The latest quarterly report, covering the last three months of 2024, said the council’s performance across a wide range of services, including housing, street cleansing and social care, and had been “broadly positive and … reflective of strong work being undertaken across the Council”.
The Quarterly Performance and Business Planning Report identified “a significant decrease” in litter across the borough after a concerted effort to tackle the issue by the council by focusing on the most-impacted areas. It also highlighted an above-target total of 44.91% of kerbside waste sent for reuse, recycling or composting. Both of these contribute to Lambeth’s ambition to be a Net Zero borough by 2030.
The three-month period also saw continued council success in making Lambeth a borough of equity and justice – through helping people into employment or training and supporting victims and survivors of domestic abuse.
The council’s blueprint for the borough, “Lambeth 2030: Our Future, Our Lambeth”, sets out its vision for the future with three bold ambitions – Making Lambeth Neighbourhoods Fit for the Future, Making Lambeth One of the Safest Boroughs in London, and Making Lambeth A Place We Can All Call Home.
These are now backed by a new Outcomes Framework, with a series of performance indicators identifying and measuring “the work that needs to take place to ensure Lambeth 2030 becomes a reality”.
The latest performance report, which will be debated at a cabinet meeting next week (7 April), explained that: “Of those indicators which are targeted, 81% were meeting target at Q3 (up from 74% in Q2) and a further 6% were within 5% of target. Overall performance is also trending in the right direction of travel.
“Of those indicators with trending information available, 27% reported a positive change in performance of at least 5% compared to 19% reporting a negative change in performance of at least 5%.”
Among the findings in the Quarter 3 report were:
- The council exceeded its annual target of moving 650 homeless households on from temporary accommodation (TA) – and is on course to help over 900 households out of TA by the end of the financial year. The council has consistently highlighted the impact the housing crisis was having on Lambeth’s finances, with the cost of housing homeless households in overnight accommodation expected to reach £100m this year.
- The proportion of Lambeth homes failing to meet the Decent Homes Standard fell to 10.5% in Q3, less than half the figure reported at the same time last year. The 15.6-day average for the time taken to remove and treat mould is a 20% improvement on Q2 – although it is still outside the target.
- The current total of 2,005 Lambeth young people on out-of-work Universal Credit remained lower than the London-wide rate.
- 100% of Gaia Centre service users on exit report increased confidence in accessing help and support
- 525 adult social care assessments were completed during the three months, and the average time from first contact to completion of assessment fell to 12 days, “comfortably within our target of 42 days”.
- The council’s leisure service, Active Lambeth, signed up 1,352 new members, and met its target of having 5% disabled membership, to help remove barriers to access.
- A decline in the percentage of those over 65 years old and eligible who receive influenza vaccination in season, which the council is working hard to address with health and community partners by delivering engagement sessions around vaccine take-up and working closely with care homes to boost take-up amongst residents and staff.
There are continued challenges to meet educational outcomes around the number of pupils achieving grades 9-4 in both English and Maths at Key Stage 4, which the council works closely with schools to improve.
The outcomes framework assesses performance against targets according to a Red/Amber/Green (RAG) system. The latest performance summary found that 16 indicators were at “green” status, where they’d met or exceeded target, none were at “amber”, but four were rated “red” as they were more than 5% away from target.
Six indicators recorded a positive change in performance of at least 5%, while five had a negative change of at least 5%.
Joint Cabinet Member for Equalities, Governance and Change, Cllr Nanda Manley-Browne and Councillor Fred Cowell said: “We have set ourselves a number of ambitious targets to achieve the bold ambitions in Lambeth’s Borough Plan, and it’s vital that we keep a close eye on how we are performing against these.
“It has been a difficult time for all councils, including Lambeth, with limited funding and increasing demands for our services. But we have a duty to provide the best services we possibly can for the residents who depend on them.
“We’re delighted with the improvements we’re making across the board, but we know we still have much work to do.”
