Part 1 (Open to
the public)
ITEM NO.
REPORT OF THE LEAD MEMBER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES AND
COMMUNITY AND SOCIAL SERVICES
To the: CABINET
On:
28th May, 2003
TITLE: ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES AND COMMUNITY AND SOCIAL
SERVICES DIRECTORATES PROGRESS IN ACHIEVING SUB-TARGETS
WITHIN PLEDGE 3 OF THE CITY OF SALFORD 6 PLEDGES
RECOMMENDATIONS:
That members note the report
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
The report outlines the progress made by the Environmental Services Directorate and
the Community and Social Services Directorate in relation to achieving the aims of
Pledge 3, one of the 6 Pledges which have been established by the City Council to
achieve its mission, which is, “To create the best possible quality of life for the people
of Salford”.
BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS:
The City of Salford 6 Pledges and You Leaflet
ASSESSMENT OF RISK:
N/A
THE SOURCE OF FUNDING IS:
N/A
LEGAL ADVICE OBTAINED:
N/A
FINANCIAL ADVICE OBTAINED:
N/A
CONTACT OFFICER:
Wayne Priesteley tel. 0161 793 2060 and Julia Clark tel. 0161 793 2234
WARD(S) TO WHICH REPORT RELATES:
ALL WARDS
KEY COUNCIL POLICIES:
Best Value; Community Strategy; Environmental Strategy; Equalities; Health;
Modernising Local Government; Performance Management; Recycling Policies;
Waste Management;
DETAILS:
______________________________________________________________
1.0
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Cabinet has requested that Directorates report on a regular basis
against the 6 pledges established by the City Council which aim to
ensure the Council mission statement is achieved, which is;
“To create the best quality of life for the people of Salford”
1.2
The 6 Pledges are as follows:






1.3
Pledge 1 – Better education for all.
We want every child to have the best start in life.
Pledge 2 – Quality homes for all
We will ensure every person in the City lives in a decent home
Pledge 3 – A clean and healthy City
We will make Salford a cleaner and healthier place to live and
work.
Pledge 4 – A safer Salford
We will make Salford a safer place to live and work
Pledge 5 – Stronger communities
We will make Salford a better place to live
Pledge 6 – Support for young people
We will create the best possible opportunities for young people in
our City
The first pledge to be reported upon is Pledge 3: - A clean and
healthy City, in which the City Council aims to make the City “a
cleaner and healthier place to live and work.”
1.4
Within Pledge 3 there are a number of sub-pledges, these are as
follows:

For a cleaner City
o All bins are emptied every week
o All main roads are cleaned weekly and every other street every
three weeks
o Kerbside collections are introduced for all recycling so that
household recycling rises to 20% by 2004.It should be noted in
relation to this sub-pledge that since this target was
specified Government has altered local authority recycling
target nationally , and more recently locally(Greater
Manchester), to reflect funding awards and local authority
members of the GMWDA working in partnership. The City of
Salford’s recycling target is now likely to be confirmed as
15% by 2005/06.However, rather than look to have our
target reduced, in relation to pledge performance, it is
proposed that the recycling rate of 20% be retained , but
that it be achieved by 2005/06, in order that it falls in line
with national target dates, and that the recently introduced
kerbside collection for recyclables, which will only be
operational citywide by late 2003, be given time to ‘bed-in’.
This change will need to be reflected in future Best Value
Performance Plans and Pledge monitoring.

