Midlothian News

THE COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER OF MIDLOTHIAN COUNCIL

ISSUE 38 • NOVEMBER 2009

COUNCIL REPORT CARD 2008-09

TELL US WHAT YOU THINK

Pages 4-7

Page 8

SWINE FLU UPDATE Page 8

SCHOOL’S IN! Kids roll up for classes

Bonnyrigg currently has 85 nursery children – and they love playing with dough!

Schoolchildren at three new schools in Midlothian are settling in to their classes – and this youngster really looks as if she’s enjoying the huge range of facilities on offer.

As part of Midlothian Council’s multi-million pound investment in education, the new capital build schools in Penicuik, Bonnyrigg and Dalkeith were handed over by contractors Barr Construction during the summer, and more than a thousand primary and nursery age children started classes after the school holidays.

■ Full story and pictures: pages 2 and 3

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“It is obvious when visiting the schools that pupils, staff and parents are all delighted with the new school buildings and the facilities provided” Councillor Derek Milligan, Council Leader

PRIMARY COLOU Our three new schools are light and bright – perfect places to learn he next phase of Midlothian Council’s ambitious Schools Plus Programme was completed in the summer with three new primary schools handed over to their communities.

Building work began on the new schools – at Bonnyrigg, Cuiken in Penicuik and Woodburn in Dalkeith – after a series of consultations with parents, pupils and staff in 2006.

Main contractor Barr Construction was awarded the contract for all three new schools, which cost £25.1 million to build and equip.

Unlike the earlier Public Private Partnership (PPP) agreement with Skanska that saw eight new primary schools built in the area, the latest additions to the education programme were constructed using traditional capital funding methods.

All three new schools have nursery

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accommodation as well as primary education facilities: ■ Bonnyrigg is a 15-classroom school with places for 60 nursery pupils in the morning and the same number in the afternoon. Currently it has 375 pupils and 85 pre-school youngsters.

■ Cuiken is a nine-classroom school with places for 60 nursery pupils in the morning and afternoon. It has 221 primary pupils and 64 tots in the nursery.

■ Woodburn – the largest of the new schools – has 22 classrooms and facilities for 90 nursery pupils in the morning and afternoon. It currently has a school roll of 378, with 77 children attending the nursery.

All of the schools have “breakout” atrium spaces attached to the classrooms, and all have an activity hall with bleacher-style seating for

concerts. An expressive arts hall and a dining hall and kitchen, as well as staff rooms, resources areas and learning support bases have been designed into the buildings, and all of the schools have community facilities.

Outside, each school has a multi-use games area along with landscaped and planted areas.

The nursery classes have separate outdoor play areas attached.

Councillor Derek Milligan, Council Leader, said: “Since 1986, Midlothian Council has shown its commitment to improving the learning and teaching experience for pupils with the completion of two high schools and an additional needs school at D a l ke i t h S c h o o l s C o m m u n i t y Campus, St Andrew’s Primary School in Gorebridge and eight new primary schools across Midlothian.

“I am delighted that we are now opening a further three primary schools, funded wholly by this Council and built to a similar specification and standard as the eight PPP schools. We now have pupils in 12 of our 30 primary schools being taught in brand new schools, which offer an environment suited to today’s curriculum.

“It is obvious when visiting the schools that pupils, staff and parents are all delighted with the new school buildings and the facilities provided.

Members of the local community can also make use of the facilities in the new schools.

“We are still working towards improvements in the rest of the schools in Midlothian and the next major project will be the muchneeded replacement of Lasswade High School Centre.”

Pupils are already making use of the great range of facilities at the three new schools (clockwise from right): Bonnyrigg Primary, Cuiken Primary and Woodburn Primary

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Performance Review 2008~2009 4

Introduction

By Councillor Derek Milligan, Leader of the Council

This supplement provides an annual review of Midlothian Council performance in 2008/09. We have set out our performance as it relates to the Corporate Strategy, the performance of each division and an overview of how we spent our money. Further details are available on our website at www.midlothian.gov.uk/performance.

