Contact: Jenny Heath, Corporate Performance Manager, ext 7402

1 The Best Value Programme for this Committee

1.1 At its meeting on 17 December 2001, the Cabinet revised the full five year programme of Best Value reviews. The revised approach took account of the limited scope for improvement offered by concentrating on current service arrangements and that this did not offer value for money in return for the significant investment in Best Value review activity. To widen the opportunity for innovation and creativity in the way services are delivered, the revised programme encourages a strategic focus on services, by exploring wider themes or reviewing across organisational boundaries.

1.2 A schedule of the reviews for year 3 is attached, with an indicative outline of the area to be reviewed.

2 Member involvement in reviews

2.1 The local county council election disrupted member involvement in the second year Best Value reviews, in some cases preventing members from continuing with a review they had begun, or leaving them reluctant to pick up on a process already well underway. Experience of involvement in reviews has varied considerably but with review team leaders valuing the steer from members outside formal meetings.

2.2 There is scope to ensure that the process of member involvement in Best Value reviews enhances the general management of the Policy Review Committee's workload. While it is important that options for improvement are supported by clear evidence and a balanced rationale for the conclusions drawn, there is no requirement for all the background detail to be presented formally to the full committee. The full committee should be able to rely on the involvement of their colleagues to ensure there has been sufficient challenge and objective consideration of the detail.

2.3 This paper proposes early identification of at least three members per review, so that review team leaders can ensure there is timely invitation to participate in meetings. Member representatives will be invited to join review teams at key stages, so that their views and ideas influence the direction of the review and its outcomes and so that they can hear first-hand the views and ideas from other stakeholders in the service.

2.4 The Residential Care, Special Needs Housing and Adult Placement review is a two-year review. Four members have already been nominated for this review and are asked to continue participating until the review is completed in July 2002.

Recommendations

1 That Cllrs Sheehan, Holden-Brown, Banks and Steele continue to be involved in the Residential Care, Special Needs Housing and Adult Placement review until its completion.

2 That a minimum of three members indicate their preference for involvement in each of the following Year 3 Best Value reviews:

· Support for Older Persons at home

· Supporting people who misuse substances and those who have aids/HIV

· Support for children in the community

· Meeting the social care needs of people with sensory impairment

· Support for disabled people at home

N.B. The list excludes:

1. Published works

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.