For a healthier City
o We will work with colleagues in the NHS to improve
health and life expectancy for all
o We will provide high levels of support for elderly and
vulnerable people to help them live at home
1.5
Environmental Services and Community and Social Services
Directorates lead on delivering Pledge 3. What follows is a catalogue
of responses by these Directorates on their achievements so far in
meeting the sub-pledges.
2.0
FOR A CLEANER CITY
2.1
The Environmental Services Directorate has lead responsibility for the
first three sub-pledges within Pledge 3 which are;
 All bins are emptied every week
 All main roads are cleaned weekly and every other street every
three weeks
 Kerbside collections are introduced for all recycling so that
household recycling rises to 20% by 2004
What follows is a report on progress to-date.
2.1.1 All bins emptied every week
In May 2001 The Directorate introduced a 4-day working week for the
collection of all domestic waste. As a consequence of this Tuesday –
Friday collection schedule, the age-old problem of non-collection of
waste on a Bank Holiday Monday was removed, thereby resolving a
long-running problem for 20% of the City’s households which were
previously affected by this non collection of waste. At the same time,
provision was made to collect any large bulky household waste items
on the same day as bin collection. This brought a significant
improvement for people requiring this service, as they now had a
specific day of collection, as opposed to previously, when only the
week of collection was specified and not the day.
The collection rate for domestic bins during 2002/03 was 99.98% which
equates to a miss rate of 23.46 per 100,000 collections made. Of the
0.02% of bins which are found to have been missed as a result of the
fault of the refuse collection crew, 100% were collected within 24 hours.
This constantly improving performance, is graphically illustrated in
figure 1 which shows missed bin levels since 1999/00.
Figure 1
160
147
Missed collections per 100,000 collections
140
123
120
98
100
Projected target
80
70
60
Introduction of 4-day working
week for refuse collection
40
Actual
20
0
1999/00
2000/01
2001/02
2002/03
Year
Figure 1
The increase in missed bin rates in 2001/02 was due to the introduction
of the 4-day working week where ‘teething problems’ were encountered
in the first few months, but as can be seen from the graph these were
quickly resolved, and missed bin rates have been falling ever since.
In order to assess the operational changes introduced, a satisfaction
survey was carried out in late 2002 to gauge public views on the new
service approach. 300 phone surveys and 1000 postal surveys were
carried out with a 50% response rate. From comments received 96% of
service users recorded responses between ‘excellent’ and
‘satisfactory’.
2.1.2 All main roads are cleaned weekly and every other street every
three weeks
Following the introduction of greater levels of mechanised sweeping,
significant improvements have occurred in street cleanliness. The City
now employs 17 mini-mechanical sweepers around the City, 3 of which
are held as spare vehicles to cover occurrences of vehicle breakdown.
Mini-Mechanical Sweeper
This claim of improved street cleanliness is justified both by results of
internal measurement systems, and from a recent independent survey
carried out by EnCams (Formally Tidy Britain Group). The internal
measurements carried out by the Directorates Environmental Coordinators have shown improvements in the percentage of streets
being classed as of a high or acceptable level of cleanliness from 89%
in 2000/01 to 94% in 2002/03. In the EnCams survey the results
showed an improved cleanliness score of 64 against a previous year’s
score of 61, a significant improvement by any standard. However, the
Directorate is striving to improve street cleanliness levels still further by
taking enforcement action against owners of dogs who do not clean up
after their dogs have fouled, and also against people who litter.
Because of increased mechanisation, frequencies of street cleansing
have improved to such a level, that the aims of cleaning main roads
weekly and all other streets every three weeks have been achieved.
2.1.3 Kerbside collections are introduced for all recycling so that
household recycling rises to 20% by 2004
This element of the Pledge, is perhaps were most success has been achieved in
the past twelve months. Prior to the start of the financial year 2002/03, there
were considerable concerns being expressed about the inability to meet this
target, due to a lack of finance to ‘kick-start’ multi-material kerbside
collections. However, following an announcement by Government via The
Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) of a £140
Million Fund for Waste Minimisation and Recycling, the Directorate has had
two bids for funding accepted to the value of almost £700,000. This has
allowed plans to be developed and partially implemented whereby every
household in the City will have the opportunity to take part in kerbside
recycling. Currently half the City is covered by the scheme with over 15,000
household participating on a regular basis and more properties coming on
stream weekly. The second half of the City will have kerbside recycling
offered to them later in 2003/04.
In the first six weeks of operation, with only partial coverage completed, over
100 tonnes of recyclable materials have been collected (this excludes paper
and magazines). The amount of papers and magazines collected in 2002/03
has totalled 4000 tonnes which represents a 14% increase on last year.
Kerbside Recycling Vehicle
Added to this success, is yet more success. The Directorate has acquired
funding through a Local Public Service Agreement which has established a
target of introducing recycling facilities to the City’s high-rise blocks which
cannot be serviced by traditional kerbside collection services. The target
states that within 3 years 21 of the City’s high rise blocks must have recycling
facilities. Within the first year this target has been vigorously progressed,
helped in no small way by the provision of recycling banks for paper from
Shotton Mill (UPM) who are playing an important partnership role in the
City’s recycling strategy by accepting all the paper collected in the City for
recycling. Paper recycling facilities have been provided at almost all of the 21
sites identified. However, to provide multi-material recycling facilities at these
sites will require at least two other material reclamation containers to be
provided. Work is now underway to provide glass and textile banks as a
minimum. The target could be increased by the Directorate, to try to provide
all the City’s high and medium-rise blocks with recycling facilities after the
LPSA target has been achieved , but this will be largely dependant upon the
level of additional funding becoming available from the reward element of
achieving the stated LPSA target
As part of the second round of the successful DEFRA bids, the City has in
conjunction with all the other members of the GMWDA received over
£7million to drive a number of recycling initiatives forward. One of these
initiatives is to have all of its civic amenity sites transformed into recycling
centres which will further add to the amount of waste being recycled in the
City. This improvement will be Greater Manchester – wide as other Local
Authorities reap the benefits of the DEFRA bid. As such the recycling targets
for the City have been altered to reflect this partnership approach with other
Greater Manchester Authorities. Therefore, the City now has to recycle 8% of
its waste by 2003/04 and 15% by 2005/06. These targets are well below the
Pledge aim, but the Directorate is keen to meet its pledge commitment and
will do its upmost to try to achieve the Pledge target. This desire to achieve
greater levels of recycling, is in-line with its constant drive to achieve
continuous improvement and thereby provide Best Value services to the
residents of the City.
3.0
For a Healthier City of Salford
3.1
The Community and Social Services Directorate has a lead responsibility for
the remaining two Parts of this pledge –