How Did We Perform? council structure and services Midlothian Council has five divisions: t

t

t

t t

COMMERCIAL SERVICES: Roads maintenance, Waste Management including refuse collection and recycling, Land Services, Travel Team, Property Management, including housing repairs and facilities management, Construction Services, Building Cleaning and Catering.

CORPORATE SERVICES: Finance, Legal and Administration, Information Technology, Revenues and Housing Management and Internal Audit.

EDUCATION AND COMMUNITIES: Lifelong learning from nursery to adult education, leisure services, community safety, libraries and regeneration.

SOCIAL WORK: Community care, children and families, criminal justice and welfare rights.

STRATEGIC SERVICES: Strategic and local planning, building standards, transport policy, economic development, environmental health and trading standards.

Corporate management of the Council is provided by EXECUTIVE SERVICES and includes Performance and Human Resources, Communications, Members’ Services, Waste PPP and the PPP2 (Public Private Partnership) Team.

here’s a snapshot of performance for the year: 1. Supporting healthy caring and diverse communities where local needs are met: Opening of Newbyres Village Care Home, which received a Herald newspaper national award for Care for Older People.

For children looked after by the local authority, the proportion of children seen by a supervising officer within 15 days – this has shown continual improvement. Benchmark council average 85.6% Target for developing 150 Telecare (new technology) packages, to support disabled and elderly people in their own home, during the year not achieved – 26 developed as at 31/3/09. Rollout program on track now that technical difficulties have been resolved.

Uptake of school meals 51%; target of 63% not achieved due to recession/credit crunch. However, we are above the national average of 43.3%

2. Maximising business opportunities: 263 start up/ micro businesses were supported in partnership with Business Gateway, exceeding the target of 200.

Business Success: 263 start-ups/ microbusinesses supported, ahead of 200 target

Launch of Edinburgh science triangle phase 3 Direct assistance was given to 76 incoming/existing small-tomedium businesses against a target of 100.

3. Maintaining Midlothian as a safe place to live, work and visit 32 young people were provided with 1 to 1 support through MYPAS, exceeding the target of 25. MYPAS promotes and supports the health and wellbeing of young people in Midlothian.

The Community Action Team was extended in order to improve safety and tackle anti-social behaviour.

The target of developing a programme of early intervention for persistent offenders was not achieved (progress 40%)

4. Conserving and Improving Midlothian’s natural environment Rosewell primary school named the first cycle friendly school in Scotland I n c r e a s e Renewable Energy: 68 of energy from annually the renewable, ahead of 50 target proportion of energy procured from renewable sources: 68% achieved which exceeded the target of 50% (Scottish target 31% by 2011) ‘Fairtrade Zone’ status for Midlothian was not achieved (progress 90%). Work continues on awareness-raising with local communities, business and other groups highlighting the existence of fairly traded goods, with a view to resubmitting the application to the Fairtrade Foundation.

5. Improving opportunities for people in Midlothian Eight new schools for nursery and primary pupils now operational, using public private partnership funding, with significantly improved educational environments for learning Target of 250 achieved for the number of trainees achieving new skills/ qualifications The number of learning centre and learning access points users as a percentage of the resident population has increased Implement car parking monitoring proposals (60% progress)

6. Delivering responsive, efficient and effective services to the people of Midlothian 2008/09 efficiency savings of £2.178 million achieved 2009/10 Single Outcome Agreement agreed with Scottish government New housing allocations policy introduced The % of council buildings in which all areas are suitable for and accessible to disabled people has increased to 71.8% 41% of the highest 5% of employees are women compared with a target of 42.5%.

The percentage of rent due in the year that was lost due to voids has increased Key successes

www.midlothian.gov.uk/performance

Areas for improvement/key challenges.

Divisional Performance

The following provides an overview of divisional service performance in 2008/09.

Each division, as well as Executive Services, produces a quarterly performance report which is available online or on request.

