Committee commends community partnership in Aberdeen

27 August 2020

Aberdeen City Council’s Strategic Commissioning Committee today (Thursday 27 August) approved a plan highlighting the authority’s ongoing commitment to community partnership working to achieve improvements across the city.

The Community Planning Annual Outcome Improvement Report 2019/20 is a representation of the Council’s ongoing contribution to partnership working in delivery of the Local Outcome Improvement Plan 2016-26.

The vision of the Local Outcome Improvement Plan (LOIP) to create ‘a place where all people can prosper’ and has three key themes - Economy, People and Place.

The report was the third since the LOIP was published in August 2016, and the first to be published since the LOIP was refreshed in February 2019.

The report demonstrates the achievements of the Community Planning Partnership (CPA) over the past year and highlights priority areas for improvement. This helps to ensure that the CPA channel resources to those projects which are most likely to have the biggest impact or set the foundation for further improvement activity.

The Partnership’s ethos of cooperation and collaboration has yielded positive results during 2019/20. Over the course of the year 52 improvement projects have been initiated which seek to tackle diverse issues and deliver wide ranging benefits for the local economy, people and place.

The report highlights in the past year there has been:

4.8% increase in the number of people employed in growth sectors and 45 new enterprises starting up since last year. 8% increase in the number of people who have basic digital skills since 2018. 2.3% increase in people in living wage employment since 2018, with five more employers in the city receiving accreditation. 93% of families who need additional support are now receiving an offer of service within 30 days; which surpasses its aim of 80% and is a vast improvement on the 174 days some families had to wait back in 2016. 17% increase in kinship care placements this year. Enabling care experienced children and young people to remain in kinship care can have a very positive impact on mental and physical health and wellbeing. 93.2% of our young people have reached a positive destination, which is up from previous years, including in the City’s most deprived areas. 93 young people undertaking and completing a foundation apprenticeship compared to 17 in 2018. 34% drop in anti-social behaviour in one of the priority areas since February 2019. 743 people aged over 18 received a first court conviction; this is a reduction of 8% overall compared to the previous year.

The support that the Partnership is offering through the improvement projects this year promises to be life changing for many vulnerable people across the city: supporting people in the justice system get back into employment, helping individuals recover from being involved in cuckooing, organising activities for people with long term conditions to be more active, working with homeless people and others to define and achieve their personal health and wellbeing outcomes, early and preventative interventions for people using drugs and alcohol, and ensuring every person in Aberdeen has access to healthy, tasty, affordable food.

To read the report please click on the link.

From 16 March 2019, towards the end of the reporting period, progress with the CPA improvement projects has been impacted by Covid-19. Whilst this has had minimal impact on overall progress for 2019/20, it is clear that Aberdeen is facing a significant economic challenge. It is anticipated that the consequences for businesses, individuals, young people and the most vulnerable groups in the city will be considerable.

Aberdeen City Council Co-Leader Councillor Jenny Laing, convener of Strategic Commissioning Committee said: “This report serves as an important reminder of what we had achieved just weeks prior to the pandemic hitting and confirms that our shared vision and priorities for the City remain as relevant as ever.

“We are encouraged by the results that have been achieved to date and know that it is only by continuing to work together to build on these achievements that we will remain on track to realise our vision of Aberdeen as a place where all people can prosper.

“This committee would like to take this opportunity to give our sincere thanks to staff and volunteers across the Partnership for the invaluable work they have done over the past year and the work they have undertaken in response to the Covid-19 emergency; to help individuals, families and communities impacted by the pandemic and for their continued commitment and resolve in the recovery process that lies ahead.”

As well as Aberdeen City Council approving the Socio Economic Rescue Plan, which aligns to the LOIP strategic themes of Economy, People and Place, as an immediate response to the impact of Covid19, the Community Planning Partnership is also reviewing its Improvement Programme 19/21.

A fuller understanding of the impact of covid-19 will be clearer next year and the revised CPA Improvement Programme, alongside the Socio Economic Rescue Plan, are the starting stages of the route map to the refreshed LOIP which will be presented in summer 2021.

Community Planning Aberdeen consists of Aberdeen City Council; ACVO; Aberdeen Civic Forum; North East Scotland College; Police Scotland; Scottish Fire and Rescue; Aberdeen City Health and Social Care Partnership; NHS Grampian; NESTRANS; Skills Development Scotland; Scottish Enterprise; Active Aberdeen Partnership and the University of Aberdeen.