Agenda item

Report of the Director of Transformation and Partnerships – Performance and Improvement Team Leader, Regeneration and Local Services.

The Chairman thanked the Performance and Improvement Team Leader, G Wilkinson who was in attendance to speak to Members in relation to the Quarter 3, 2016/17 Performance Management Report (for copy see file of minutes).

The Performance and Improvement Team Leader reminded Members of the bringing together of Regeneration and Economic Development and Neighbourhood Services to form the Regeneration and Local Services and that work was ongoing in terms of the datasets for 2017/18.  Members were reminded of the new “dashboard” summary page included within the report to help present the performance information in a more concise and user-friendly way.

Members noted: an increase in the employment rate, still below the regional and national levels, however the highest since December 2008; a positive direction of travel in terms of the number of people claiming Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) or Universal Credit; and an increase in the number of working age population not in work who want a job, better than the north east average, though below the England average.  It was added that the number of apprenticeship starts through County Durham schemes was 184, ahead of the 100 target.  It was noted that the number of apprenticeship starts that had been sustained for 15 months or more (at December 2016) was 710, equating to 67% of those via the scheme.  It was added that 17 of those were DurhamWorks clients.

The Committee learned that in terms of housing performance: 434 private sector properties had been improved through Council intervention, ahead of target; 94 empty properties had been brought back into use, ahead of target however below the 2015 figure, within the context of Cluster Bid activities in 2015 which boosted those numbers; and with 59 landlords in the process of renovating, via the Council loan scheme.  It was added that in terms of housing delivery 64 affordable homes were delivered, less than the target of 125 and less than the 257 delivered in the same period in 2015. 

It was noted that changes in funding and legislation were impacting upon the numbers and therefore Officers would take this on board and try to understand the impact in terms of the delivery.

In relation to Homelessness, the Performance and Improvement Team Leader explained that number of homelessness preventions had decreased and the Officers involved had explained that there had been a number of complex cases with a number of agencies involved and activities such as finding secure accommodation were increasing the timescales involved.  It was added that work was being undertaken to understand needs, trends and causes.  

The Chairman thanked the Performance and Improvement Team Leader and asked Members for any questions on the performance report.

Mr T Batson noted an interest insofar as he had taken on an apprentice at his business via Durham County Council’s apprenticeship scheme, and was looking to take on a further apprentice in addition.

Councillor C Kay noted the actions of the Community Action Team (CAT) and Housing, via Chris Clark, Private Sector Initiatives Officer and thanked them for their excellent work addressing the problems associated with empty homes and hoped that going forward that their good work would continue.  The Chairman added that the CAT provided great interventions and would recommend Members to contact them to see if they could help with any such issues in their electoral division.  Councillor H Nicholson noted that work of the Private Sector Initiatives Officer and the CAT were different, however that he agreed their work was excellent, having secured around £800,000 and reduced the number of empty properties significantly in his division.  Councillor H Nicholson supported the sentiments of other Members and added that the work had helped to bring communities back to life.  Councillor M Davinson noted he also had positive experiences of the work of those teams and added that another aspect that should be acknowledged was that the initial Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) funding was being recycled to bring further empty properties back into use and this was something the Portfolio Holder and the Authority should be proud of, in supporting a scheme which works.

Councillor J Clare noted he was pleased to see that the Authority is now measuring employment via employment figures/APS from the Office of National Statistics as he felt the JSA figures were not particularly useful.  He added that looking at the figures for the net new homes completed in Durham City the figure was in line with 12 months prior and the number in terms of all homes completed in and near all major settlements was better than 12 months prior.  He asked whether those statistics suggested that the building of homes is not taking place in villages and this has impacted negatively on the number of net homes completed.  Councillor J Clare added that he wondered whether this was also attributable to Planning having to revert to the NPPF and saved Local Plans and whether this was “knocking back” development in rural areas more.

The Performance and Improvement Team Leader noted that the data provided would seem to suggest that the short fall is a result of homes not completed outside of major towns or in relation to major settlements it could be total completions rather than net completions however this would be checked and a response prepared for the Councillor.

Resolved:

That the report be noted.