Corporate Outcome 2 - People will live in safer and stronger communities
Caring for People Partnership and Community Support
As part of our Covid pandemic response Community Planning and Development (CPD) transferred to the Caring For People partnership and was a key partner in setting up and the operation of this response group, which was to meet the needs of communities at a time of crisis. Most community groups were responding to support requests from people that were shielding, managing in lockdown and more recently test and protect.
Some community groups had spontaneously come together as a result of the Covid Pandemic. Work was done to build rapport and provide support and direction where required. This was an excellent partnership project which was delivered by working with community organisations. To keep up to date with the rapidly changing Covid guidance the community groups needed effective communication channels. Working together ensured that groups were supported with relevant guidance, funding advice and volunteer support as required, for example: lone volunteering policies, safe medication delivery process, insurance and confidentiality guidance.
We also provided capacity building sessions for community groups. This included providing a forum for information exchange, support with relevant regulations and help with defining committee roles. The following is just one quotation from the Group Evaluation Feedback:
“The online Drop In Sessions that were set up by the Community Development Officer provided a very local forum for obtaining information from the Council around Access to Services, Track and Trace and other Covid related responses planned. It also allowed third sector groups to share their activities with each other. The various information leaflets produced by Argyll & Bute (Council) and shared with us via the Community Development Officer gave both us and our service users’ access to essential information when so many buildings and offices were closed and people did not know where to turn to for support. This was a great help”.
Although this Success Measure missed the target that was agreed before the pandemic, staff shortages and the necessary staff recruitment meant that the service was redesigned to meet objectives. Capacity building training was developed and built for online delivery methods.
Working with our Partners - The Community Safety Partnership Strategy
The Community Safety Partnership Strategy 2021-2023 was developed during the past year. This strategy identifies how key partners including the Council, Police Scotland, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, HM Coastguard, Health & Social Care Partnership (HSCP), Third Sector Interface (TSI) and local groups will bring together resources to ensure that Argyll and Bute is a safer place to live, work and visit.
It underpins the Argyll and Bute Outcome Improvement Plan (ABOIP) and sets out strategic priorities relating:
- We live in a safe and positive community
- We encourage safer road and water use
- Our natural and built environment is protected
- Our communities are supported and included
Managing Outbreaks of Communicable Disease and protecting public health
In response to Covid outbreaks the Joint Health Protection Plan, which the Council’s environment health service has in place with NHS Highland was implemented. The Plan consists of well-established incident management procedures.
These procedures include giving direct advice to thousands of local businesses. In doing so the spread of the virus was minimised and public health across Argyll and Bute has been protected. Officers have shown considerable flexibility in approach in dealing with outbreaks that have ranged from small and large community outbreaks, outbreaks involving individual businesses and outbreaks on board ships.
Additionally Trading Standards maintained a reactive presence to deal with all premises identified as high risk.
Introduction of mobile virtual technology to issue completion certificates – Remote Verification Certificates
The Council’s building standards team introduced new technology whilst working from home due to Covid restrictions. By using mobile video technology the team were able to issue completion certificates using remote verification inspections. This meant that the site and works were videoed in real time with the officer. This technology has worked well and has become part of a range of options for future work. In some cases this will reduce the need for onsite inspections, travel and provide a better service to customers in rural areas.
Retaining the Customer Standards Excellence award
The Council Building Standard’s service retained the national Customer Service Excellence (CSE) accreditation relating to customer focus and the number of compliance plus increased from 18 to 20, which is considered excellent for a council service.
The key points raised during the audit were that there was no impact of the recent management restructure on the CSE award that some improvements have been made and performance maintained. The service has used technology well and introduced a range of new measures including Remote Verification Inspections (above) to ensure that the customer process during Covid was seamless.
There is strong element of team work which is a testament to the team and that they continued their service and improved it during a global pandemic.