Council Plan 2021/22

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This Council Plan sets out our ambitions and what we plan to achieve by 2024 for our four overarching priority outcomes: driving sustainable economic growth; keeping vulnerable people safe; helping people help themselves; and making best use of resources in the short and long term.

The Council provides services used by all residents in East Sussex, including providing care and support to children, families and the elderly; maintaining the roads and providing library services; and working to boost the local economy. We have a long term track record for delivery, producing excellent results for the public.

2020/21 posed a number of unprecedented challenges for the Council, with COVID-19 having a tragic effect on many people in East Sussex, while also seeing a significant increase in the demand for, and cost of, social care and health services. The Council’s resources have been reducing in real terms since 2010, and this financial challenge has only been exacerbated by the increased costs associated with responding to the pandemic.

The Government has made additional funding available, which has been very welcome, however a long term funding solution has not been agreed presenting an ongoing challenge. As grants from Government have reduced, we have become more dependent on local council tax and business rates. However these bear little relationship to the need for services on the ground, and the level of business rates received may be affected by the economic challenges facing the county as we recover from the pandemic.

As our resources do not reflect the demand for services we will continue to adjust our services to match the funds we have. We have been democratic, open and honest in determining the best level and quality of services we can provide, within available resources, and reviewed our Core Offer in 2020/21 to take account of the impact of the pandemic and the new operating context.

We consider the Core Offer to be the realistic level of service we must provide, to both fulfil our statutory duties, and meet local need. In doing this we have based our decisions on local evidence of need and what works and makes a difference locally.

We do not work in isolation, so we will continue to work with all our partners to make sure there is a shared view of priorities and that we make the most of opportunities and resources available locally. We lobby hard to protect and promote the interests of East Sussex.

We have set a number of delivery outcomes under each overarching priority outcome. These shape the Council Plan performance measures and targets that are the main tool we use to assess our progress. We also keep track of a wide range of related key data evidencing local need in East Sussex.

These help us assess our impact more fully and respond appropriately when we need to do so. We review this data when making our plans and publish them with our State of the County report each year. A selection of this information is provided throughout the plan and listed in more detail at the end.

The Council has played a key role, through Team East Sussex in the publication of the East Sussex Economy Recovery Plan. The plan sets out six missions, with each mission outlining a different way in which the economy in the county can go beyond recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and can grow and thrive while also becoming cleaner and greener.

As a member of the Environment Board for East Sussex, the Council also played a key role in the development of the East Sussex Environment Strategy 2020. The Council declared a climate emergency in October 2019, and is working on plans to move towards carbon neutrality in all its operations as soon as possible, and in any event by 2050.

Keith Glazier - Leader

Becky Shaw - Chief Executive

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Our priorities

The Council has four overarching priority outcomes: driving sustainable economic growth; keeping vulnerable people safe; helping people help themselves; and making best use of resources in the short and long term. Making best use of resources in the short and long term is the gateway priority through which any activity and accompanying resources must pass. For each priority outcome there are specific delivery outcomes.

Driving sustainable economic growth

• East Sussex businesses are supported to recover and grow through the delivery of the Economy Recovery Plan
• The county’s employment and productivity rates are maximised
• Individuals, communities and businesses thrive in East Sussex with the environmental and social infrastructure to meet their needs
• The workforce has and maintains the skills needed for good quality employment to meet the needs of the future East Sussex economy
• The value of our role as both a significant employer and a buyer of local goods and services is maximised
• All children progress well from early years to school leaver and into education, training and employment

Keeping vulnerable people safe

• All vulnerable people in East Sussex are known to relevant local agencies and services are delivered together to meet their needs
• People feel safe at home
• People feel safe with services
• We work with the wider health and care system to support people affected by Covid-19 to achieve the best health outcomes possible

Helping people help themselves

• Commissioners and providers from all sectors put people first when providing services and information to help them meet their needs
• The most vulnerable get the support they need to maintain their independence and this is provided at or as close to home as possible
• Through our work with others, individuals and communities are encouraged to maintain and develop local mutual support systems

Making best use of resources in the short and long term

• Working as One Council, both through the processes we use and how we work across services
• Delivery through strong and sustained partnership working across the public, voluntary community, and private sectors to ensure that all available resources are used to deliver maximum benefits to local people
• Ensuring we achieve value for money in the services we commission and provide
• Maximising the funding available through bidding for funding and lobbying for the best deal for East Sussex
• To help tackle Climate Change East Sussex County Council activities are carbon neutral as soon as possible and in any event by 2050

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Priority - Driving sustainable economic growth

Priority overview

A thriving economy in East Sussex is key to the wellbeing of the county. Ensuring that local people have access to relevant training and employment, well designed local infrastructure and services, a positively managed environment and accessible cultural activities, will have a positive impact on their wellbeing, enabling them to live independently of public sector support or benefits. Supporting our economy to recover and grow sustainably will help our communities to be more resilient and our businesses to be more competitive.

1.1 Economic recovery

Delivery outcome: East Sussex businesses are supported to recover and grow through the delivery of the Economy Recovery Plan

East Sussex Reset: The Economy Recovery Plan for East Sussex, aims to build sustainable prosperity for our businesses, voluntary, community and social enterprise sectors, and support residents to access new opportunities that drive economic recovery and resilience.

Developed by Team East Sussex (TES), the local economic growth board, in direct response to COVID-19, the Recovery Plan focuses on businesses, skills and employment in a post COVID-19 landscape. The plan also supports other activities being progressed at a local level, including climate change and health and wellbeing initiatives.

The Plan consists of six missions: Thinking Local, Acting Local; Building Skills, Creating Jobs; Fast Forwarding Business; Better Places, Fuller Lives; Cleaner Energy, Greener Transport; and The Future is Digital. The plan seeks to deliver the change that is required to both respond to the pandemic but also capitalise on the opportunities it presents.

Trading Standards will continue to offer assistance to businesses in East Sussex to ensure they adapt and thrive in the changing regulatory regimes brought about by the UK’s departure from the EU in December 2020.

1.2 Employment and productivity

Delivery outcome: The county’s employment and productivity rates are maximised

The county is an economy of small businesses with great potential for growth. We deliver the Business East Sussex Growth Hub and a range of bespoke business support programmes to help businesses thrive and diversify, as well as grants and loans programmes to support sustainable growth.

We have increased capacity to support business through the UK’s transition from the EU and work closely with our partners to provide specialist advice, particularly in relation to exporting. Our commissioned Inward Investment service, Locate East Sussex, will continue to support existing businesses to grow and expand and also attract new businesses to move into East Sussex, offering increased employment opportunities for the local workforce.

1.3 Local infrastructure

Delivery outcome: Individuals, communities and businesses thrive in East Sussex with the environmental and social infrastructure to meet their needs

Businesses can only thrive if they have the local infrastructure they need and access to the right skills in the local workforce. Our Highways contract with Costain and Jacobs is helping to maintain and improve our roads, while ensuring value for money for the Council.

We also coordinate street works and manage parking controls, to help the local transport infrastructure cope with increasing demand. A number of infrastructure projects will continue or be delivered in 2021/22, including new improvements to Terminus Road in Eastbourne as well as walking and cycling improvements in Eastbourne, Bexhill and Hastings.

Business in the 21st century also need modern digital infrastructure. Our e-Sussex project to rollout super and ultra-fast broadband across the county has improved access to services, jobs and education, and has played a key role in enabling people to work from home during the pandemic.

