Contact: Roger Lawes, ext 6743

1. Summary

1.1 Performance can be measured in a number of ways. This reports alerts Members to the various Government and corporate performance measures and indicators that apply to the Environment Department. Although these measures give an indication of how well many of the services provided by the department are delivered, they cannot be used to indicate the overall success, or failure, of the County Council's strategic land use and transportation strategies, in particular the Structure Plan and the Local Transport Plan. Those plans are rigorously monitored and separate reports on the implications of successes and failures are routinely prepared for this Committee and the Executive Member for Environment on the outcome.

1.2 This report summarises the background to the initiatives and explains those that are of relevance to the department and how they inter-relate. It also provides an initial scoping of proposals to develop performance analysis and service planning within the department. The attached appendix lists the indicators relevant to the department and gives an initial indication as to performance during 2002/03.

2. Background

Best Value Performance Indicators

2.1 At present there are 87 Best Value Performance Indicators (BVPIs) covering many aspects of the County Council's performance. These indicators have changed and developed since the system was introduced. Some have undergone frequent revision; others have been replaced; and a few have been dropped completely. Seventeen relate to the work of the Environment Department (see appendix).

Comprehensive Performance Assessment

2.2 The Local Government White Paper "Strong Local Leadership - Quality Public Services" introduced a new performance management framework for local government intended to deliver a balanced and wide-ranging assessment of performance against clearly defined priorities. Comprehensive Performance Assessments (CPA) are the cornerstone of that assessment and are designed to identify strengths and weaknesses with a view to achieving genuine and lasting improvements to services. County Councils such as Hampshire, which through the CPA have demonstrated a capacity to deliver high quality services, are released from the burden of regular inspections and entitled to claim, and negotiate, a range of other freedoms and flexibilities.

Local Public Service Agreement

2.3 Local Public Service Agreements (LPSAs) are agreements between individual local authorities and Government to deliver specific improvements in performance. The benefit to a local authority is a reward grant of 2.5% of a year's budget (some £20 million in Hampshire's case). There are also pump-priming grants (up to £2 million) and scope for some extra borrowing on the strength of `unsupported' credit approvals.

2.4 PSAs are intended to cover a period of about three years. They are required to promote enhanced outcomes relating to about a dozen issues of which each will have at least one, possibly more, performance targets. In drafting the PSA the authority must adopt at least one or more targets relating to education, one or more relating to social services, one relating to transport and one relating to cost-effectiveness. There are four targets relating to services provided by the Environment Department.

3. Current Position in the Environment Department

Best Value Performance Indicators

3.1 The 17 BVPIs cover three service areas within the Environment Department: waste, transport and planning. There is also a generic area (corporate health) to which the department contributes. The department's expected performance against these various indicators is summarised in the appendix. It also indicates which of the BVPIs are relevant to the draft CPA improvement plan and the PSA.

3.2 The monitoring period for the 2002/03 BVPIs ended on 31 March 2003. It will still be some weeks before the final position is known. Interim assessments indicate that the department is on track to achieve the majority of the targets but there are problems in achieving the waste recycling targets. Plans are in place to consistently improve performance year-on-year. However, there have been operational and financial difficulties introducing the infrastructure necessary to achieve the targets. The new recycling plant at Alton, which will come on-line next year, will more than double available dry recycling capacity. However, this increase is more than offset by the general growth in waste volumes. Additional plant and green waste (composting) capacity will be required if the targets are to be achieved (see paragraph 3.5 below).

Comprehensive Performance Assessment

3.3 As an excellent authority Hampshire County Council is only required to produce two service plans, neither of which needs to be submitted to Central Government: the Community Strategy and the Best Value Performance Plan. In addition, a Minerals and Waste Development Framework proposed in the Planning and Compensation Bill (which is not considered to be a service plan) will need to be prepared. As the local transport authority it is likely that the County Council will continue to prepare a Local Transport Plan, even though it is not required by Government.

3.4 The County Council has already taken action as a result of the areas for improvement identified in the CPA assessment. An improvement plan has been prepared to establish the top priorities for community-focused service improvements. Those with an impact on the Environment Department where improvement could be measured (at least in part) by the BVPIs are shown in the appendix.

