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Performance Indicators

Best Value

What is Best Value?

The Government has set out an Agenda for improving local services through Best Value. From April 1, 2000, the Local Government Act 1999 placed a duty on local authorities to:

• Make arrangements to secure continuous improvements in the way in which they exercise their functions, having regard to a combination of economy, efficiency and effectiveness

Councils are accountable to local people and are required to set standards for all services for which they are responsible.

Best Value means:

Better quality services at a reasonable cost and more say for local people about their services.

Your Services - Our Performance

All local authorities including the county council, district councils and the fire authority in Shropshire have to:

• review their services
• set challenging targets to improve them
• publish a Performance Plan and a summary to tell you whether things are improving

Since April 2000, the following Best Value Reviews have been completed:

Year	Service area and improvement plan	Audit Commission report
2000/2001	Emergency Planning
	Cesspool and Septic Tank Emptying
	Street Cleansing	Street Cleansing report
	Personnel & Payroll
	Sundry Debtors
	Reprographics
2001/2002	Licensing
	Building Control
	Information Technology	Information Technology Report
	Housing Voids
2002/2003	Environmental Services	Environmental Services Report
	Access to Services
	Audit
2003/2004	Council Tax and Housing Benefits
	Housing Services
2004/2005	Cultural Services
	Leisure and Amenity Services
2005/06	Community Improvement

All local authorities have to examine each service provided and ask the following questions:

• Challenge - Why do we provide this service?
• Consult - What do local people want? Do employees have ideas on how we can improve?
• Compare - Is our service better, worse or the same as other councils or outside providers?
• Compete - Could another contractor do the job better or cheaper than us?  Could we provide the service in partnership with another provider?'
• Collaborate - We have added Collaborate to the 4C's to add completeness to the Best Value Review process. We aim to collaborate actively with existing partners and potential future partners to clarify roles and responsibilities, avoid duplication of service delivery and to maximise the potential for co-op work to the benefit of Bridgnorth residents.

Best Value allows us to reflect on what we do and how it has been achieved so that we can look at options to do things differently to improve. Therefore, through Best Value we can demonstrate to the people of Bridgnorth, best use of resources and enhanced service delivery, in an ever-changing social and economic environment.

What is the Best Value Performance Plan (BVPP)?

The purpose of the Performance Plan is to inform the community and our stakeholders about the council's services and activities and what it intends to do in the future.

The aims and objectives identified in the Performance Plan are drawn from those incorporated into the Community Strategy for Bridgnorth. The Community Strategy is a document designed to capture and address the key concerns and priorities of local people for the next ten years by working together with the Bridgnorth District Community Partnership - a partnership of local organisations from the public, voluntary and private sectors.

The Performance Plan gives information on:

• How we have met our previous year's objectives and performance targets and how our performance compares with other authorities;
• The performance targets we have set for the future, and how well we're doing in meeting those targets;
• Outcomes of Best Value reviews and the improvements to be put in place arising from those reviews.

The plan provides a means of enabling the public to assess the extent to which Best Value is being achieved, or in other words, a means by which an authority is held to account for the efficiency and effectiveness of its services.

Our Best Value Performance Plan provides information on our strategic vision, aims and priorities and our corporate management approach.

It describes key issues and proposals for each of our main service areas and gives details on our approach to Best Value, the Best Value Review Outcomes and audits and inspections carried out by District Audit and the Audit Commission.

However, it is also very much a working document, used by managers as a means of ensuring they deliver their services with the corporate approach and principles of Best Value.

Download the Best Value Performance Plan 2002/3.

Download the Best Value Performance Plan 2003/4.

Download the Best Value Performance Plan for 2004/05.

Download the Best Value Performance Plan for 2005/06.

Download the Best Value Performance Plan for 2006/07.

Download the Best Value Performance Plan for 2007/08.

Best Value Performance Plan 2008/09

What are Performance Indicators (PIs)?

These are a set of standards or measurements against which local authorities monitor their performance.
All service areas at the council are required to produce an annual service plan, which outlines performance levels achieved in the previous year and sets targets and aspirations for the following year. Performance is measured against a variety of indicators, both national and local. A panel of councillors review performance of all services every six months.

As part of Best Value service reviews, council services are required to monitor their performance against other similar providers of services, using performance indicators as the main basis of comparison.

Levels of performance for all council services are published annually in the Best Value Performance Plan. The data included in the BVPP allows the following to be measured:

• Level of performance achieved for each indicator
• Comparative performance over a three year period
• Bridgnorth District Council's performance compared with the average performance of all district councils in the country
• Bridgnorth District Council's performance with the average performance of similar local authorities