COMPREHENSIVE PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT

 

1.1  This statement is an up-date to the self-assessment made in spring 2003 in preparation for the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA).  Within the four pages available, it will focus on the progress made in the intervening period to address issues and to make further improvements.  It also signals how challenges that have emerged more recently are to be addressed.

 

1.2  In the past year, the Council has concentrated on addressing three areas of relative weakness identified in the CPA - performance management, capacity and achievement in quality of service.  The first two feature as top priority themes in the Council's Improvement Plan whilst the third has been addressed by other means. 

 

 

2.1  A team of senior managers led by the Chief Executive meets on a regular basis to develop and progress improvements.  As a result staff are involved in target setting and the identification of local indicators.  All staff have been surveyed to establish the best approaches to attract their interest in the management of performance.  Improved ways of presenting performance information to Members and the public have been introduced.  Members were closely involved in setting a small group of business-critical and community-critical indicators.  These are reviewed quarterly by the Board and the three P & O Committees and encourage Members to focus on the big issues.

 

2.2 The Council's approach to risk is better developed, with training having been made available to both Members and officers. A Risk Management Strategy is in place, and strategic as well as operational risk assessments have been completed.  As part of the Council's approach to health and safety, a stress-based risk assessment of every post has been undertaken.

 

2.3  The Council has been working closely with its Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) partners to improve performance management arrangements for the Community Strategy.  Having adopted a recommended self-assessment framework, firm targets and community outcomes have been specified and published.  ( cn2010 website)

 

2.4  The Council sees evaluation as an integral part of its management of performance.  Pilot projects are taking place in two Directorates to see how evaluation can best be used as a routine part of working practices.

 

2.5   By the end of the year, the planned programme of improvements to our performance management system will have been achieved, and it is envisaged that this theme will be removed from the Improvement Plan, as originally intended, when it is reviewed next month. 

 

 

3.1  The Council regards collaborative working with other agencies as an important way of releasing capacity and reducing costs.  It is giving leadership currently to a County-wide initiative to work jointly across a range of service provision.  Building on the success of the ICT partnership with Chester, further examples of progress include a four-District acquisition of a common Benefits and Council Tax system and a joint contract with Macclesfield for the delivery of occupational health services.  An integrated Facilities Management contract is now out to tender with private companies.  During the year the Council has outsourced both planning applications and food inspections to enhance capacity.  A revised Procurement Strategy has been approved by the Council's Board, as well as a Local Code of Corporate Governance.

 

3.2  Plans are in hand to introduce e-procurement systems in 2005.  A number of administrative processes such as recruitment and income collection are being examined to improve effectiveness.  A new financial management and information system was established on time and within budget.  A review of Member and officer delegations has been undertaken and more responsibilities are now delegated.

 

3.3  The allocation of 'Corporate Project' status to five key areas of investment has proved to be a useful mechanism for securing coordinated action and focusing on priorities.  This is reported to the Board every six months.

 

3.4  Whilst good progress has been made on a range of matters, which improve capacity, there is yet more to do.  When the Improvement Plan is reviewed, the Board will be recommended to continue with the 'Capacity' theme and to expand it.  There will be a new focus on the best use of resources which will weave together a number of initiatives linked to procurement, collaboration, revised work processes, cost-sharing, cost reductions and revenue generation.

 

3.5  Please use the link in the menu at the side of this page for a summary of progress on the remaining three Improvement Plan themes, all of which have a longer timespan.

 

 

4.1  A critical indicator is the proportion of BVPIs that there are in the top and second quartile.  In 2002 this was 52%; in 2003 it was 55%.  Looking overall at the performance information available to it, and in particular the recent performance on those indicators which it considers a priority, the Council feels that it is continuing to improve at an acceptable rate.  The Council has learned the advantage of using a resource and management focus to bring about significant service improvements in key areas.

 

4.2   Following a 50% increase in planning applications in a three year period, the speed of processing was dropping.  A mixture of more staff, better monitoring and revised business processes has lifted performance considerably since the CPA.  Last year we were able to tick two of the success boxes for the planning delivery grant; this year we can tick five.

 

4.3   A major expansion of service, combined with education programmes has resulted in a doubling of recycling activity in the last two years.  Two new kerbside collection services garden waste and paper - have been introduced in the last 18 months.  The number of 'bring' sites has been trebled in three years.  As a result, the Council exceeded the Government's recycling target by 50% in March this year and will meet the 2006 target a year early.

