Contact: Jenny Heath, ext 01962 847402

1 CPA result and detailed responses

1.1 The revised Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) model for 2005 included an assessment of the Council's direction of travel since the previous assessment in 2004. This was based on the Council's self-assessment, submitted in September 2005, and its validation through a focussed audit, which followed national key lines of enquiry. Overall the Council's performance is assessed as `Improving Well', only one step away from the top score of `Improving Strongly'.

1.2 Tackling issues raised by the auditor will be a key element in demonstrating commitment to improving the Council's direction of travel. The presentation of the Annual Audit and Inspection Letter and the Council's response to the audit recommendations, also on this agenda, provide the detail of areas being worked on.

2 Strategic approach to improving direction of travel

2.1 In addition to responding to audit recommendations, the Council should take a strategic approach to raising next year's assessment score by:

· increasing the engagement of senior members and officers in performance management

· learning lessons from other authorities who are already assessed as improving strongly

· increasing the Council's influence at national level.

3 Increasing the engagement of senior members and officers in performance management

3.1 CPA has been a catalyst in raising the profile of performance information and in ensuring that people at all levels of the organisation are aware of how they contribute to delivering high quality public services to the people of Hampshire. Since the first Corporate Assessment in 2002, considerable progress has been made in developing the existing building blocks of performance management into a coherent and cohesive framework:

· Development of consistent service planning across the organisation and identification of the `golden thread' of objective setting at all levels

· Production of regular performance reports, providing information on progress with local corporate goals alongside national targets

· Clarification of accountability for delivering against national targets

· Significant improvement in the accuracy of performance data

· Integration of service planning with resource (people and budget) planning and extension of the time horizon for strategic planning

· Increasing emphasis on outcomes in setting priorities and making plans, helping to promote a `customer focus'

· Integration of review activity into a single programme and concentration on strategic, cross-cutting activities

· Overall streamlining of performance processes, so they do not become a burden in themselves and so they are capable of adapting to changing requirements, such as the efficiency agenda.

3.2 Despite this progress, `performance management' is still commonly seen as the province of `performance people', who are trusted to protect those who do the real work from the rigours of audit and inspection regimes. The next step is to promote the value of incorporating performance management into everyday activity and decision making. Current initiatives to promote this perspective are summarised in the appendix and include:

· Cllr Davidovitz' outline review of performance and efficiency, taking the 2004/05 performance results as his starting point.

· The internal Performance Support Network of key officers and members meeting in November to consider the presentation and usefulness of the corporate performance results.

· As the corporate performance results have been reported to Cabinet, Executive Members have been asked to consider the information relating to their own portfolios in more detail. The Corporate Performance Manager is holding individual meetings with Executive Members, to explain the information as currently presented and to discuss options for them to use performance information to measure progress against departmental goals.

3.3 The following conclusions have been reached:

· The presentation of results should be tailored according to different audiences. Cabinet, in particular, should receive only corporate, cross-cutting results, with an analysis of the issues emerging and clear pointers to the questions that these raise and which should be addressed by Cabinet and the Corporate Management Team.

· Executive Members and Departmental Management Teams should receive departmental performance results regularly and respond to it, so they are well placed to answer any questions as they arise in Cabinet.

· An IT system to facilitate different presentations of performance information is essential.

· The reporting mechanisms should encourage debate about the issues raised. This may mean greater direct involvement of people responsible for delivering on key targets and better analysis of the information, so that action is taken when appropriate.

· Cllr Davidovitz' role can now be more clearly defined as being commissioned to investigate some areas more fully on the basis of performance results, and supporting Cabinet colleagues in challenging performance that falls short of anticipated targets.

· The corporate review programme is a key mechanism in challenging services to improve and therefore should be carefully considered to ensure the right functions or services are reviewed and resources are appropriately deployed to enable the review to be effective.

4 Learning lessons from other authorities

4.1 There are two elements to the new CPA score:

· A score of between nil and four stars for current performance

· An assessment of direction of travel at four levels: `not improving adequately'; `improving adequately', `improving well', `improving strongly'.

A review of the 2005 CPA results show that only three county councils were assessed as `Improving Strongly' as well as having achieved a Four Star score for services delivered. They are: Derbyshire County Council, Kent County Council and Shropshire County Council. Of these, Derbyshire and Shropshire scored at the same level as Hampshire for service performance: 20 out of a possible 24, while Kent scored 18.

4.2 It is proposed that a small team of members and officers visit one of these top scoring county councils, with a view to learning lessons about what made the difference in their direction of travel assessment. Plans for such a visit and the structure of question areas can be made in liaison with the Leader and the Executive Member for Performance, Efficiency and Communications.

5 Improving influence at the national level

5.1 The CPA model aims to be an objective assessment of performance with evidence-based judgements. It is also by nature a complex model, aiming to capture performance across wide-ranging functions where there are often gaps in the data available, which may be filled by deduction, assumptions and qualitative judgements. The Council has sought to minimise the risk of adverse assessments by developing effective working relationships with local inspectors and auditors, so that there is an open and honest two-way communication about lines of enquiry and evidence provided. This has ensured there are few misinterpretations of the results and that the final assessment is recognised as a fair reflection of the council's performance.

5.2 As far as the Council is concerned, a weaker link in the CPA process occurs through national moderation, when it is less clear what factors impact on the final scores. Other local authorities are more engaged in the national arena where it may be possible to gain insights into these issues and to raise the profile of the Council as a committed participant in the improvement agenda.

5.3 There is no guaranteed payback from time and effort invested, which might be a distraction and a waste of resources. However, in addition to raising the Council's profile in a positive way, greater involvement in national fora can directly benefit local communities: a recent example of the benefits of networking has been the opportunity to influence David Miliband and obtain support for the Rowner Project.

Recommendation

1 That Cabinet support the development of the Comprehensive Performance Results (CPR) to make them more accessible and streamlined following the support and ideas generated from the Member and officer Performance Support Network (PSN).

2 That Cabinet support the refocusing of the corporate review programme onto value for money as part of a developing value for money strategy to drive improvement and meet the requirements of CPA the harder test.

3 That Cabinet approve a visit to a similar top performing authority to see what lessons can be learned to improve the County Council's CPA direction of travel judgement.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background documents

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

NB: the list excludes:

1. Published works

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

Documents: none