How Good Is Our Service - January 2023

Monthly Performance Report

On this page you will find information on:

• Assets and Facilities
• Customer and Business Support Services
• East Dunbartonshire Leisure and Culture Trust
• Education
• Finance & Audit
• Health and Social Care Partnership
• Housing
• Land Planning and Development
• Legal and Democratic Services
• Neighbourhood Services
• Organisational Transformation
• Place and Community Planning
• Roads and Environment

 

Assets and Facilities

Property Maintenance

Voids performance has dropped in January to 92% from 100% in December, however this remains a positive figure and is well above our target of 85%. Improvement measures implemented continue to have a positive impact on turnaround times and our objective is to maintain and improve performance going forward.

Property Maintenance have achieved our target of 100% for Gas Servicing in January with 471 properties serviced in the month. We continue to achieve our target each month and we are confident this will continue throughout the remainder of the year.

Reactive repairs are ongoing and we continue to perform well in dealing with emergency and non-emergency repairs. Performance in emergency repairs for January has improved on December and we are now back on track and exceeding our overall target in this area for the month. The Care & Repair service continues to operate well, with Aids & Adaptation works ongoing and progressing well across the stock.

The Smoke & Heat alarm installation programme has reached its conclusion and we have achieved our plan of visiting all properties across the estate in line with Government targets with more recent installations meaning 96% of properties are now fitted with Smoke & Heat alarms. The remaining properties have been no access. The service will continue to schedule these installations as and when tenants make contact. We continue to carry out the installation of Smoke & Heat alarms for residents in East Dunbartonshire eligible through our Care & Repair service and this is being well received. We are also referring residents who do not meet the criteria to Scottish Fire and Rescue Service where they can request a Home Fire Safety visit to determine whether SFRS can provide them with assistance.

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.

Facilities Management

The rollout of the new FM structure is nearing conclusion and employee displaced meetings are continuing with the aim to secure suitable alternative positions for displaced employees. Recruitment of all vacant positions commenced in July, however there was limited interest in these positions and recruitment open days were organised in October, advertising all available positions within FM. Interviews are ongoing and further recruitment open day sessions are planned during February and will be advertised through various social media platforms and posters displaced in Council premises and job centres.

All FM Lead and Catering Co-ordinator positions are filled and staff training is on-going.

An online catering consultation exercise was released in January, running for a four week period. This consists of two online surveys for Stakeholders to complete in relation to Primary and Secondary school meals.  The aim is to gain feedback regarding the catering service to shape the future delivery of the service and assist with menu planning. Following conclusion of the survey, a review and analysis of completed surveys will be carried out. The uptake of free school meals in Primary school for the month of January was below target, however the target was achieved in Secondary schools. Our focus remains on improving the uptake in the lower performing schools. Significant work was undertaken to ensure the lunch menu complies with the revised nutritional regulations and we continue to work with suppliers to source alternative food products, ensuring the menu complies with the revised regulations and meets all nutritional standards.

The service has worked with the Soil Association and awarded the Food for Life Bronze award in December. Our aim is to work towards the next level of award status.

Estates

There are 73 Operational Assets which require an annual Gas Safety Check. For the month of January 4 properties required an annual Gas Safety Check. These properties were serviced prior to the anniversary date. With robust measures in place to monitor performance we are confident that all safety checks will be completed throughout the year. The annual gas safety checks for 2023 have been scheduled in for the months of February and March 2023 with our current contractors. The remaining months of 2023 will be scheduled in via a new contractor(s) once appointed through the Scotland Excel Framework.

The Phase 2 Boiler Replacement programme is progressing, with Mosshead PS new boiler due to be installed early in the New Year, with Holy Family and Castlehill Primary Schools scheduled for March/April 2023. The remaining 9 schools will be scheduled in between Easter and over the summer holiday period with no (or very little) disruption to the schools.

Officers continue to progress reactive repairs across the Education and Operational Estate on a daily basis with over 150-200 repairs processed on average every month through Property Maintenance or our external contractors.

The Quality Assurance service continue to inspect the cleaning standards across the Educational Estate, with over 40 assets inspected and reports produced monthly. Inspections have been expanded to include kitchens within both the School and Operational sites.

Estates Management continue to market vacant premises within the non-operational estate. During the month of January a new lease agreement was finalised for Suite 7 Milngavie Enterprise Centre, with three further Suites in Enterprise House now under offer with a proposed lease start date in late February 2023. At present the non-operational estate is over 94% occupied.

Officers are working with the Antermony Development Trust to conclude the formal Community Asset Transfer of Antermony Loch in early course.

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. Missives are now concluded for the sale of Kelvinbank Resource Centre. 

Development & Investment

Phase 2 of the Boclair Academy project, which involves the demolition of the original building and the development of car parking, wider external spaces and an additional sports pitch continues to progress well, with the original building almost completely cleared form the site.  The project remains due for completion in early June 2023.

Good progress continues to be made towards completion of Phase 1 of the new Allander Leisure Centre. The existing Leisure Centre was closed to the public on 15th January 2023 with final utility connections and the decant of furniture and equipment to the new Centre now underway. The new Centre will open on Monday 6th March, with work currently progressing with HSCP and Kelvinbank to agree transitional arrangements and an opening date for care services at the new Allander.

The new ASN school in Kirkintilloch remains on schedule to complete in mid-2023. The Luggie Park continues to be maintained by the contractor team and inspected on a regular basis ahead of handover, currently anticipated in late Spring / early Summer 2023.  

Following a slight further delay in the completion of the internal fit-out of the project, Kirkintilloch Community Sports Complex will now be substantially complete by mid-February 2023, with some final external works concluding over the Spring.

The development of affordable housing at Kerr St, Kirkintilloch continues to progress well towards completion in March 2023. Capital works across the Council’s existing Affordable Housing stock, including kitchen and bathroom replacement, roof replacement, External Wall Insulation projects and central heating replacement all remain in progress.

A contractor and design team have commenced development of proposals for each of the two lots which comprise the Council’s next Affordable Housing Investment Programme, involving up to 11 sites and which aims to further increase the supply of affordable housing in East Dunbartonshire over the next 5 years. Site surveys are now underway and revised development proposals for each site will be progressed in early course. 

The refurbishment of Brookwood Villa continues to progress well over the period and remains on target for completion by mid-2023.  Projects at Twechar Canalside, forming a new Community Outdoor Pursuits Centre and affordable housing development and at Lennoxtown High Park, forming a new all-weather pitch and additional changing facilities are now progressing through their pre-construction phases and towards planning applications for each site.

Projects at Balmuildy, Milngavie and Bearsden Primary Schools are all progressing towards planning applications early in 2023.  Following Council approval in December, a feasibility review into the development of a new-build replacement primary school and community facilities on the Westerton Hall site, incorporating a new Westerton Primary School, is now underway and will report back to Council during the course of the calendar year.

The construction of new all-weather pitches are progressing well at both Killermont PS and Holy Family PS. Both are now substantially complete with final finished surfaces at each due to be installed when air temperatures have increased.

Work has now concluded to prepare the revised Housing Capital and General Services Capital Investment Plans, both of which will be considered by Council in February 2023. 

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

• Achieved 100% compliance for Gas Servicing with focus on this continuing going forward.
• Continued positive level of performance in void turnaround times with 92% of properties completed within our target timescales.
• Kitchen, Bathroom, Central Heating and Roofing upgrade programmes ongoing with positive feedback being received from tenants across all contracts.
• Continue to monitor and improve processes within Voids to ensure turnaround times exceed our performance target.
• Assess and improve functionality of Total Mobile and the integration with Servitor to enable a more streamlined and efficient service.
• 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.
• Continue to carry out the installation of Smoke & Heat alarms for tenants and residents in East Dunbartonshire.
• Progress decoration works across 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, which are required over February (30 properties) and March (17 properties) with contractors.
• Continued progress in the delivery of capital works in the Council’s existing Affordable Housing estate, including kitchen/bathroom replacement.
• Improve uptake of nutritious school meals.
• Improve communications with customers and stakeholders to ensure the highest level of service delivery.
• Reduce FM overtime.
• Progress with recruitment exercise to fill identified vacant FM positions.

Customer and Business Support Services

Communications & Engagement

The key focus of the Communications & Engagement Team in January was the continued promotion of the cost of living support package agreed by Council and the launch of the Budget consultation. Given the Christmas and New Year shut down it was again a quieter month for media relations with 16 enquiries, 12 media releases and three photocalls. All releases are on the Council website news section and the local and national regional coverage achieved equated to an equivalent advertising value of just over £4k. Social media posts continued to generate good interaction across a range of themes. There were 145 Facebook posts generating a reach of 1.05 million and engagement of over 79k. There were also 145 Tweets generating a potential reach of 3.4 million and 168k impressions. The top posts for engagement on Facebook and Twitter in January were in relation to the closure of the old Allander Leisure Centre and announcement of the new centre opening dates and the Auchenhowie Road flooding as a result of the burst water main and subsequent road closures.

Corporate Performance

In January 2023, 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. The team also continues to ensure the Council has adequate insurance arrangements in place, acting as a point of escalation in regards to any claims made. All business as usual work was completed within agreed timescales.