Accessibility: Steady progress in  council buildings accessible for disabled to 74.8

Recycling: Recycling rates rose to 37.5, ahead of 36.5 target.

education and communities Education.services@midlothian.gov.uk Doing Well Attainment of primary reading, writing and maths improved (80%, 75% and 82% respectively) The percentage of 0-8 year olds who are library members is 49%, exceeding the target of 45% The number of children attending Bookstart Rhymetime sessions was 4227; double the original target of 2110.

4 out of 5 schools inspected in 2008/09 received positive inspection reports.

Room for Improvement / Key Challenges Targets for 5-14 secondary school pupil attainment in reading (69%), writing (52%) and maths (64%). Actuals: 59.5%; 46%; 61%. 5-14 assessments will cease to be used as A Curriculum for Excellence is used.

Standardised assessment scores will be tracked.

Proportion of young people moving from school to further education, employment or training (81.2%). A strategic review is underway.

SPI-10.2 CC2: Number of attendances per 1,000 population for indoor sports and leisure facilities (annual decrease of 3%; 2007/08 rank = 3rd). However, there was increased attendance at new or refurbished gyms. t The withdrawal of the children’s mobile library service t Reducing the number of residents who feel unsafe in Midlothian t Maintaining support for the voluntary sector

commercial services Commercial.services@midlothian.gov.uk Doing Well Continued progress with the affordable new build housing programme (261 new houses delivered) Received APSE Best Housing and Regeneration Award 2008 Awarded ‘B’ rating for Asset Management and Repairs from Scottish Housing Regulator Recycling rates have increased to 37.5%, exceeding the target of 36.5%. This has been supported by the opening of the new civic amenity site at Newtongrange

Room for Improvement / Key Challenges Achievement of void housing turnaround times narrowly missed (48.8% within <20 days against a target of 50%). Tighter processes and monitoring now in place to improve turnaround times.

Continued growth in recycling to ensure government targets are achieved t Impact of the health and nutrition bill on school meal uptake t Completing the new build house programme t Achieving Government targets on waste and recycling

corporate services Corporate.services@midlothian.gov.uk Doing Well Rent arrears reduction targets exceeded Purchased 25 houses and secured 30 properties via the private sector leasing scheme

Room for Improvement / Key Challenges Increase Council Tax collection to 94.7% (actual 94.1%). An extremely difficult economic situation is impacting directly on the ability to collect.

Reduce average time to process new benefits claims (target 36 days; actual 40 days). Increased enquiries as a result of the economic position contribute to processing delays.

Recover 35% of housing benefit overpayments (actual 34.4%). Challenging economic times are impeding performance. t Impact of the current economic climate for example increased benefit caseloads t Achieving further efficiency savings t Improving prevention and advice on homelessness

Key successes

Areas for improvement/key challenges.

www.midlothian.gov.uk/performance

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strategic services Strategic.services@midlothian.gov.uk Doing Well 95 hectares of general economic land brought forward, acquired or developed Opening of the A68 bypass (Scottish Government) The Midlothian Homecoming Fund has been launched Adoption of the Midlothian Local Plan Scottish Fair Measure Project to check for short measure in pubs

Room for Improvement / Key Challenges Deal with 80% of planning applications within 2 months (actual 67%) due to staff resourcing issues. t Implementation of statutory legislation (Planning) t Delivery of Shawfair project t Delivering Dalkeith town centre redevelopment t Impact of the current economic climate in terms of local economy, housing development and land issues

Newbyres Care Home, Gorebridge.

social work Social.work@midlothian.gov.uk Doing Well Positive external inspections from Social Work Inspection Agency, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education and the Care Commission.

Implementation of new management information system – on time and on budget.

Establishment of a joint Drugs and Alcohol Partnership with East Lothian Establishment of a Joint Mid/East Lothian Adult Protection Committee and independent Chair Increased financial capacity to support children with or affected by disability Increase the percentage of older people (65+) with intensive care needs receiving services at home.

Achieved 35.1% with a national target of 30%.

Room for Improvement / Key Challenges Reduce by 5% from 125 the number of children Looked After and Accommodated i.e. “in care” or in Kinship Care (actual 126). However, Midlothian continues to perform well against national trend of an increase of 6.8% with an increase of 0.8%.