Over 75,000 premises have been connected to improved broadband speeds during our first and second contracts of work with BT. We will continue to deliver a third phase of works in 2021/22, with the aim of connecting as close to 100% of premises in the county as possible. We will work with Government to support its plans to deliver even better digital and mobile infrastructure.

Together with over 70 partner organisations we have established a shadow Sub-National Transport Body called Transport for the South East (TfSE). TfSE has published a Transport Strategy for the South East, which sets out a plan through which the South East’s economy could double over the next 30 years. The Strategy will be enhanced by a number of studies, which will inform a Strategic Investment Plan, which will set out a programme for investment over the next three decades.

We will build on the county’s economic strengths and unique characteristics to drive economic growth in sectors with the most potential to grow and provide employment. We will build on the areas where the county performs strongly, such as the creative industries and the visitor economy, construction, engineering, health and social care, and food and drink production; and look to the future to attract and retain new businesses that will provide the jobs of tomorrow.

Transport for the South East logo

1.4 Workforce skills

Delivery outcome: The workforce has and maintains the skills needed for good quality employment to meet the needs of the future East Sussex economy

We want all local people to have the skills they need to succeed and for businesses to have access to a skilled workforce. Skills East Sussex (SES), the county’s employment and skills board will continue to bring education providers together with business, to make sure that local training offers are relevant to the local economy.

SES provider-employer partnerships deliver a range of programmes to improve careers advice for young people to: deliver retraining programmes for adults and young people via the Government's Plan for Jobs; promote and deliver work-based training via schemes such as Apprenticeships and T-Levels; and to support those adults and young people who are furthest from the work place through careers, pre-employment and digital inclusion initiatives.

1.5 Our role

Delivery outcome: The value of our role as both a significant employer and a buyer of local goods and services is maximised

As a body with significant spending power in the county we constantly review our procurement processes to ensure they are accessible to local suppliers, maximise the use of local providers in the supply chains, and secure added economic, social and environmental benefits. We have also updated our Social Value Measurement Charter to incorporate new measures that directly address the recovery of the local economy.

The Council has been paying the Apprenticeship Levy of approximately £1m per year since 2017. We have successfully implemented a workforce-based approach and have developed a strategy and action plan to maximise our draw down of the Levy to support employing new apprentices and current staff receiving qualifying apprenticeship training.

The Local Government Association has recognised the work the Council’s Apprenticeship team have done within our maintained schools and have used the Council as a case study to promote good practice for other authorities. Additionally, we are seeking to leverage the new Apprentice Incentive Scheme and Kickstart Programme that has been announced by central government to address sharp rises in unemployment, particularly for those aged 18-24, following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Low Carbon Across the South East (LoCASE) is a grant funded programme at the Council to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to reduce their costs and their carbon footprint. The successful supplier has committed to provide Social Value of £13k, which represents over 17% of the initial contract value of £75k. This included wellbeing and environmental training, working with local suppliers and community groups on carbon saving initiatives and volunteering time dedicated to the sustainability of local green areas. They also committed to the delivery of this contract being carbon neutral, which will be the first services contract to achieve this for the Council.

1.6 Children

Delivery outcome: All children progress well from early years to school leaver and into education, training and employment

We want local people to have the skills they need to succeed and all children to progress well from early years through school and into education, training and employment. We will work in partnership with schools and settings, within available resources, to meet the needs of all pupils and deliver excellent educational outcomes.

We will continue to place a strong focus on our most disadvantaged pupils to ensure that they achieve consistently high outcomes. We will also work closely with every school, setting and college to secure a strong Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) offer which makes education accessible to all children in their local community school.

The Hastings Opportunity Area is now in its fourth year and continues to work with local businesses, schools, colleges and nurseries to improve the education, emotional and mental wellbeing and employment prospects of young people in the town. Examples of best practice from this programme have been embedded across all areas of our work.

Educational attainment is negatively affected by poor rates of attendance. We will work closely with partners to secure a shared commitment across all providers to address pockets of poor attendance and reduce exclusions for all groups of children and young people. We will also develop and share best practice for encouraging attendance in the post 16 phase.

We will work with our partners, to promote post 16 participation in education and training, including provision and support for vulnerable groups and young people with learning difficulties/disabilities. Together, we will ensure that we prepare young people for work and improve their employability skills, including developing and utilising new online resources and virtual engagement activities and events, in response to restrictions imposed due to the pandemic.

The Excellence for All strategy 2019 - 2021, published in September 2019, outlines the shared vision, values and ambitions the Council and our partners have for creating an excellent education system in East Sussex where no pupil or educational establishment is left behind. Excellence for All will be updated again in 2021. It will address our learning from COVID-19 and the ways in which we can harness the creative solutions we developed to tackle the challenges of lockdown, to long-term, positive effect.

Advertisement promoting the ‘We Are Ready’ campaign, encouraging pupils to return to school in September 2020. Credit: Tom & Friends www.tomandfriends.co.uk

1.7 Planned work

Examples of planned work during 2021/22

• Alongside partners we will begin to implement the East Sussex Economic Recovery Plan to help businesses and communities recover from the impact of COVID-19 on the economy
• The Business East Sussex (BES) Growth Hub is working with partners, including the Sussex Chamber of Commerce, to help East Sussex businesses with advice following the end of the EU transition period, with Business Navigators on hand to offer the latest information on what businesses need to do
• We will continue our third phase of works with BT to ensure as close to 100% of premises in the county as possible have access to superfast broadband
• We will aim to ensure at least 60% of the Council’s circa £400m procurement spend is with local companies
• Our Social Value Measurement Charter (SVMC) continues to ensure that social value commitments such as apprenticeships, work experience, support for local community projects and environmental initiatives are secured through Council procured contracts
• Three Mental Health Support Teams in East Sussex will go live in 2021, providing a year-round service, with interventions for children in school and also available in the school holidays, delivering low intensity support and developing whole school approaches
• A new East Sussex Teaching Schools Network website will be launched which will enable users to access school to school support, and will provide a directory of courses and training opportunities offered locally and through partners across and beyond East Sussex

1.8 Targets

Performance measures and targets

Take a look at the targets we have set to measure our progress against delivering the outcomes under this priority:

• Driving sustainable economic growth - performance measures and targets

1.9 State of the County 2019/20

We review a wide range of data about East Sussex to help us understand the context for our plans and the impact we are having through our work and in partnership. We publish this data each year in our State of the County report when we start the planning process that leads to this Council Plan.

• Take a look at a selection of this Driving sustainable economic growth data

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Priority - Keeping vulnerable people safe

Priority overview

Ensuring vulnerable children and adults are safe is one of our key priorities and responsibilities to the community.

There will always be children and adults who cannot be looked after at home by their families. Where it is clear this is the case for children, we will intervene early and find permanent or long-term placements for them through fostering or adoption where appropriate. We will be ambitious so that they can achieve their best and we will continue with effective placement planning to ensure that the right child is cared for, in the right place, for the right amount of time and at the most appropriate cost. We will also ensure that vulnerable adults are safeguarded whether they are looked after at home or somewhere else.

The pandemic has resulted in some very specific new tasks and functions for Public Health and the challenges of adapting services and responding to new and emerging needs will continue to shape much of our work; whilst also changing the role of Public Health or the challenges already identified pre COVID-19. As demand for both health and social care services continues to increase and the financial challenges facing the Council remain, we will continue to ensure a focus on prevention and early intervention.

