Outcomes - Children and Young People

Children have the best start in life.

Children are safe and nurtured.

Children have life skills, confidence and opportunities to reach their potential.

Young people are ready for life and work.

How do children's services affect these outcomes?

Children’s services include: early years provision; educational services; support for children with additional support needs and disabilities; adoption, fostering and youth services; and safeguarding of children at risk of abuse and neglect.

Children’s services aim to give all children, including the most vulnerable, a safe and stable start in life that allows them to learn, achieve and reach their full potential. This is the kind of childhood that enables children to live fulfilling lives and contribute fully to society. Children services contribute to improving children’s outcomes by:

• offer all children, independent of socioeconomic background, the opportunity to take part in activities such as play, recreation and sport which contribute to healthy growth and development both at home and in the community
• support the closing of the educational attainment gap by offering all children high quality education
• support children on the journey to positive post-school destinations by equipping children with skills from early years all the way through education
• offer special educational support to pupils who face challenge in their learning as they progress through school
• offer specialist support to children and young people with disabilities and their families to enable them to develop their full potential
• assess need and provide care and protection to vulnerable children at risk of abuse, neglect and harm

Children's services indicators and descriptions

• CHN1: Cost per primary school pupil
• CHN2: Cost per secondary school pupil
• CHN3: Cost per pre-school education place
• CHN4: Percentage of pupils gaining 5+ awards at level 5
• CHN5: Percentage of pupils gaining 5+ awards at level 6
• CHN6: Percentage of pupils living in the 20% most deprived areas gaining 5+ awards at level 5
• CHN7: Percentage of puppils living in the 20% most deprived areas gaining 5+ awards at level 6
• CHN8a: The gross cost of 'children looked after' in residentail based services per child per week
• CHN8b: The gross cost of 'children looked after' in a community setting per child per week
• CHN9: Balance of care for 'looked after chidren': % of children being looked after in the community
• CHN10: Percentage of adults satisfied with local schools
• CHN11: Percentage of pupils entering positive destinations
• CHN12a: Overall average total tariff
• CHN12b: Average total tariff SIMD quintile 1
• CHN12c: Average total tariff SIMD quintile 2
• CHN12d: Average total tariff SIMD quintile 3
• CHN12e: Average total tariff SIMD quintile 4
• CHN12f: Average total tariff SIMD quintile 5
• CHN13a: % of P1, P4 and P7 pupils combined achieving expected CFE Level in Literacy
• CHN13b: % of P1, P4 and P7 pupils combined achieving expected CFE Level in Numeracy
• CHN14a: Literacy Attainment Gap (P1,4,7 Combined) - percentage point gap between the least deprived and most deprived pupils
• CHN14b: Numeracy Attainment Gap (P1,4,7 Combined) - percentage point gap between the least deprived and most deprived pupils
• CHN17: Percentage of children meeting developmental milestones
• CHN18: Percentage of funded early years provision whihc is graded good/better
• CHN19a: School attendance rates
• CHN19b: School attendance rates
• CHN20a: School exclusion rates (per 1,000 pupils)
• CHN20b: School exclusion rates (per 1,000 'looked after children')
• CHN21: Participation rate for 16-19 year olds (per 100)
• CHN22: Percentage of child protection re-registrations within 18 months
• CHN23: Percentage LAC with more than 1 placement in the last year (Aug-July)

Outcomes - Children and Young People

Children have the best start in life.

Children are safe and nurtured.

Children have life skills, confidence and opportunities to reach their potential.

Young people are ready for life and work.

How do corporate affect these outcomes?

Corporate services directly and indirectly improve the lives of children and young people through the council’s role as an employer and through their role in providing services to the local community.

As an employer, corporate services:

• Provide good maternity and paternity policies to enable parents to build bonds with their young children
• Offer well-designed corporate HR policies and accompanying IT that enables staff to work flexibly and remotely, which can lead to better work-life balance and thus better care for children in their families.
• Support the recruitment of high quality teaching, nursery, and social work staff.
• Offer good training opportunities so that their staff can develop their practice.
• Recognise unions which enables employees to have a say

In the community:

• Efficiencies within Corporate Services can release money for other services such as education and culture & leisure.
• Corporate Services lead on transformation within councils and support the re-design of services that better meet the needs of users, for example, online services for libraries and schools.
• Corporate Services help services make the most of data and intelligence that they may hold or gather to improve individual services and increase efficiencies within services.
• Through well-designed procurement processes, corporate services enable the release of community benefits and employment opportunities for young people, particularly apprenticeships.
• Corporate Services lead on compliance including equalities and health & safety, which means that all children have the same opportunities regardless of their gender, ethnicity or disability and that school buildings are safe to use.

