Corporate Plan Appendix – key measures and projects

Major projects and initiatives

This appendix provides an overview of the key performance measures and projects that will make a significant contribution to driving the change we want to see in Reading through our three themes: Healthy Environment, Thriving Communities, and Inclusive Economy.

This includes the major initiatives that are driving the transformation of our foundations and day-to-day service delivery.

These are the measures and projects that we will monitor and report on to track our progress against our goals.

This list of projects does not cover every activity the Council undertakes – there will be many smaller projects, change initiatives and day-to-day activities that are important to residents and vital for our town. These are also measured and tracked; however, these are not all included here so that we can keep the focus on the major change projects that will make the biggest difference.

The baseline is the same as published in the original three-year plan, published in March 2022, and results for 22/23 have been included. Some targets for 23/24 and 24/25 have been revised.

Performance against the measures and projects listed is reported to the Council’s Policy Committee quarterly. Performance for 23/24 is not available at the time of publishing.

Healthy Environment
Thriving Communities
Inclusive Economy
Foundations
COVID Response and Recovery

Key measures – healthy environment

Measure	Baseline	Result 22/23	Target 23/24	Target 24/25
Percentage of food waste recycled (as percentage of total household waste)	13%	13% (Q4)	13%	14%
Percentage of total household waste recycled	50%	49%	50%	51%
Active travel trips to/from the town centre (mode share)	35%	35%	36%	37%
Public transport trips to/from the town centre (mode share)	34%	41%	40%	41%
Car trips to/from the town centre (mode share)	30%	25%	24%	22%
Percentage of residential roads in ‘good condition’ (not requiring further investigation or work)	35%	77%	80%	80%
Percentage of actionable potholes repaired within 28 days	99%	99%	99%	99%
Total number of trees on Council owned land	13,725	14,866	15,166	15,466
Percentage of fly-tipping incidents investigated resulting in a Fixed Penalty Notice (FPN) or prosecution	26%	25%	26%	26%
Carbon footprint (Reading) – total carbon emissions (kilotonnes CO2)	493 (2019)	480 (2021)	394	345
Carbon footprint (Reading Borough Council) – total carbon emissions (kilotonnes CO2)	19.8 (2008)	5.1	4.0	3.1
Air quality (micrograms per meter cubed of nitrogen dioxide μg/m3)	35	32	33	32

Key projects – healthy environment

Initiatives

Responding to the climate emergency

Projects:

• Implement the Climate Emergency Strategy, including delivering over 150 actions to mitigate and adapt to climate change
• Retain our position on the ‘A’ list’ for bold leadership on climate change following an assessment by the Carbon Disclosure Project

Fleet de-carbonisation

Projects:

• Deliver the next phase of our fleet electrification and decarbonisation programme and publish our Electric Vehicle Strategy

Local Transport Plan

Projects:

• Implement the Local Transport Plan

Place improvement projects (roads, parks, community facilities and heritage assets)

Projects:

• Allocate £1.6m of Community Infrastructure Funds and commence the approved schemes
• Deliver £8m of investment in resurfacing roads and pavements
• Decarbonise the Hexagon theatre through improved heating and lighting
• Deliver the Capital Education Property Development Programme

Improving recycling

Projects:

• Commence delivery of the Simpler Recycling Programme for residents to improve borough recycling performance.

Key measures – thriving communities

Measure	Baseline	Result 22/23	Target 23/24	Target 24/25
Number of people sleeping rough	22	36	15	10
Percentage of children in care living more than 20 miles from Reading	30%	26%	26%	25%
Number of first-time entrants to Youth Justice System per 100,000 aged 10-17	New measure	193	190	190
Percentage of children looked after with 3 or more placements during the year	New measure	8%	9%	9%
Percentage of older People (65+) who were still at home 91 days after discharge from hospital into reablement	78%	85% (Mar-23)	85%	87%
Percentage of new contacts to the Advice & Wellbeing hub resulting in a successful outcome not requiring an ongoing service	78%	95% (Mar-23)	82%	85%
Percentage of service users supported to live independently in the community	74%	75% (Mar-23)	76%	78%
Number of NHS Health Checks delivered to residents (per quarter)	150	597 (quarterly average in 22/23)	800	800
Percentage of residents who select “the level of crime” as a top three priority for the Council to address, in conjunction with the Community Safety Partnership and Thames Valley Police	26%	25%	24%	23%
Percentage of Residents who consider Reading to be “a safe place to live” (based on the annual Community Safety Partnership Survey)	New measure	Survey took place for first time in May 23	44% (May 23 actual)	48%