The East Sussex Youth Cabinet launched a ‘Stay’ campaign during COVID-19 to support young people

2.1 Vulnerable people

Delivery outcome: All vulnerable people in East Sussex are known to relevant local agencies and services are delivered together to meet their needs

One of our key objectives is that there is an effective multi-agency early help and child protection system, which ensures that children and young people who are, or are likely to be, at risk of harm are identified, supported and protected. This is part of a wider multi-agency safeguarding system, underpinned by strong statutory multi-agency governance and scrutiny by the East Sussex Safeguarding Children Partnership.

Through the partnership network of organisations which constitute the Children and Young People’s Trust, we aim to work across health, social care, education, and criminal justice. We will work with partners in the statutory and voluntary sector to progress our priorities.

Ongoing government funding has now been confirmed for the Supporting Families programme in 2021/22. We will use this to support keywork and we will also work with partners to promote a whole system, whole family approach and identify as many external funding streams as possible to sustain family support programmes and youth work.

The East Sussex Safeguarding Adults Board (SAB) oversees the work undertaken towards the prevention of abuse, the SAB’s areas of focus include:

• Ensuring the SAB provides strategic leadership to embed the principles of safeguarding across agencies and contributes to the prevention of abuse and neglect.
• Establishing robust feedback mechanisms on safeguarding policies and procedures.
• Making safeguarding personal, making sure adults are involved and consulted in the process of helping them to stay safe and agreeing goals.
• Ensuring learning from reviews is effectively embedded into practice to facilitate organisational change across agencies.
• Ensuring the workforce is equipped to support adults appropriately where abuse and neglect are suspected.

The Council’s partnership work with the NHS takes place in the wider context of the Sussex Health and Care Partnership, which formally became the Sussex Integrated Care System (ICS) in April 2020.  East Sussex is one of three place-based partnerships within the Sussex ICS, (alongside Brighton and Hove and West Sussex), with the Council being a lead partner with our local NHS in the East Sussex Integrated Care Partnership.

Together we have agreed our East Sussex Health and Social Care Plan which sets out our shared Council priorities and commitments in the NHS Long Term Plan, and our ambitions to deliver greater levels of integrated care, early intervention and prevention to improve health and wellbeing outcomes and reduce health inequalities in our population.

Health and Social Care Connect, the Adult Social Care and Health (ASCH) contact centre, has continued to operate throughout the pandemic and will continue to provide a single point for information, advice and access to community health and social care services seven days a week, from 8am to 8pm, with the addition of the Shielded Line support for periods of national or local lockdowns.

The ASCH Programme will develop the systems already in use to enable these to be used as effectively from a home base as from the office, for those staff who are self-isolating or for periods when it is not possible to physically accommodate the full team in the office, to ensure there is no impact on the service provided.

East Sussex Safeguarding Adults Board logo

East Sussex Safeguarding Children Partnership logo

2.2 Safe at home

Delivery outcome: People feel safe at home

We work with partners, including health services, police, ambulance, and fire and rescue services, to ensure people are safeguarded and able to live independently and free from abuse. We will raise awareness of safeguarding issues and enquire into concerns of abuse.

We support the most vulnerable families, helping them to find ways to manage independently and cope with problems so that they can stay together where possible and achieve better outcomes for children and parents.

Early Help services support families to tackle their problems before they become more difficult to reverse. Following a review of services, we have implemented a strategy to support vulnerable families in East Sussex and help manage the demand for statutory social care. The strategy includes keywork with vulnerable families, early years family support services integrated with delivery of the Healthy Child Programme by our health visitors, and evidence-based youth work with vulnerable young people.

We also offer universal, open-access and drop-in early help services for children, families and young people where these are fully externally funded. We have a network of 16 children’s and youth centres.

We work in partnership to reduce crime, anti-social behaviour and domestic abuse and help victims to stay safe from harm. We work with a number of partners to provide support services and raise awareness of domestic abuse across the county.

Our Trading Standards service helps to protect vulnerable people from exploitation such as rogue traders and cold callers. We also investigate food fraud, illicit tobacco and counterfeit alcohol to protect people from the increased risks associated with these. These services are provided in partnership with the police to ensure an effective level of prevention and support work is offered to the residents and businesses of East Sussex.

2.3 Support services

Delivery outcome: People feel safe with support services

While we aim to help people stay safe and independent, this is not always possible. There will always be children and young people who cannot be cared for at home and with their families. Where it is clear this is the case for children, we will intervene early and find permanent or long-term, cost effective, placements for them through fostering or adoption where appropriate. Vulnerable adults that cannot cope by themselves need to have support services that are safe and of good quality; we will continue to monitor satisfaction with our commissioned services including through service user evaluations.

2.4 Health

Delivery outcome: We work with the wider health and care system to support people affected by Covid-19 to achieve the best health outcomes possible

ASCH have responded to the pandemic by adapting the way we provide support to vulnerable adults. It has been recognised that a longer term review of the ASCH model is needed to ensure that support continues to be provided while the pandemic is ongoing.

The ASCH Programme has therefore been initiated to recommend new ways of working, that ensure we continue to meet our statutory responsibilities under the Care Act and any new responsibilities specific to the pandemic. The Programme has a number of workstreams, which cover the contact and assessment pathway and associated support functions.

The Programme will need to take into account the potential long term impacts of COVID-19 on our population as we are already seeing people with an increasing level of need due to interruptions in their care and support. There are also the impacts of “long COVID” to consider, which seems to be affecting a proportion of those who have suffered with the virus for a number of months afterwards.

The Community Hub distributed thousands of items of PPE to help keep people safe during lockdown

2.5 Planned work

Examples of planned work during 2020/21

• We will continue to help prevent vulnerable people from becoming a victim of mass marketing fraud and intervene if people have already become a victim
• We will support people who have been a victim of sexual violence and domestic abuse through the specialist domestic abuse and sexual violence service

2.6 Targets

Performance measures and targets

Take a look at the targets we have set to measure our progress against delivering the aims under this priority:

• Keeping vulnerable people safe – performance measures and targets

2.7 State of the County 2019/20

We review a wide range of data about East Sussex to help us understand the context for our plans and the impact we are having through our work and in partnership. We publish this data each year in our State of the County report when we start the planning process that leads to this Council Plan.

• Take a look at a selection of this Keeping vulnerable people safe data

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Priority - Helping people help themselves

Priority overview

Whilst we must keep vulnerable people safe, people prefer and need to be independent. If we can encourage families and communities to work together to build better local communities, meet local need, and support individuals to stay independent, we can meet our objectives of breaking dependency, while reducing demand for services and therefore costs. Helping people to be self-supporting will become increasingly important as the resources available to public services decline.

3.1 Putting people first

Delivery outcome: Commissioners and providers from all sectors put people first when providing services and information to help them meet their needs

One of the best things we can do to support people is to focus very clearly on their needs when designing and providing services and when we make information available, so people can help themselves.

Our focus is to provide people with the support they need as early as possible to help them remain healthy and independent. When they need them, our services will be provided by integrated health and care teams, meaning their care will be more efficient and personal, delivered by one system.

Our focus on providing support as early as possible should mean that people don’t need health and care services as much. But when they do, we will make sure they can get services quickly, easily and, before they reach crisis point.

