Promising Beginnings To Best Value

The Best Value regime has started well and is promoting change within local authorities, according to a new report¹ published today.

The report, by the Audit Commission, shows there should now be a steady improvement in services delivered to the public if councils' targets are met.

Entitled 'A Step In The Right Direction: Lessons From Best Value Performance Plans', it also shows that to sustain this success authorities must learn from their experience of performance planning, tackle variations in the quality of planning arrangements and be confident in turning aspirations into reality.

The report follows the Commission's analysis of the first year of BVPPs and the accompanying audits. It also includes a MORI survey of local authorities' views on best value and comments made by Commission inspectors.

It shows:

• If targets set by local authorities for 2000/01 are met, then a steady overall improvement in many frontline services should take place;
• The worst performing authorities are aiming to improve more quickly - and the gap between the worst and average authorities is set to narrow;
• For housing repairs, the gap will narrow by 12.5 per cent in two years if projected targets are sustained; for time taken to get equipment to people with disabilities, the gap will narrow by 39 per cent;
• When reviewing services, authorities have taken local people's concerns into account.

The report draws on independent MORI research that suggests authorities found their first experience of best value performance planning difficult but useful. It says that 87 per cent of authorities would produce a similar performance plan again, even if they did not have to. However while authorities welcomed Best Value they did express concerns about the cost and complexity of the regime.

To ensure that authorities build on this positive start, the report identifies a number of areas to focus on:

• Authorities should integrate best value performance planning into their core management systems particularly covering finance;
• Authorities need to refocus their service review programmes to ensure they are imaginative enough to address the big issues or deliver significant improvements to local communities;
• Authorities need to embed Best Value into the everyday activity that helps encourage members and staff to improve services for local people.

The report also recommends that the ODPM (DTLR) keep all statutory performance targets under review and develop new incentives to encourage full commitment to Best Value. The Commission has suggested that the IDeA concentrates on supporting authorities who have difficulty in adapting to the new regime.

Andrew Foster, Controller of the Audit Commission, said:

"It's heartening that local authorities see the best value planning process as a way to take stock of where they are, where they want to be and how to get there and not just as another hoop to jump through.

"The challenge will be to make the planning part of the way councils do business on a daily basis, to better serve the people of their area and their needs and wants.

"To make that cheaper and easier, we have listened to authorities, reduced the cost of local value for money work and suspended compulsory Audit Commission performance indicators for this year."

¹A Step in the Right Direction: lessons form the best value performance plans (ISBN 1862402523) is available from Audit Commission Publications on 0800 502030, priced 16320.

Technical details

The Audit Commission for local authorities and the NHS in England and Wales is an independent body established under the provisions of the Audit Commission Act 1998. Its duties are to appoint auditors to all local and health authorities and to help them bring about improvements in economy, efficiency and effectiveness directly through the audit process and through value for money studies. The Audit Commission's Inspection service is responsible for the inspection of many local government services, and incorporates a dedicated housing inspectorate responsible for reviewing local authority housing departments and services. The Inspection service inspects local social services departments jointly with the Social Services Inspectorate and the Social Services Inspectorate Wales; and inspection of local education authorities jointly with OFSTED and Estyn.