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Performance Information

Our Vision:

"Making Life Better- Improving quality of life and sustainability for all by providing high quality services to our communities and helping to deliver community needs."

This is a very broad statement of the Council's longer term aim which reflects how the Council sees its contribution to national, regional and local priorities.

Our Corporate Plan for 2008 - 2012 sets out how we will deliver and improve our performance through 6 priority themes which are aligned with those in the Community Plan:

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

Corporate Plan 2008-12 Opens in a new window

Performance Management Roles & Responsibilities

Introduction

Performance Management reporting: The way we report and challenge performance is at the heart of our performance management framework. It ensures a systematic approach to performance management. It assures senior officers, members and the public about how well we are performing and what we are improving.

Performance is managed through a cyclical arrangement to ensure continuous improvement. Four times a year we review performance from the previously quarter; identifying the achievement of targets, required improvements and actions. This review happens at Theme level (through Performance Clinics at Managerial Leadership Boards), corporately to senior managers (through the Senior Officer Group) and through Scrutiny Committees to Cabinet. Information is then published on the internet for public consumption and disseminated to our partners, where appropriate.

Roles and responsibilities
Managerial Leadership Boards (generally through the Performance Clinics) will:

• Ensure that monitoring of performance is undertaken for their Theme.
• Develop 'proxy' indicators to weather check progress towards Corporate Plan indicators when those indicators can not be measured routinely enough (indicators that are delivered through surveys, for example).
• Challenge performance.
• Identify over, on target or under performance.
• Identify opportunities.
• Identify risks associated with not achieving targets and articulate them in their performance report.
• Identify the actions within their control necessary to re-balance performance, as appropriate.
• Ensure that resources are directed appropriately.
• Attending councilors will assure themselves that performance is being appropriately managed for that Theme.

Theme Leads (assisted by relevant officers when necessary) will:

• Present an update on performance and highlight any risks both present and future to each quarterly Performance Clinic.
• Be expected to give assurance to the Performance Clinic that performance is being actively and appropriately managed.
• Update relevant members about changes following SOG and prior to Overview and Scrutiny.
• Work with their relevant Cabinet member to present overarching conclusions and issues to O&S and Cabinet - with an emphasis on delivery.

The Performance Clinic Enquiry Team will:

• Seek to satisfy themselves that a high level of confidence exists that performance is on target and that risks are being managed.
• Identify and debate additional issues to reach agreement with the Board about suitable risks.

Members attending Performance Clinics will:

• As the Cabinet representative, be responsible for ensuring that performance for the Theme is scrutinised adequately and report to the relevant Overview and Scrutiny Committee and then Cabinet.
• As the representative of an Overview and Scrutiny, attend to provide additional challenge to performance for that Theme and to give assurance to Overview and Scrutiny that debate was sufficient and adequate. To ensure that the additional challenge is achieved at the Overview and Scrutiny meeting, the Chair and Vice Chair can not be nominated as a representative at the performance clinic.

Senior Officers Group will:

• Ensure that monitoring of performance is undertaken for the whole Corporate Plan.
• Ensure that Corporate Plan targets are reviewed annually and set appropriately.
• Challenge performance.
• Board chairs will highlight, by exception, any issues.
• Identify over, on target or under performance.
• Identify strategic opportunities and risks.
• Ensure that resources are directed appropriately.
• Work corporately to identify the actions within their control necessary to re-balance under or over performance.
• Identify any issues to refer back to Boards or for the Chief Officers Management Team

Scrutiny will:

• Assure itself that over, on target or under performance has been robustly challenged and that actions are appropriate.
• Confirm or suggest further recommendations to Cabinet.

Managerial Leadership Board Cabinet members will:

• Work with their relevant Lead Officer to present overarching conclusions and issues to O&S and Cabinet - with an emphasis on policy issues affecting members.

Cabinet will:

• Receive information from the Overview and Scrutiny Committee responsible for a particular Theme supported by the relevant Cabinet Member.
• Assure itself that the actions being taken to redress under or over performance are sufficient and appropriate including those identified by Scrutiny, where appropriate.

Heads of Service will:

• Challenge and approve business plans that both identify Theme delivery requirements and address service performance generally. Ensure they are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time bound (SMART).
• Agree appropriately challenging annual targets.
• Ensure that their services monitor and manage their performance quarterly against their business plans.
• Identify the actions within their control necessary to re-balance under or over performance.
• Identify to the relevant Board any risks that service performance may impact on Theme performance.
• Ensure that information on service performance is supplied to others when necessary.
• Ensure that Appraisals are carried out comprehensively.

Section Heads and their teams will:

• Develop, with staff, business plans that both identify Theme delivery requirements and address service performance generally. Ensure they are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time bound.
• Identify appropriately challenging annual targets.
• Deliver activity to deliver the business plan.
• Ensure that performance information is accurate and auditable.
• Ensure that Appraisals are carried out thoroughly and contain all the required actions to meet business plan targets.

The Performance and Improvement Team will:

• Ensure that the requirements of the performance management framework are being met. This will include ensuring that
• the performance cycle is maintained
• targets are SMART and sufficiently challenging
• as far as possible that Theme and Business Plan actions will ensure that the Council will deliver the Corporate Plan
• quality check Theme and Business Plans to ensure that they are SMART
• work with service to ensure that data quality is accurate
• Make recommendations for intervention to Boards where performance is below target.
• Assist services in the development of their business plans, challenging them to ensure that the 'golden thread' is maintained.
• Review and propose improvements to the performance management framework.

Everyone will:

• Read all the paperwork prior to each meeting to ensure that they are prepared adequately.
• Highlight significant issues prior to meetings with the Theme Lead so that they can prepare and ensure that meetings are managed as efficiently as possible.