The council’s Chief Executive reported to the Policy and Sustainability Committee on Thursday about the council’s performance in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
He presented slides which showed the various ways in which the council has reacted and taken positive action.
Now we have the meat on the bones.
Here is the council performance in numbers:
With their partners, the council is providing the families of children in need with around 2,000 food parcels every fortnight. More than 1,600 food parcels and 87 prescriptions have been boxed up and delivered to those who are shielding and are working with EVOC to deliver thousands more deliveries to vulnerable people across the City.
The council has around 170 teaching staff working across 11 schools to look after the children of many of Edinburgh’s key workers and, in April, over £500,000 was paid out to families in school meal payments.
The staff of The Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership are some of those who look after more than 2,760 people in care homes and the council has helped those who need to shield by answering their questions, arranging deliveries and supermarket support. More than 4,200 calls and 2,000 emails were dealt with about shielding in April alone.
Helping those facing homelessness, the council has also drastically increased its stock of temporary accommodation with flats and hotel rooms, working with partners to source more than 200 additional bed spaces to provide a safe place for people to stay. The council is encouraging landlords to consider supporting those who need a home by renting out their empty properties to its Public Sector Leasing (PSL) scheme with Link, and the council supported more than 1,000 people in crisis at their five resilience centres in April.
Providing Council services
Making sure council services can still be provided in a safe way has been both a priority and a challenge and they thank residents for bearing with thm.
They have moved many services online so you can report a problem through the council website. Just last month, they handled almost 12,000 questions from residents on social media and 36,000 enquiries over the phone. You are asked to please keep on contacting the council online if you can, leaving their phone lines free for emergencies.
Helping to keep Council tenants safe, they have carried out around 180 essential repairs to their homes per day in April and enhanced cleaning and physical distancing in their 44 multi-storey blocks.
Dedicated refuse collectors are still picking up more than 300,000 bins a week and the council has worked hard to keep most waste services running. They collected close to 876 tonnes of food waste in April, which is like picking up and processing the weight of 30 Scott Monuments. They also collected more than 8,550 tonnes of general (non-recyclable) waste, or 1.5 times the weight of the Royal Yacht Britannia. Within the first 2 days of resuming the service they also collected the weight of 5 blue whales – 500 tonnes – of garden waste.
Your libraries may be closed, but they’re still here for you online. Last month libraries ‘loaned’ more than 18,500 ebooks and 11,800 audio books – an increase of more than 60% on April 2019 – and 181,550 magazines and newspapers, an increase of 118%. Demand keeps growing, with mystery fiction, recipe books and the Beano in particularly high demand. They have also created a Book Bus for the Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity, filled with around 1,800 books for children and young people who need to isolate.
The city is being kept in bloom by gardeners and natural heritage officers, providing you with access to 1,450 hectares of green space including 143 parks and greenspaces for your daily exercise. The Council-managed greenspace you can roam in is the equivalent of over 2,000 Murrayfield-sized rugby pitches, twice the size of Gibraltar, or 22 times the size of Disneyland! Up to 40,000 plants are also being used to create a special Floral Clock design in West Princes Street Gardens, honouring all NHS workers.
A series of seven measures have been put into action for safer walking and cycling around the city, so that physical distancing is easier during exercise or while commuting, while Transport for Edinburgh have released 100 free cycle hire passes for NHS workers during the pandemic.
The council is continuing to progress planning applications during lockdown, with over 360 applications already decided and 320 building warrants granted in the first three weeks of April.
Issuing millions in grant funding
The pandemic is the most difficult event faced by Edinburgh in living memory, and financial support is being directed to those who are struggling.
· Almost £487,500 has been issued to people in critical need through 3,260 Crisis Grants and the council is helping to support projects in local communities, with over £83,000 paid out in Community Care grants last month. Their webpages contain detailed advice for anyone having difficulty with their finances, including welfare support. They have already processed over 4,600 applications and distributed nearly £600,000 in welfare payments since lockdown began.
They have also helped around 5,400 local businesses to get grant funding, paying out around £70m in coronavirus business support grants in April. Businesses can also check their advice pages on how to apply for rates relief, self-employed workers can ask for grant funding, and the council encourages everyone who can to support the City’s high streets by buying from small local businesses.
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