We want to ensure that local people receive the right services, in the right place, at the right time. This may mean they access and use services differently. We aim to empower them with the knowledge of how to best use available health and social care services, and how to best get the support they need.

The integrated community health and social care services have implemented Discharge To Assess (D2A)/Home First pathways. The pathways are designed to avoid prolonged stays in hospital for people awaiting assessment or commissioned services to enable their discharge. Where possible D2A will aim to avoid unnecessary admissions to hospital, and where an admission is necessary, it will ensure that people are discharged as soon as is safe and practical, back to their own homes or to a D2A bed to have their assessments and services arranged outside of an acute hospital.

As part of the Core Offer for Adult Social Care we will provide information and advice for all those seeking care and support; and provide support that reduces the need for social care in the longer term and/or prevents the need for a more expensive service.

Public Health will continue to promote, protect and improve health and wellbeing, and reduce health inequalities. The needs and demands identified before COVID-19 will be married up with the needs and demands brought about by COVID-19 to ensure a coherent and effective future work plan.

We provide online access to information, for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and their families, about services and expertise available in the area from a range of local organisations, including providers of education, health and social care. It also gives families the opportunity to feed back about services that are available. We will continue to promote these schemes to ensure that people are able to quickly find information about a range of support options available in their local area.

People generally prefer to have as much control and choice as possible over the services they receive. Self-directed support offers control to clients and carers over how their care and support is provided. Inclusion, Special Educational Needs and Disability (ISEND) has an important role to play in supporting pupils who are vulnerable to underachievement to do their very best.

The service helps improve the lives and outcomes of pupils with SEND, helping them to achieve their ambitions and become successful adults. We will carry out statutory assessments of children with SEN where there are significant barriers to learning and we will aim to secure the right education provision for those with the greatest need.

The East Sussex Youth Cabinet supported the clap for carers campaign, this image taken from their online meeting

3.2 Maintaining independence

Delivery outcome: The most vulnerable get the support they need to maintain their independence and this is provided at or as close to home as possible

It is often best if people in need of care and support receive this at home, if possible, with the help of friends and family. We work to ensure that people’s homes are safe, providing access to care services, and personal budgets so that people can choose the care and support they need.

Frail adults across East Sussex can receive Technology Enabled Care Services (TECS), to help manage risks and maintain independence at home. TECS includes Telecare, which offers a range of sensors and detectors to meet different needs, such as wearable alert buttons, fall detectors and medication dispensers. The sensors can be monitored 24/7 by a local contact centre.

Environmental sensors, such as smoke alarms or flood detectors are also linked to the centre for automatic alerts. Individuals can also benefit from scheduled live or recorded telephone calls to provide welfare checks or reminders during periods of reablement.

The Joint Targeted Area Inspection in February 2020 had a focus on the emotional wellbeing/mental health of children and young people and the inspection team commended many of the initiatives and services that are in place in the county. A multi-agency action plan has been developed to further improve services and that planning will also be linked to the findings of a Sussex wide Children & Young Person’s Emotional Health and Wellbeing Service Review which was published May 2020.

We are developing a coordinated strategy of support for schools and colleges to meet the mental health and emotional well-being needs of pupils, ensuring that advice is consistent and evidence-based. During the pandemic, we developed new offers to children, families and schools to support emotional wellbeing and we will use the understanding from these to inform future developments.

The county was also successful in its bid for three Mental Health Support Teams as part of the Government’s trailblazer scheme, which will become fully operational in summer 2021 working across 45 schools and providing mental health support for 24,000 pupils.

3.3 Local mutual support systems

Delivery outcome: Through our work with others, individuals and communities are encouraged to maintain and develop local mutual support systems

People, families and communities across East Sussex have huge potential to thrive and to support each other. There is a substantial infrastructure of public, voluntary and community sector work across the county that can seek to help local people achieve their ambitions.

We work with partners and communities across the county to help local communities thrive and tackle some of the most difficult issues that impact on people’s happiness and wellbeing, such as loneliness.

We are working with partners across health, social care, the voluntary and community sector, and others to increase community and personal resilience in East Sussex. We aim to increase volunteering; improve and coordinate support to strengthen communities; and help individuals to improve their own health and well-being and take action to prevent disease and ill health.

As driver error contributes to over 90% of road collisions where people are killed or seriously injured (KSI), we continue to implement our £1m project to deliver behaviour change initiatives, alongside our ongoing programme of work to improve the road infrastructure. The programme has identified a number of target groups who are at the greatest risk of having a road traffic collision resulting in a KSI casualty and trials of behaviour change initiatives focusing on these groups are underway.

3.4 Planned work

Examples of planned work 2021/22

• We will increase the number of members of the Support with Confidence scheme, which provides a register of people and organisations that have been vetted and approved by us, so users can be confident in their safety, training and quality
• We will support households as part of the government’s Supporting Families programme
• The Flagship School, a special school for children with for children with autism and social, emotional and mental health difficulties is due to open in September 2021
• We will continue to develop the specialist facilities programme to offer additional provision for pupils with autism and bring more capacity to local schools

East Sussex County Council Support with Confidence logo

3.5 Targets

Performance measures and targets

Take a look at the targets we have set to measure our progress against delivering the aims under this priority:

• Helping people help themselves – performance measures and targets

3.6 State of the County 2019/20

We review a wide range of data about East Sussex to help us understand the context for our plans and the impact we are having through our work and in partnership. We publish this data each year in our State of the County report when we start the planning process that leads to this Council Plan.

• Take a look at a selection of this Helping people help themselves data

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Priority - Making best use of resources in the short and long term

Priority overview

This priority underpins all our activities and is a key measure of success for all our priority outcomes. It applies to all the resources available for East Sussex, not only within the Council, but across the public sector, voluntary and community sector and private partners, and within local communities. We will work as a single unified organisation to deliver our priorities; ensuring high quality, streamlined services are commissioned and developed in partnership; working to reduce demand for services and focusing on our residents and communities. We will ensure that the decisions we take are sustainable in both the short and long term, ensuring they provide best value for money and support our ambitions to become carbon neutral.

4.1 One Council

Delivery outcome: Working as One Council, both through the processes we use and how we work across services

We will ensure that we work in a unified way so that resources are focused on delivering our priority outcomes. This means minimising the cost of back office services and directing resources to frontline services. We will focus on delivering services close to local people in the most cost effective way possible.

Our People Strategy recognises that the Council workforce is the key to our success. The strategy is based on the four themes of Leadership and Management; Performance Development and Reward; Employee Engagement and Inclusion; and Employee Health and Wellbeing.

In conjunction with this, a Leadership and Management Capability Framework has been developed which sets out the management and leadership expectations in support of the Council’s priority outcomes and operating principles. We are committed to the development of our workforce and embedding our People Strategy into our culture.

The impact of the pandemic has created a large-scale shift to how organisations operate and has provided an unprecedented opportunity to accelerate our planned changes to how we work in the future. We will continue to evolve our working practices to ensure we have modern, flexible workspaces and work styles that enable hybrid ways of working, building on the success of existing flexible working options.

New working practices will drive efficiency, as well as significantly reducing carbon emissions through a reduced requirement for staff travel. We have also committed to enhancing our wellbeing offer to support staff during the pandemic and going forward, and we will continue to invest in supporting staff and managers as the way we work changes and develops. This includes helping staff to grow their digital skills and working in partnership with departments to exploit technology effectively as an enabler to get things done.