Customer Services

Throughout January, the Customer Services team continued to deliver customer services across all channels. Average call response times just exceeded the target at 3 minutes 9 seconds, with high call volumes relating to Christmas tree collection arrangements and the additional garden waste collection offered in January. Recruitment and training of new recruits continued to be a priority and refresher training across the existing team also continued to be a focus for the month. Management of the 24/7 ERC coverage and standby emergency registration coverage was also a key priority for the New Year public holidays. A total of 173 direct messages through social media were received and actioned (139 Facebook, 34 Twitter). A total of 156 direct messages were sent (143 on Facebook, 13 Twitter). Face to face appointment demands continued to be met in the four Community Hubs.

Revenues & Benefits

The Revenues and Benefits team have continued to process Council Tax and Benefits services and administration of the Scottish Welfare Fund.  Work continues to implement a new Document Management System to replace the current system which is approaching end of life. The team continue to support other teams including the Ukrainian Refugee Support Team and Shared Services Education. The Self Isolation Support Grant came to an end on 4th January 2023. Applicants had 28 days to apply after the closing date, however, no new applications will be considered from February.

Shared Services

The Shared Services team continue to provide support across all Council services. The Social Work and Education teams continue to support the CARH (Children at Risk of Harm) inspection. The Social Work Team continue to develop processes around Child Disability Payment and Adult Disability Payment. The Transport team collated information from Education and Social Work for round one of the tender process for next year’s transport. The Residential Team continue to receive significant numbers of requests for public funding for clients already in care homes as self-funders and who are falling below the charging threshold.

ICT Services

The ICT Services team continue to support the Council’s information technology systems and services to ensure high availability and performance in line with agreed service levels. The Team received 2133 tickets in January and dealt with over 900 telephone calls. ICT continue to support the migration of services to Microsoft 365 in partnership with the Business and Digital Change Team.  ICT and Business and Digital Change teams were successfully migrated to M365 and now use Outlook as the email client. The ICT Security team continue to monitor the estate and perimeter defences alongside ongoing improvements to ensure that our systems and data are protected.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

Communications & Engagement

• Preparation and launch of school meals consultation.
• Promotion of successful inspection reports for Holy Family and Westerton Primary Schools.
• Promotion of latest round of East Dunbartonshire’s Community Grant Scheme.
• Development and promotion of latest consultation plans for Bishopbriggs Town Centre.
• Communication of latest information on opening of new Allander Leisure Centre.
• Promotion of Provost’s congratulations to East Dunbartonshire recipients of New Year Honours.

Corporate Performance

• Analysis undertaken of East Dunbartonshire Leisure & Culture Employee Survey Results
• Public Performance report for 2021-22 finalised in advance of publication in March 2023
• Continued assistance to the Change team on transformation projects
• Budget research benchmarking exercise undertaken to inform 2023 budget decisions
• Insurance data compiled from all service areas and submitted to brokers in advance of 2023 renewal.
• Additional data support provided for the ongoing inspection of Children’s Services
• Work continues with the Alcohol and Drugs Partnership to assist in the implementation of a new statutory dataset of addictions indicators due for reporting in 2023.

Customer Services

• Continued focus on training of new agents on customer service delivery across all channels
• Preparation of recruitment plans to fill arising vacancies
• Continued CCTV monitoring in the ERC and participation in the project to replace CCTV infrastructure and monitoring equipment
• Continuing with roll-out of the Netcall telephony upgrade to improve call handling and performance management
• Contributing to the CRM replacement project to deliver a new and improved customer relationship management system that will enhance efficiency and service delivery.

Revenues and Benefits

• The team issued and dealt with the queries on over 2700 Council Tax bills, 1100 reminders, and 2700 Benefits notifications.
• The team issued 300 Non-Domestic Rates bills and received 430 Scottish Water applications
• The team dealt with over 2000 telephone enquiries in January.
• Closed the revised Self Isolation Support Grant application process for self-isolation starting after 4th January.

Shared Services

• Processed the Christmas Child Bridging payment and Free School Meal payment for 2485 children/young people totalling just over £1Million.
• Processed a payment in lieu of Free School Meals for eligible children during the school strikes.
• Updated the Council website and online application forms for Placing Requests, Early Entry and School Registrations
• The Residential Team added 48 service agreements to Carefirst for clients moving into care homes. 
• The Homecare Team is processing a significant quantity of variations in homecare packages due to the festive holiday season
• The Transport Team initiated the process for transport request for academic year 2023/24 by issuing round one information to Education and Social Work for completion
• The DP Audit Team completed 16 direct payment audits for clients receiving Self Directed Support EDC
• The Complaints Team aided services in the completion of Freedom of Information requests as well as their normal duties.

ICT Services

• ICT Services assisted with the migration of ICT and Business and Digital Change teams to M365 and completed the procurement of backup services for M365 and configured the test environment.
• Completed the baseline configuration for the replacement of our Network monitoring software.
• Completed the removal of CC4 at Turnbull High School.
• Upgraded the network hardware in Kilmardinny House including switches and wireless access points.

East Dunbartonshire Leisure and Culture Trust

Leisure Centres

2022/2023

The Allander Leisure Centre closed its doors to the public on Sunday 15 January with an anticipated 7 week transition to the opening of the new Centre. The Centres operated a reduced activity programme over the start of period 10 due to the festive period. The Leisuredrome benefitted towards the end of period 10 as Allander customers started to use the centre. This is particularly reflected in the wetside attendances and income.

Libraries

For period 10 there were 17,978 visits in person, which represents 58% of target; the lowest performance of the year to date. The lower than expected figure can be attributed to the pattern of holidays over the Christmas period, rather than any trend. Digital usage was 47,001, which is 102% of target, demonstrating that digital access continues to be popular.

Period 10

Target: 77,260
Actual: 64,979

Detail

	Actual	Target	Actual as % of target
Physical	17,978	31,067	58%
Digital	47,001	46,193	102%
Total	64,979	77,260	84%

Museums

For period 10 there were 1,038 visits in person and digital usage was 3,984 totaling 5,022. This represents 116% of the overall target for the period. Compared with P9, visits in person at the Auld Kirk decreased by 11% and decreased by 37% at the Lillie. Bad weather conditions combined with the holiday period has had a negative impact on visits in person, for the period.

Period 10

Target: 4,339
Actual: 5,022

	Actual	Target	Actual as % of target
Physical	1,038	1,507	69%
Digital	3,984	2,832	141%
Total	5,022	4,339	116%

Sports Development

Sports Development attendance dropped in January due to the temporary closure of the Allander however Leisuredrome and Kirkintilloch classes returned on the 9th January.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

Leisure Centres

The Cost of Living support scheme to provide free swimming and gym access for primary and secondary pupils evidenced an excellent uptake:

ACTIVITY	Usage November 1st 2022 to February 12th 2023
Gym 12- 15 Years	7,603
Gym 16 – 18 Years	3,861
Swimming 5 – 12 Years	11,618
Total Usage	23,082

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In order to use the gym the individual must be registered as a member and go through the gym induction process. A total 1,678 new members have joined since the programme went live and the split between the age ranges is shown below:

New members (since 1 November)

• Gym members 12 - 15 years - 1,157  
• Gym members 16 - 17 years - 521     

Kirkintilloch gym users are enjoying the new gym extension with dryside usage on the up at the Centre.

Cultural Services

The new public facing museum online collections catalogue [opens in a new window] is now live.

The public can use this to search the museum and archives collections, which includes 5,000 local studies photo’s.

Art classes have been fully booked and two additional workshops added to compliment the upcoming

The library service introduced a Wellness Week, which included the launch of Daylight emulation lamps being offered for use in branches, for public taking part in activities.

Sports Development

The number of schools engaged with curricular and after-schools football has been increasing gradually, we are now delivering football in 12 primary schools.

The team began a social media campaign to fill the vacant places in the gymnastics programme in Kirkintilloch, particularly the pre-school classes.

Education

School Planning and Improvement Team

• Consultations were held with pupils, staff and parent council members to progress refurbishment projects in Milngavie and Bearsden Primary Schools. Stakeholder engagement was excellent and provided feedback to inform next steps.
• A design-based consultation event for staff and parent council members from Balmuildy Primary School was highly evaluated by participants. Feedback will be considered in the next planning stage for the new build replacement school.
• Workforce planning information for August 2023 has been shared with secondary schools to confirm staffing allocation for the new session.
• Registrations for Primary 1 and transfer from Primary to S1 in Secondary was performed in January, with the Shared Services Education Team currently reviewing and analysing all the registrations. Similarly, Placing Requests applications are being received. The closing date for Placing Request applications is 15th March 2023.
• Planning is underway for the transition and merger of Campsie View and Merkland to the new Woodland View School in Summer 2023.

