Issue - meetings

This report presents to Cabinet the State of the District Report 2023.

Purpose of report

To present to Cabinet the State of the District report.

Decision

Cabinet approved the State of the District Report 2023.

Alternative options considered and rejected

Not producing or publicly releasing the State of the District Report 2023.

Reasons for decision

The release of the State of the District Report 2023 (‘the Report’) provided a useful resource for all stakeholders: partner, businesses, civil society organisations and members of the public, whether resident to the district or beyond who wished to learn more about South Kesteven. All the information included in the State of the District Report was publicly available, but this report was a coherent and factually accurate one that was proposed to be updated annually. It also aided the Council’s Corporate Plan.

The Report was updated annually to reflect the overall state of the district. It provided an up to date, balanced, objective view of performance across South Kesteven and highlighted the characteristics of the area whilst also outlining the strategic challenges that the district faced. These four key long-term strategic challenges could be summarised as:

1.    Economic underperformance relative to neighbouring areas

2.    Persistent pockets of severe deprivation

3.    Increasingly aged population

4.    Leading the district in tackling the climate emergency

Included was a suite of socio-economic indicators that corresponded to areas where the Council wished to see change.

The following points were raised during discussion:

·       This document was the type of evidence that would be useful in a forum such as the Health Scrutiny Committee at Lincolnshire County Council.

·       Many of the sources of data had information that was broken down to below Ward level, known as ‘super lower output areas’. This could be made available by officers.

·       The level of Gross disposable household income (GDHI) was the amount of money that all of the individuals in a household had available for spending or saving after they have paid all direct and indirect taxes and received any direct benefits. The level of GDHI per head in South Kesteven was the highest in Lincolnshire.

·       This document was already being used by officers as part of the new Corporate Plan.

·       The Office for Local Government (OFLOG) performance indicators also fed into this Report. These performance indicators also assisted, for example, with Levelling Up funding from the government. A specific study and discussion on the Earlsfield Estate in Grantham had commenced with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC); South Kesteven was ‘Grade 3’ in the levelling up gradings, which meant that it was difficult to access funding. The level of detail in the Report would mean that any hidden deprivation in areas such as Earlsfield could be highlighted.

·       The Report would be made available in full to all members of the Council.