Contact: Jenny Heath, Corporate Performance Manager, ext 7402

1 Summary

1.1 The following decisions are sought:

· That summarised performance information is published as a special supplement in the Spring edition of Hampshire Now, following the format used in the last two years

· That the revised approach to publishing the full Best Value Performance Plan on Hantsnet and Hantsweb is approved

· That the content of the Best Value Performance Plan is approved as part of a continuing cycle of performance reporting, with a report to full Council in May 2003 summarising the key messages of the plan and providing the sections available on the websites that will constitute the formal publication on 30 June.

2 Reasons for the recommendations

The Council is under a statutory obligation to publish summarised performance information by 31 March and a Best Value Performance Plan by 30 June each year.

3 Other options considered and rejected

· To continue with the current printed version of the full Best Value Performance Plan.

· To reconvene the Members Working Group to consider the content of the performance plan and summarised performance information.

4 Conflicts of interest declared by the decision maker, or member or officer consulted None

5 Dispensation granted by the Standards Committee Not applicable

6 Reason for matter being dealt with, if urgent Not applicable

Approved by: Date:

7 Impact of the Local Government White Paper

7.1 The white paper `Strong Local Leadership - Quality Public Services' was published on 11 December 2001 and given effect through Statutory Instrument 2002/35 in February 2002. The white paper and subsequent draft circular on Best Value (July 2002) set out a number of changes which affect the production of the Best Value Performance Plan:

· In stating that `the principal audiences for the full performance plan should be the staff and elected members of the authority, groups and organisations with an interest in the authority and central government', there is helpful recognition that the general public are not the targeted audience of this essentially technical document.

· The deadline for production of the full plan is 30 June

· There is a presumption that actual performance data for the previous financial year will be included in the plan, not estimated data. This causes particular problems in relation to financial indicators.

· Summary performance information is intended for the general public and the publication date remains 31 March. However, the requirement to ensure it is a `fair and accurate' reflection of the full plan no longer applies.

· There are minor amendments which aim to limit the content of the plan.

7.2 The Council's Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) as an excellent authority brings freedoms in terms of the number of plans it must produce. Alongside the Community Strategy, the Best Value Performance Plan will be the only other plan required by Central Government. To maintain excellent status, it is clear that the Council must use this key document effectively.

8 Recommendations from the District Auditor

8.1 The District Auditor carries out an annual audit of the Best Value Performance Plan. The 2001/02 draft audit report concludes that the plan was compliant with legislation and recommends:

· Integrating the development of the performance plan with other planning processes

· Making it clear how alternative options for service delivery have been considered in Best Value reviews

· Expanding the commentary on response to inspections, to include planned changes and resources required to improve service delivery

8.2 The auditor concludes `The above issues are not considered to be significant in the context of the BV opinion, rather suggestions for officers to consider when preparing future BVPPs.'

9 Summarised performance information

9.1 It is proposed to continue with the tried and tested formula for this annual report to the general public on the Council's performance. The essential elements are:

· A trailer in the Council Tax leaflet advising people that the summarised performance information will be published via Hampshire Now and where to obtain further information. This year an additional link will be made to the CPA statement as excellent.

· A special 4 page (8 sided) supplement in the Spring edition of Hampshire Now, to be distributed to every household by 31 March. The title of `Delivering Best Value? Our services under the microscope' will be retained.

· The design of the supplement will continue to benefit from market research carried out as part of the process of developing Hampshire Now. Focus groups have been particularly useful in influencing the final presentation.

9.2 The content of the supplement will highlight current performance on key areas with an indication of how the Council is prioritising development activity. It is unfortunate that the results of the Residents Survey will not be returned in time to structure the content around residents' priorities. Instead the content will focus on the priority areas identified in the Hampshire Improvement Programme, which indicates activity already underway to deliver improvement. (See separate report on this agenda.) Selected articles in the main part of the Hampshire Now magazine will flesh out some areas of activity that are likely to have greater public interest. The introductory paragraphs to the supplement will set the context of the CPA announcement and other relevant inspection or audit reports.

10 Approach to delivering the full Best Value Performance Plan (BVPP)

10.1 It is proposed to change the emphasis of the current approach, so that rather than producing a printed document which is updated to Hantsweb and Hantsnet, the Council develops a performance plan website, which supports the downloading of statutory elements into a printable version. The rationale for this approach has a number of elements:

· The aspiration to share ownership for the plan across the organisation

· The flexibility of a web version to link to related information and to provide audit style evidence, without interrupting the flow of the core material

· The size of the document

· The need to update information throughout the year, rather than at a single point in time

· The potential to reduce production costs, once the website is developed

10.2 With the Best Value Performance Plan becoming one of only two plans required by Government, its importance as a mechanism for communicating successful achievements, performance issues and priorities for improvement is anticipated to grow. In planning how the Council will continue to maintain its excellent status it will be important to ensure there is evidence of its continuing self awareness and willingness to take difficult decisions in response to changing priorities. Therefore, departments will be encouraged to use the performance plan as a way of maintaining the currency of the CPA self-assessment.