4.2 Working in partnership

Delivery outcome: Delivery through strong and sustained partnership working across the public, voluntary community, and private sectors to ensure that all available resources are used to deliver maximum benefits to local people

We will work in partnership across the public, voluntary and community, and private sectors to ensure that all appropriate available resources are used to deliver maximum benefits to local people. We will be proactive in making the best use of our assets, sharing property, ICT and staff with partners so we work as efficiently as possible, removing duplication and increasing flexibility. We will join with partners to seek opportunities to achieve better value through our procurement.

Orbis, our partnership with Surrey County Council and Brighton & Hove City Council for some of our back office services, has allowed us to provide resilient services while achieving savings which are being used to sustain services for residents of all three areas.

The Strategic Property Asset Collaboration in East Sussex was formed by a number of public and third sector organisations coming together in partnership, to look for opportunities to co-locate and collaborate around property, to ensure cost effectiveness and to improve the customer journey by creating more effective environments to deliver services from.

The Council is in an improvement partnership with West Sussex County Council (WSCC), to address the significant challenges that WSCC has faced and also offer opportunities for both authorities to work together on shared priorities, such as the coronavirus response and recovery, infrastructure, social care and climate change.

Orbis logo

4.3 Value for money

Delivery outcome: Ensuring we achieve value for money in the services we commission and provide

Across all our resources, services and partnerships we will seek to achieve the maximum positive impact to deliver our priority outcomes for people in East Sussex.

We may need to consider further changes to our Waste and Library services to ensure we are providing the best service possible within the resources available.

We have been working to reduce the cost of occupancy of corporate buildings, by consolidating our buildings and reducing our spend on energy, by 2% each year since 2016/17. In 2021/22 we will review our use of corporate buildings and develop new ways of working based on revised business requirements as a result of the pandemic.

4.4 Maximising funding

Delivery outcome: Maximising the funding available through bidding for funding and lobbying for the best deal for East Sussex

We will continue to take all available opportunities to raise the distinct funding needs of the Council with Government until we have commitment of funding to cover all of the additional costs of COVID-19, as well as long term fair funding for our services; and we will work with partners to press for the best outcomes for the county.

In view of the ongoing financial challenge we face, the Council has reviewed its Core Offer in 2020/21, to ensure it continues to set out the ambitious but realistic level of service we think we must provide to both fulfil our statutory duties and meet local need in the current financial climate.

Feedback from our residents, partners and businesses helped develop the Core Offer and we are working with communities to build resilience where the Council can no longer provide services. Due to our funding position, even this Core Offer is unaffordable in the near future so we will use this model to work with our local MPs to press for the Government funding we need to provide the decent services we know are needed by this county.

4.5 Carbon neutral

Delivery outcome: To help tackle climate change East Sussex County Council activities are carbon neutral as soon as possible and in any event by 2050

We will build on our earlier work to ensure all Council activities are carbon neutral as soon as possible and in any event by 2050. A Climate Emergency Plan has been developed and we will be working within the plan to focus on reducing the carbon footprint of the Council’s operations. The target for 2021/22 is to have a further reduction of carbon emissions by 13% against the previous year.

Thermal image of County Hall before the old windows were replaced (red areas showing heat loss)

Thermal image of County Hall after new energy-efficient windows were installed - heat loss minimised

4.6 Planned work

Examples of planned work 2021/22

• We will continue to embed the Orbis partnership; making cost savings while providing more effective and efficient services
• We will reduce the amount of CO2 produced from Council operations
• We will maintain or reduce the number of working days lost to sickness absence
• We will begin to deliver, alongside partners, the Climate Action Plan that will help facilitate the take-up of electric vehicles; improve the energy efficiency of street lighting; and implement further energy efficiency measures for the Council’s buildings
• We will refresh the Staff Travel Plan, particularly in light of COVID-19, to incorporate the commitments to the Climate Action Plan and reflect the evolving ways of working

4.7 Targets

Performance measures and targets

Take a look at the targets we have set to measure our progress against delivering the aims under this priority:

• Making best use of resources in the short and long term - performance measures and targets

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Revenue budget: gross and net

The charts below show how we will spend your revenue budget money in 2021/22, and where the money will come from (gross and net). More information on our revenue budget can be found in our financial budget summary which explains the difference between the gross and net budgets.

Doughnut chart of gross spending

Doughnut chart of net spending

*Centrally Held Budgets include Treasury Management and contributions to the Capital Programme

Doughnut chart of where the money comes from (gross)

Doughnut chart of where the money comes from (net)

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Revenue spending

The diagrams below are a visual representation of our gross revenue budget for 2021/22. They also show East Sussex County Council spend inclusive of partnership working, where we are the lead authority. More information on our revenue budget can be found in our financial budget summary. You can also see our revenue spending data in a table.

Bubble chart of revenue spending for East Sussex County Council in 2021/22

Adult Social Care

Bubble chart of revenue spending in Adult Social Care for 2021/22

Public Health

Bubble chart of revenue spending in Public Health Care for 2021/22

Business Services

Bubble chart of revenue spending in Business Services for 2021/22

Children's Services

Bubble chart of revenue spending in Children's Services for 2021/22

Communities, Economy & Transport

Bubble chart of revenue spending in Communities, Economy & Transport for 2021/22

Governance Services

Bubble chart of revenue spending in Governance Services for 2021/22

Revenue data

This table shows the most significant areas of spending in our gross revenue budget for 2021/22.

You can see a diagram of our revenue spending. You can also get more information on our revenue budget in our financial budget summary

Gross revenue budget for 2021/22.

Department	Spending area	Revenue budget
Adult Social Care	Physical Support, Sensory Support and Support for Memory & Cognition	£128.83m
Adult Social Care	Learning Disability Support	£65.24m
Adult Social Care	Mental Health Support	£8.18m
Adult Social Care	Independent Sector Total	£202.25m
Adult Social Care	Physical Support, Sensory Support and Support for Memory & Cognition	£14.78m
Adult Social Care	Learning Disability Support	£7.24m
Adult Social Care	Mental Health Support	£3.01m
Adult Social Care	Substance Misuse Support	£0.48m
Adult Social Care	Equipment & Assistive Technology	£5.60m
Adult Social Care	Other	£0.75m
Adult Social Care	Supporting People	£6.43m
Adult Social Care	Assessment & Care Management	£27.98m
Adult Social Care	Carers	£3.24m
Adult Social Care	Management & Support	£16.68m
Adult Social Care	Service Strategy	£0.29m
Adult Social Care	Directly Provided Services and Assessment & Care Management Total	£86.49m
Adult Social Care	Safer Communities	£0.89m
Adult Social Care	Adult Social Care Total	£289.62m
Public Health	Mental Health and Best Start	£10.70m
Public Health	Risky Behaviours and Threats to Health	£10.50m
Public Health	Health Systems	£2.87m
Public Health	Communities	£1.28m
Public Health	Central Support	£2.55m
Public Health	Public Health Total	£27.90m
Business Services	Finance	£2.21m
Business Services	IT & Digital	£6.29m
Business Services	HR & Organisational Development	£0.37m
Business Services	Procurement	£1.02m
Business Services	Property	£26.72m
Business Services	ESCC Contribution to Orbis	£11.81m
Business Services	Business Services Total	£48.41m
Children’s Services	Central Resources	£2.57m
Children’s Services	Early Help & Social Care	£74.31m
Children’s Services	Education & ISEND	£91.40m
Children’s Services	Communications, Planning & Performance	£5.71m
Children’s Services	Adoption South East	£1.54m
Children’s Services	Schools	£156.30m
Children’s Services	Children’s Services Total	£331.83m
Communities, Economy & Transport	Waste	£49.01m
Communities, Economy & Transport	Home to School Transport	£14.88m
Communities, Economy & Transport	Other Transport & Operational Services	£18.36m
Communities, Economy & Transport	Transport & Operational Services Total	£82.25m
Communities, Economy & Transport	Communities	£4.61m
Communities, Economy & Transport	Customer, Library & Registration Service	£7.04m
Communities, Economy & Transport	Economic Development, Skills and Growth	£3.20m
Communities, Economy & Transport	Highways	£15.44m
Communities, Economy & Transport	Management & Support	£5.77m
Communities, Economy & Transport	Planning & Environment	£2.89m
Communities, Economy & Transport	Communities, Economy & Transport Total	£121.20m
Governance Services	Corporate Governance	£5.26m
Governance Services	Corporate Support	£3.30m
Governance Services	Governance Services Total	£8.56m
Centrally Held Budgets	Centrally Held Budgets	£40.91m
EAST SUSSEX COUNTY COUNCIL	Total Budget 2021/22	£868.43m

