The impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic

Respondents could choose more than one option, with almost half (49.8%) listing wellbeing and mental health as a concern closely followed (44.6%) by worry for their own or their family members future.

What has affected you most during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Choice	Number of responses
Worrying about my own or my family members future	655
Worrying about how to support friends and family who need help	562
Social isolation feeling lonely	540
Stress from working or learning at home	469
Worrying about health treatment needed	416
Worrying about job security, losing job or being furloughed	398
Stress from family members being at home more	352
Not feeling safe in my community	305
Finding it difficult to supporting others to learn at home	303
Loss of Income	291
Shielding	206
Lack of availability of daily essentials such as food, medicine	204
Pressure on how to learn at home with limited support	179
Lack of availability safety of public transport	156
Not having the right internet access or devices to work or learn online or access other services online	145
Other	126
Worrying about the future of my business	108
Worrying about housing issues or homelessness	88
Not feeling safe at home	79

Did you contact us for support with any of the issues listed above?

The vast majority (90.9%) did not contact the Council for support.

Choice	Number of responses
Yes	132
No	1321

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Priority 1: People in our Communities are supported to live their lives well

94.6% of respondents said this priority was very important or important to them.

Respondents were asked to tell us how important all the services listed under priority 1 were to them. Response rates to very important and important were:

• Supporting vulnerable children, young people and adults (94%)
• Housing & Homelessness (85.4%)
• Welfare benefits (76.1%)
• Making our communities digitally enabled (73.7%)
• Concession services (60.6%)

Key points from the feedback given include:

• Build resilience and capacity within communities
• Communities do not want to be marginalised; they want fairness not favouritism
• Strengthen digital access but not at the expense of other forms of communication
• Invest in green spaces and safe and active travel options
• Support the recovery of local business

People in our communities are supported to live their lives well

Choice	Number of responses
Very important	962
Important	414
Low importance	36
Not important	16
No opinion	26

This means that we will consider offering the following services to support people to live their lives well. Please tell us how important each of the following is to you:

Housing and Homelessness

Choice	Number of responses
Very important	737
Important	507
Low importance	100
Not important	47
No opinion	65

Welfare Benefits

Choice	Number of responses
Very important	567
Important	532
Low importance	188
Not important	76
No opinion	82

Making our Communities Digitally Enabled

Choice	Number of responses
Very important	415
Important	657
Low importance	258
Not important	81
No opinion	43

Supporting vulnerable Children, Young People and Adults

Choice	Number of responses
Very important	989
Important	382
Low importance	49
Not important	21
No opinion	18

Concession services, such as Blue Badges, National Entitlement Card, Taxi Card

Choice	Number of responses
Very important	350
Important	532
Low importance	368
Not important	131
No opinion	75

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Priority 2: Enable everyone to fulfil their potential

95.3% of respondents said this priority was very important or important to them.

Respondents were asked to tell us how important all the services listed under priority 2 were to them. Response rates to very important and important were:

• Creating safe education and living environments (96.8%)
• Creating employment opportunities (95.6%)
• Providing opportunities for young people, modern apprenticeships, higher and further education, training, voluntary work, employment (94.5%)
• Providing services which support mental and physical wellbeing (94.1%)
• Re-opening of our schools (90.2%)

Key points from the feedback given include:

• Greater resources in education
• Enable third sector agencies and communities to support employment opportunities
• Focus on early intervention for children and families in need of support
• Encourage individual personal resilience
• Provide opportunities for upskilling and support for older workforce facing redundancy not just young adults

Enable everyone to fulfil their potential

Choice	Number of responses
Very important	864
Important	518
Low importance	40
Not important	10
No opinion	18

This means that we will consider offering the following services to enable people to fulfil their potential. We asked how important each of the following was.

Re-opening our schools

Choice	Number of responses
Very important	932
Important	389
Low importance	72
Not important	34
No opinion	37

Creating safe education and living environments

Choice	Number of responses
Very important	1108
Important	303
Low importance	20
Not important	9
No opinion	18

Creating employment opportunities

Choice	Number of responses
Very important	942
Important	455
Low importance	31
Not important	9
No opinion	24

Providing services which support mental and physical wellbeing

Choice	Number of responses
Very important	943
Important	425
Low importance	57
Not important	11
No opinion	18

Providing opportunities for young people, modern apprenticeships, higher and further education, training, voluntary work, employment

Choice	Number of responses
Very important	924
Important	455
Low importance	46
Not important	15
No opinion	20

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Priority 3: Help businesses to thrive and make the area more prosperous

93.6% of respondents said this priority was very important or important to them.

Respondents were asked to tell us how important all the services listed under priority 3 were to them. Response rates to very important and important were:

• Supporting businesses, job creation and investment opportunities (92.8%)
• Maintaining a good road network (89.5%)
• Support and training for job seekers (88.3%)
• Running sustainable public and active transport initiatives (including school transport) (86.4%)
• Creating opportunities to do business with Falkirk Council (80.6%)

Key points from the feedback given include:

• Invest in safe active travel infrastructure
• Sell or re-purpose empty council builds as they make the area look rundown
• Support business with local grant schemes
• Encourage people to use town centres more - open for events, community activities, coming together to network and support each other
• Support infrastructure, roads, green spaces, keeping the area tidy
• Cut bureaucracy and focus on good quality service delivery

Helping businesses to thrive and make the area more prosperous

Choice	Number of responses
Very important	817
Important	537
Low importance	62
Not important	14
No opinion	17

This means that we will consider offering the following services to help businesses to thrive and make the area more prosperous. We asked how important each of the following was.

