Contact: Jenny Heath, Corporate Performance Manager, ext 7402

1 Purpose of this report

1.1 This committee received a report in May 2003, which identified the costs and benefits of Best Value - a key element of the work of the Corporate Performance Team. As an ongoing statutory duty, it is entirely appropriate that the committee continues to receive annual updates of this original report, examining the benefits of the Council's investment in Best Value.

1.2 Subsequent questions from Members have asked for clarification of the remaining elements of the Corporate Performance Team's work. This is particularly relevant as the emphasis moves from the specific regime of Best Value to a wider performance management framework. This report aims to show how the balance of the Corporate Performance Team's activity supports this change at both the national and local levels and to advise on the more specific activities undertaken by the team.

1.3 Over time a number of the activities of the Corporate Performance Team have resulted in regular reports to elected members. These have been presented as an annual cycle, to help inform this Committee in its deliberations about its own forward programme.

1.4 The Corporate Performance Team is a key factor in supporting Corporate Strategy aim 5: Improving services, with particular relevance to the theme of `improving our performance.'

2 Aims and objectives of the Corporate Performance Team

2.1 The overall aim of the Corporate Performance Team is encapsulated in job descriptions, role profiles and service plans as:

Providing the corporate lead on performance management, by

· ensuring the Council's statutory obligations under the Government's Best Value and Comprehensive Performance Assessment regimes are met, responding to audit and inspection in relation to performance management

· ensuring the Council's policies and plans are implemented as planned across the organisation

· maintaining and promoting the focus on the delivery of high quality, affordable services that meet community needs and aspirations

· championing innovation across the authority

· developing county-wide standards and approaches to quality assurance.

Located within the corporate Policy Unit, the team is also closely affiliated with its aim to influence the direction of national policy where appropriate.

2.2 For clarification, the core structure of the Policy Unit at January 2004 is attached at Appendix 2. Further information about the Policy Unit's activities is available through its service plan, which staff and County Councillors can access on the intranet site at: http://hantsnet2000/hants.gov.uk/TC/bestval/puserviceplanintro.html

2.3 Currently, the Corporate Performance Team's goals translate into the following areas of activity, which are examined in greater detail in the report:

· Best Value reviews

· Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA)

· Performance measurement and reporting, including delivery of the statutory Performance Plan

· Service planning

· Performance management framework

· Learning and review.

As the last bullet point suggests, the team is constantly evaluating the effectiveness of these strands of activity in addressing the overall objective. In addition, the constant developments in national policy impact significantly on the workload of the team and must be accommodated in ways which support local priorities and ways of working. For this reason, the team is located within the central Policy Unit, so that policy and performance are integrated and respond to change in a consistent way.

3 Reviews

3.1 Best Value formalised the process of review to ensure that every council carries out fundamental reviews of all its activities. The Council has always taken opportunities to stand back from every day work and consider what opportunities there are for improvement. While in the early stages the Best Value regime resulted in a cumbersome process, designed more to meet inspection requirements than to achieve significant service improvements, significant lessons have been learnt and applied by the team to improve the overall ability to review service activity or problem areas. Benefits include:

· Setting a future vision which presupposes improvement and encourages the review team to focus on what needs to change

· Embracing external challenge, as opposed to viewing it as criticism or failure

· Greater engagement of stakeholders in service reviews

· Ensuring options are considered, rather than a single solution

· Identifying ways to measure improvement.

3.2 The review process is now a generic tool which could be applied in many situations. The Corporate Performance Team facilitate its use, tailoring it to different needs and circumstances. For example the review process was used as a starting point for developing the health review process. As part of this year's annual review of the process, the question will be asked about when and how it may be used, in addition to Best Value reviews.

3.3 The outcomes of reviews and progress with the improvement plans are reported in the Performance Plan. The Corporate Performance Team's role in respect of reviews is:

· To develop and monitor the review programme

· To develop the review process

· To support officers, members and other participants through the process of review, encouraging fundamental challenge and innovation

· To support inspection and co-ordinate responses to recommendations.

4 Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA)

4.1 As the name suggests, this process is comprehensive, and while the Corporate Performance Team takes a lead on preparing and managing the Council's responses and self-assessments, many other officers and key Members are involved.

4.2 In 2002, the Council was in the first tranche of top tier authorities to receive a corporate assessment. With the assessment taking place before national consultation and guidance had been finalised, the Corporate Performance Manager had to co-ordinate the Council's response, while simultaneously keeping track of national developments - and seeking to influence these where possible. This pattern was largely repeated in 2003 as the Audit Commission have been developing parallel strategies for:

· District council CPA

· Interim reporting on progress with the 2002 outcomes

· Plans for a major overhaul of the CPA model for 2005/06.