Corporate services indicators and descriptions

• CORP 1: Support services as a % of total gross expenditure
• CORP 3b: Percentage of the highest paid 5% employees who are women
• CORP 3c: The gender pay gap (%)
• CORP 4: The cost per dwelling of collecting council tax
• CORP 6a: Sickness absence days per teacher
• CORP 6b: Sickness absence days per employee (non-teacher)
• CORP 7: Percentage of income due from council tax received by the end of the year
• CORP 8: Percentage of invoices sampled that were paid within 30 days

Outcomes - Children and Young People

Children have the best start in life.

Children are safe and nurtured.

Children have life skills, confidence and opportunities to reach their potential.

Young people are ready for life and work.

How do culture and leisure services affect these outcomes?

Culture and Leisure services can make a strong strategic contribution to improving children’s outcomes by communicating children's voices and needs, raising self-esteem, aspirations and confidence, helping children to achieve emotional wellbeing, supporting the development of employability skills and employment, offering coaching and volunteering opportunities and diversion from pathways of unemployment, ill health and antisocial behaviour. Culture and leisure services can further help address problem areas where outcomes are not improving such as teenage pregnancy, NEETs, obesity and mental health and complex areas of service delivery. Specific examples include:

Sports

Sport services include in-school and after school sport clubs, holiday clubs and community leisure facilities including early years intervention programs, sports coaching, swimming lessons, soft play, racquet sports and social events. Sport services contribute to improving children’s outcomes by for example:

• Offer all children, independent of socioeconomic background, the opportunity to take part in sport and activities that promotes health and wellbeing.
• Offer a holistic approach to promoting healthier lifestyle choices from an early age by raising awareness of the link between physical activity and preventing ill health.
• Offer an opportunity for active play which is crucial for many aspects of children’s development.
• Link children in to a wider social network, particularly through team sport, which is linked to improved self-esteem, self-efficacy and perceived competence in childhood.
• Act as a hook to bring young people into contact with opportunities for achieving wider goals such as further education and employment.
• Act as a diversionary activity distracting children and youth from destructive and antisocial behavior by peer integration and the fostering of positive relationships with activity peers and leaders.

Museums

Museums run activities for children and families including exhibitions and collections, interactive learning, digital skills programmes and events. Museums contribute to improving children’s outcomes by for example:

• Provides family learning opportunities which enables adults and children to learn together.
• Partner with educational establishments to expand learning opportunities in accordance with the curriculum of excellence.
• Acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment for the purposes of education, study and enjoyment.
• Provide greater understanding of other cultures, promoting respect, inclusion and diversity.
• Support engagement with emerging technologies and the development of digital skills necessary to become an engaged citizen.
• Offer volunteering opportunities that allows children to be part of a wider network and the chance to develop skills.

Libraries

Libraries offer learning opportunities including outreach programmes, computer classes, school sessions and digital skills development. Libraries contribute to improving children’s outcomes by for example:

• Offer all children, independent of socioeconomic background, access to a great variety of high quality selected information and digital resources.
• Promotes children’s literacy skills including the ability to use printed and written information to function in society, achieve one's goals, and develop one's knowledge and potential.
• Offer a space within which a wide range of cultural activities which support self-expression can take place including concerts, films, writing groups, author visits, theatre and creative makerspaces.
• Offer a safe place to do school homework in a supporting education with accesses to skilled professionals.
• Offer an opportunity for children to experiment with the latest technologies to develop digital skills crucial for the development into engaged citizens.

Parks and Greenspaces

Parks and greenspaces include a range of quality, accessible parks and gardens as well as cycle tracks and footways.

• Quality greenspaces support children’s physical and social development by offering opportunities for play and physical activity that are essential for early years development, as well as for older children and teenagers.
• Offer green infrastructure that improves community health by reducing health risks from traffic, air pollution, noise, flooding and temperature extremes.
• In low income communities where private gardens are few, public greenspaces are particularly important in supporting children’s development and opportunities to play.

Culture and leisure indicators and descriptions

• C&L1: Cost per attendance at sports facilities
• C&L2: Cost per library visit
• C&L3: Cost of museums per visit
• C&L4: Cost of parks & open spaces per 1,000 population
• C&L5a: Percentage of adults satisfied with libraries
• C&L5b: Percentage of adults satisfied with parks and open spaces
• C&L5c: Percentage of adults satisfied with museums and galleries
• C&L5d: Percentage of adults satisfied with leisure facilities

Outcomes - Children and Young People

Children have the best start in life.