Early Years and Supporting Families

• 50 parents are being supported through 1 to 1 interventions. 19 new requests were received in January. Two Triple P parenting groups were delivered, with 11 parents attending the 6 week programme. Feedback from parents is positive, with parents stating they would recommend the programme to their friends.
• Ongoing recruitment confirmed the appointment of 56 employees to support the provision of Snack and Play and ASN playschemes during holiday periods.
• In January, the first of two professional learning events on strategic approaches to self-evaluation for continuous improvement was delivered by the Attainment Advisor. The target audience was senior leaders in Early Years Centres. This  focused on evaluative writing, the effective use of data to effect change and how to use toolkits to support improvement. There will be a future session taking place in February 2023 to further enhance knowledge and understanding.
• The Educational Psychological Service (EPS) provided a second training session on the principles of Nurture. This was well attended with positive discussion and sharing of practice on the progress made in early years centres since session 1.  All centres are carrying out a small test of change, using the Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) framework with an opportunity to share practice at a showcase event in March

Primary, Secondary and ASN Schools

• The Education Service visited two primary schools to implement a quality improvement review over 5 days. The review process looks closely at the school’s own self-evaluation, to determine how well the school is performing; to measure the impact of improvement; to focus on outcomes for learners; and to reflect on the school’s capacity for continuous improvement. Review teams consist of Quality Improvement Officers, peer Head Teachers and Depute Heads. The team work closely with the school to observe learning and teaching, look at data and gather the views of staff, parents, partners, children and young people.
• Mosshead Primary School was evaluated as follows:

Quality Indicator	Quality Indicator	Evaluation
1.3	Leadership of change	Very Good
2.3	Learning, teaching and assessment	Good
3.1	Ensuring wellbeing, equality and inclusion	Very Good
3.2	Raising attainment and achievement	Very Good

• Holy Trinity Primary School was evaluated as follows:

Quality Indicator	Quality Indicator	Evaluation
1.3	Leadership of change	Very Good
2.3	Learning, teaching and assessment	Good
3.1	Ensuring wellbeing, equality and inclusion	Very Good
3.2	Raising attainment and achievement	Good

• The Quality Improvement Team consulted with Head Teachers to evaluate and update frameworks for Standards & Quality Reporting and School Improvement Planning. The team also launched a new framework to support schools with self-evaluation and preparation for inspection.
• The Quality Improvement Officer for Numeracy led the organisation of the annual West Partnership ‘Making Maths Count’ online conference. The theme this year was ‘Excellence through Equity” with 350 teachers participating from across the West. St Matthew’s Primary School represented the Council and shared their 2 year journey to make maths memorable. Through changing pedagogy and the introduction of context-based learning projects, their learners have become more resilient and interested in learning, leading to improved attainment.
• Nurture: 12 primary schools involved in the Nurture Pilot continue to be involved in the Nurture Programme, including the running of a Core Nurture Group. An additional primary school received part-funding from the Council for Nurture Practitioners and is also running a Core Nurture Group. These 13 schools are providing additional Wellbeing groups and interventions within their schools.
• The 13 schools have a dedicated 1.0 Full Time Equivalent Nurture Teacher. 2 new Nurture Teachers joined the programme in August 2022. There was a high turnover (over 40%) of Family Learning Assistants between Session 2021-2022 and 2022-2023. Following several recruitment processes the 12 original Nurture schools currently have Family Learning Assistants in post. The Educational Psychology Service have supported new staff with  Introduction to Nurture half day sessions.
• Professional Learning Community groups (PLCs) were established to support the continued development of core and whole school nurture, and wellbeing scales have been used to gather baseline measures. This data will be used to evaluate impact over time.
• The refreshed Play & Outdoor Learning Strategy is out for consultation and  due for completion by April 2023.
• The Relationships, Behaviour and Learning policy working group consulted with parents, staff and pupils and are working towards completing the policy by April 2023.
• 2 Head Teachers have been accepted on to a new cohort of Excellence in Headship and the current cohort in Into Headship are progressing well through the programme being supported by regular professional learning collaborative group within EDC.
• Outdoor Education is continuing to deliver the Bikeability programme to 240 young people in Primary 7, across 5 schools.
• The recent Secondary Head Teacher meeting focused on School Improvement Planning, School Inspection Discussion and Children ar Risk of Harm (CARH) Inspection update.

Skills for Life, Learning and Work Update

• Four participants who were on the 6 month work placement project have now secured permanent posts within Early Years. All participants were long term unemployed and had undertaken a paid 6 month placement in Early Years. Remaining trainees in Social Care, Catering and Support for Learning are being supported to apply for jobs in their chosen area. Planning is underway to develop options for running a similar project next year using new funding aimed at improving the employability of parents and addressing child poverty.
• Evening youth club provision has been re-established in Lennoxtown, Hillhead and Auchinairn. This is focused on targeted secondary school age young people and is aligned to the work of youth workers in secondary schools.

Key Areas of Focus

• The Education Service will begin to consult with stakeholders to evaluate and refresh the Education Business Improvement Plan 2023-26 and the Education Service Plan 2023-26.
• The Quality Improvement Team will continue to support Head Teachers and schools with self-evaluation for continuous improvement through professional learning. This will include collaboration through learning partnership groups and two half-day training sessions for depute head teachers.
• Complete two key policies: Play and Outdoor Learning Strategy and the Relationships, Behaviour and Learning Strategy.
• The Early Years team will complete the third round of interviews for Snack and Play.

Finance & Audit

The month of January saw the Finance Team progressing work on the 2023/24 budget and work on the Oracle Fusion General Ledger replacement. 

Following the Scottish Government’s Budget announcement on 15 December, Finance performed analysis of the associated allocations to East Dunbartonshire Council. There were complexities associated with this analysis as the headline figures needed to be compared to the ring fenced allocations and the assumptions of income already made, such as towards the pay agreement. Some clarifying questions were raised with the Scottish Government on the information provided. 

Work continued on developing the underlying income and expenditure profiles for all Council Services. Expectations of Service expenditure included evaluations of pay, demographics, inflation and service use. 

Work has also continued to progress the service concession flexibilities. These fiscal flexibilities were previously proposed within the 2022/23 Budget but this Scottish Government proposal was not suitably developed to allow a definitive financial assessment at that time. The Scottish Government has agreed to changes proposed by the Directors of Finance which will enable the Council to remodel debt relating to PPP/PFI contracts over the life of the asset, as opposed to the life of the contract.

The Council continues to deliver against an ambitious capital programme supported largely by borrowing. Where this remains the case the Council continues to plan to incur increasing revenue costs through servicing this debt.

Vacancies within the teams have been filled and on the job coaching continues to ensure that the new starts are trained in the Council’s processes and procedures.

Internal Audit have been focussing on finishing the 2022/23 audit plan, with audits for the Council and the HSCP underway. Work recently completed includes HSCP Corporate Governance, Insurance and Trading Standards. Work nearing completion includes Hardware Asset Management, ICT Back Ups and the Finance General Ledger.

The Corporate Fraud Team have been undertaking investigations as a result of referrals received and have been undertaking vetting of applications for services such as Housing, Education, Licensing and Estates to secure the gateways by preventing fraud or error entering the system.  NFI matches have been received and these are being prioritised, with higher risk matches being worked through first.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

• Financial planning and budgeting continues to be a key focus, with a planned in year use of reserves being compounded by inflationary pressures and the pay settlement. 
• The Treasury team continue 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.
• Work has continued in line with the 2022/23 Internal Audit Plan, with work progressing across a number of Council and HSCP services.
• Corporate Fraud are investigating allegations received, focusing on Education suspected fraud or error in registrations and on National Fraud Initiative matches.
• The Oracle Fusion General Ledger system replacement is being progressed, with project planning, training and workshops arranged with subject matter experts.
• Following successful recruitment, a number of candidates are being provided with on the job coaching in the Council’s Finance teams.

Health and Social Care Partnership

The HSCP and its staff continue to work through the constraints of the pandemic to support the most vulnerable people in our community and promote social justice, equality and safety. In doing so, the Partnership rigorously applies its Business Continuity Plans and Covid-19 Recovery and Transition Plans.

The Covid-19 outbreak has continued to impact on a number of the performance metrics. Ongoing adaptation and prioritisation of health and social care resources in response to critical response management, the continued implementation of the vaccine programme, have all impacted on our ability to deliver the full range of services as they were delivered pre-pandemic. 

Despite these significant operational challenges, the HSCP continues to deliver on the majority of its performance indicators.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

Key Achievements:

• Working with families in the preparation for the move from Kelvinbank Resource Centre to the new Allander-based Day Service;
• Working intensively on a multi-disciplinary basis to reduce community and hospital-based health and social care pressures during the winter period;
• Promotional activity in support of:
• Benefit of taking Vitamin D daily supplements between October and March
• Becoming a member of the Public, Service User and Carer Group
• Weigh to Go service for young people who would like to lose weight
• Power of Attorney
• Quit your Way, promoting financial benefits to stop smoking
• Cervical Cancer Screening Week

Areas of Focus:

Children and Criminal Justice Services:

• “Children at Risk of Harm” joint inspection.
• Supporting Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children to begin their recovery and live in safety in nurturing placements in East Dunbartonshire.
• Work is ongoing to redress the balance of care by reviewing out of authority placements and continuing the Foster Carer recruitment campaign.
• Delivery of year 2 of House Project which will improve outcomes for young Care Leavers.
• Implement the Children’s Services Plan which covers areas such as Community Mental Health and Wellbeing, Keeping Children Safe, Corporate Parenting and Healthy Lifestyles.
• Implement The Promise with a focus on Family Group Decision Making.
• Implementation of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Framework.
• Refresh EDC child protection procedures to reflect the new national child protection guidance.
• Address the unpaid work services backlog to ensure those sentenced are able to complete their hours and are not breaching any order.