4.3 The initiative has such momentum that there has been little time to consider how best to automate the collection of information for the annual refresh. This is currently being addressed within the Corporate Performance Team and with departments, who now have a clearer idea of what level of information is expected and how it should be presented.

4.4 The key elements of activity, related to CPA, have been:

· To respond to Government and Audit Commission consultation

· To compile a self-assessment of the council's corporate ability

· To co-ordinate results in relation to service performance

· To agree an improvement programme in response to findings

· To develop a communication strategy and share good practice with other authorities

· To monitor achievement of targets and compile them into a self-assessment of progress.

5 Performance measurement and reporting

5.1 Because there is a statutory requirement to report performance indicator (PI) results in the Performance Plan, the Corporate Performance Team took on responsibility for co-ordinating the collection of PI results when the Policy Unit restructured in 2001, absorbing the Best Value Team on a permanent basis.

5.2 The first requirement for the team is to have a clear understanding and awareness of the range of PIs that exist and are either required by statute, taken as an indication of good practice or are necessary for sound local management of services. These include:

· Best Value Performance Indicators (BVPIs), set by the Office for the Deputy Prime Minister

· PIs, relating to specific services, set by Government service departments, such as the DfES, DoH and DCMS

· Good practice PIs - such as the suite of Quality of Life indicators or the library of local PIs, established by the Audit Commission

· Local PIs, set by the Council to measure achievement of its own objectives, for example in the Corporate Strategy, or at a more specific level within the improvement plans arising from Best Value reviews or service planning.

5.3 In terms of performance measurement the Corporate Performance Team's role covers:

· Responding to consultation on PIs and seeking to influence Government target setting and performance measurement regimes

· Co-ordinating collection of PI results and developing systems to support this. Currently this includes introducing an electronic PI recording and reporting system

· Quality assurance of the results, by reference to comparative data and process audits. This also involves considerable liaison with internal and district audit

· Support and guidance for data collectors and managers developing performance measures and targets

· Analysis and interpretation of results for reporting.

5.4 The team's role in respect of reporting on performance starts at the basic level of presenting BVPI results. In the face of many national and internal changes, it has been difficult to establish a consistent regime. However, the aim is to report results as follows:

· May - provide outturn figures for the previous financial year and targets for the current and following two years

· October - provide confirmed outturn results for previous year and make comparison with own results over time. Also provide part-year estimated outturn results for the current year, setting them in the context of achievement of corporate objectives

· February - provide previous financial year's audited results in comparison with audited results from other county councils.

These reports are made to Cabinet, who receive an extract of the full suite of BVPIs, enabling them to focus on more meaningful PIs and those which which have retained consistent definitions over time. The full set is reported in the Performance Plan.

5.5 The team's role in respect of performance reporting is wider than simply reporting on PIs. The team is responsible for delivering the Performance Plan, which is a key document, one of only two required by Government, now that the Council has achieved `excellent' status under CPA. The Council complies with the legislative format required, through two corporate documents:

· The Corporate Strategy - which sets out what the Council wants to achieve for the community of Hampshire, ie is forward looking

· The Performance Plan - which examines how well it has achieved its aims and objectives, ie is backward looking.

5.6 The Performance Plan is, therefore, the key performance reporting tool. Recognising that performance information is being updated on a continuous basis, the Council made the move last year to a dynamic web-based plan. The plan reports on:

· Progress with corporate strategy goals and other achievements

· Summary outcomes of Best Value reviews and progress with implementing improvement plans

· Responses to external audit and inspection and progress against recommendations

· PI results

· Summary of complaints, as appropriate

· Accreditation by external bodies, eg Chartermark and Investors in People.

5.7 Because of the wealth and variety of information held in the Performance Plan, it is no longer appropriate for it to be approved as a single document. Instead, the different elements of it are reported to Members throughout the year, culminating in a single report to Full Council in May which outlines the path taken by the various pieces of information and reminding all Councillors about the information they can find on the site.

5.8 Overall there is scope to improve performance monitoring and reporting. There is a tendency for activities to be segregated according to the original requirement to measure performance, eg Best Value, local PSA, Corporate Strategy, CPA, audit reports etc. The Corporate Performance Team are currently working on ways to integrate this reporting and to make it relevant to the Council's own corporate objectives.

