clear cart still shows number in basket

Hi, attaching a screenshot. I am displaying top right the number of items in a basket, however when customer clears the baskets on the basket page, the page will then display no items in basket (since its still on the basket page) however, in the the top right the number of items that "were" in the basket is still show, if i refresh the page or go to another page then the number in the top right is removed. So how can i remove it automatically without the customer having to refresh or go to another page?

The clear cart code is likely lower on the page than the include for the cart on the top of the page. You can probably correct the problem by simply moving the clear cart code higher on the page so that it is cleared before the count is displayed.

the issue I am facing is that the top header is in a separate php file using the webassist framework plugin. So not sure how I can then move the code around.

Just move the update cart and clear cart code above the call to the plugin code on the top of the page.