Children are safe and nurtured.

Children have life skills, confidence and opportunities to reach their potential.

Young people are ready for life and work.

How do environmental services affect these outcomes?

Environmental services include the protection of people from harmful products and environment, waste management, disposals, recycling and maintenance of roads.

Growing up in places that are safe and clean and have well developed transport is linked to children’s wellbeing and health. Environmental services contribute to improving children’s outcomes by:

• Provide an environment where children can safely play and explore, without the risk of encountering harmful exposure.
• Offer clean environments where children want to play and take part in physical activity which is essential for early years development, as well as for older children and teenagers.
• Reduce the risk of negative health consequences associated with many environmental exposures that is the result of poor waste management and street cleaning.
• Offer safe roads that enables children to take part in activities that contribute to their health and wellbeing.

Environmental services indicators and descriptions

• ENV1a: Net cost of waste collection per premise
• ENV2a: Net cost of waste disposal per premise
• ENV3a: Net cost of street cleaning per 1,000 population
• ENV3c: Street Cleanliness Score
• ENV4a: Cost of maintenance per kilometre of roads
• ENV4b: Percentage of A Class roads that should be considered for maintenance treatment
• ENV4c: Percentage of B Class roads that should be considered for maintenance treatment
• ENV4d: Percentage of C Class roads that should be considered for maintenance treatment
• ENV4b: Percentage of U Class roads that should be considered for maintenance treatment
• ENV5a: Cost of Trading Standards, Money Advice & Citizen Advice per 1,000 population
• ENV5b: Cost of environmental health per 1,000 population
• ENV6: Percentage of total household waste arising that is recycled
• ENV7a: Percentage of adults satisfied with refuse collection
• ENV7b: Percentage of adults satisfied with street cleaning

Outcomes - Children and Young People

Children have the best start in life.

Children are safe and nurtured.

Children have life skills, confidence and opportunities to reach their potential.

Young people are ready for life and work.

How do housing services affect these outcomes?

Housing services include provision and management of housing stock, support for families that are facing homelessness and adaption of homes to suit diverse family situations.

Stable and safe housing is fundamental to the wellbeing of children and young people. Housing services offer an opportunity for all children to grow up in a home where they can thrive and develop to become successful citizens by for example:

• Offer suitable housing that provides an environment where children can do their homework, practice skills, develop identity and sleep.
• Minimising the risks of families moving frequently and experiencing financial stress that impact children’s wellbeing and cognitive development.
• Minimise the risk of children living in crowded homes that is linked to more behavioural problems in school and mental health problems.
• Break the link between poor housing and intergenerational transmission of social inequality
• Prevent children from living in houses with damp and mold that effect children’s health including respiratory problems, risk of infection and mental health problems.
• Offer a safe home environment that minimises the risk of accidents due to physical conditions in and around the home.
• Offer services to families and children that are in the risk of becoming homeless which decreases the risk of adverse effects linked to homelessness including lower levels of academic achievement, absenteeism from school and after school activities.

Housing indicators and descriptions

• HSN1b: Gross rent arrears (all tenants) as at 31 March each year as a percentage of rent due for the reporting year
• HSN2: Percentage of rent due in the year that was lost due to voids
• HSN3: Percentage of council dwellings meeting Scottish Housing Standards
• HSN4b: Average number of days taken to complete non-emergency repairs
• HSN5: Percentage of council dwellings that are energy efficient

Outcomes - Children and Young People

Children have the best start in life.

Children are safe and nurtured.

Children have life skills, confidence and opportunities to reach their potential.

Young people are ready for life and work.

How do economic development and planning services affect these outcomes?

Economic development, planning, and procurement services provide investment in local businesses and startups, support and training to assist peoples transition into work as well as investment in growth of homes and infrastructure.

Economic development helps to create a prosperous local economy where children’s aspirations are shaped and they can flourish and progress onto positive destinations. Specific examples include:

• Address structural issues including youth and long term unemployment by assisting unemployed into work.
• Decrease the risk of negative impacts of poverty that start before birth and accumulate across the life course and onto the next generation including slower cognitive development and decrease risk of challenging and antisocial behavior.
• Offer educational services that lay the foundation for future employment.

Economic development and planning indicators and descriptions

• ECON1: Percentage of unemployed people assisted into work from council operated / funded employability programmes
• ECON2: Cost per planning application
• ECON3: Average time per business and industry planning application (weeks)
• ECON4: Percentage of procurement spent on local small / medium enterprises
• ECON5: No of business gateway start-ups per 10,000 population