Adult Services:

• Continue to ensure that we provide Self Directed Support training to Social Work and Health practitioners to instil confidence and knowledge about the options amongst the workforce. 
• Continue to implement our Digital Health and Care Actions, seeking to link traditional telecare with telehealth monitoring and technology enabled care. Aiming to maximise the experience of remote technology and implement the Analogue to Digital Telecare Transformation by 2024.
• Work continues to analyse and manage care home admission pressures, taking into account the potential consequences, both personal and organisational, for decision-making, with the aim to optimise the service model in relation to quality and efficiency.  Although there has been a downturn in the numbers seeking a Care Home placement, the complexity of those being managed in the community continues to rise.
• Continuing to provide multi-disciplinary intensive oversight, support and assurance for all care homes and other registered care providers in the area.
• Continue to pursue achievement of compliance with target timescales for adult protection cases.
• Taking forward the Allander Leisure and Day Care Centre - to be augmented by informal community based support network and the development of community led partnerships to facility the growth of employability and third and voluntary sector supports.
• Conduct a strategic review of all formal and informal social supports for older people to inform a five year strategy and commissioning plan, including centre based day care. 
• Refresh the HSCP Carers Strategy.

Housing

The Housing service is made up of 4 teams, Estates, Rents, Strategy & Systems along with Homelessness and there are currently 58 members of staff working within these teams.

At this time, there are 2 vacancies and 2 members of staff are on maternity leave.

Housing manage 3765 social rented properties, 3714 of these are mainstream accommodation and 51 are used for Homeless Temporary Accommodation. The service also manages 76 Lead Tenancies which are rented from either private landlords or Housing Associations, to assist with accommodating homeless households.

At present, the Housing list for East Dunbartonshire has 3458 applications, made up of the following:

General Waiting list 2500 applicants waiting (24 currently on offer)

(Applicants who have somewhere to stay i.e. they are owner occupiers, a tenant of a private let, stay care of family etc. This queue allows the applicant to choose which area, house type etc. they would like to move to).

Transfer waiting list  574 applicants (31 currently on offer)

(Council or Housing Association tenants who are looking to move to another Council or Housing Association property, either for a different size, or, for a different area. This queue allows the tenant to choose which area, house type etc. they would like to move to).

Priority waiting list   234 applicants (43 currently on offer)

(Homeless)

(Applicants who have no accommodation, or will have nowhere to stay within the next 2 months. This queue does not allow the applicant to choose area or house type).

Priority waiting list   7 applicants (4 currently on offer)

(Urgent medical)

(Applicants who are unable to remain in their current home due to their medical condition. This queue allows the applicant to choose which area, house type etc. they would like to move to).

Within the last month, 18 properties have been re let; 18 mainstream (all 16 general needs and 2 sheltered) 1 was passed to the Homeless Team to use as Temporary Homeless Accommodation.

They were let to the following queues:

• 6 were let to applicants on the transfer queue.
• 3 was let to applicants on the general waiting list queue.
• 9 were let to applicants on the priority homeless queue.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

Strategy & Systems

Key Achievements

• The new IHMS implementation is progressing and functional testing is progressing well in the estates module. The build phase of the rents, allocations and housing advice modules are now complete. A few issues have been flagged during testing of these modules and will be worked on over the next couple of weeks.
• New Systems Officers are now in post and are assisting with the data cleansing of saffron to ensure a smooth transition when migrating to the new system.
• Performance Monitoring Officers have completed the development of a tenant’s database which will provide regular communication with tenants including birthday emails, checks on household compositions and updates on service changes and reviews.
• The new draft Tenant Participation Strategy has been produced and will be put forward for approval at the PNCA Committee on 26th January 2023.
• Working on the Digital Telecare and part of the Project Board to ensure the successful transition of analogue telecare to digital telecare throughout the sheltered complexes.
• Energy voucher database working well and energy vouchers being issued to all tenants.
• Allocations policy review has been initiated and action plan put together detailing key milestones in reviewing this intricate policy.
• Initial planning for CHR (Common Housing Register) review has begun and resources are being sourced to ensure the review is carried out both timeously and accurately.

Areas of focus

• IHMS progression (3 year project).
• CHR Housing Application waiting list review.
• Performance Monitoring.

Housing Operations – Estates

Key Achievements

• 11 new Anti-social cases received and 10 of these cases resolved within the month received.
• 5 nominations to Registered Social Landlords being considered for allocation of their stock.
• Monthly Housing Liaison meeting attended to discuss cases with Social Work, Antisocial Team and Police Scotland.
• Internal Anti-Social Audit is still ongoing.
• Monthly meeting with Police Scotland and Community Safety to discuss more serious anti-social cases.
• Void rent loss has decreased since November, joint working with the void and rewire/asbestos teams continues.
• Percentage of tenancies refused has remained the same. It was 14% in December 2022 and 14% in January 2023.
• Percentage of tenancy sustainment increased from 87% in December 2022 to 94% in January 2023.

Areas of focus

• Improve void re-let times through joint working with void team.
• Identify training needs for team.

Housing Operations – Rents and Tenant Participation

Key Achievements

• 21 tenants assisted and successfully awarded payment from Hardship Fund towards rent payments, totalling £13,944.92.
• The Rents Team continue to support the change team with the development of the IHMS (NEC).
• Housing Officers continue to utilise all avenues in an attempt to maximise rental income and reduce rent arrears, while also providing advice and assistance to tenants who engage and need additional support.
• New process implemented to provide pre tenancy advice to applicants who have recently accepted a property offer.  Housing Officer now makes contact at this early stage to discuss rent charges and payment options, with the intended payment method and pattern noted. The aim of this new proactive approach is, to assist with tenancy sustainment and assist in preventing new tenancies falling into early arrears.
• Tenant Participation Strategy approved by committee and will be implemented.
• Online Tenant Participation Working Group held, with topics covered including rent setting, update on Project 101 and Property Maintenance update.
• Active Tenant Rent Arrears are £1,331,175.47, which is a decrease on December’s figure (£1,407,050.72).
• Former Tenant Arrears are £758,133.16, which is a decrease from December’s figure (£841,729.19).

Areas of focus

• Team continues to work on former rent arrears to bring this figure down.

Homelessness and Prevention

• 39 Homelessness applications taken.
• No Homelessness households waiting longer than 3 years for an offer of settled accommodation.
• Cost of living - 3127 responses - 3030 households have received 1st and 2nd vouchers and 852 have received third. 310 vouchers were reissued (expired) and 97 BACS processed.
• Drymen Road - Rapid Access accommodation has been upgraded and first residents have since moved in.
• Cash for Kids application - 80 children/young people in temporary accommodation received £25 vouchers during December/January.
• Reviews carried out with the 9 households in First Stop which closes at end of February 2023. Housing Support and alternative accommodation offered to all households.

Project 101

• Continuation of drop in sessions and budget friendly cooking.
• Young people have been learning new kitchen skills, including food hygiene, preparation and cooking.
• Continued work with young people in creating partnerships locally, to assist with employability skills and to gain employment, while also helping with tenancy sustainment.

Land Planning and Development

Land Planning & Development have progressed a number of significant work streams during January 2023 in line with the Business Improvement Plan commitments. 

Land Planning Policy

• The Draft Circular Economy Strategy was approved at PNCA Committee in November and subsequently the consultation was carried out between 4 January and 3 February 2023. The report of findings will be presented to a future PNCA Committee.
• Following adoption of Local Development Plan 2 on 28 November 2022, the team has been carrying on notification and publication procedures required by legislation.  Local Development Plan 2 now constitutes the adopted plan for East Dunbartonshire and Local Development Plan 1 (adopted 2017) has now been superseded. A Technical Note was issued to Members noting the adoption of LDP2. LDP2 can be found on the LDP2 web page.
• A Revised Draft NPF4 [opens in a new window] was laid before the Scottish Parliament for approval on 8 November 2022 and the Scottish Parliament voted to approve the document as laid before them on 11 January 2023. Now approved, the Framework was adopted and published by Scottish Ministers on 13 February 2023. Further information was provided to Members in a Technical Note.
• Following August 2022 PNCA Committee approval of two pieces of planning guidance, consultation has been undertaken. Analysis of the responses received has now been undertaken and the final guidance was approved at PNCA in January 2023. 
• Work is ongoing on a new Active Transport Strategy for East Dunbartonshire, which will reflect the Active Travel Discussion consultation in 2021 and align to work on the Climate Action Plan. Officers have finalised the evidence base for the new ATS which Members considered at the Transport Working Group in December and was approved at PNCA in January 2023.  

Sustainability Policy

• Work on the Climate Action Plan and Local Heat & Energy Efficiency Strategy is continuing. Work is under way to identify opportunities for emissions reduction across the Council’s own estate and operations and across the whole of East Dunbartonshire. These will inform the development of pathway options to achieve net zero emissions at corporate and area-wide levels. Consultation with key internal stakeholders took place during December and an external stakeholder workshop was held in January. Following on from this, a progress report on the Local Heat & Energy Efficiency Strategy was presented to the Climate Change Member Officer Group on 31st January along with an update and discussion on current and proposed work to address the cost of living crisis and reduce emissions from housing. While good progress has been made in preparing the LHEES, work is currently delayed at the final preparatory stage due to data sharing issues affecting all Scottish local authorities and as a result of changes to the LHEES guidance and methodology set by the Scottish Government. Discussions are under way with the Scottish Government in an effort to resolve the data sharing issue and work is being undertaken to address changes required to work previously undertaken as a result of the new guidance. Resolution of these issues will enable us to progress to finalise preparation of the Draft Strategy. Due to the consequent delays, the programme for preparation of the CAP and LHEES is currently under review and a revised programme will be prepared later in the spring, once the delays affecting data sharing have been resolved.  
• The Council launched the Re-Heat Project in partnership with Scottish Power Energy Networks and E.On in August. The Project will provide an opportunity for low-carbon electrified heat and smart control to be introduced to 50 homes in East Dunbartonshire. Information was provided in a recent Technical Note and is available on the Re-heat page.
• Work is underway to identify priority projects for inclusion in the Council’s new Greenspace Strategy, which will replace the Green Network Strategy and Open Space Strategy. Opportunities for improvement of open space, increasing tree cover, expanding peatland restoration and wetland creation are currently being assessed in collaboration with internal and external stakeholders. Audit work on play facilities is now underway and surveyors will be out and about across East Dunbartonshire assessing play areas and facilities between until March. The outcome of the assessment will inform the priority actions on play to be included in the draft Greenspace Strategy.