6 Service Planning

6.1 The Council has embarked on a review of its service planning framework to address the following imperatives:

· The auditor has highlighted the need to improve service planning so that it consistently links corporate objectives through to individual performance targets

· The rationale for removing service reviews from the Best Value review programme is founded on an assumption that service planning is robust and leads to continuous improvement

· Service planning should provide the mechanism for routinely collecting performance information that will support annual CPA `refresh'.

6.2 The Corporate Performance Team has been leading this initiative and activities to date have included:

· Working with the auditor and subsequently departments to map out current practice and establish a starting position

· Piloting service planning processes with two service units and subsequently refining and developing processes with input from departments

· Supporting the development of service plans in 2003/04 that address corporate `givens' while allowing local flexibility of style

· Planning to evaluate the outputs for this first year and to ensure that departmental ownership is consistent through management structures.

6.3 Development of more robust service plans has provided a springboard for a wider development of `integrated planning with budgeting'. The Corporate Performance Team has been project managing this initiative, which is jointly led with the County Treasurer and Personnel and Training. This major project aims to ensure the routine development of operational plans, workforce plans and budgets is tackled as an integrated exercise.

7 Performance Management

7.1 Much of the Corporate Performance Team's work enables the Council to respond to statutory requirements, particularly in relation to Best Value and CPA. The team has been instrumental in analysing and presenting information appropriately, contributing significantly to the achievement of excellent status.

7.2 Both Best Value and CPA, as well as regular audit work involve close liaison with auditors. The Corporate Performance Manager negotiates appropriate courses of action in response to audit and inspection recommendations and ensures progress is made with them. The revision of the inspection judgement in relation to support for the voluntary and community sector is a notable example.

7.3 While there is still work to be done, the auditors have noted improvements in both the accuracy of performance indicators and in the approach to service planning. They have also commented favourably on the sophistication of the developing performance management framework.

7.4 At the strategic level the CPA corporate assessment confirmed that the Council has robust building blocks in place in most aspects of performance management. However, many of these operate in isolation, which can lead to a lack of clarity about objectives and to some duplication of effort. With the aim of ensuring the Council's investment in performance management supports its own objectives as well as meeting Government requirements, the Corporate Performance Manager has begun development of the Performance Management Framework. Working with Chris Locke, Organisational Development Manager, and Paddy Hillary, Corporate Policy Manager, the framework aims to clarify the links between planning and performance measurement from the corporate through to the individual level. Key aspects of the approach are to integrate strands of inter-related activity, ensure they are clearly expressed, promote common understanding of the framework and streamline performance activity, so that it is part of the day job rather than an add-on.

7.5 Work on this framework has already begun and feedback is currently being canvassed from departmental officers.

8 Learning and influencing

8.1 With `challenge' and `innovation' at the heart of the team's aims, it is important that the team takes opportunities to learn from others outside the Council. The team members attend selected seminars on performance related topics as well as being engaged in a number of networks that encourage learning and the sharing of ideas. With Hampshire's `excellent' status, these opportunities have increased through the Governments Innovation Forum (founded on the `excellent' authorities) and other networks. In addition sharing good practice with Hampshire district councils and with visiting colleagues has served to reinforce understanding of good practice.

8.2 Internally, the Corporate Performance Team has set up a group called Continuing Hampshire's Improvement and Performance Management (CHIMPS), which meets three times a year to consider how the development of performance management systems and processes might be improved and generally to share ideas and good practice. This provides a sequel to the original `Lessons Learnt Workshops' that were held at the early stages of Best Value, combining feedback from both Members and officers involved in reviews. As a result, Members are being invited to the Spring workshop each year and the first of these is scheduled for 5 March 2004. However, this invitation could be extended to Members of this Committee who wish to contribute their views to the more generic development of performance management.

9 Corporate Performance Team resources

9.1 The team comprises the Corporate Performance Manager and four Policy and Performance Officers, who fill three full time equivalent posts. Encouraging flexible working practices, through part-time working has supported the team' development of expertise in a variety of areas. Across the team it is necessary to field a wide range of competence, in order to adopt the appropriate style for different situations: challenging the status quo, facilitating people through review and service planning processes, guiding people to understand the principles of performance management, sifting and interpreting complex information, negotiating outcomes and managing projects to successful conclusions

9.2 The full year staffing costs for the team at 2003/04 values total £159,500.

Recommendations

1 That the committee note the information about the role of the Corporate Performance Team in response to questions raised in earlier meetings.

2 That the schedule of reporting to Members by the Corporate Performance Team informs the Committees's consideration of its own future programme.

3 That Members indicate if they wish to attend the meeting of CHIMPS on 5 March 2004.

N.B. The list excludes:

1. Published works

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

.