BOROUGH OF POOLE
SERVICE PROVISION SCRUTINY COMMITTEE
6TH NOVEMBER 2003
REPORT OF THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE ON PROGRESS WITH THE COMPREHENSIVE PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT IMPROVEMENT PLAN
1.INTRODUCTION
1.1At its last meeting, the Committee requested an update of progress with the Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) improvement plan.
1.2This covering report explains the background to the Chief Executive’s Commentary on progress so far, shown at Annex A, which was prepared for the Audit Commission in October 2003.
2.RECOMMENDATIONS
2.1It is recommended that Members note the contents of the Chief Executive’s Commentary.
3.BACKGROUND
3.1The Council was measured as ‘good’ in the way that it serves its local people by the Audit Commission through the CPA process in December 2002.
3.2As well as recognising the Council’s strengths, the assessment highlighted areas for further improvement. In line with the requirements of the CPA process, the Council identified improvement priorities and prepared an improvement plan, which was published in the Best Value Performance Plan in June 2003.
3.3Progress with implementing the improvement plan will be reviewed by the Audit Commission as part of a ‘qualitative assessment’ of Poole’s approach to securing continuous improvement. This will be integral to CPA improvement reporting for 2003.
3.4In order to assist the qualitative assessment, the Chief Executive was asked to provide a summary statement of progress made against the improvement priorities to the Audit Commission. A copy of the summary of progress to date is attached at Annex A.
3.5Results of the qualitative assessment will be included in a report from the Audit Commission, due in December 2003. Key highlights will from part of the text in our CPA scorecard, which is due to be published on 18th December 2003.
Prepared on behalf of the Chief Executive
Name and telephone number of Officer Contact
Bridget West
Corporate Performance Manager
01202 633085
Background papers
CPA Improvement Plan
Best Value Performance Plan 2003/04
CPA improvement reporting : qualitative assessment
Chief Executive’s Commentary October 2003
Introduction/ Context
The CPA report was finalized in December 2002, though we had of course seen drafts during the second half of the year and we submitted our Action Plan in early 2003. At that time the Council’s Management Team was at half strength and not surprisingly there was an increasing preoccupation amongst some Councillors with the May 2003 elections. Despite this shortage of time and senior resource, I am nevertheless very pleased to report significant improvements to our “direction of travel”.
At that time the overall performance of services was good and the evidence is that the position has been maintained . The CPA made the point that we had to adjust some of our underlying processes to make sure we could maintain and build upon that level of service quality and you will be able to see plenty of evidence that we are making good progress.
I will use our CPA action plan and your letter to me (22 September) as the framework for my commentary.
Improve strategic focus and prioritisation
It was evident when we agreed the timescale for our action plan that the timing of local elections was a significant issue. I am pleased to say that we are farther on than we envisaged in the plan. Immediately after the election the new political leadership shared with the Management Team the key issues in their manifesto and despite its imminent publication we were able to signal the change of leadership in the Best Value Performance Plan. Management Team and Cabinet have met informally to develop the new agenda and in August there was an away day for members to develop further their thinking. In July the whole Council met with representatives of Poole Partnership (our LSP) in the first State of the Area debate and Cabinet considered its approach to strategy and budget in September agreeing to adopt a longer term, strategic view of Poole and the Council’s role. All of this paved the way for the Leader to present his 5 strategic priorities in September and they have been adopted by full Council. The Leader has identified Portfolio Holders who will support officers in building the work programmes which will deliver the 5 priority areas and I have identified the Policy Directors who will lead on this work. The Leader and myself will reserve our input for drawing together the 5 pieces of work to make it a coherent package for Council to consider. It is anticipated that the work will be sufficiently advanced to be included with the medium term financial strategy and corporate risk assessment in our first Corporate Strategy and Business Plan due to be published in February 2004.
The new administration has adopted a single party Cabinet with 6 Portfolio Holders plus the Leader and Deputy. Portfolio Holders have quickly come to terms with their new roles and they, rather than officers, present reports to Cabinet. The Cabinet is now operating more effectively in my view. Officers have responded with better quality preparation and reports. This level of political clarity has meant that the Management Team felt able to publish its Business Plan in September 2003 and it will be used in the Employee Development Interviews scheduled to take place with Members in the next few months. The linkage of that Business Plan to the CPA action plan is clear to see.
Developing our People Strategy to support the Council’s vision, core values and performance plan
The changes to strategic direction will require a shift in our organisational capacity to deliver. For example the new administration is likely to consider new forms of funding the capital programme such as PFI and our skills in that area are not as advanced as they need to be. In a similar way to Policy Directors, guided by a Portfolio Holder, developing each of the 5 priorities, there is a team working on organisational capacity and I expect its preliminary work to have been completed for inclusion in the Corporate Strategy and Business Plan. The Management Team is working with Roger Paine of SOLACE to look at its own fitness for purpose for the new agenda.
The Head of Personnel has made the first of regular reports to the Management Team on corporate HR issues and will develop key indicators to support future reports.
Sunley have been engaged to rework the management development programme but it is clear that there is more to be done to support the capacity issue. Business planning and employee development interviews are highlighted in the draft Performance Management Framework and their format and role will become more formalised.