Supporting businesses, job creation and investment opportunities

Choice	Number of responses
Very important	772
Important	584
Low importance	61
Not important	17
No opinion	27

Creating opportunities to do business with Falkirk Council

Choice	Number of responses
Very important	564
Important	615
Low importance	175
Not important	50
No opinion	58

Support and training for job seekers

Choice	Number of responses
Very important	651
Important	634
Low importance	111
Not important	21
No opinion	38

Maintaining a good road network

Choice	Number of responses
Very important	704
Important	601
Low importance	123
Not important	16
No opinion	14

Running sustainable public and active transport initiatives (including school transport)

Choice	Number of responses
Very important	672
Important	588
Low importance	138
Not important	33
No opinion	28

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Priority 4: Enable and empower our communities to live healthier, safer and more sustainable lives

93.7% of respondents said this priority was very important or important to them.

Respondents were asked to tell us how important all the services listed under priority 4 were to them. Response rates to very important and important were:

• Supporting attractive places to live with clean, open spaces (93.3%)
• Involving communities in making council decision (91.8%)
• Involving communities in participatory budgeting, where communities influence where money is spent (86.1%)
• Housing and building repairs (85.4%)
• Promoting energy efficiency and carbon reduction initiatives (78.5%)
• Making our community facilities available for lets and potentially run by communities for communities (77.4%)

Key points from the feedback given include:

• Easy access financial support for community groups as they provide a tremendous bridge in mitigating cuts and offer real opportunities for communities to improve and grow
• Educate/involve communities on council budget challenges
• Participatory budgeting should mean communities participating and making informed choices on how the budgets are spent
• Offer green spaces to communities to grow their own produce for their communities

Enable and empower our communities to live healthier, safer and more sustainable lives

Choice	Number of responses
Very important	829
Important	529
Low importance	63
Not important	7
No opinion	22

This means that we will consider offering the following services to help businesses to thrive and make the area more prosperous. We asked how important each of the following was.

Involving communities in making council decisions

Choice	Number of responses
Very important	811
Important	530
Low importance	79
Not important	24
No opinion	17

Involving communities in participatory budgeting, where communities influence where money is spent

Choice	Number of responses
Very important	684
Important	571
Low importance	131
Not important	45
No opinion	26

Making our community facilities available for lets and potentially run by communities for communities

Choice	Number of responses
Very important	587
Important	549
Low importance	210
Not important	47
No opinion	59

Promoting energy efficiency and carbon reduction initiatives

Choice	Number of responses
Very important	609
Important	534
Low importance	222
Not important	52
No opinion	39

Supporting attractive places to live with clean, open spaces

Choice	Number of responses
Very important	858
Important	500
Low importance	66
Not important	7
No opinion	24

Housing & Building repairs

Choice	Number of responses
Very important	677
Important	565
Low importance	139
Not important	43
No opinion	37

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Priority 5: Become an innovative and entrepreneurial council, providing effective leadership to help transform outcomes

84.4% of respondents said this priority was very important or important to them.

Respondents were asked to tell us how important all the services listed under priority 5 were to them. Response rates to very important and important were:

• A review of council owned assets (85.2%)
• Services that support communities to do more for themselves (77.1%)
• More digital and online services (77%)
• Using schools as 'community hubs' for other services to be delivered (71.4%)

Key points from the feedback given include:

• Reduce the number of buildings and ensure access to services can be achieved online
• Review council resources and use them more effectively and efficiently
• Ensure resources remain for those who can't access online services e.g. elderly, homeless, or vulnerable people
• Co-location of services to help reduce building costs and promote social cohesion within communities

Becoming an innovative and entrepreneurial council, providing effective leadership to help transform outcomes

Choice	Number of responses
Very important	627
Important	593
Low importance	138
Not important	32
No opinion	55

This means that we will consider offering the following services in ways that are innovative and entrepreneurial to help transform outcomes. We asked how important each of the following was.

More digital and online services

Choice	Number of responses
Very important	430
Important	693
Low importance	240
Not important	59
No opinion	36

Services that support communities to do more for themselves

Choice	Number of responses
Very important	453
Important	664
Low importance	224
Not important	47
No opinion	60

Using schools as 'community hubs' for other services to be delivered eg health, leisure, advice services

Choice	Number of responses
Very important	484
Important	552
Low importance	230
Not important	127
No opinion	57

A review of Council owned assets e.g. buildings to make sure they meet community needs and that they are affordable

Choice	Number of responses
Very important	679
Important	562
Low importance	135
Not important	44
No opinion	36

Community Conversations

Background

Community Conversations were held to help us better understand the attitudes, feelings, beliefs, experiences and reactions of service users and potential customers, giving us firsthand feedback from a cross-section of our communities.

Community Conversations were attended by representatives from:

• Falkirk Parent Forum
• Community groups
• Third Sector & charities
• Communities representing equalities
• Service and School Improvement
• Falkirk Council

During these virtual focus groups representatives were asked three set questions:

• What are the most important things you need the Council to do in the next 6 to 18 months?
• What can the Council do different/stop doing?
• How are these reflected in the Council priorities?

Community Conversation Summary (listed by priority)