GIS Team

• The team has carried out GIS analysis for the many council teams. This has included a variety of map production work , calculating distances to determine travel time distances to key services and creating web apps and data dashboards, which help to understand spatial data more effectively. The team have also created a number of maps which will be used in many consultations across East Dunbartonshire. Work has also progressed on creating connectivity corridors for the new Active Travel Strategy, to help understand how settlements within EDC are connected. Alongside this work, the team have been focusing on developing a Beta version of an EDC open data portal. This will allow for improved sharing of public facing datasets and documents. The team have been conducting analysis for the 20 minute neighbourhood project, to help understand where in East Dunbartonshire we need to improve the accessibility of services such as transport, education, housing and the abundance of amenities. We have also been working with the City Deal team, exchanging spatial data to help understand key aspects of the Westerhill Development Road project.
• The team continues to provide technical support to Community Protection and Development Applications to improve efficiently and ensure we are in line statutory guidance and regulations through IDOX. Assistance was also provided to the Housing Service by exporting data from IDOX for the IHMS Project. The team have developed new templates and made improvements to historic ones, such as the High Hedges template alongside others.
• Street naming and numbering is completed for the Barratt homes development at Bishopbriggs Town Centre. A list of names has been submitted for review for the Macktaggart and Mickel development in Bishopbriggs, with the names focusing on the Roman history of the site. The address change for Waterside residents is currently with Royal Mail. The Council has also adopted a number of roads that have been updated and reflected on appropriate systems.

Business Support

• 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 FindBusinessSupport
• Working on the development of new business support products designed to help businesses having difficulties in recovery, sustainability or diversification. Administration of requests for Funding is well progressed over this period to to businesses previously in receipt of the previous (2021) Discretionary Fund Covid grant using the Local Authority Covid Recovery funding.  .  The team is working on three projects funded by UK Shared Prosperity fund that encourage digital take up or enhancement, carbon reduction and additional support for Social Enterprises.
• The Business Gateway National Review continues but in the interim services continue to be delivered as usual.

City Deal Team

• The team continues with a range of work to ensure the delivery of the Council’s City Deal project, including the preparation of the different stages of business cases (in-line with City Deal & HM Greenbook requirements) which are required to unlock the funding from the region.
• Work is ongoing on the Westerhill Masterplan including liaison with landowners on draft spatial layouts.
• The Westerhill Development Road design contract is now underway and the focus over the coming year will be route options assessment.
• Work continues on the next stages of the design process for Bishopbriggs Town Centre and Bishopbriggs Park.  Public consultation preparation over this period – taking place online from 6th to 28th February 2023 with a drop-in event at the War Memorial Hall on the 7th February. Elected Members and Bishopbriggs Community Council to present the information in advance.
• The findings from the A803 feasibility report will feed into Stage 2, Options Assessment, which is scheduled to commence early in 2023. 

Regeneration & Town Centres Team

• The Regent Gardens project is being progressed and work is ongoing to try secure a main works contractor.  On the Campsie Memorial Hall in Lennoxtown - Work continues with the Trust for the hall to develop proposals to improve the hall and examine external funding opportunities. Funding has been secured from Regeneration Capital Grant Fund for Campsie Memorial Hall.
• Work to prepare for the Shared Prosperity Fund has been ongoing. Projects have been identified and are being developed for implementation over the next 2.5 years.
• The Lennoxtown Main Street Improvement Project Is ongoing to develop outline designs.

Traffic & Transport Team

• The tender process is live to try secure a main works contractors for Canniesburn Toll Improvement Project. Four Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) will be promoted  to support aspects of the new design
• Feasibility and design works are progressing on a range of active travel infrastructure projects included in the Local Transport and Active Travel Strategies.
• 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.

Development Management:

• During the reporting period the planning side of the team has determined 51 applications and validated  56 applications. The Building Standards team have received 76 building warrants and approved 80 applications. The Enforcement Team opened 2 new cases and closed 6 cases. 
• The Development Applications team have prepared Reports for the next  meeting of Planning Board in February
• The Development Applications team provided a Planning Advisor provided for the meeting of the Local Review Body on the 18th January where three cases were heard and accompanied Members to site visits for two of the items.  were
• The Team continue to provide applicants including the Councils Major Assets and Housing teams with pre application advice and support.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

• Completion of the ATS Evidence Base to Committee.
• Funding Secured for the Campsie Memorial Hall.

Legal and Democratic Services

Performance against all indicators for Legal Services for January is 100%.

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 this report.

Democratic Services continues to support elected members and the senior management team in the delivery of Council services.  Civil Contingencies officers & the Council’s Registrar collaborated with a variety of officers across the Greater Glasgow & Clyde NHS Board and adjoining areas to address capacity / body storage issues arising from a significant increase in community deaths, hospital deaths and increased demands for post mortem services across the whole of Scotland.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

• During January, the Team processed 1 contract form reviews, 2 Contract award letters, 33 taxi licence applications, and 18 grants.
• In light of the 100% performance, it is not proposed to take any steps at this time other than to continue to monitor progress against the set PIs.
• Successfully obtained a removal order under the Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007 to protect a vulnerable adult at risk.
• Supporting ongoing contract management and land matters related to Westerhill Development Road including an inception meeting with proposed contractor and internal team in relation to ground investigations for the Westerhill Development Road.
• Providing advice in relation to Bishopbriggs Town Centre land matters.
• Completion of two section 69 agreements for housing at Oxgang Holdings and Redbrae Road.
• Signed agreement for professional services in connection with the refurbishment of Milngavie Primary School.
• Contract for the provision of one year of funding from Scottish Water for a Ranger Post based at Mugdock Park, Mugdock Reservoir and Craigmaddie Reservoir.
• Registration of 82 Births, 285 Deaths & 8 Marriages via Customer Services
• Democratic Services administered 3 strategic Service Committees and 3 Board meetings.
• Support to colleagues in NHS GG&C and other partners regarding an ongoing civil contingencies incident
• Mobilisation of civil contingency arrangements, including attendance at incident meetings and supporting colleagues and partners in relation to a significant burst water mains at Auchenhowie Road

Neighbourhood Services

The Waste Team has continued the front line service operations for the collection of over 400,000 assorted household bins over the month of January, providing residual, recycling, food, a one off garden and special waste collections on behalf of the Authority. The team has also managed the waste and recycling collections from over 500 of our local commercial premises.

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 1999 tonnes of waste through this contract in January, 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 Lease contracts terminating through the financial year. Tenders are currently out for the replacement of specialist vehicles, plant & equipment for Roads and Environment and other front line services.

Replacement vehicles continue to filter through from suppliers for Assets and Facilities including the   Property Maintenance and Fleet 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. 

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

• Following the festive period the waste team provided a one off garden waste collection for households wishing to recycle real Christmas trees across the area. Overall the service received and completed 1512 uplifts.
• Work is underway in order to recruit seasonal staff for the garden waste recycling service which will recommence on Sunday 5th March for the coming season.
• The team collected 1999 tonnes of general waste from the kerbside for ongoing processing / recycling under the Clyde Valley Residual Waste contract.
• The Waste service achieved a 92.5% performance figure for Special Collections in January. The average collection time was noted at 4.55 days, significantly ahead of the 10 day period and 90% target.  
• The Mavis Valley Recycling Centre booking system reported 9148 residents booked to visit the facility during the month of January.
• The team have been working closely with the Corporate Communications in January to consider Waste/Recycling campaigns for the year ahead.  The first focus will be around food waste participation, with some positive, eye catching releases due in the weeks ahead.
• The start of the new year seen the arrival of two new Waste Advisors starting in the team, both new employees have come with different experience, and are already proving to be an asset to the service.
• A trial of new external storage containers for the collection of recycling commenced in January, with Bishopbriggs Academy and Colquhoun Park Primary taking part.  The trail aims to reduce the storage footprint at our school locations, through replacement with larger industrial bins.
• Delivery of Statutory Fleet Maintenance and Management services throughout the period.
• 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 support to front line service operations through the provision of in house fleet maintenance function including winter overhaul 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 03 for both Traffic and Compliance and a 100% first time pass rate for annual tests.
• Completion of work on the review and creation of a new Fleet Asset Management plan to incorporate a strategy for the introduction of Zero emission and alternative fuelled vehicle and plant fleet, in the lead up to legislative deadlines and targets.
• Officers are currently working with the Councils Internal Audit team to undertake a review of the management and resilience arrangements in place for the Councils Fleet Service.  

Organisational Transformation

Business & Digital Change Team 

Overview of Progress

During January, the B & DC Team have continued to support services across the Council in the delivery of key strategic digital development programmes and projects.  Progressing key stages of the M365 and Oracle Fusion projects has placed additional demands on the team throughout January.