Improve effectiveness of political arrangements
At our meeting with Marianne Abley on 29th September we discussed the improvements made at some length and I have already referred to some of the issues under “corporate focus and effectiveness”. Despite a relatively poor start made by the Council in its new scrutiny role, we now have more sound arrangements in place and will be looking to build on these with your help.. A Policy Director has been identified through our Business Plan to lead on the work - we will look to make incremental improvements through the year but will report comprehensively in Spring 2004.
Ensure Performance Management drives service improvement
We have shared with you the draft Performance Management Framework which we expect to go to Cabinet in the near future. This has been a challenging piece of work for us because we are signalling a need for some shifts in organisational style against a background of a CPA that says our services are good.
We have developed a package of PSA targets that we feel are stretching and focussed on priority areas. The majority of the negotiations are complete and the rest will follow later this month..
Financial monitoring and performance has improved significantly in the past year. Management Team receive regular reports on key PIs and the financial position. Portfolio Holders report to cabinet on the budget position and this increased exposure has undoubtedly focussed energy on balancing the budget this year. The new Performance Management Framework provides the opportunity to develop a balanced scorecard approach to the key PIs. The CPA report felt that our target setting could be more stretching – we will have this in mind in developing the Corporate Strategy and Business Plan and the BVPP.
The medium term financial plan will also help us focus on performance management and we have also invited IDe&A to undertake a fitness test on our procurement processes, also in support of it.
Better articulate the Council’s leadership roles
The Council's support and facilitation of the Poole Partnership has allowed the formation of a robust steering group of approximately 20 organisations representing statutory, private, voluntary, community and governmental bodies within Poole. Also an Inclusive Forum of some 400 local bodies has been established and met on two occasions (with some 140 attending on each occasion). A vision document has been produced, together with the establishment of 9 strategic objectives to deliver the vision. An Annual Report, produced in September outlines the work to be done and gives examples of successes already achieved. The Council Administration invited the LSP to join with it in a State of the Area debate in July where local issues were identified and priorities discussed. Following this the Leader identified his five priorities for action which related closely to the objectives of the LSP and these were subsequently adopted by Council. I think that the CPA expressed some doubts about our thoughtful and grassroots approach to the LSP – I am delighted with the way it is developing and our relationship with it.
The Leader, Deputy and Portfolio Holders have been prominent, both within and outside the Council. There is an early willingness to tackle some wicked issues – for example in education where the Portfolio Holder and Policy Director are preparing for a State of Education debate which will open the door for an examination of school organisation in Poole. In another example, they have started consultation on withdrawing free school transport for Grammar and Denominational schools.
It is clear to me that the Cabinet wants to adopt a different stance to communications and consultation than the previous administration but as yet this isn’t expressed in a clear strategy and the Management Team will offer them options to consider.
The Management Team’s Business Plan has identified partnership mapping as a key outcome for us this year and we intend to reflect on how we can add value through our governance roles.
Improve Priority Services
The CPA action plan identified three key areas: education, social services and regeneration. In all three areas we have made progress in better articulation of our policy position ( for example in regeneration -preparation of strategies for developer contributions, delivery mechanisms and streetscape; imminent appointment of project co-ordinator; better developed project plan and clearer accountabilities.)
Good progress has been made in implementing our OFSTED inspection action plan. Relatively simple administrative improvements are complete. Improvements to data analysis, pupil tracking, progression and the teaching of numeracy have been addressed in the second Education Development Plan as recommended. OFSTED graded EDP2 as good. The Council is consulting on measures to make discretionary transport arrangements fairer, as well as proposing a borough wide debate on education, including school organisation in the face of falling rolls. The CPA focussed attention on Key Stage 2 and this year our schools’ KS2 results were the most improved in the country. Whilst it isn’t possible to say that this is a sustainable improvement arising directly from our KS2 improvement strategy, it is none the less pleasing
Since the CPA, Social Services has been the subject of a Joint SSI and Audit Commission Review and gained the judgment that….
"Poole is serving most people well and.... the prospects for improvement are promising."
In addition to this excellent judgment we have also invested additional management team resources in addressing the difficult issues surrounding the Social Services budget and the current projections indicate that it will come in within budget this year. Apart from the three areas mentioned in our action plan, I am pleased to report improvements across a broad front. For example there is evidence that our relatively modest increased investment in the street cleaning budget is making a real difference: our Housing Services have been given the approval to set up an ALMO: our draft medium term financial plan is making provision to implement the waste strategy: etc
Conclusion
We felt that our CPA rating, “good”, was a fair assessment. We have embraced the CPA action plan with a view to consolidating our position and then being able to make a case for excellence. Our services remain good and the “direction of travel” is excellent with:-
- A new Corporate Strategy and Business Plan based on clear priorities due to be published in February 2004, less than 10 months after a change in political leadership.
- People Strategy implementation supporting the new agenda
- Improved political arrangements
- New Performance Management Framework ready to be launched
- New administration quickly taking up their leadership challenge
- Across the board service improvements built onto an already good base position.
John McBride
Chief Executive, Borough of Poole
October 2003