Key projects – thriving communities

Initiatives

Housing Strategy 2020-25 and housing initiatives

Projects:

• Continue delivery of the new Council homes programme
• Deliver zero carbon initiatives within Council homes – including using passivhaus principles to design new homes, retrofit energy efficiency measures and develop more low carbon energy sources for existing RBC Housing

Reading Community Safety Plan

Project:

• Year 1 delivery of the Community Safety Actions through the delivery groups as set out in the Plan

Homelessness accommodation

Project:

• Set up a dynamic purchasing system to system to enable us to procure good quality and cost-effective emergency accommodation

Transforming leisure services

Projects:

• In partnership with GLL, continue to deliver investment in the borough’s leisure facilities, including improvements at South Reading Leisure Centre, and finish and open the new swimming pools at Rivermead Leisure Centre
• Work with our partners and GLL to increase rates of physical activity and attendance at borough leisure centres

Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) partnerships

Project:

• Implement the VCS action plan to build our relationship with the VCS and increase capacity within the sector

Adult Transformation Programme

Projects:

• Develop a preventative occupational therapy function at the Adult Social Care Advice and Well Being Hub
• Develop a voluntary sector-led Adult Social Care Front Door
• Develop an unpaid carers strategy and increased short breaks provision in partnership with carers and partners
• Launch Community Wellness Outreach Programme including NHS Health Checks
• Create a co-produced Adult Social Care Strategy

Key Brighter Futures for Children projects and initiatives

Projects:

• Develop our refreshed Early Help strategy with the One Reading Children & Young People’s Partnership, strengthened by a shared overarching strategy to tackle child poverty
• Develop a Family Hub model for Reading, focusing on creating a more seamless Family Help offer that is targeted at the areas of greatest need
• Strengthen corporate parenting activity of the Company and Council through a refreshed Corporate Parenting strategy and implement the learning from the Care Leavers’ Review and review of our Corporate Parenting Panel
• Increase the number of local placements for our children in care to ensure as many of our children as possible remain living near their local friends and family networks
• Implement RISE, our new inclusion support service, which will help develop inclusive practice across all Reading schools

Berkshire West Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2021-2030

Project:

Deliver the five implementation plans, in collaboration with statutory, voluntary and community partners, which cover a range of health improvement actions across five priority areas:

1. Reducing the difference in health between different groups of people
2. Support for individuals at high risk of bad health outcomes to live healthy lives
3. Help children and families in early years
4. Promote good mental health and wellbeing for all children and young people
5. Promote good mental health and wellbeing for all adults

Key measures – inclusive economy

Measure	Baseline	Result 22/23	Target 23/24	Target 24/25
Number of affordable homes delivered	178	135	169	169
Total (net) completed additional dwellings (new build and conversions)	408	888	689	689
Total (net) completed additional dwellings that are three or more bed family homes	65	128	124	137
Participation at Council cultural venues	150,000 1	402,023	325,000	350,000
Number of visits to our libraries	150,000 1	241,000	260,000	270,000
Borough bus usage	7.4 million 1	14.1 million	16 million	18 million
Borough park & ride usage	240,000 1	106,132	150,000	250,000
Borough rail usage (all trips)	3.2 million 1	8.8 million	10 million	11 million
Suspension Rate for primary and secondary school pupils at maintained schools, per 10,000 students	New measure	5.6% (21/22)	5.7%	5.7%
Key stage 2 – reducing the gap in the percentage of advantaged and disadvantaged pupils who achieve the expected level of attainment in reading, writing, and maths	20%	29%	25%	23%
Key Stage 4 – reducing the gap in the overall Attainment 8 score between advantaged and disadvantaged pupils	21	21	18	15
Percentage of Care Leavers who are not in education, employment, or training for work (NEET) 17 and 18-year-olds	New measure	29%	20%	20%
Percentage of Care Leavers who are not in education, employment, or training for work (NEET) 19 to 21-year-olds	New measure	39%	38%	38%
Percentage of people with a learning disability in paid employment	4.7%	4.5%	5.5%	6.0%
Number of school places for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) (cumulative)	402	453	1,058	1,184
New Directions College Qualification Achievement Rates	89.2% 2	91.4%	95.7%	95.7%