 

4.4  Sickness absence affects service quality.  Better focused management arrangements and better occupational health advice has contributed to a 40% rate of improvement in the first six months of the year compared with the previous year.  A top quartile out-turn is anticipated.  This will provide £240,000 added value in a full year.

 

4.5  The results of the 2003 General Household survey (3.6Mb) and associated surveys were a mixture of good and bad.  The good news was that customer satisfaction with planning and housing benefit services increased by 4.8% and 4.9% respectively.  When asked whether particular services had improved over the last three years, the net view (better minus worse) was a very positive one for waste collection, recycling and more marginal (but positive nevertheless) for cleanliness, parks and open spaces, sport/leisure facilities and theatres/concert halls.  The only negative figure was for museums/galleries and the Council does not operate any.

 

4.6  However, the overall satisfaction with the Council declined from 69% to 53% in the three year period.  Set against this is a decline in dissatisfaction from 20% to 13%, and when asked whether the way the Council runs things has got better or worse, 23% said better, 11% said worse.

 

4.7  The principal conclusion the Council takes from this is that whilst the public are saying that service quality is improving, they are not satisfied with how the Council acts in other ways.  The results showed a growing concern with issues such as crime, traffic congestion and road and pavement repairs.  The Council's view is that there is scope to increase its advocacy role and to give more leadership on cross-cutting issues.  Members have directed that a comprehensive Community Leadership Programme will be in place by March next year.  The concerns raised by the survey are being fed into the review of the Corporate Strategy in December.

 

 

5.1  Following a review last December, the Council decided to retain its four corporate priorities.   However, it did take the opportunity to define better the outcomes expected and to align them with the outcome statements used by the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP).  A further development was that the ensuing Service Plans shifted from their previous Directorate base and became directly aligned with the four corporate priorities (Push for Prosperity : Customer Focus : Improving the Area's Appearance : Neighbourhood Action). That has helped to ensure that organisational boundaries do not get in the way of what we are wishing to achieve.  Local residents will have seen positive improvements for themselves - available from the link in the menu at the side of this page.

 

 

6.1  The Council's Revenue Strategy is designed to give continuing financial support to the Council's corporate priorities.  Through asset disposals and further receipts from the disposal to Wulvern, the Council has approximately £7m more capital available than a year ago.  The 2004 2009 Capital Investment Strategy directs more investment towards housing, activities for young persons and urban renewal objectives.

 

6.2  The Council has also added to its general revenue resources in the past year and these now stand at 79% above a risk-assessed floor.   The Council's financial position is sound.  The Borough's level of Council Tax is the second lowest in Cheshire and with the lowest aggregate increase in the County over the last five years.  The formal policy is not to increase Council Tax by more than 5% in either of the next two years.

 

6.3   The current external Audit Plan assesses all categories as low risk apart from a medium assessment for money laundering (staff training not yet delivered).

 

6.4   The current status of externally assessed strategies and statements is:

7.1  As part of expanding its community leadership role, the Council plans to make a major contribution to a number of cross-cutting issues.  It will act as a pilot area in the next Local Public Service Agreement to co-ordinate multi-agency action against alcohol abuse.  This will involve the Police, health authorities, voluntary sector and the evening entertainment industry.  A further initiative will be to expand on the Council's activity to improve the health of the community. More joint appointments with the Primary Care Trust are under discussion.

 

7.2   The Community Leadership Programme now in preparation will seek to integrate Member development, communications, consultation and community engagement.  It will be in place by March to coincide with the start of the Community Strategy review.   Some 22 Members are now involved in some way with the work of the LSP.  The setting of a new Community Strategy by the end of next year will in turn cause the Council to undertake a fundamental review of its own Corporate Strategy after three years of operation.  Clear links will be made with the development of the Council's involvement in a Cheshire Local Area Agreement which will need to be settled at around that time.

 

7.3   Revisions to the 'Capacity' theme in the Improvement Plan will be designed to ensure that the Council is making best use of resources and at the same time approaching in a planned and systematic way the efficiency gains needed to meet Gershon requirements.

 

 

8.1   The Council has used the CPA last year as a springboard in its mission to improve.  It has been successful in raising performance in a number of priority areas. It is also working effectively with its partners.  It is well aware of the challenges ahead and is planning adjustments to its capacity in order to meet them. 

 

8.2   But the final test is whether all this has made a difference on the ground. The Appendix shows 40 real improvements made in the last 12 months that the public will have noticed.