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Capital programme

Capital Programme: projects in the year ahead 2021/22

As well as providing services, the Council invests in, and maintains, assets such as roads and buildings. The capital programme supports delivery of the Council’s priority outcomes, particularly driving sustainable economic growth and keeping vulnerable people safe. Details of the full current capital programme to 2023/24 are in our financial budget summary. Below are examples of key projects that will be underway in 2021/22 at a cost of £92.1m.

Doughnut chart of capital expenditure for 2021/22

Economic Growth & Strategic Infrastructure £15.8m

• £5.1m to drive economic growth and create new jobs as part of the South East Local Enterprise Partnership's Getting Building Fund
• £3.3m to increase the number of premises in the county that can access superfast broadband
• £0.7m to build the Newhaven Port Access Road

Community & Social Care Facilities £2.0m

• £0.9m for the development of Westfield Lane to provide additional accommodation for children within the county

Highways & Structural Maintenance £23.2m

• Structural maintenance of highways to maintain and improve the road surface

Integrated Transport Schemes £11.9m

• £2.7m of junction improvements in Hastings, Bexhill, Eastbourne, Hailsham and Polegate
• £1.0m of walking and cycling movements in Eastbourne and South Wealden
• £2.6m for the next phase of the Eastbourne Town Centre Improvements

Schools £24.2m

• Primary school numbers in East Sussex peaked in 2018/19 and are starting to decline
• The previous high numbers in primary schools are now being reflected in rising Year 7 secondary school intakes. Secondary school numbers are likely to peak around 2024/25 or 2025/26
• We are planning for, or are in the process of creating, new school places in Eastbourne, Hailsham, Polegate, Robertsbridge and Newhaven/Peacehaven

Building Maintenance & Efficiency £15.0m

• The Council will invest in improvements to buildings and technology to improve efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions

Capital Resourcing 2020/21 to 2023/24

Because capital projects may take several years to deliver we need to know how we will fund the full £289.2 million programme. Details of where this money will come from are given below.

Doughnut chart of capital programme resourcing for 2020/21 to 2023/24

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Promoting equality of opportunity

Equality impact assessment summary report for Council Plan 2021/22

Date of assessment: 26/03/2021

Summary of findings: Our Council Plan aims to deliver positive outcomes for the people of East Sussex. A number of the planned actions and initiatives will have a positive impact upon the lives of groups of people with protected characteristics. There should not be any negative impact for any equality target groups.

Summary of recommendations and key points of action plan: None.

Groups that this project or service will impact upon (no groups were impacted negatively).

Group	Positive	Neutral
Age	X	-
Disability	X	-
Ethnicity	X	-
Gender/Transgender	X	-
Marital Status /Civil Partnership	-	X
Pregnancy and Maternity	X	-
Religion/Belief	-	X
Sexual Orientation	-	X
Other (carers, literacy, health, rurality, poverty)	X	-

In line with best practice we ensure that equalities considerations are embedded throughout our business planning and performance management processes. Our Council Plan priorities and delivery outcomes are designed to help address identified inequalities in outcomes for different groups in our local community and incorporate our equality objectives. We will report on our progress in delivering the actions in this Council Plan that will advance equality as part of our Annual report, which will be published in Autumn 2021.

More information on equality and diversity can be found on our equality and diversity web page.

Equality framework logo

Disability confident logo

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Performance measures and targets