¹ Low baseline due to Covid; targets based on current performance
² Current national rate

Key projects – inclusive economy

Initiatives

Cultural Placemaking – improvement projects to parks, community facilities and heritage assets

Projects:

• Shape the future three-year delivery plan 2022-25 for Reading’s Culture and Heritage Strategy
• Deliver key improvements to the library service, including plans for the Central Library via the Levelling up Fund
• Use arts, culture, heritage and leisure as a vehicle for: delivering placemaking; health and wellbeing; inclusion; economic development and lifelong learning outcomes

Employment and skills training

Projects:

• Develop and implement adult skills, employment support and training programmes
• Employment and Skills programme delivered via Reading UK

Major Transport Schemes

Projects:

• Complete Reading West Station upgrade
• Continued delivery of South Reading Mass Rapid Transport

Town Centre regeneration

Projects:

• Bring forward the Minster Quarter site for development and utilising the £2m brownfield development grant
• Adoption of a new Town Centre Strategy which sets the vision and actions needed for inclusive and sustainable growth
• Start work to deliver significant improvements to our culture and customer offer with major works to the Hexagon and the Civic building where we will be reprovisioning the Central Library and redesigning customer provision to create a more modern and efficient offer

Tackling Inequality Strategy

Projects:

• Deliver our Tackling Inequality Strategy through a place-based approach to improving skills education and training
• Implement and subsequently expand a new apprenticeship and work experience mentoring scheme

Economic development

Project:

• Support the development of an Economic Development Strategy for Reading led by REDA

Key measures – foundations

Measure	Baseline	Result 22/23	Target 23/24	Target 24/25
Residents’ Survey: Satisfaction with the way the Council runs things overall	66%	63%	60% (result from Residents’ Survey, summer 2023)	70%
Residents’ Survey: Agreement that the Council provides value for money	54%	47%	42% (result from Residents’ Survey, summer 2023)	50%
Customer satisfaction in the Customer Fulfilment Centre	88%	81% (Q4)	90%	90%
Number of invoices paid by the Council within 30 days of invoice date	71%	84% (Q4)	85%	90%
Percentage of responses to Freedom of Information Act requests within 20 days	77%	81% (Q4)	90%	90%
Percentage of responses to complaints within agreed timescales	56%	72% (Q4)	80%	100%
Number of self-service transactions via My Account self-service	60,000	253,320	265,000	280,000
Black and Minority Ethnic employees in Council’s workforce	14.4%	17.0%	18.5%	20.0%
Gender pay gap (mean) for Council’s workforce	2.06%	0.13%	0.10%	0.05%
Ethnicity pay gap (mean) for Council’s workforce	4.70%	1.80%	2.25%	2.00%

Key projects – foundations

Initiatives

Driving social value through our contracts and procurement

Project:

Implement Social Value Strategy and reporting (internal training, link with external organisations and deployment of social value achieved).

Driving efficiency through contracts and procurement

Project:

Deliver a programme of work to ensure that we get the best value for money for the goods and services that we buy.

Implementation of the RBC Customer Experience Programme

Project:

Maintain the externally assessed standard for ‘Achieving Customer Services Excellence’ including the implementation of the new Customer and Case Management System.

Becoming a digital first organisation and digital inclusive community

Project:

Implementing the Connected Reading Strategy with the highest priority aims being:

• Making our services better and quicker for customers and staff, enabled by digital technology
• Making our digital services as accessible as possible to all in Reading, and helping those who are digitally excluded to become included
• Using digital technology to help the elderly and vulnerable to live as independently as possible

Managing your information effectively

Project:

Implementation of our Information Management Strategy.

Equalities, diversity and inclusion initiatives

Project:

Create a workforce that is fully representative of the population we serve, where all staff feel welcomed and valued for the unique perspective, they bring to Team Reading, and where everyone, irrespective of their background, is supported and empowered to achieve their goals and progress their careers.