Progress and challenges in delivering on the Dundee Partnership’s vision for the future of the city and the council’s key priorities during the Coronavirus pandemic have been outlined in a new report.
Councillors on the Policy and Resources Committee will next week consider an update report on the Dundee Partnership’s City Plan and the Council Plan.
The City Plan sets out long term and ambitious targets for improving a range of outcomes across the partnership agenda for the period up to 2026, while the Council Plan details the local authority’s targets and actions for making improvements on its priorities up to 2022.
The half-year report acknowledges that Covid-19 will have impacts on the City Plan and Council Plan’s targets and deadlines for some of the major projects previously agreed.
Nonetheless, the half-year report covering the period up to September 30 details that 72% of the City Plan’s key performance indicators were showing improvement since the baseline year of 2016-17.
Within the Council plan targets, 64% had improved since the baseline year. Around half of the indicators in both reports improved or stayed the same compared with the previous period.
Key achievements since April 2020 include providing 1140 hours of Early Learning and Child Care for every three- and four-year-old and vulnerable two-year-old - all eligible children are able to access 1140 hrs as of September 2020.
There have been expansions in community growing and the Family Nurse Partnership, while Dundee has been established as a preferred location for Offshore Wind and Decommissioning investment.
Actions have also been completed in areas as diverse as public transport, construction, carers, cancer support, biodiversity and social prescribing.
The report, by Chief Executive David Martin, notes that the economic and service impacts of the pandemic are being addressed in a Recovery Plan approved by councillors in the summer.
A report updating the recovery plan in the new year will start to set out how the Council and its partners can review and set new ambitious targets for the years ahead.
Council leader John Alexander said: “This progress report on the City and Council Plans outlines a number of areas where the Council and the Partnership are making a difference to people’s lives across Dundee.
“Of course, there were many challenges to be tackled to achieve all of the ambitions set out in the City Plan and the Council Plan, even before this pandemic which has had such a great impact on us all.
“Notwithstanding these additional challenges, we remain committed to making Dundee a better city for everyone.
“Our Covid-19 recovery process will focus most heavily on supporting people and the economy to recover due to the expected impact on health, incomes, the equalities gap, jobs and businesses.
“The city council cannot work alone and I am pleased that our partners in the public, private education and third sectors are playing a major part in these efforts.”
Dundee City Council
Dundee draws skilled workers from a 60-minute catchment population of 640,000 and has a local population of over 140,000. The availability of a large pool of highly skilled labour is a key feature in the Dundee economy. Flexibility in the labour force is currently more prevalent in Dundee than in Scotland as a whole. All forms of labour market flexibility - part-time, temporary employment, self-employment and shift work - are widely operational within the city. Labour force stability in the city is excellent, enabling companies to plan with confidence. Labour turnover levels are less than 5% and absenteeism averages 2%.