We will work with colleagues in the NHS to improve health and life
expectancy for all
We will provide high levels of support for elderly and vulnerable people to
help them live at home.
Data from national performance indicators are used to monitor progress in
these areas.
3.1.1 We will work with colleagues in the NHS to improve health and life
expectancy for all.

BVPI 52 – Cost of intensive social care for adults and older people.
The unit cost has increased from £349 in 2001/02 to £368 in 2002/03. This
indicator is made up of several factors: the cost of residential care homes, the
cost of home care, the numbers supported in residential care and the numbers
supported with intensive home care packages.
Whilst it is our aim to support as many people as possible in their own home
through the provision of home support services, it is necessary at times for
people with high care needs to move into residential accommodation. When
this happens we need to ensure that good quality residential care services are
provided. These need to register with the National Care Standards
Commission and costs are affected by requirements for staff training, national
minimum wage, and physical standards.
There is a need to maintain local capacity in residential homes and to stem the
national trend of home closures which in turn impact on the ability to
discharge people from hospital in a timely manner.
Nationally it has been recognised that the levels of fees paid by Local
Authorities are not in pace with the requirements placed on residential care
homes. This was accepted by the government who have now passed additional
money to the Local Authority to increase the fees level.
Salford has agreed a four year strategy with the care homes association to
bring fees in line with the nationally recommended level. In the year 2002/03
this involved increasing fees from September by £10 per week in real terms.
This year the basis fee rate will again increase by 6%.

BVPI 58- Percentage of people receiving a statement of their needs
and how they will be met.
Service users should be involved in the assessment of their needs and the
planning of their care. Providing people with a written statement of their needs
and the services to be provided gives the user a clear expectation of what will
be delivered. Last year 89% of service users received copies of this plan. At
the time we were not distributing plans to people with severe dementia or
where the receipt of paperwork may distress users. Following consultation
with members and user groups it was agreed that we should distribute plans to
all service users unless it would cause them harm or distress. This increased
the numbers distributed in 2002/03 to 94%.
3.1.2 We will provide high levels of support for elderly and vulnerable people to
help them live at home.

BVPI 53 Number of households receiving intensive home care per
1,000 population aged 65 or over.
Intensive home care involves at least 10 hours care a week and 6
or more visits a week. Salford has consistently performed well
against this indicator. During the past year this has remained at
27 households per thousand. We are in the top quartile nationally
for this indicator.

BVPI 54 Older People helped to live at home per 1,000 population.
A main theme in the government’s agenda to modernise services is to promote
the independence and social participation of people at all stages of life.
Supporting people in their own homes as they grow older is a key part of this
agenda. This indicator shows how we support people with less intensive care
needs, with assistance for meals on wheels, domestic tasks, day care, bathing
and laundry services, low intensity home care and community equipment
services. Such care can prevent or postpone the need for more intensive
services.
We are still working on the data collection for this indicator. The data
currently shows a performance of 82 per thousand (compared with 92 last
year), but this does not include equipment services. We anticipate that the final
figure will be similar to last year.
In April 2003 Salford has commissioned a further three extra care sheltered
housing schemes – providing additional support services in existing sheltered
housing schemes. This should improve the above two indicators by enabling
more people to be supported in their own homes.