Targets - Driving sustainable economic growth

Measures and targets

Performance measure	2021/22 Target	2020–2024 Outcome Summary
Deliver major transport infrastructure – Newhaven Port Access Road	Complete landscape planting	Improved connectivity into Newhaven Port from the strategic road network, supporting the delivery of the Enterprise Zone and unlocking employment land within the Port
Implement the East Sussex Economic Recovery Plan	Report on the progress and delivery of the East Sussex Economic Recovery Plan	Level of investment, projects delivered, and key outcomes stated across the six missions of the East Sussex reset plan
Number of additional premises with improved broadband speeds	1,334 premises	As close to 100% of premises as possible have access to high speed broadband. Supporting employment, productivity, individuals and communities
Deliver the new Employability and Skills Strategy: East Sussex business sector skills evidence base developed	Establish a new ‘carbon zero’ task group to explore current and future employment opportunities and skills needs, to report to SES on actions and achievements alongside the existing seven task groups. In partnership with the Careers East Sussex task group, develop the Careers East Sussex website with resources to support adults looking for new careers	Training providers are developing a curriculum which is informed by sector skills evidence and our local businesses are actively engaged in supporting training provision in the county, supporting sustainable economic development
Deliver the new Employability and Skills Strategy: East Sussex Careers Hub	East Sussex Careers Hub to support schools to achieve an average of 5 national benchmarks Support schools to pilot and embed online employability resources through the Careers East Sussex portal	Helping our young people and adults become aware of careers opportunities available to them, supporting sustainable economic development
Create a pan-Sussex visitor economy group to re-start the leisure, hospitality, culture, retail and tourism economy and enhance existing marketing vehicles	Identify priorities for pan-Sussex tourism recovery based on commissioned research and recommendations, seek approval and allocate resources to implement initial priorities	Grow the visitor economy by raising the visibility of East Sussex, enhancing perceptions, increasing the number of visitors to the coast, increasing length of stay and spend
Create a cultural investment framework for mid to long term recovery planning	A reconstituted Culture East Sussex with refreshed board membership and a newly created Cultural Investment Framework to provide an overview of pipeline cultural projects and their readiness for investment	Create the conditions to ensure that East Sussex benefits from one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy, growing the creative economy by fostering creative start-ups, upscaling creative businesses and attracting businesses into East Sussex
Job creation from East Sussex Programmes	140 jobs created or safeguarded	Grow the East Sussex economy and create more jobs by supporting the growth of businesses through capital investment
Percentage of Principal roads requiring maintenance	8%	Achieve and maintain a good standard of road condition across all road types
Percentage of Non-Principal roads requiring maintenance	9%	Achieve and maintain a good standard of road condition across all road types
Percentage of Unclassified roads requiring maintenance	15%	Achieve and maintain a good standard of road condition across all road types
Deliver a range of Family Learning programmes across East Sussex to provide high quality learning opportunities for parents/carers and their children to develop English, maths and language skills and to support a culture of learning in the family (subject to external funding)	350 enrolments across Family English, maths and Language (FEML) and Wider Family Learning (WFL) programmes	Families, particularly those from areas of deprivation, have intergenerational learning opportunities and develop positive attitudes to learning
In partnership with funding organisations provide online learning (including skills for life and ICT courses) in libraries (subject to contract)	70 courses	People have access to free qualifications that support them into, or back into, work and education
The number of businesses and professionals receiving advice and support through training workshops and bespoke advice provided by Trading Standards	300	Businesses in East Sussex are equipped to thrive, comply with the law, and are supported to “get it right first time”
The Council’s Apprenticeship Levy strategy supports the Council’s workforce development and training plans	Where appropriate Standards exist, to ensure apprenticeship training is available and taken up (subject to the needs of the business), which addresses skills shortages in the Council	Apprenticeships in the Council provide a positive opportunity for staff to develop and grow, enhancing the Council’s workforce and career opportunities
The percentage of Council procurement spend with local suppliers	60%	Support local businesses and help drive economic growth and employment in the county through our purchasing power
Economic, social and environmental value committed through contracts, as a percentage of our spend with suppliers	≥10.0%	The Social Value Measurement Charter is used to provide robust measures in eligible contracts that commit suppliers to deliver the Council’s social value objectives
The percentage of eligible 2 year olds who take up a place with an eligible early years provider	Equal to or above the national average	All children engage, attain and progress well from early years into education, training and employment
The percentage of pupils achieving a “good level of development” at the Early Years Foundation Stage	Ac year 20/21 Measure will not be monitored as assessment results will not be published	All children engage, attain and progress well from early years into education, training and employment
Average Progress 8 score for state funded schools	Ac year 20/21 Measure will not be monitored as exam results will not be published	All children engage, attain and progress well from early years into education, training and employment
The percentage of disadvantaged pupils achieving at least the expected standard in each of reading, writing and maths at Key Stage 2	Ac year 20/21 Measure will not be monitored as exam results will not be published	The gap for disadvantaged pupils at all Key Stages is kept as small as possible so that all children attain and progress well from early years into education, training and employment
The average Attainment 8 score for disadvantaged pupils	Ac year 20/21 Measure will not be monitored as exam results will not be published	The gap for disadvantaged pupils at all Key Stages is kept as small as possible so that all children attain and progress well from early years into education, training and employment
The percentage of young people meeting the duty of RPA (Raising the Participation Age) by either participating in education, training or employment with training or undertaking re-engagement provision at academic age 16 (Year 12)	93%	Young people participate in education, training or employment with training until they are at least 18 improving their long term employment and health prospects
The percentage of young people meeting the duty of RPA by either participating in education, training or employment with training or undertaking re-engagement provision at academic age 17 (Year 13)	86%	Young people participate in education, training or employment with training until they are at least 18 improving their long term employment and health prospects
Average Progress 8 score for Looked After Children (LAC)	Ac year 20/21 Measure will not be monitored as exam results will not be published	All children progress well from early years, through compulsory education, into education, training and employment
The percentage of LAC participating in education, training or employment with training at academic age 16 (Year 12)	80%	Looked after Children participate in education, training and employment with training until they are at least 18 improving their long term employment and health prospects
The percentage of LAC participating in education, training or employment with training at academic age 17 (Year 13)	70%	Looked after Children participate in education, training and employment with training until they are at least 18 improving their long term employment and health prospects

You can also download an expanded version of the Driving sustainable economic growth measures [31.9 KB] [xlsx] in an Excel table, with targets for the next three years. The download will open in a new window.

Targets - Keeping vulnerable people safe

Measures and targets

Performance measure	2021/22 Target	2020 - 2024 Outcome Summary
National outcome measure: The proportion of people who use services who say that those services have made them feel safe and secure	≥83.8%	Services received by adults with long term support also have a positive impact on their safety
Health and Social Care Connect – percentage of referrals triaged and progressed to required services within required timescales	90%	Services are provided in a timely manner
Health and Social Care Connect – % of contacts that are appropriate and effective (i.e. lead to the provision of necessary additional services)	95%	Monitor the number of contacts from health professionals that aren’t taken any further
The % of people affected by domestic violence and abuse who have improved safety/support measures in place upon leaving the service	80%	To enable vulnerable people who have been affected by domestic violence to feel more in control of their life, and better able to make decisions to increase their safety
When they leave the service the % of those affected by rape, sexual violence and abuse who have improved coping strategies	88%	Protect vulnerable people who have been affected by rape, sexual violence and abuse, and provide them with skills which enable them to be more in control of their lives and more optimistic about the future
Rate of children with a Child Protection Plan (per 10,000 children)	49.4 525 children	Children at risk from significant harm are kept safe
Rate (of 0-17 population) of referrals to children’s social care services (per 10,000 children)	≤539	Children at risk from significant harm are kept safe
Rate (of 0-17 population) of assessments completed by children’s social care services (per 10,000 children)	≤557	Children at risk from significant harm are kept safe
Rate of Looked After Children (per 10,000 children)	57.6 612 children	Children at risk from significant harm are kept safe
The number of positive interventions for vulnerable people who have been the target of rogue trading or financial abuse	200	Residents of East Sussex are safe in their own home and protected from criminals. Residents are empowered to feel safe and supported to say “no” to criminals and deter and disrupt criminal activity

You can also download an expanded version of the Keeping vulnerable people safe measures [28.8 KB] [xlsx] in an Excel table, with targets for the next three years. The download will open in a new window.

