Agenda item

Report of the Corporate Director of Resources (Interim) – presented by Strategy Team Leader, Resources.

The Chairman thanked the Strategy Team Leader, Gemma Wilkinson who was in attendance to speak to Members in relation to the Quarter Three, 2020/21 Performance Management Report (for copy see file of minutes).

The Strategy Team Leader explained that performance needed to be considered

against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and the emergency response that the Council and partners had been delivering since March 2020.  She explained the performance report was structured against the four ambitions of the Council Vision

and the Council Plan and that for the Committee the focus was on the ‘more and better jobs’ and ‘connected communities’ ambitions.  She noted the report provided deals of employment levels and take-up of the various government support schemes, with the employment rate being 71.6 percent at September 2020, remaining relatively static in comparison to the previous period.  It was added that due to the Government support packages in place the impact of the pandemic on the employment rate had yet to be seen.

Members were asked to note that the claimant count had also remained static in December at 6.1 percent following an initial increase seen at the start of the pandemic and was reflective of the trend regionally and nationally.  The Strategy Team Leader noted that in December, 11 percent of eligible employments were furloughed which equated to 22,600 jobs in comparison to 15 percent in July 2020, with the latest data for January showing a level of 13 percent, an increase of approximately 6,000 employments.  She noted it was likely to increase further with the most recent lockdown and Members would be updated as part of future performance reports.

The Strategy Team Leader noted the previous presentation relating to DurhamWorks had alluded to the impact in terms of the delivery of employability programmes from COVID-19, with some reluctancy in terms of engagement due to

concerns about the pandemic, diminishing job opportunities impacting on people's motivation to actively look for employment, and JCP currently not mandating

participants to engage.  She noted that there had been some successes in those programmes during the quarter, particularly in relation to participants becoming self-employed or moving into sectors that were experiencing increased demand, such as food retail and delivery drivers.

In reference to the question ‘Is County Durham a good place to do business?’, the Strategy Team Leader noted the report contained details of the amount of grant paid in relation to the Government's Business Grant Schemes, with 100 percent of the grant having been allocated.  She noted that the report also detailed the £5 million Durham Business Recovery Grant which the Council had established, with the fund anticipated to support over 800 businesses and safeguard more than 1,700 jobs.

It was explained that footfall within Durham City continued to be significantly below

average levels seen for the period, with the impact being seen equally across the

daytime and night-time economies.  Members noted the delivery programmes to support business improvements continued to be impacted by COVID-19 restrictions,

with Council staff being unable to undertake site visits or clients being unable to

secure tradesmen or confirm dates for works.

The Strategy Team Leader noted that positive news in the quarter included the securing of almost £20 million from the Future High Streets Fund to improve the leisure, transport and hospitality offer in Bishop Auckland and added that works had commenced to transform Festival Walk in Spennymoor.

In relation to tourism and cultural events, the Strategy Team Leader noted that although national restrictions were lifted during the summer months, the pandemic continued to impact on the tourism sector with the latest results from the Visit County Durham (VCD) COVID Impact Survey showing that 60 percent of respondents were currently experiencing a drop in income of 50 percent or more and with 79 percent having felt their business had been significantly affected.  She added that a number of core attractions within the county had not reopened due to social distancing requirements in place, with those that had reopened having done so with a reduced capacity.  Members were asked to note that in respect of the Council’s cultural offer, theatres remain closed, with social distancing making it impossible to operate safely.  The Strategy Team Leader explained that the Council had continued its online offer during quarter three with events such as audio plays and pre-filmed pantomimes.

The Strategy Team Leader referred to the ambition of ‘connected communities’ and the question of whether residents had access to decent affordable housing and noted the continued impact of COVID-19 in respect of the eviction ban and the knock-on effect on the availability of move-on accommodation.  She noted that had led to a reduction in the number of households where it was possible to prevent homelessness and had increased the length of time households spent in temporary accommodation.

She noted work had been undertaken by Housing Solutions to assess accommodation needs and work was currently underway to prioritise single person accommodation through the County Durham Lettings Agency.  It was explained few properties had been brought back into use in quarter three, a direct result of the COVID-19 restrictions in place at the time which had affected the ability to undertake work to properties.

In relation to the question ‘Is it easy to travel around the county’, the Strategy Team Leader noted that the Council’s highways maintenance backlog was now broadly in line with other Local Authorities, however, issues remained with unclassified roads due to the severe winter of 2017/18 which had resulted in a deterioration in condition to levels worse than the national average.

The Chair thanked the Strategy Team Leader and asked Members for their questions.

Councillor R Crute noted reference within in report of the impact of COVID-19 on tourism and asked when that would be reflected in the performance tables contained within the report so that the Committee could understand the impact on tourism and its contribution to the economy.  The Strategy Team Leader explained that the indicators were referred to were annual figures and therefore had a 12 month lag.  She noted that VCD had worked on estimates in terms of the impact of COVID-19 and added they had been previously provided to Committee within the performance report.  She added she could recirculate the information.  She noted she would also speak to VCD as regards their latest estimates in respect of the impact of COVID-19 on those indicators.

Councillor M Wilkes asked as the amount of time taking to move people from temporary accommodation into something more permanent.  He added that perhaps there had been a perception that a lot more people were able to stay in their homes because of the actions of the Government to restrict people losing their tenancies, although he understood that people may need to leave their homes for other reasons.  He noted that the figures showed a doubling of the time taken compared to those over the last year and a half, and added he wondered whether the figures were heading back in the right direction, or whether in actual fact the figures would increase when Members were presented with the quarter four figures. 

He asked what the Council had done to try and fix the problem as 30 days in temporary accommodation was a very long time and had a raft of knock-on impacts, particularly where there were children in that environment. 

The Strategy Team Leader noted the report had set out the impact of COVID-19 including information on the eviction ban and other restrictions that had reduced the availability of move-on accommodation which had led to the increase in the time spent in temporary accommodation.  She added that the Council was working with families and with landlords as part of an initiative to try and prevent people being evicted and therefore having to move into temporary accommodation.  She noted she understood Housing Solutions were looking to increase the amount of available accommodation through the County Durham Lettings Scheme and she added that the requirement to house rough sleepers during the pandemic had also had an impact in terms of the number of people within temporary accommodation and therefore the number of people that the Council needed to find move-on accommodation for.  The Strategy Team Leader noted she would speak to Housing Solutions to obtain the most up-to-date figures and provide those to the Committee.

Resolved:  

That the Economy and Enterprise Overview and Scrutiny Committee notes the overall position and direction of travel in relation to quarter three performance, the impact of COVID-19 on performance, and the actions being taken to address areas of underperformance including the significant economic and well-being challenges because of the pandemic.