Agenda item

(To receive a report from Samantha Harrison, Head of Economic Development, David Hickman, Head of Environment and Mike Reed, Head of Waste, which invites the Committee to consider and comment on the performance of the Tier 2 Service Level Performance measures for 2021/22 Quarter 2 for Economy, Flooding and Waste)  

Consideration was given to a report by the Head of Economic Development, which invited the Committee to consider a report on the Service Level Performance Reporting against the Performance Framework for Quarter two for 2021/22.

The Head of Economic Development was pleased to report that the service had exceeded the target for the number of businesses supported, having supported 1126 businesses. This was due to the introduction of a strong package of support to help businesses to navigate through the challenges posed by Covid-19. 

The service had also been successful in their bid for future European Regional Development Fund money and had £1.06m, which would enhance the current business support program. The programme would work with the Lincolnshire Growth Hub to continue to provide businesses with advisory support with grants and provide guidance, workshops and events until June 2023.

The service had exceeded the number of qualifications achieved by adults and within the same period, with 973 individuals undertaking qualifications which was achieved by expanding online courses and learning opportunities.

The Head of Economic Development was pleased to report that the Council had received over £15m worth of external funding over the period, which had exceeded the target. This was predominantly due to an extension of some of our European Regional Development Fund projects which had enables the Council to provide further business support across the Lincolnshire area.

The Business Support Programmes that were provided included a rural support programme, a digital programme, a recovery programme and a programme to invest for the future. All programmes were supported through the Council’s website, through social media, Councillor briefings and via the Local Enterprise Partnership.

There was a clear and robust system in place for monitoring the destinations of all learners, which included a follow up and report to the learning board. It was agreed that a further update be provided within the report to the next meeting.

It was clarified that the Council received an allocation from the Department for Education (DfE) for learner provision which was increased during the pandemic due to a need for further support. The Council also applied for further growth funding that was added to the allocation and therefore the providers contracts were increased to meet the needs of the learners.

Members were encouraged that the targets for the support package were being met. The Committee were also welcomed partnership working between the County Council and other District, City and Borough Council Economic Development Teams on future projects.

The Head of Environment then provided an update on performance with regard to flooding within Lincolnshire. It was noted that as the Lead Local Flood Authority for Lincolnshire, the Council had a number of statutory powers and responsibilities for managing flooding within the County. The Head of Environment highlighted the following with relation to flood risk performance measures

• 13 new formal investigations had been launched as a result of flooding during the previous quarter, which had affected a total of 16 properties. In addition to those formal investigations, the Council now maintained records of ‘near-misses’, where the trigger threshold for a formal investigation might not be reached, but where the information was retained to provide context for ongoing or new investigations and to identify locations where persistent issues might be developing
• The general trend for the number of investigations was rising and officers were closely monitoring the situation

The Chairman welcomed an update from the Head of Waste on service level performance for quarter two. Members were advised that the recycling rate at household waste recycling centres had decreased down to 71% which was being monitored and the service were looking at ways to address the issues and introduce a campaign which would notify the public informally how they could recycle better; the overall recycling rate that for this last quarter is around 44%, which was similar to previous quarters and the total tonnage of waste collected was 546 kilograms per household which was slightly under the target of 560. It was thought that this was due to a number of factors including less material being presented at the house waste recycling centres and seasonal composting. Officers were working to identify the national trend in the reduction of recycling and would be increasing their engagement with the public through education campaigns and other means.

The Committee were invited to ask questions on the performance updates of both flooding and waste, and during the discussion the following points were noted:

• Officers advised that the targets that had been set were historic and as waste and recycling collection developed, targets would need to be reviewed to ensure they were appropriate and were reflective of the current trends and recycling and disposal rates. 
• It was suggested that there was an opportunity for the Council to improve its recycling rate by working with partners to promote textile recycling. The Head of Waste confirmed that the Council had 11 sites across the County with textile banks. Officers were happy to engage with Councillors on this issue to identify if and where there was a need for more textile recycling points across the County.
• Officers were investigating the reasons for the slight variation in recycling across the County’s household waste recycling centres to see whether improvement could be made.
• It was acknowledged that there was a need to better understand recycling rates to understand why rates were lower despite the increasing amount of opportunity for people to recycle.
• Officers were working on providing a breakdown of recycling rates for each District, however it was difficult to provide comparative data as all District offered different ways of recycling. Once available, the data would be shared with the Committee.
• Concerns were raised over very low recycling rates in some student areas in Lincoln. The Waste Team acknowledged that there were improvements to be made to positively engage with certain groups in order to improve recycling rates in certain areas.

RESOLVED:

              That the report be received and the comments made by the Committee be               noted.