APPENDIX F - SERVICE PLANS AND PERFORMANCE TARGETS FOR 2003/04 : Executive on 04/02/2003

Waverley Borough Council Committee System - Committee Document

Meeting of the Executive held on 04/02/2003
APPENDIX F - SERVICE PLANS AND PERFORMANCE TARGETS FOR 2003/04

Service plans play a vital role in connecting the Council’s corporate strategy with service delivery and performance management. The purpose of this report is to enable the Executive to receive the considered comments of the Leisure, Community and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committees and agree the performance targets for 2003/04.

-APPENDIX F

WAVERLEY BOROUGH COUNCIL

EXECUTIVE - 4TH FEBRUARY 2003

Title:

SERVICE PLANS AND PERFORMANCE TARGETS FOR 2003/04

[Wards Affected: N/A]

Summary and Purpose

Service plans play a vital role in connecting the Council’s corporate strategy with service delivery and performance management. The purpose of this report is to enable the Executive to receive the considered comments of the Leisure, Community and Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committees and agree the performance targets for 2003/04.

The report includes reference to the resource, human rights, “Opportunities for All”, community safety and environmental implications.

Introduction

1. Service plans connect corporate and financial planning with service delivery performance management; they are vital instruments for incorporating best value principles into mainstream management activity. The service plans for 2003/04, which cover all of the Council’s functions, are listed at Annexe 1. Service plans are updated each year, with new performance targets, as part of the corporate planning cycle.

2. The table at Annexe 2 sets out the proposed targets for 2003/04 in respect of all the statutory and local performance indicators for each of the Council’s services.

Corporate Strategy and Service Delivery

3. The Council has agreed the vision statement for the new corporate strategy for 2002 and forward; “To enhance the quality of life in this green and pleasant Borough, now and for the future through strong local leadership and customer focused service.” The vision underpins the corporate aims and objectives.

4. Service plans connect the corporate objectives and front-line service delivery. They are intended to be “living” documents within the performance management framework. The purpose of service plans is to:-

v enable performance indicators and targets to be aligned with service objectives and monitored on a regular basis;

v inform the annual review of priorities, so that financial plans reflect service priorities and vice versa; and
v

address asset management and community safety issues in conjunction with broader service development issues.

5. The key elements of an effective performance management system are in place at Waverley. District Audit and Best Value Inspections have confirmed this. Also, recent improvement in the analysis and presentation of performance information are proof of a more connected approach. Further improvement can be made in creating explicit links between service delivery and performance management.

Developments in Service Planning

6. The key part of Waverley’s performance management framework is the service plan. Your officers recently revisited the service planning process and concluded that, to be fully effective, preparation of service plans should begin well before the start of the year to which they relate. Figure 1 overleaf illustrates the service planning process.

7. Your officers recognise that presentation of performance indicators in a compendium such as Annexe 2 is a convenience that removes performance management from its service context. Service plans are management documents but they also enable Members to set performance targets with reference to service issues.

8. Access to the 2003/04 service plans listed at Annexe 1 is being improved by making them available via the Member Zone on the Council’s website.

Targets for 2003/04

9. It is a statutory requirement to set targets for all best value performance indicators (BVPIs) for which there is historical data. It is also considered to be good practice to set targets for local indicators.

10. For a small number of BVPIs, the Government still requires authorities to set targets that are consistent with reaching top quartile performance over a period of five years. The statutory duty to meet these targets no longer applies and the Government now regards them as being aspirational targets. The top quartile indicators are:-

BVPI 9 Proportion of council tax collected.

BVPI 10 Percentage of business rates which should have been received during the year that were received.

BVPI 12 Number of working days/shifts lost to sickness absence per full time equivalent employees.

BVPI 14 Percentage of employees retiring early (excluding ill health retirements) as a percentage of the total workforce.

BVPI 15 Percentage of employees retiring on grounds of ill health as a percentage of the total workforce.

BVPI 78a Average processing time for new Housing and Council Tax Benefit claims.

BVPI 78b Average processing time for Housing and Council Tax Benefit changes of circumstances.

BVPI 78c Percentage of renewal Housing and Council Tax Benefit claims processed on time.

11. Target setting is key and needs to be documented to enable the Council to demonstrate that it is achieving best value. The targets should take into account the performance of other authorities and should reflect the aims and objectives of the authority’s corporate strategy.

Figure 1: Suggested Timetable for Service Planning

January 2003	Make draft 2003/04 service plans available and report 2003/04 targets to Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the Executive, with the Budget.
March 2003	Finalise service plans and the Budget (2004/05)
April 2003	Review and analyse previous year’s performance (2002/03)
May 2003	Report previous year’s performance to members (2002/03)
May/June 2003	Formulate following year’s priorities and resource implications and draft Service Plan (2004/05)
30 June 2003	Publish the Performance Plan (2003/04)
July 2003	“Annual review”, Executive/Management Board away day(s) to prioritise service needs (2004/05)
August/September 2003	“Annual review” feedback from Executive to Overview and Scrutiny committees and then to Council for ratification (2004/05)
September/November 2003	Preparation of detailed service plans concurrent with the Budget process (2004/05)
October 2003	Report to committees on first six months performance of current year (2003/04)
January 2004	Present detailed service plans to committees with the Budget (2004/05)
March 2004	Publish service plans and the Budget (2004/05)

12. Target setting must be challenging in order to demonstrate that the authority is seeking continued improvement, and that steps are being taken to try to meet the performance of top quartile authorities where this is relevant.

Leisure Overview and Scrutiny Committee comments

13. Leisure Overview and Scrutiny Committee considered Annexe 2 to be a valuable document and made no specific comment on the performance targets.

Community Overview and Scrutiny Committee comments

14. Community Overview and Scrutiny Committee made no specific comment on the performance targets but recommended that consideration be given to affording Overview and Scrutiny Committees the opportunity to see how matters were evolving in relation to targets on a half-yearly basis.

Environment Overview and Scrutiny Committee comments

15. The Committee:-

(a) expressed concern that some indicators were only being monitored on a three yearly basis and the Committee considered it beneficial for certain indicators to be reported annually, such as refuse service customer satisfaction and the street cleaning survey;

(b) suggested that other areas were significant and would benefit from local performance indicators, such as fly tipping, noise complaints, abandoned vehicles, incidents of graffiti, use of the garden waste shredder;

(c) suggested that where officers maintain informal performance indicators in key areas, these should be reported to members; and

(d) felt that monitoring performance was an important role for scrutiny.

Human Rights, Community Safety and Environmental Implications

16. Each service plan for 2003/04 indicates which corporate objectives they contribute to, including those with environmental implications and addresses specific community safety implications. There are no direct implications arising from this report.

Resource implications

17. There are no direct resource implications. However, service plans and performance targets are key drivers of corporate planning and performance management and play an important part in directing the Council’s resources to what matters.

"Opportunities for All" implications

18. Opportunities for All encompasses a range of issues to do with access to services and equal opportunities. This is a cross-cutting issue and many services contribute to realising the broad aspirations of “Opportunities for All”. These issues are addressed in individual service plans.

Recommendation

It is recommended that:-

1. the Council’s approach to service planning be noted; and

2. the Executive considers Annexe 2 and the comments of the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Committees and agrees performance targets for 2003/04.

Background Papers (CEx)

The service plans for 2003/04 can be accessed on the Member Zone area of the Council’s website.

CONTACT OFFICER:

Name: Ms Christine Pointer Telephone: 01483 523208
Email: cpointer@Waverley.gov.uk

comms/executive/2002-03/531

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