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 and resilient 
• Scalable and flexible 
• Standardised and value for money 
• Secure 

Key Achievements/Areas of Focus 

• Successfully completed the M365 Outlook initial 6 user pilot and commenced work to onboard Digital Champions in advance of wider service migrations scheduled in February. Work completed on the next Generation M365 Change Management & Adoption portal providing self-service adoption and learning resources for M365 services including Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel & PowerPoint. 
• The Oracle Fusion project has gathered extreme pace since the start of the year and working with Subject Matter Experts within the service areas and our implementation partner, Mastek Evosys, High Level Assessment workshops have taken place to understand what the system will deliver and how our finance and procurement processes will be transformed. Work is also currently underway to prepare for the first round of data migration into the test environment. 
• Work has begun to redevelop 9 legacy Notes based applications using next generation M365 cloud-based development services. An important step towards displacing the Notes legacy platform and its associated revenue costs. 
• A new supplier has been identified through the Procurement process for our new EDC website (CMS) and work is currently underway to review terms and conditions before the contract is formally awarded.
• Following the award of the contract for a new CRM platform, training is taking place within the project team to build an understanding of the new system's functionality. 
• Work continues with the delivery of a new eLearning platform, Moodle Workplace. A pilot group has been identified and testing of the system is underway.
• The online Council Tax Citizens Access Revenue upgrade has been completed and gone live. Citizens are now able to update their account details and report changes in circumstances online. 
• The Project Board has ratified a supplier for our Managed Stores contract and our Procurement team are currently working with Legal to formalise the contract award. 
• Work continues on the interim budget application for Education which will help to streamline the annual budget creation process for the service. 
• The Procurement process for RMMS is also nearing conclusion and the project team will now focus on the implementation planning for the new cloud-based solution, which will help streamline current processes. 
• A new interface enabling the council to effectively process energy support payments has been successfully implemented. 
• Work continues with our transition to a cloud-based alarm receiving centre and the Project Board have confirmed support of the Shared ARC programme.  The Digital Office provided further detail and clarity around delays the programme has experienced and with assurances given along with the gated reviews in place, as well as a re-commitment of efforts from our procurement partners in Scotland Excel, the project team are confident of a March tender launch.  
• Work has also begun on the procurement of a small number of digitally enabled alarm systems, these will help to inform a test of change ahead of the Virgin Media digital migrations which are scheduled for June 2023. This will enable the service to provide a proactive service and maintain stability for our service users in East Dunbartonshire. 
• The IHMS team continues to work closely with the Housing service to design, build and configure the new Integrated Housing Management System (IHMS). The building of the system configuration for phase one is now complete, and testing is ongoing. Progress has continued in the development of financial interfaces, system security, document management, and preparation for data migration to the new NEC Housing system. 

Human Resources & Organisational Development

Overview of Progress

The Human Resources & Organisational Teams lead on workforce centred activities including, policy development, resourcing, workforce and succession planning, 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.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

• Continued support for employees and managers on HR policy based and guidance noted, with support in attendance on ER case work
• Continued engagement with the Trade Unions on strategic and operation HR initiatives.
• Promotion of Health and Wellbeing Campaigns
• The People Development team delivered 18 sessions across 11 topics including SMART Working sessions, EDC Policy sessions & leadership skills. Additionally, there were a further 6 externally delivered sessions, across 4 topics; in total 176 delegates received training.
• Consultation with New College Lanarkshire to access funding through the 2023 FWDF grant to provide IOSH Managing Safely training, as well as bespoke Outlook and SharePoint training to meet Digital Strategy requirements.
• Consultation with Business Change and New College Lanarkshire to design bespoke Outlook and SharePoint training to meet Digital strategy requirements, funded under 2023 FWDF grant, plus ongoing work developing learning materials to support the launch of the e-learning platform.
• Within Payroll Services, the team have maintained and processed the payover of 6 payruns within timescales, with the completion of a series of statutory reports along with processing of deductions resulting from Teachers Industrial Action in November 2022.
• Collaboration with Business Change to support Digital Champions program to support rollout of M365.
• Consultation with Health & Safety to review completed risk assessments and identify skills gaps and future legislative requirements via training needs analysis across all services.
• Working with the Education Leadership Team developed planning, logistical and communication arrangements, with support on the day for the Industrial Action for Teachers on 10,11 and 20 December

Procurement & Commissioning

Overview of Progress

During January, the Procurement Team continued to support services across the Council in the delivery of various projects, including ongoing support to a number of strategic procurements/projects, particularly in relation to City Deal, ICT, Business & Digital Change and various Capital projects.  In particular the Team was heavily involved in daily workshops and scoping meetings as part of the implementation of a replacement for the Oracle Financial system.  This has placed a significant demand on the resources of the Team.  The Team has also been preparing for work necessary to manage and support the year end process in terms of the buyers work centre and Accounts Payable.

The Strategic Commissioning Team’s focus remained on managing and supporting the commissioned market as winter pressures, delayed discharges and the cost of living crisis continues to undermine the sector.  In addition, the team supported the HSCP to progress service reviews, priorities and budgets. 

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

• Providing ongoing support to the City Deal team in relation to Contract requirements and alternative procurement route options.
• Supported key Business & Digital Change projects such as Oracle Fusion upgrade, M365, Waste Collection Modernisation, CRM & CMS, supporting workforce of the future planning.
• Participation in extensive meetings and workshops in order to scope the implementation of the Oracle Fusion upgrade
• Completed renewals for support and maintenance of business critical systems to facilitate remote working
• Facilitating Farmfood card provision to support Council Cost of Living measures, Homelessness & Community Support.
• Extended and updated contractual arrangements to facilitate ongoing support to the LHEES (Climate Action Plan Consultancy Support) in line with updated funding terms & conditions
• Completed Market / Risk Assessment Matrix for all commissioned services to help inform future contracting arrangements (in the context of service, market and financial risks)
• Implemented enhanced daily support to delayed discharges for care homes and care at home to help alleviate acute pressures
• Commissioned two interim care home beds, using Scottish Government funding (25% on top of public rate) to expedite early discharge 
• Co-ordinated review of Care Home contingency plans in response to national black out scenario 
• Expedited planning arrangements to transition a number of individuals diagnosed with learning disabilities / complex and challenging needs into bespoke, person centered supported accommodation services
• Supported the completion of the HSCP’s Older People’s Social Supports Five Year Strategy, service review and developed a commissioning strategy to support delivery of agreed outcomes 
• Increased capacity, knowledge and experience within the Strategic Commissioning Team via the successful recruitment of a Strategic Commissioning Officer.  The Officer will have a specific focus/remit on the care home sector across all client groups

Health and Safety

The team continuously delivers general occupational safety and health services such as:

• Providing advice on statutory guidance, where required
• Compliance in planning, safe working and training
• Supervision and inspection while works are being undertaken
• Incident logging, reporting and investigation, including RIDDOR.
• Health and Safety Committee - Statistics reporting
• Recording and managing on-site attendance and health and safety operations at Broomhill depot and Marina HQ.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

Supporting Services:

• Allander Resource Centre risk assessment, pre-occupancy fire risk assessment and other relevant documents for Care Inspectorate registration for new centre.
• Attending CDM meetings on site for new the Allander and supporting managers with preparations for move.
• 3rd tier Health & Safety meetings to assist and guide relevant council departments, for Waste, Fleet, Roads, Property Maintenance and Facilities Management.
• Collaboration with the Community Planning Team to offer advice and guidance on delivery of mobile cooking sessions
• Site visits to KCSC and Southbank House
• CDM Site Visits - Wester Gartshore Foot Bridge
• Review of ventilation in chemistry prep areas in secondary schools
• Review of Contractors RAMS and Construction Phase Plans for various projects and follow up site visits.
• Desktop audit of gas contractors’ paperwork and provide constructive feedback to Estates team leader
• Provide gas safety advice and general Health & Safety to all teams
• Management of gas appliances in educational classroom settings Action Plan
• Kirkintilloch Canal Festival meeting H&S support and overview
• Education with health and safety issues and concerns

Fire, Health and Safety and Occupational Health services:

• Allander Leisure Centre and Allander Resource Centre Implementation of emergency evacuation plans & fire safety risk assessments, overseeing firefighting equipment and fire safety signage installation.
• Continued support to Boclair Academy with Fire Safety action plan.
• PAS79 Fire risk assessments and fire safety visits on target.
• Continued review of management system standards, policies and procedures with focus on SFRS UFAS policy change.
• Visiting schools and other council services offering insight and guidance; liaising with relevant departments to support continual improvement of council services, including workplace assessments and offering advice on relevant workplace adjustments and how best to implement them
• Health Surveillance restart - Waste and Fleet and closing year 2 assessments.
• Provision of Hearing conservation program PPE to IMS instructors
• Second round of Hep B Vaccination clinic
• Reactec - Tag new plant for the Roads Team
• Organising equipment for employees to meet DSE requirements following a DSE assessments

Training:

• Preparation of Fire Extinguisher training roll out.
• Delivery of Duty Holder training and updating of training to reflect changes in legislation and council procedures

Areas Requiring Improvement:

• Recruitment is nearly completed however still ongoing with an impact on service delivery.

Place and Community Planning

Community Protection Service

Environmental Health, Trading Standards and Community Safety Teams

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 the course of January the service has continued to engage in the local Co-Production arrangement with Police Scotland. This has resulted in a significant amount of joint work and coordinated activity to protect communities across the East Dunbartonshire area. The service has also continued to develop intelligence led approaches for all areas of work in order to target local public health, community safety and consumer protection activity towards the areas of greatest need, risk and priority.