Continue to increase the percentage of reports to the Children’s Reporter submitted on time (current performance 55% against a target of 70%, although the national average is 39%). t Effective and consistent engagement with service users, carers and service providers. t Ensuring services manage the complex and growing demands of Midlothian citizens within budget.

Maximising attendance: Reduction in sickness absence to 4.45, beating 4.75 target

executive services Executive.services@midlothian.gov.uk Doing Well Reduction in sickness absence levels throughout the year from 4.87% in quarter 1 to 4.19% in quarter 4.

Overall performance 4.45% exceeded the target of 4.75%. This equates to a saving of £1.4million.

The target of ensuring that 25% of managers have a manager qualification was achieved.

Room for Improvement / Key Challenges Implementing improvements in the council’s recruitment and selection process. Delayed due to staffing resources required for Modernising Midlothian. Progress is now being made to develop use of the national recruitment portal.

Implementing the customer first strategy and carrying out customer care training. Not possible due to other priorities for staff.

Health and safety audit programme slipped (25% complete) due to staffing issues. However investment in an audit software tool and the recruitment of two professional vacancies mean that this essential performance monitoring tool is now ahead of schedule. t Revision of the disability equality scheme scheduled for 2009 and preparation for new equalities duties t Development of a staff competency framework as part of Modernising Midlothian. t Driving the efficiency agenda for the Council to assist the budget process. t Development of integrated human resources and payroll system leading to manager self-service for processes and information.

Further Information

Feedback We would like to know what you think of this supplement. Is the information that we provided useful? Do you feel there was anything missing? Do you like the layout of the information? Is it clear and easy to read?

Please contact the Policy and Performance Team at ppt@midlothian.gov.uk or telephone 0131 271 3507.

For more detailed information about the Council’s performance go to www. midlothian.gov.uk/performance. Here you can access the Council’s quarterly performance reports and Statutory Performance Indicator results. We have a Public Performance Reporting Framework which sets out a timetable for reporting performance throughout the year.

The Council’s financial statements are also available online at www.midlothian.gov.uk

Council Accounts 2008-09 This is a summary of the Council’s audited financial statements for April 2008 to March 2009. A detailed copy of the Council’s 2008/09 accounts is available at www.midlothian.gov.uk, alternatively you can request a copy by calling 0131 270 7500.

Financial Performance The General Fund Reserve at the start of the year was £11.8 million of which £9.1 million was earmarked for specific purposes. Final expenditure for the year was £3.5 million more than budgeted. At the end of the year the General Fund Reserve was £2.1 million which was all earmarked for specific purposes.

Cost of Council services: 162.6m Education 100

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Where the money came from: 195.5m

100.1 11.9

Social Work Cultural & Related Services

80

Roads & Transport

36.3

£ Millions

Police 60

Environmental Services

40

 Million

Planning & Development

41.9

116.9

Fire Services Other

20 11.4 9.2

7.7

30.4

11.6

7.9 2.7

0

3.0

-10 Scottish Government Grant Non Domestic Rate Income

Council Assets at the year end

Council Tax

We owned:

Million

Buildings & Land Owned by the Council Vehicles, Plant & Equipment Other Assets Stocks Cash in Bank Investments

Other Reserves

659.6 7.6 101.9 0.6 0.1 39.8

We were owed: We owed others: The overall worth of our assets was: We held cash reserves of 13.1 million comprising of: General Fund Housing Revenue Account Insurance Fund

25.3 307.5 527.4 2.1 10.4 0.6

How much we spent on improving the Council’s assets We spent 53.1 million improving the Council’s assets in the financial year 07/08.

The major projects are detailed below:-

Education

New Primary Schools General Upgrading of Education Buildings Curricular IT

Leisure and Recreation Social Work Roads and Transportation

Council Houses

Leisure Centre Upgrades Care Home Refurbishments Pavement Upgrading Safer Routes/Cycle Schemes

The Council is required by legislation to fund all Council House expenditure from rental income.