Public Service Agreement

3.5 Four of the 14 targets in the Hampshire PSA will be delivered by the Environment Department as follows:

(i) diversion of waste from landfill through development of natural resource management approach;

(ii) an increase in bus usage from 2000 levels by 10% by 2010, with improvements in punctuality and reliability;

(iii) reduction in fatal and serious casualties on the road network; and

(iv) stoppage of road network deterioration and reduction of backlog.

Each PSA target has detailed indicators by which performance will be measured.

3.6 The period 2002/03 has essentially been a year of preparation: building the networks, partnerships and infrastructure necessary to deliver the targets in 2003/04 and 2004/05. A full report on progress to date on all targets is currently being prepared for Cabinet on 27 May 2003.

4. Relationship between BVPIs, PSA and CPA Improvement Plan

4.1 The common theme underlying these three broad performance measures is acknowledgement that the quality of public space and the local environment and the way it is managed has a direct impact on the quality of people's lives. The range of subjects covered by existing BVPI targets reflect national concerns, whereas the PSA reflects local priorities. The CPA Improvement Plan is directed, among other things, towards those areas where improvement will also help achieve LPSA targets.

4.2 To ensure that data is available to measure progress against all these targets and that a `golden thread' of priorities and decision-making can be tracked, a new corporate service planning process has been devised and agreed. The new approach is being piloted in the Environment Department by the Development Control (planning) service. A corporate assessment of the success of the pilot should be ready by the summer so that an agreed process can be rolled out across the whole authority during autumn 2003. Once in place these plans will provide evidence of how services will contribute to the range of targets set by BVPIs and the LPSA, and form the basis for regular monitoring of progress against the targets.

5. Performance Management in the Environment Department

5.1 To date there have been no formal mechanisms in place to report the outcome of BVPI and LPSA targets to this Committee. Moreover, the wealth of information collected has not been routinely used to influence policy choices and help define priorities. All this will change. Within the department, reporting mechanisms for performance monitoring and measuring efficiency and effectiveness with regard to its outputs and outcomes will be confirmed as part of the service planning regime (see paragraph 4.2). What remains is to consider the means of involving this Committee in the process.

5.2 Setting aside the mechanical processes of collecting and reporting on BVPIs and the progress towards the LPSA, an investigation is under way to explore how the effectiveness of the department's activities can be more clearly monitored, and how greater commitment to the task of performance measurement can be engendered in staff and Members alike. In no particular priority order, the work includes:

(i) Investigating opportunities to influence the future description of BVPIs. It is debatable that performance needs quite so many indicators as are currently demanded by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. The department is considering the extent to which it wants to get involved in the annual round of negotiations over BVPIs.

(ii) Establishing a clearer process of target setting. To date the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has only required annual targets to be set in the Best Value Performance Plan. From 2003 the Plan is required to provide annual targets for three consecutive years: 2003/04, 2004/05 and 2005/06. Target setting over this longer period will require greater clarity over the purpose of individual targets, particularly their significance for achieving the County Council's aim, objectives and priorities.

(iii) Providing a wider focus for performance. Much of the work to date has been associated with national standards in discrete and measurable activities. However, much of the Environment Department's activity does not fall within the standard parameters of BVPIs or LPSA. Discussions are already under way with partners to develop a range of local environmental indicators to help evaluate the benefits of some, or all, of these activities.

(iv) Exploring how both the plan and project monitoring work undertaken in the department can be integrated, to help ensure not only that outcomes are measured but, more importantly, that the success of those outcomes in meeting the needs and/or aspirations of the relevant communities is properly evaluated for Members and lessons learnt for subsequent activities, including the budget-setting process.

(v) Considering how involvement in the Community Strategy processes can assist with achieving, not only the required understanding of community needs, but also the identification of the `soft' information necessary to fully measure performance.

Recommendations

1. That the position set out in the appendix in respect of the Best Value Performance Indicators and Local Public Service Agreement targets that are the responsibility of the Environment Department be noted.

2. That the actions listed in paragraph 5.2 be confirmed as the basis for developing performance measures for the Environment Department.

3. That the Committee considers the extent to which it wishes to become involved in the setting process and how that involvement should be both managed and informed.

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