The Environmental Health Team has been engaged in the delivery of essential public health services in order to protect the community from hazards in the environment and to regulate and facilitate the growth of responsible businesses. Our Public Health Compliance Officers continued to deliver a range of short-term project work to help the team – this work also assisted in terms of the wider rebalancing processes for service delivery that are on-going post Covid-19.  Officers in the service have also been dealing with some new or unusual incidents which have resulted in collaborative work with other Partners and Agencies.

The Trading Standards Team has been engaged in the delivery of essential consumer protection and licensing services to local consumers and businesses in order to maintain and protect a fair trading environment in East Dunbartonshire. Priority activity in January included continuing work to develop business participation in the new Trading Standards Trusted Trader Scheme for East Dunbartonshire. The Licensing Advisers and Trading Standards Officers in the team have also been involved in the delivery of routine inspection and project activity at a range of business premises across the area.

The Community Safety Team has continued to undertake a broad range of front-line work for the benefit of local communities during the reporting period. Officers from the team have therefore been engaged in the delivery of services in relation to community engagement/support, antisocial behaviour, youth disorder, neighbour disputes, environmental incivilities, dog control, decriminalised parking enforcement, fly-tipping, mediation, pest control and CCTV. Officers have continued to work closely with a range of colleagues and key partners to successfully deliver appropriate interventions and to make our local communities safer. The Community Wardens have also been developing links within the local communities they serve, getting involved in a number of initiatives and events that are now taking place or recommencing across the Council area.

Community Planning and Partnerships Team

The team continues to work with Scottish Government, Home Office and various partners to deliver the resettlement agenda across the East Dunbartonshire area.  This also includes working with partners to support the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme and Ukrainian Displaced Persons.

The team are working to deliver community development and capacity building support to our four Locality areas and communities of interest. 

Officers continue to work alongside our communities to develop community-led warm spaces initiatives and deliver the East Dunbartonshire Community Warm Spaces Grant.

Officers are supporting the delivery of the CLD Plan 2021-24, including developing a programme of continued professional development upskilling CLD practitioners.

Community Testing/ Vaccination Team

The winter vaccination programme has provided Covid and Flu vaccination which has been delivered to all eligible citizens aged 50 or over and those with eligible health conditions. Clinics were reduced to 2 days a week. Council staff are working with the NHS to minimise queues and ensure the safety of those attending the clinic.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

Community Protection Service

Environmental Health, Trading Standards and Community Safety Teams

• Delivery of effective services on a flexible basis in order 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 in order 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 in the route out of the pandemic.
• EHO attendance for public health and privacy reasons at an exhumation and re-internment at a local cemetery.

· Investigation of an unauthorised waste transfer site in conjunction with SEPA further to receipt of a complaint about waste accumulation at a local industrial estate.

· Submission of funding bids to the Scottish Government for the 2023-24 period for the purposes of supporting developments to air quality monitoring infrastructure and action plan work.

• Delivery of patrols and engagement with the public at local schools in relation to vehicles engines idling unnecessarily.
• Delivery of targeted patrols within our local communities aimed at tackling an increase in reports of low level incivilities (e.g. dog fouling and littering).

· Delivery of patrols by our Community Wardens to tackle the problem youth disorder and antisocial behaviour within our communities, with a particular focus on the town centre area of Kirkintilloch.

• Delivery of interventions and appropriate outcomes for a number of young persons referred to the Early & Effective Intervention Group which is coordinated and chaired by the Community Safety Team.

· Preparatory activity for the next Junior Warden programme which will be taking place in Twechar Primary School. There will be a number of inputs from partners including Police Scotland (discussing cyber-crime/online stalking/strangers/saying safe online), Scottish Fire & Rescue Service (discussing Open Water Safety), Mugdock Ranger Service (discussing the environment and how to try and achieve an eco-friendly school and environment) and the Dogs Trust (discussing safety around dogs and dog fouling).

• Increase in patrols in respect of decriminalised parking enforcement in and around a number of our primary schools.
• On-going recommencement of Trading Standards and Licensing routine inspection and project work.
• Trading Standards Officers delivering local work on a Scottish Pricing Project to identify levels of pricing marking compliance across retail premises.
• Delivery of targeted activity by Trading Standards to maintain local business compliance with legislative requirements relating to tobacco and nicotine vapour products.
• Round 2 of the 2022/23 Community Grant Scheme open for applications and being actively promoted by officers and partners
• Working with partners to support and develop Community Warm Spaces across East Dunbartonshire.
• Delivering East Dunbartonshire Community Warm Spaces Grant
• Planning and preparation underway for Localities Workshop with partner organisation at Kirkintilloch Town Hall on 2 February to support production of action plans, thereafter with outcomes to be tested on communities and critical friends.
• Provision of community capacity support using a Community Learning and Development approach across our Locality areas and communities of interest.
• Active engagement with anchor organisations across Locality areas.
• Supported the delivery of successful CPD opportunity to CLD practitioners
• Delivering resettlement support under both VPRS and Homes for Ukraine agendas
• Community Development Workers connecting with range of community organisations and partners
• To continue to support delivery of the NHS vaccination programmes of flu and Covid-19 at two town centre venues, through jointly working with the GGC NHS Board.

Roads and Environment

The Roads and Environment Service continues to oversee the maintenance function and safe operation of the adopted public carriageway/footway network, adopted open spaces (including trees) and cemeteries within East Dunbartonshire. In addition, the Service also oversees the management and operations of Mugdock Country Park.

This Service area is divided into five portfolio groupings:

1. Roads Network Operations

2. Roads Technical & Engineering

3. Streetscene Technical Support (including Bereavement and Arboriculture)

4. Streetscene Operations (including grounds maintenance, street cleansing and cemetery operations)

5. Mugdock Country Park

Each team has specific areas of responsibility; however, they all operate and function collectively as required. Within their own areas, each team has a number of 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 and Finance. 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.

Roads Network Operations Team (including Street Lighting)

The team continue to delivery both planned and reactive maintenance to both roads and street lighting assets. Regrettably, staff turnover and the subsequent vacancies continues to be an issue although a new two staff members  Roads Technician for Bearsden & Milngavie area, Eric Conway  & Senior Roads Technician, Amir Manesh have agreed start dates in February, the teams are utilising the tools and resources available to ensure maintenance work continues. The capital programmes for carriageway, footway resurfacing programme and lighting projects ongoing across East Dunbartonshire continue.

Roads Technical & Engineering

The Roads Development, Structures, Traffic, Flood Risk and Drainage Teams continue to work on multiple projects including Road Coring, Flood Defence Maintenance, Bridge Inspection/Replacement and Signalisation/TRO Projects across various area. 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 newly appointed Structural Engineer, Jason Rashed started with the Service in January and will initially worked with the Structural Technician to inspect the Glasgow Road Bridge following the recent Scottish Water burst. The Team are also overseeing the demolition of the Westergartshore Bridge. 

Streetscene Operations

The team continue to completed the winter seasonal grounds maintenance e.g. leaf clearance, shrub pruning, etc. The teams are also undertaking street cleansing of all adopted council roads and pavements including litter collection, mechanical sweeping and servicing of street litter bins. In addition, the team also continues to manage the Councils tree stock carrying out surveys and arranging remedial works as required. The team manages and performs burials in the eight operational cemeteries. The recruitment process for the summer seasonal workforce has commenced for an April start date.

Streetscene Technical Support Team

The team are developing and implementing projects relating to Council Strategies such as the Open Space Strategy, Local Biodiversity Action Plan, Green Networks and Food Growing (emerging).  Additionally, capital grants received from the Scottish Government are being utilised for play park improvements and Nature Restoration Grants. Other work relate to working with community groups regarding Environmental Improvement Projects including path improvement, play area renovations, amenity planting, cemetery and allotment development. Both recruitment processes for the Work Programmer and Team Leader are complete. The new Work Programme started and the Team Leader is schedule to start on Monday 3rd April 2023.

Mugdock Country Park

The new fence at the quarry is completed with a planting programme in place to make access to the quarry area as difficult as possible to discourage unauthorised access. Again, year on year the January visitor numbers are well in excess of expectations.

Key Achievements / Areas of Focus

Roads Network Operations Teams

Street Lighting

• Christmas lighting installations decommissioning and removal of features to store / workshop now complete.
• Street lighting repairs continue apace with Sub Contractor assistance and volumes at the seasonal peak, (sub-contractor assistance will terminate shortly).
• Responses to various enquiries / complaints continue, as required
• Site visits and inspections of developers’ road lighting installations continue at various locations Council wide.
• Coal tar testing progressing for future lighting renewal works.
• Monitoring and processing of street lighting energy invoices continues.
• EDC Street Lighting Capital/Replacement Projects

• Fossil Grove, Kirkintilloch  - Ducted Road crossings for future lighting being installed in advance of carriageway surfacing work
• Cloberfield Gardens, Watt Place, Dunlop Place and Stable Place, Milngavie ( works in progress on site - installation now partly lit)
• Rosehill Road / School Road / Kings Park, Torrance (New installation commissioned,  removal of redundant apparatus pending)
• Kingsway, Kirkintilloch (works in progress on site)

Network Operations

The carriageway & footway resurfacing program works undertaken in January include;

• EDC Internal Resurfacing Programme (non-coal tar location)
  
  • Differ Ave. Twechar.
  • Morar Drive, Bearsden.
  • Dunlop Place, Milngavie.
  • Watt Place , Milngavie.
• EDC External Resurfacing Programme (Footway)
  
  • Pinewood Ave, Lenzie  (works complete)
  • Annick Dr, Bearsden (commenced)

     EDC Internal Footway Resurfacing Programme (non-coal tar locations)

• • Eildon Ave, Kirkintilloch.
  • Thornwood  Rd, Lenzie.
• EDC Street Lighting Capital/Replacement Projects
  
  • Clobberfield Rd, Milngavie  (works continued)
  • Installed road crossing ducting for future street lighting works during resurfacing works
• EDC Christmas Lighting
  
  • Removal of Xmas decoration were undertaken.
• Inductions were undertaken with Roads & Lighting operatives into new RAMS with a further wash up to be arrange for  remaining  operatives and new staff
• Operatives
• Upcoming works Feb include  Kincaid Ave, Fossil Grove, Kilpatrick  Drive ,Campsie Rd, Cruachan Rd, Baljaffray Rd, all carriageway resurfacing works  &  North Campbell Ave, Footway resurfacing.
• Roads operations undertook 25 number of winter treatment actions in Jan 2023.
• Emergency works EDC Roads assisted with major emergency works on Glasgow and Auchenhowie Road junction owing to a major Scottish water mainline burst.

