Annual Report 2023 to 2024

People in Buckinghamshire are living longer and healthier lives, with health outcomes better than the national average. We have strong communities and a thriving, dedicated not for profit sector.

However, our growing and aging population brings with it a number of challenges. These include:

• building more affordable and accessible homes now and for future generations
• providing extra help and support for an increasingly older population
• reducing social disparities across the county
• improving the health of people who live in the more deprived areas of Buckinghamshire

Our key delivery programme to achieve this is Opportunity Bucks – Succeeding for All, which is focusing on 10 wards where residents are experiencing the most hardships, designing and delivering targeted interventions that support improvement in outcomes for our residents and ensuring no one is left behind.

• Established Buckinghamshire's Making Every Adult Matter (MEAM) team, to enable our approach of targeting support to people in the county who are the most in need.
• In the first 6 months of operation the team have prevented 2 evictions, supported 2 individuals to move to more suitable accommodation and moved 3 individuals from rough-sleeping into stable accommodation.
• Re-housed 1282 households into social housing tenancies via the Bucks Home Choice scheme.
• A total of 476 affordable housing units were completed and handed over to registered housing providers.
• A total of 58 units were provided in the temporary accommodation scheme at Bridge Court, Desborough Road, High Wycombe.
• We have developed and consulted on our Housing Strategy for Buckinghamshire, which sets out our ambition for everyone to have a suitable, secure and affordable place to live and brought this forward council for adoption in April 2024.
• The Registrars service registered 4442 Births, 4031 Deaths, 15 Stillbirths, 1722 Ceremonies, and our Coroners service heard 204 inquests within the six months KPI timescale.
• Environmental Health completed 1105 programmed food hygiene interventions.
• We've visited over 1000 properties to identify unlicensed Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO's) in Opportunity Bucks wards.
• Launched the Housing Improvement Board, driven by the increase in demand across housing. The board has 4 workstreams and has been focusing on 8 key projects including reviewing the allocations policy and exploring options for supported housing.
• Over 3.8 million visits to our leisure centres in 2023/24.
• Appointed Serco Leisure and its partner, More Leisure Community Trust (MLCT) to run five of our leisure facilities, following a competitive tender process.
• Over 180 events and activities across our main culture projects with partners.
• 9 schools in Opportunity Bucks wards have signed up to the Short Film Competition with Pinewood Studios.
• 488,340 visits to our main cultural venues in Buckinghamshire in 2023/24.
• £966k invested in replacing and improving children's play spaces across seven sites in 2023/24, with all new play areas including accessible play equipment.
• New Changing Places accessible toilet installed at Black Park Country Park, part-funded by a grant from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
• Improvements to the Little Marlow Athletics Track, gym enhancement at the Wycombe Leisure Centre and gym expansion at the Chilterns Lifestyle Centre.
• Over 8,535 participants attending our programme of events and activities in the Country Parks.
• Over 4,500 children signed up for our Summer Reading Challenge, 22% more than last year.
• 16 schools in Opportunity Bucks wards are taking part in the Buckinghamshire Literacy Challenge project to improve literacy skills.
• 87% of Archive Service users very satisfied (12% increase). During 2023, the service increased opening hours and improved procedures based on customer feedback.
• 64 activities, events and campaigns were held in libraries with over 1,300 people participating as part of the Healthy Libraries pilot in partnership with Public Health. Healthy Libraries is now being rolled out across all libraries.
• 1352 residents enrolled on Multiply courses in 23/24 with 56.3% of residents participating residing in targeted Opportunity Bucks wards.
• There are currently 73 walks across the whole of Buckinghamshire and 1,781 walkers have between them walked a total of 28,060 times in our volunteer-led Simply Walks programme.
• 6733 residents enrolled on Adult Learning courses in 23/24 with 41% of residents participating residing in targeted Opportunity Bucks wards.
• The introduction of "Skills Bootcamps" offering flexible training courses for up to 16 weeks for those aged 19 and over providing residents the opportunity to retrain or boost their career prospects.