10.3 In previous years the full version has been a text based (no graphics) document, designed and printed in the corporate style. As a technical document it is not highly readable but does provide a valuable reference point for many officers and members. The text document is essentially sequential in nature and therefore has to use large appendices to provide the tables of information required as evidence supporting the conclusions drawn in the main part of the document. A web version has no such constraints and would allow a person with a particular sphere of interest to drill down to the information they need, relatively quickly.

10.4 The document continues to grow in size. Despite the Government initiative to reduce some elements, the requirement to report progress with continuing projects and improvement plans, as well as evidence to satisfy audit on a number of points, has led to a weighty document.

10.5 Historically, collection and collation of the information included in the plan has been timed to meet the design and printing production timetable. For many aspects of the information - outcomes of projects and reviews, departmental achievements - the timetable can be distant from the time when project outcomes are being reported elsewhere. It would be more efficient and less of a burden if the plan could be updated on a continuous basis.

10.6 In 2001/02 the cost of printing was just over £8000 with 400 copies being distributed to all councillors, senior officers, partners in the business community and the voluntary sector and held in libraries and information centres. This funding should be sufficient to ensure the development of the website, continuing maintenance of the information and an alternative communication strategy to draw attention to the websites. There may be the potential over time to reduce costs.

10.7 The District Auditor has expressed satisfaction with the proposed approach and at his instigation some research has been carried out with the Fire Authority in arriving at a format for the content. (See Fire and Rescue Corporate Plan, via Hantsnet.)

11 Member involvement

11.1 In previous years member involvement in the development of the Best Value Performance Plan has been by way of a short-life working group. Alternative proposals are put forward this year.

11.2 Initially it was important that Members were engaged in the presentation of both versions of the plan and the working group was involved in the focus groups and able to base their recommendations on first-hand experience of the outcomes. Subsequently, the design and production has built on this experience from earlier years and continued market research. The focus of future member involvement can now move to the content of the full plan and summarised information, rather than design issues.

11.3 The timing of the production cycle and the collation of information at a single point in the calendar has not helped generate in-depth discussion of the issues raised by the publication of performance information. With a move to a continually updated web document, it should be possible to enable Members to be more fully engaged, through a cycle of continuous reporting. It is, therefore proposed that the content of the full performance plan be considered in stages, reflecting the current approach to reporting to Members. This will require a greater discipline on the part of officers to assess whether the item they are reporting on should be summarised for inclusion in the BVPP. Key elements include:

· The improvement (review) programme- annually reviewed and agreed by Cabinet (See item elsewhere on this agenda.)

· Outcomes of Best Value reviews - considered in depth by relevant Policy Review Committee. Once the outcome is clear, a report is sent to the relevant Executive Member or Cabinet (in the case of cross-cutting issues) to enable implementation of the improvement plan through integration in the Budget Strategy and/or strategic plans. This report will also include key issues arising from Best Value inspections.

· Performance Indicator results and targets - regular reports to be placed before Cabinet (See item elsewhere on this agenda.)

· Financial statements - extracted from budget reports, already reported to Cabinet

· Context statement from CPA - to be updated as part of the Corporate Strategy review process

· Response to audit and inspection - corporate audit issues are reported to Cabinet via the Annual Audit Management letter. The response will now clarify the statement to be included in the BVPP. Inspection responses will either be to the relevant Executive Member, eg Education, Social Care, or to the PRC in the case of Best Value inspections.

· Service / strategy outcomes - normal monitoring of strategic targets that are linked to the Corporate Strategy, Local Public Service Agreement (LPSA) or other corporate projects, featuring in the balanced scorecard

11.4 While the majority of member involvement will be achieved through this continuous process, the Best Value Performance Plan is part of the Council's Policy Framework. It is, therefore, proposed that a report is taken to full Council in May 2003, summarising the key messages of the plan at that time and providing a printout of the sections on the websites that will constitute the formal publication on 30 June.

Recommendations

1 That summarised performance information is published as a special supplement in the Spring edition of Hampshire Now, following the format used in the last two years

2 That the revised approach to publishing the full Best Value Performance Plan on Hantsnet and Hantsweb is approved

3 That the content of the Best Value Performance Plan is approved as part of a continuing cycle of performance reporting, with a report to full Council in May 2003 summarising the key messages of the plan and providing the sections available on the websites that will constitute the formal publication on 30 June.

Section 100D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

None

N.B. The list excludes:

1. Published works

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