Roads Technical & Engineering Teams

Traffic

• Officers are revisiting the previously paused gateway project for Milton of Campsie.
• The installation of the flat topped speed table in Manse Road, Bearsden is progressing.
• Notices are being posted for revisions to disabled parking spaces.
• Ducting for two new pedestrian crossings in Bishopbriggs is complete. Installation of the signals is to follow.
• Attendance at various regional and national meetings related to road safety.
• The team are providing technical support for City Deal projects, Canniesburn Toll, Lennoxtown Main Street and Cycling Connectivity Corridors.
• The team are working through various locations installing new or replacing street signs as per customer requests.
• The team continue to assess areas for potential traffic calming and pedestrian crossings.
• Responding to Planning Applications.
• Responding to Lining Requests.
• Commenting on various licences ie street trader licences, public entertainment licences and occasional licences.
• Dealing with various requests for temporary road closures.

Development

• Attend national coring lead authority meeting.
• Inspection of utility and infrastructure on sites currently being constructed. Inspections are ongoing for CAT A,B AND C and Invoices for Q3 Inspections  have been sent for invoicing
• Site meetings to inspect developments prior to adoption by EDC.
• Assist planning with applications, distribute to officers for their comments on developments.
• Process adoption enquiries from internal and external departments.
• Coordination of future works, road openings and temporary traffic management permits. Works Notices for Capital Programme 2023/24 for C/WAY/F/WAY Resurfacing  are being registered on Roads Register - TTL permits are being issued on a daily basis after approval and invoices are created after works complete.

Flooding & Drainage

• Fossil Grove Kirkintilloch -completed
• Baird Drive @ Thorn date T.B.C
• Angus Avenue, Bishopbriggs  started 6/2/23- 3/3/23 4 week road closure
• Manse Road, Bearsden  started 13/2/23 - 24/3/23 6 week road closure drainage work and speed table install
• 113 Milngavie Road due to start 27/3/23- 31/3/23
• Boclair Road @ Milngavie Road due to start 27/3/23 - 31/3/23
• Holyknowe Rd Lennoxtown gully replacements  started 6/2/23 - 3/3/23
• Contractor remote reel works 13/2/23- 17/2/23 Fossil Grove and West Highland Way in progress

Structures

• General and Principal inspections are ongoing.
• Culvert at Iona Way Kirkintilloch - replacement grill installation complete.
• Acre Valley bridge in Lennoxtown, tree removal and strengthening works are ongoing.
• Wester Gartshore footbridge demolition in progress with expectations that this is complete and demobilised by the end of February.
• Attendance and technical input at Scottish Water pipe burst at Auchenhowie Rd junction - works now complete.
• Review & response to abnormal load requests.

Upcoming works:

• Footbridge replacement at Bute Rd, Kirkintilloch.
• Bearsden Roman Road Rail Bridge weak footway protection works.  
• CCTV at various locations throughout EDC to assist with our inspections.
• Commence procurement of Wester Gartshore replacement bridge.
• Network Rail bridge examination reviews and remedial works.
• Mugdock Road car park, Milngavie retaining wall repairs.
• Allander bridge no3, Milngavie repairs.
• Next SCOTS Bridges Group meeting planned for 28th February.

Greenspace & Streetscene Teams

Streetscene Operations

• Street cleansing and associated tasks such as leaf litter sweeping; removal of fly posting and uplifting of fly tipping, mechanical street sweeping and installing replacement or additional bins. 
• Graffiti removal.
• Ongoing cemetery operations, digging and carrying out interments, installing headstone foundations, benches etc
• Winter cyclical works ongoing; leaf fall removal and clearance; pruning of shrub beds and tree works.
• Checking and clearance of culverts
• Play park inspection
• Football pitch lining.
• Replacement of damaged bins.
• Responding to Customer Service Requests and complaints.
• Removal of dead animals and excess waste at recycling centres.
• Arranging winter servicing of machinery

Streetscene Technical Support

• Paved Specification relating to upgrade of the canal towpath, Kirkintilloch submitted to Procurement, awaiting publishing on Public Contract Scotland
• Draft legal agreement drawn up for Woodland Training opportunities.
• Tree surveys completed in all play park areas with tree close to their boundaries; remedial work underway and will be completed in the Spring.
• Tree work orders raised or actioned in the following open spaces: Whitegates Park, Peel Park, Easter Garngaber Park, Market Road, Seven Sisters, Adamslie Play Area, (Kirkintilloch/Lenzie); Craigdhu Avenue, Prestonfield, Stable Road, Dougalston Gardens Play Area, Allander Road (Milngavie); Heather Avenue; Roman Avenue, Maxwell Avenue, King George V Park, Lochend Crescent, Ravelston Road (Bearsden); Stanley Drive, Springfield Road, The Leys (Bishopbriggs); Croft Road (Balmore); Main Street, Firbank Play Area (Torrance); Derrywood Road, Milton of Campsie.
• Tree work order raised for St. Helens Primary School.
• Order raised for planting of standard trees in Meadowburn Park, Bishopbriggs Public Park, Lennoxtown,
• Works continuing for projects as funded by the Scottish Government’s Nature Restoration Grant.
• Funds awarded in principal from SEPA for use for Project Officer Resource to prove additional support for the Kelvin Tribs project.
• Funds awarded in principal from the Scottish Government’s Nature Restoration Grant to purchase wildflower seed for the Climate Ready Project at Etive and Woodhill Parks, administered by NatureScot.
• Lenzie Moss Path upgrade continuing.  Boardwalk section has started and will be completed in March
• Open Space audit work for input into the Grounds Maintenance System ongoing for Milngavie & Bearsden.
• Luggie Park pathwork continuing.
• Play Park Accessibility Work Study ongoing.
• Order raised for drainage works at Old Aisle Cemetery.
• Order raised for the collection and scanning of cemetery ledgers, to import into the Council’s Epilog Cemetery Management System.
• Cairnhill Woods pathwork completed and programme of planting started.
• Mains Park and Bishopbriggs Park path upgrades out to tender.
• KLR and BRR works ongoing; monthly litter picks ongoing during the winter period.
• Responding to a number of planning applications
• Play park defect repair work ongoing.
• Project management of artificial pitches continuing. 
• Mosshead Play Park upgrade started.
• Team working with City Deal Team and consultants in relation to masterplan of Bishopbriggs Public Park.
• Renovation works required along boundary wall at New Kilpatrick Churchyard and wall at the Tower Bell, Old Aisle; team organised initial survey from Roads. CCTV survey and cleaning of drainage system started in all active
• Cemeteries and cleaning thereof. Second phase order raised, drainage works ongoing
• Awaiting works to start by contractor for the relaying setts and paving at Milton of Campsie Cross.
• Input into Additional Capital investment for drainage, active travel/access and footway surfacing.
• The team continues to respond to high volume of open space, tree and bereavement enquires, along with planning application consultations and complaints.
• SGNRF Redhills Woodland, Lennoxtown  ongoing
• Partnership working with Trees for Cities at Meadowburn Park in progress
• Staff recruitment completed; role profile for Food Growing Officer sent awaiting approval (VC) and will then be advertised on myjobscotland.
• Community Group support ongoing
• Planning application responses and support to Planning Team ongoing

Mugdock Country Park

• Work is continuing in the Yard to improve the layout and security, with the co-operation of Caulders staff, who share this space;
• Rangers are working with volunteer groups on controlling invasive species, willow maintenance and clearing Gallowhill pond;
• Wardens are carrying out maintenance to the Courtyard, play park checks, litter picks, path sweeps and car park checks;
• Visitor Centre staff are continuing to provide seasonal information and gift options as well as taking bookings for rooms and events;
• The What's On guide is now in circulation with a programme of events for March to June 2023.  In addition to children's outdoor and indoor events there is stargazing, guided walks and history talks for adults;
• Capital projects being taken forward include replacement bbq shelters at the Pond and Gallowhill, upgrading work to the Walled Garden, completion of Craigend Quarry fence;
• The Tree Management survey is being progressed urgently to ensure visitor safety.  A funding application has been made to Greenspace Scotland for a Tree Planting programme over the next 6 months;
• ICT connectivity continues to prove challenging.  An error by Openreach means an additional overhead cable needs to be installed from Milngavie before staff and businesses at the Courtyard have broadband improvements.