tree planting initiatives across the district undertaken  - Street Trees, Etive Park, Heather Avenue etc
• Sorm Eowyn – significant damage as a consequence of the recent storm with hundreds of trees impacted – all emergency works complete however clear up will continues across the district for a number of months
• Climate Ready Park – Allotment works complete - allotments now allocated and opened , pump track complete, remaining bund works and reinstatement programmed has commenced April/May 2025
• Community Growing Facilities – progressing improvement works via Shared Prosperity Fund – range of works completed at Jedworth Court, Sense Scotland, Twechar TCA and Kilmardinny Community Garden  
• Nature Restoration Fund – number of projects ongoing via this Scottish Govt fund –  remaining programme from 23/24 now complete – Technical Note issued
• Lenzie Moss – environmental works undertaken across the moss – this to support fossorial water voles
• Community Consultations re Management Plans – Lenzie Moss, Whitefield Pond, Cairnhill Woods and Heather Avenue – drafts complete – further consultation to take place to finalise draft plans
• Clyde Valley Green Network – liaison re EDC Wetland Strategy.
• Merkland – Scottish Water undertaking infrastructure works to site – now complete  - reinstatement ongoing
• Glazert Project – team input into overall project re trees and biodiversity aspects
• The team continues to respond to high volume of open space, tree and bereavement enquires, along with planning application consultations and complaints. 
• Team working with City Deal Team and Consultants in relation to Masterplan of Bishopbriggs Relief Road
• Planning application responses and support to Planning Team ongoing 
• Open Space audit work for input into the Grounds Maintenance System ongoing for Milngavie & Bearsden.
• Assisted a number of Community Groups with Litter Picking resources across EDC

Work carried out at the Park over March 2025:

Events

• The March 2025 market was cancelled due to high winds. 

Ranger sessions for this month were:

• Stargazing x 2
• Wildlife Weans x 2
• Forest School x 5
• Forest families x 5
• Books, Bones & Beasties x 2
• Afternoon Ambles for adults x 1

School Sessions

• There were 14 Forest School sessions between Westerton Primary, Twechar Primary, Mosshead Primary and Balfron High School. 
• There were also 2 educational sessions for Milngavie Primary at our Gunsites.
• Income for Events was £1,431, income from schools was £600. 

Warden tasks 

March warden tasks have focused on addressing areas that have been impacted due to projects, weather and events. Activities include: 

• Set up for market, moving of tables, setting timer switches etc
• Potholes in main car park
• Clearing around big tree and flattening ground for grass cutting
• Fix adventure play area with bark
• Chainsaw of rhodies for herbiciding
• Completing the Inventory for the stock check. 
• Rake and clear around bumble bee garden
• Assist with removal of wood from pond demolition, trailer use and emptying
• Taking vehicles to and from Hilton for servicing and repairs. 
• Tree report work, ongoing clearing up after storm
• Setting up and cleaning of BBQ hut and rooms for all bookings
• Weekly courtyard deep clean, bin housings, tables etc
• Daily tasks of emptying bins, dog bins, cleaning toilets
• Litter picking
• Playpark, toadstool trail, car park checks
• Edging with blower and brushes
  Ranger land management tasks include: 
• Habitat creation work using storm damage trees. 
• Birch cutting and herbiciding. 
• Clearing of cut rhododendrons, drilling and herbiciding of rhododendrons on main avenue. 
• Trimming of wildlife hedges to promote new growth. 
• Removal of old delapidatres fence in quarry. 
• Clearing and herbiciding of birch on Moot hill. 
• Student volunteer supervision. 

Visitor Centre 

Stock orders were reduced due to the end of year stocktake. The total Retail takings for March 2025 were £1,659. The largest sellers were Homeware, Toys and Clothing. 6 New suppliers were added on the procurement system soured from the Winter trade fair. New trails have been devised for Easter. 

Team members attended Access and Inclusion training with ASVA. 

Marketing

• Events programme for March to June is being advertised through our socials and has been designed by corporate Comms and disseminated to schools. 
• Paid for advert has been launched for Easter Eggsplore Mugdock Campaign. 
• Eggsplore banners have been produced and are now displayed. 
• Engagement focused on International Forest day and World Wildlife Day using footage from our camera traps of Pinemartins, historic images of the evolution of Craigend Walled Garden and the Craigend Courtyard. 

Projects

• BBQ shelter – Both structures are nearly complete with just the roof felting and guttering to be addressed, along with site clean up and landscaping. 
• Waste Water Project is in final snagging phase. 
• Funding secured from SPF for two Walled garden Project initiatives. 

Team attended Almond Valley Heritage Centre and Rouken Glen Play Park as a pre-Play Area Project awareness session of what other places have been undertaking

• The Clyde Valley Residual Waste contract accepted 1676 tonnes of household general waste throughput in January from our households, for recycling pre-sort, and then ongoing production of energy from waste. This was a reduction of 4.4% compared to February last year.
• The Project Team for the delivery of the 3 weekly residual collection continue to meet weekly as we work towards the service implementation on Sunday 30th March 2025.
• There was two new Waste Advisors recruited to support the implementation of the new service frequency through being available to respond quickly to residential enquiries.
• Waste Advisors have been out working with frontline refuse crews, tagging bins to remind residents of the change to the residual collection frequency and to direct them to the website FAQs.
• The team have been working closely with the Corporate Communications team to ensure that all relevant information is released to the public ahead of the service changes.
• The Waste Technical team attended the Zero Waste Scotland Communications Workshops, this was attended by representatives across all 32 authorities to consider best practice.
• We have worked closely with our colleagues in Business Change on implementation of Citizen Hub, ensuring it met the needs of the Waste Services activities for our frontline customers.
• We launched the Garden Waste Permits early February for the 2025 Season. There were 6259 permits sold in February.
• Gas and leachate monitoring carried out at Broomhill Depot.
• Contributed to National Modelling Exercise for Zero Waste Scotland.
• 15.22 Tonnes of Christmas Trees were collected for recycling as part of the one-off collections.
• There was a 17.5% decrease in the amount of general waste disposed at Mavis Valley HWRC compared to February last year (Feb 24 - 528T, Feb 25 - 435T)
• 3 Waste Operatives successfully passed training for the JCB, attending for a full week. This will be a significant support at our Mavis Valley Recycling Centre.

• During the period 1/02/25 to 28/02/25 there were a variety of vehicles/plant inspected/repaired in line with the servicing schedule and defect procedure.
• We currently have a variety of vehicles/plant on order to replace an aging fleet in line with the vehicle replacement programme.     
• Support Council services in the delivery of ASN Transport including the distribution of essential supplies for vulnerable individuals throughout the period including meals for early year’s facilities and lunch clubs etc.     
• Continued work on the management of Capital programme for the replacement of fleet assets through the financial year.        
• Continued work on the CPC training programme, to ensure all drivers that require CPC training achieve this before the deadline to remain compliant.
• Continued support to front line service operations through the provision of in-house fleet maintenance function including work on horticultural and construction plant equipment. 
• Management of Fleet Operations in compliance with Operator Licencing legislation with a DVSA Operator Compliance Risk Score of Green for both Traffic and Compliance 
• The team carried out a variety of gate checks, any issues that were identified were reported to the relevant management team.
• Monthly audits have been implemented to ensure MOT station compliance.
• We continue to monitor external hires.
• The team worked extremely hard during this period to ensure the frontline services had enough vehicles/plant during the period to carry out their duties.
• Work is ongoing to upgrade the fleet management system.