Targets - Helping people help themselves

Measures and targets

Performance measure	2021/22 Target	2020 - 2024 Outcome Summary
Road Safety: Implement second phase of the behaviour change project	Review data and identify appropriate targets to develop behavioural change interventions and suitable evaluation protocols	Test the effectiveness of a variety of interventions, influenced by behavioural science, to deliver sustainable positive change in driver behaviour and reduce the risks of involvement in an injury related traffic collision.
Road Safety: Deliver targeted cycle training activities to vulnerable road users	Deliver Bikeability training to 4,000 individuals and complete 45 Wheels for All sessions	Improve the confidence and skills of cyclists by delivering cycle training to cyclists through targeted Bikeability training sessions delivered at Schools and training centres across the county.
Road Safety: Implement infrastructure schemes on identified high risk sites/routes to improve road safety	Implement 22 Safety Schemes	Reduce the number of crashes and casualties at identified high risk sites/routes through the implementation of infrastructure improvement schemes to improve outcomes for residents, businesses and visitors to East Sussex.
Percentage of older people who are delayed from discharge when they are medically fit	Establish baseline	There are no unnecessary delayed discharges from hospital
National outcome measure: Proportion of working age adults and older people receiving self-directed support	100%	Adults are able to take control of the support they receive
National outcome measure: Proportion of working age adults and older people receiving direct payments	31.5%	Adults who require support are able to live as independently as possible
Number of carers supported through short-term crisis intervention	390	Carers are supported when they most need it enabling them to carry on in their caring role
Number of people receiving support through housing related floating support	5,000	Adults can maintain their independence
Enhance the delivery of Technology Enabled Care Services (TECS) more rapidly and more widely across areas including falls; frailty; crisis response; medication management, to avoid hospital admissions or re-admissions	8,500 people receiving TECS	Adults can maintain their independence
Building upon existing joint and partnership working and in the context of the development of Integrated Care Systems (ICS) design, agree and implement: i - An integrated commissioning model. ii - An integrated provider model for Health and Social Care in East Sussex	Service models developed and approved by the East Sussex Health and Social Care system and an implementation timetable with key milestones agreed	Through joint and partnership working ensure all available resources are used to deliver maximum benefits to local people and achieve value for money
Number of providers registered with Support With Confidence	326	Increase the options for people who need support ensuring vulnerable people are given effective reliable support to help maintain their independence
The proportion of people who received short-term services during the year, where no further request was made for ongoing support	>90.5%	Provide effective early intervention to ensure people are given the support they need as quickly as possible, this will also reduce the need for more expensive intensive interventions at a later date ensuring the most effective use of resources
Through the Drug and Alcohol Funding streams, commission services that sustain the development of the recovery community in East Sussex	Commission services	The rates of people entering recovery from drug and alcohol misuse are maximised and the stigma associated with misuse is reduced
Percentage of EHCP (Education, Health and Care Plans) annual review meetings where the child gave their view and/or participated	85%	Children and young people with SEND participate in decisions to ensure that their needs are understood, and they are supported to achieve their potential
The proportion of respondents to the feedback surveys who agree that things have changed for the better as a result of getting targeted support from the 0 – 19 Early Help Service	85%	The services provided are making a difference to the lives of service users
Number of households eligible under the government’s Supporting Families programme receiving a family support intervention	900	Families supported by family keywork achieve their goals and the Council is able to maximise payment by results claims
Number of new service user interventions started through One You East Sussex as part of the Integrated Lifestyle Service	5,000	Support people (particularly those with multiple lifestyle risk factors such as smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, poor diet and low physical activity) to make changes to improve health outcomes and reduce their risk of developing conditions such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease
Improved targeting of NHS Heath Checks	100% of GP practices recommence delivery of NHS Health Check service including targeted service	People understand their future risk of developing vascular disease and make changes to their lifestyle, or receive additional clinical advice and support to reduce their risk

You can also download an expanded version of the Helping people help themselves measures [30.7 KB] [xlsx] in an Excel table, with targets for the next three years. The download will open in a new window.

Targets - Making best use of resources in the short and long term

Measures and targets

Performance measure	2021/22 Target	2020 - 2024 Outcome Summary
Number of working days lost per FTE (Full Time Equivalent) employee due to sickness absence in non-school services	9.24	To maximise the use of resources and improve staff and customer wellbeing
Deliver the Property Asset Investment Strategy	Outline Business cases brought forward against at least 2 priority projects	Our Property Asset and Disposal Investment Strategy will explore income generation from property, optimise capital receipts and promote economic growth across the county.
Review use of corporate buildings	Develop new ways of working based on revised business requirements	The Workstyles review will determine the future use of our corporate buildings to better utilise space and enable new ways of working. Once fully embedded this will lead to reduced cost of occupancy in our core corporate buildings.
Reduce the amount of CO2 arising from County Council operations	13% reduction on 2020/21	A reduction in the amount of CO2 arising from Council operations is recorded on an annual basis, thus reducing the cost of energy to the Council and shrinking the carbon footprint.

You can also download an expanded version of the Making best use of resources in the short and long term measures [26.8 KB] [xlsx] in an Excel table, with targets for the next three years. The download will open in a new window.

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State of the County data

We review a wide range of data to help us understand the context for our plans and the impact we are having through our work and in partnership. We publish this data each year in State of the County – Focus on East Sussex, when we start the planning process that leads to this Council Plan. A selection of this data is listed below. Unless otherwise stated the data refers to 2019/20. Where possible official national statistics are used for comparison with the England average.

Driving sustainable economic growth

2019/20

Measure	East Sussex	England
Percentage of working age residents (16-64) with a level 4 qualification or above (includes degrees, Higher National Certificate, Higher National Diploma and others)	35.6% (Calendar Year  2019)	40.0% (Calendar Year  2019)
Percentage of working age residents (16-64) with no qualifications or qualified only to National Vocational Qualification 1	19.2% (Calendar Year 2019)	17.6% (Calendar Year 2019)
Annual gross full time earnings, median average (residence based)	£30,116	£31,766
Percentage of working age population (16-64) in employment	80.1%	76.2%
People claiming unemployment related benefits (alternative claimant count), percentage of population aged 16-64	3.0%	3.2%
New business registration rate per 10,000 people over 16	55.0	76.9
New houses built, total completed / total affordable	1,852 / 468	-
Percentage of children achieving a good level of development in all areas of learning (‘expected’ or ‘exceeded’ in the three prime areas of learning and within literacy and numeracy) in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFSP)	76.0%	71.8%*
Percentage of pupils reaching the expected standard at key stage 2 in reading, writing and mathematics	62%	65%*
Average Attainment 8 score per pupil state funded secondary schools	45.3	46.8*
Average Progress 8 score for state funded secondary schools	-0.06	-0.03*
Percentage of pupils who achieved a 9-5 pass in English and maths GCSEs	41.7%	43.4%*
Average Attainment 8 score per pupil for Looked After Children	14.9	19.1*
Average point score (APS) per entry for level 3 exams including A levels (16-18 year-olds)	30.98	32.23*
Attainment of A level students (age 16-18) average point score (APS) per entry, best 3	30.00	32.89*
Attainment of A level students (age 16-18 ) % achieving grades AAB or better at A level, of which at least two are in facilitating subjects	9.6%	14.1%*

*This data is for the academic year 2018/19 and has not been updated because exams were suspended in 2020.

 

Keeping vulnerable people safe

2019/20

Measure	East Sussex	England
Rate per 10,000 (aged 0 –17 population) of Looked After Children	56	67
Rate per 10,000 (aged 0-17 population) of children with a Child Protection Plan	50.4	42.8
Percentage of children who ceased to be looked after adopted during the year ending 31 March	16%	11%
Proportion of people who use Adult Social Care services who feel safe	70.9%	70.2%
Percentage of people (65 and over) who were still at home 91 days after discharge from hospital	88.4%	82.0%
Suicide rate per 100,000 of population three-year average	13.5 (2017-19)	10.1 (2017-19)

Helping people help themselves

2019/20

Measure	East Sussex	England
Percentage of children aged 4-5 years with excess weight (overweight or obese), by postcode of child	23.0%	23.0%
Percentage of children aged 10-11 years with excess weight (overweight or obese) by postcode of child	32.0%	35.2%
Long-term support needs of younger adults (aged 18-64) met by admission to residential and nursing care homes, per 100,000 population per year	12.4	14.6
Long-term support needs of older adults (aged 65 and over) met by admission to residential and nursing care homes, per 100,000 population per year	485.5	584.0
Proportion of older people aged 65 and over who received reablement services following discharge from hospital	3.1%	2.6%
The outcome of short-term services: sequel to service: proportion of people who received short-term services during the year, where no further request was made for ongoing support or support of a lower level	93.3%	79.5%
Proportion of people who use Adult Social Care services who find it easy to find information about services	75.7%	68.4%
Social Isolation: percentage of Adult Social Care users who have as much social contact as they would like	52.4%	45.9%
Number of people killed or seriously injured on the roads	293 (Calendar Year 2020)	-

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