Sherrifhall Park and Ride Carriageway Works Bridge Works

Income Council House Rents Other Income

 Million 13.9 0.7

14.6 Expenditure Repairs and Maintenance Supervision and Management Other Costs

5.9 4.0 3.8

13.7 Surplus for the year

Street Lighting

Economic Development Housing Revenue Account

Contaminated Land Building of New Council Housing Purchase of Homelessness Accommodation Upgrade and Refurbishment of Council Housing

Other Services

0.8

Vehicle Replacement IT Equipment

* Expenditure on various other miscellaneous projects equalled 1.0 Million.

Produced by Policy and Performance Team Designed by Graphics Unit Midlothian Council

 Million 18.2 1.3 0.5 0.3 0.7 0.8 0.1 0.2 0.7 0.2 0.6 0.2 28.1 9.1 5.5 0.7 0.6 68.8

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HAVE YOUR SAY We’re developing and updating Midlothian Council’s corporate priorities for 2010-2012 and we’d like to give you a say.

You’ll find a survey form inserted in this edition of Midlothian News. We want to check with you if we’re concentrating on the right things for the financial year ahead, which starts in April 2010.

The priorities highlighted in the survey are not ranked in any way and

are categorised into six key objectives: ■ Supporting healthy, caring and diverse communities where local needs are met ■ Maximising business opportunities ■ Maintaining Midlothian as a safe place to live, work and visit ■Conserving and improving Midlothian’s natural environment ■ Improving opportunities for people in Midlothian ■ Delivering responsive, efficient and

effective services to the people of Midlothian.

Please open the survey questionnaire, fill it in and post it back. It’s free to post and we look forward to seeing what you think.

Or you can complete the survey online at www.midlothian.gov.uk As well as influencing what happens in your area in 2010- 2012, you could also win £50 in our special prize draw – just for responding to the survey!

Please complete and return your survey by 2 December 2009

Don’t get caught out by flu ocal people in “at risk” categories will be among the first to be offered the swine flu vaccine as health workers and Council staff in Midlothian work together to manage the virus.

In partnership with the Scottish Government and emergency planning partners, Midlothian Council has been preparing for a pandemic influenza outbreak for a number of years.

The first cases affected by the H1N1 (swine flu) virus were reported in Mexico over the spring and summer and it has spread to many countries around the world since then.

Many people have mild symptoms, and some might even have had the condition without realising it. But there are some people who have been seriously affected, particularly those with underlying health problems.

The UK Government has placed orders for sufficient vaccine for the whole population in the campaign against the H1N1 virus.

Certain priority groups will receive

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KEY COUNCIL CONTACTS ■ Midlothian Council offices are open from 9am-5pm Monday to Thursday and 9am-3.45pm on Friday.

Switchboard: 0131 270 7500

the vaccination first to reduce the risk of serious illness. They have been prioritised and will be vaccinated in this order: ■ People aged over six months and up to 65 years who have long-term health conditions and who are in current seasonal flu vaccine clinical at-risk groups ■ All pregnant women ■ People who live in the same house as someone whose immune system is compromised, such as patients on treatment for cancer ■ People aged 65 and over in the current seasonal flu vaccine clinical at-risk groups Other vulnerable groups with concerns can contact NHS 24 for advice.

Frontline health and social care workers will begin to be vaccinated at the same time as the first priority group. People who are not in the priority groups listed may be offered the vaccine at a later stage.

Remember: the seasonal flu vaccine does not protect against swine flu.

■ 24hr Emergency Service: 0131 663 7211 (incl housing repairs and homelessness) ■ Dalkeith Social Work Centre: 0131 271 3860 (Children & Families and Criminal Justice)

■ Loanhead Social Work Centre: 0131 271 3900 (Community Care) ■ Emergency Social Work Service: 0800 731 6969

For more information about swine flu, visit www.direct.gov.uk/swineflu or call 0800 1 513 513 If you think you have swine flu, contact your GP, or NHS 24 on 08454 24 24 24 Textphone: 018001 098454 24 24 24