Performance Management And Comprehensive Area Assessment

Improving public service is at the top of local and national agendas. The demand for improvement and the pace of improvement have increased dramatically in the last few years. Local authorities and members are faced with an immense and complex range of challenges. These include local authorities role in community leadership, Local Strategic Partnerships (LSP's), Local Area Agreements (LAA) and the new Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA).

The focus of performance management is on the future, using past performance to identify opportunities for improvement and corrective action. Effective performance management enables the Council to manage competing and complex demands and ensure that outcomes are focused on improving the quality of life for citizens and businesses.

Performance Indicators

The National Indicator set was introduced for 2008/09 and contains 25 indicators which are informed by citizens' views and perspectives. To reduce the number of surveys being undertaken by local authorities, 18 of these are being collected through the Place Survey.

Place Survey

The Place Survey was developed by the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) and focuses on views of citizens about where they live, looking at a range of services and joint concerns.

The results of the survey will be used by external inspectorates as evidence for both the area and organisational assessments in the Comprehensive Area Assessment.

Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA)

Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) is the new framework for the independent assessment of local public services in England and came into effect on 1 April 2009. CAA replaces Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA), which has been the inspection and assessment framework for local authorities since 2002.

Preparation for assessment are being undertaken by the Audit Commission, assessments will be made publicly available every year starting in November 2009, and will provide an annual snapshot of quality of life in the area.

Performance Management and Scrutiny

The Comprehensive Area Assessment sets out a framework by which the Authority's performance is measured. Scrutiny Committees look at how particular services are performing against key indicators and make recommendations for improvements as necessary. By looking at performance management information, Committees can check on areas of concern, examining whether the expected outcomes of policy and services are being achieved.

Scrutiny members can also undertake in-depth investigations and reviews, examining the outcome, impact or gaps in services or policies from a citizen's perspective. By examining what the "real" issues are for service users or potential users and making recommendations for changes and improvement.

Hambleton Position

The Corporate Plan was produced in 2008, to enable the Council to meet its contribution to local, national and regional priorities to improve quality of life for citizens and businesses in the district. Following consultation with the community, key priorities were identified, these included:

  • Recycling
  • Decent housing
  • Street cleaning
  • Activities for teenagers
  • Public transport

 

To enable the council to demonstrate it is delivering and reviewing these priorities and to address emerging issues, full quarterly performance management information against all measured indicators is reported to performance clinics by Theme;

  • Prosperity
  • Health
  • Safety
  • Places
  • People and Sustainable Communities
  • An Excellent Council.

The performance clinics aim to drive continuous improvement by managing and challenging performance.

Performance Reports

On a quarterly basis the performance, against each Theme will be presented to a performance clinic, incorporating information on all targets, resources, risks and customer feedback. Following the clinic, reports and recommendations will be compiled and presented to the relevant Scrutiny committee where they will be subject to additional challenge by Members. The revised reports, incorporating further recommendations and comment will then be reported to Cabinet.

 


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