• A multi-agency Community Action Day was held in each levelling up area this year with support from 25 partner agencies, providing the opportunity to engage with over 1000 residents. Activities included providing blood pressure checks, community clear ups, youth engagement support, crime prevention advice and targeted financial support information from Helping Hand.
• 262 places signed up to Safer Places scheme where people can go if they are feeling lost, scared or confused when out in their local community.
• Our Better Lives Strategy focuses on three key areas:
  • Living independently
  • Regaining Independence
  • Living with Support
    This is to help people stay as independent as they can for as long as possible, offering extra support when needed to help regain independence.
• Over 430 people attended the Jobs and Apprenticeships Fair, delivered through Opportunity Bucks in Chesham.
• 63 % of our care leavers in employment, education, and training compared to 57% across the South East
• 213 young people attending college from Opportunity Bucks wards are receiving support from Personal Career and Apprenticeship Mentors
• Supported 52 young people from Opportunity Bucks wards to take part in our App Accelerator programme, learning skills to develop an app with a real-world use and implement this into the council
• Our 16 Community Boards have continued to bring together local communities to tackle local issues. In the year 2023 to 2024, they delivered 270 projects totalling some £1.002,064
• Each £1 of Community Board funding (community projects) has secured £1.80 in contributory funding, totalling £1.1 million during 2023/24
• 400 nominations were received for our Proud of Bucks Awards. There were 46 winners and 47 commended awards which celebrated local volunteers who made a positive impact in their communities.
• 371,207 calls handled through our customer service centre, plus:
  • 17,143 CSA assisted webchats
  • 70,608 webchats assisted by chatbot since launch in July
  • 2,710,063 visits to our website 9,006 Blue badges issued
  • 23,774 face-to-face visits to our Council Access Points (CAPs)
• Since April 2023, one devolution project has been completed, with a further 2 projects in progress which will be delivered in 2024
• A Town & Parish Focus Group, which consists of a cohort of representative local councils across the county, has been established. The group will meet quarterly to discuss areas of concern, monitor the Town and Parish Action Plan and feed into the Town & Parish Liaison meetings.
• Delivered 15 community housing events attended by over 750 Ukrainian guests and their sponsors
• The Buckinghamshire Swan Envoys Scheme has continued to grow and expand its reach, with our Envoys supporting and contributing to key initiatives that showcase the creativity, diversity, and excellence of our community. These include The Schools Coronation Crown Making Competition, Disability History Month, The Buckinghamshire School Awards, and our Social Care Conference.
• 89 consultation and engagement activities to date (excludes those run by Buckinghamshire Highways), including a consultation delivered through Opportunity Bucks around road safety measures within Castlefield
• 10,239 free NHS Health Checks have been delivered to those aged 40 to 74, which identifies early signs of stroke, kidney disease, heart disease, type 2 diabetes or dementia
• 3,713 users of Better Points, the behaviour change programme that incentivises and rewards people for making positive life changes, 79% of those initially inactive are now achieving 150+ minutes a week of physical activity. 30% of current users live in Opportunity Bucks wards
• 18,626 baby and young child checks by health visitors in Buckinghamshire
• 3021 blood pressure readings were taken via Pump It Up health kiosks, pressure stations and events, including 156 readings at Community Action Days
• 414 residents quit smoking. 75% of adults completing the weight management programme achieving a 3% weight loss
• 3667 clients accessing One Recovery Bucks -Buckinghamshire's integrated adult drug and alcohol treatment service
• 98% of women have access to long acting reversible contraception of their choice within 4 weeks
• Buckinghamshire Family Information Service - winners of the National Association of Family Information Services (NAFIS) Award for Best Use of Social Media
• Successfully commenced an ongoing programme to recruit prisoners into our services through Release on Temporary License (ROTL) with five starting during 2023
• Launched the Virtual Work Experience Platform with Youth Employment UK