English councils achieve record results in the CPA (PF 8/2/08)

Evidence that publicly published performance results do improve performance. Especially since requirements for higher grades have moved upwards since CPA introduced.

Comment – Changing the beat, by Dick Sorabji (PF 7/12/07)

Problem of targets in policing: local issues arise and police need to fight back, but risk penalties if they fail to keep up with national targets. Improve accountability by putting Councillors in charge of police.

Signalling change, by Steve Bundred (PF 30/11/07)

CAA: will look beyond Council performance to what it is like to live in the areas. Aims to reduce assessment burden through joint working with other inspectorates and risk based approach.

Whitehall attempts to bring in local targets by the back door (PF 23/11/07)

Attempts by departments to add extra targets outside the 198 National Indicators regime.

Star ratings could go in planned local inspection regime (PF 23/11/07)

Question of how to present CAA results. In particular, the new Joint Risk Assessment – a single score would disguish varying performance across various local services. A traffic light system could be used to flag areas of concern.

Audit Commission widens CAA regime (PF 9/11/07)

Areas under review are ever widening. The CAA regime will now include environmental sustainability. Will extend current system to look at services across areas

Labour Party conference news – Brown softens tone but ‘business as usual’ on reform (PF 28/9/07)

New Economics Foundation says that the Gershon agenda is damaging other Government communities policies – example of contradictory targets.

Taking on the system, by John Seddon (PF 11/4/08)

Targets create waste, poor services, high costs and low morale. E.g. targets to perform planned maintenance on social housing cause delays in fixing faults and lead to unnecessary work on perfectly functional fittings.

Instead, Systems Thinking: an outside-in view of services, designing services responding to demand.

Measuring and Managing Performance in Local Government: Belfast City Council (www.ap-institute.com)

In designing system, attention given to Council’s Value Creation Map, a single image showing overall purpose, core competences and its key resources. Not static – to be updated over time. Projects and initiatives reviewed against the VCM to determine if they provided balanced support for value creation.

Decision to ignore statutory and reporting measures in new system. Start with strategy map and determine managers’ key questions. Design indicators to answer these questions.

Performance Improvement Meetings put in place to promote forward looking learning from data.

Also need to cascade into services – service level VCM. Way of streamlining the planning process – replaces previous corporate planning process. Workshops for service staff to teach them how to map stategy and create KPIs.

Targets: doing less of the wrong thing is not doing the right thing (Public Service, 15/2/07)

Examples of dysfunction:

- GP appointment bookings. Patients required to book appointments within 48 hours, rather than at a convenient time.

- Local government. Targets to get things done in 8 weeks don’t say anything about the end to end time for the customer, but encourage the provider to focus on ’stopping the clock’ by sending the customer to do something. Causes waste.