COUNTY COUNCIL 13 SEPTEMBER 2001

BEST VALUE AUDIT

The Committee is pleased to report that the District Auditor has given an unqualified opinion that the County Council's Best Value Performance Plan is compliant with the Best Value legislation. There will be no referral to the Audit Commission or the Secretary of State nor were there any recommendations for changes to the Plan. The District Auditor has stated that the County Council's success in implementing Best Value is due to the evident and obvious top level commitment to the principle of continuous service improvement citing as evidence the positive report from the Best Value Inspectorate on passenger transport, the strong OFSTED report on the Local Education Authority, and the growing public satisfaction as measured in the recent MORI survey. The Auditor made recommendations for improvement in certain areas, which concentrate, in essence, on delivering outcomes of reviews and demonstrating that improvements to services are being achieved. Whilst the County Council is performing well, it must not be complacent and the emphasis of Best Value must now move towards using performance information in policy making and planning and integrating the culture and business of Best Value into everyday operations.

T.K. THORNBER, CBE

CHAIRMAN

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