Improving councils as organisations
In recent years central Government has introduced a large amount of legislation aimed at reviewing, monitoring and evaluating local government services with a view to improvement. Local councils are constantly striving to work in a more efficient way and provide value for money in the services they offer.
Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA)
CPA is an inspection regime designed to assess a council’s overall performance. The ultimate aim of CPA is to drive the improvement of services. Information gained from the process is intended to better target support for councils, provide clear information for the public on the performance of their local council and make it easier to identify poor performance with a view to taking action to resolve any problems.
Evidence about a council’s performance, with a key focus on value for money and partnership working, is taken from a wide range of different sources and gathered together to give an overall view of council performance. After the assessment has taken place, district councils are currently identified as being in one of five categories of performance: excellent, good, fair, weak or poor. Instead of these categories county, metropolitan and unitary councils also receive a star rating between zero and four (four being the highest) and a ‘direction of travel’, which will show them to be either ‘not improving’, ‘not improving adequately’, ‘improving adequately’, ‘improving well’ or ‘improving strongly’.
Councils in the high performing categories benefit from additional freedoms and flexibilities and will undergo less inspection in the future. Those in the other categories are expected to progress up the performance spectrum and will receive targeted help to improve.
To find out more about CPA, how it works and how your local council scores check the Audit Commission website.
More information about CPA for local councils is available on the IDeA website.
Efficiency
Efficiency is not all about budget cuts and closing down valuable services. It is about providing efficient services that are good value for money, user friendly and effective.
As result of the Gershon Efficiency Review in 2004, local councils are under increasing pressure to show efficiency gains. Local councils must submit an annual efficiency statement reporting gains from the previous financial year and showing an action plan for the coming year.
A key way in which local councils are starting to see significant efficiency savings is through e-government. Councils are offering more of their services online, for example, enabling residents to make council tax payments via the internet. They are also carrying out many more of their internal processes using electronic means, such as e-procurement and e-recruitment.
To find out how local councils are making greater efficiency savings check the IDeA website.
To find out more about local e-government check the local e-gov website www.localegov.gov.uk.
Best Value
In the context of CPA and making efficiency savings, local councils also need to review all their activities in line with Best Value legislation and ensure there are action plans from these reviews to ensure service improvement. This involves considering costs, as well as making the most of money spent, making sure that services meet the needs of communities’ and the council’s priorities.
A Best Value Review must include consultation with council tax payers, business rate payers, users and potential users of services and anyone interested in the work area. The review should be based on local priorities such as: where there is most scope for improvement; where services are performing poorly; and areas of significant local interest or concern. It should also take into account the 4cs: challenge why a service is provided; compare performance with others; consult service users; and compete openly to provide the best service.
As a result of Best Value Reviews, the council must produce a Best Value Performance Plan, with clear actions for the following year.
To find out more about Best Value check the IDeA website.