a whole‐authority approach to testing and developing best value

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A whole‐authority approachto testing and developingbest valueD. Brian James a & Joseph J. Field aa Torfaen County BoroughPublished online: 02 Jan 2008.

To cite this article: D. Brian James & Joseph J. Field (1999) A whole‐authorityapproach to testing and developing best value, Local Government Studies, 25:2,119-138, DOI: 10.1080/03003939908433951

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A Whole-Authority Approach toTesting and Developing Best Value

D. BRIAN JAMES and JOSEPH J. FIELD

For the Welsh unitaries and some authorities in England, theculture changes required by the Best Value regime have beenadditional to those accompanying a recent reorganisation of localgovernment. The Best Value pilot studies are being evaluated inEngland by Warwick University and in Wales by the CardiffBusiness School and they are being monitored by external auditors.This work will facilitate a thorough critical review of the process,yet there is much which can also be learned through self analysisby the pilots themselves and by sharing their experiences withothers. This paper explains how Torfaen County Borough Councilresponded to the challenge of Best Value, outlines the corporateapproach taken by the authority, and provides a perspective fromthe head of a service department.

BACKGROUND

Torfaen County Borough Council was established as one of 22 new unitaryauthorities upon local government reorganisation in Wales in April 1996.The authority comprises a varied 12-mile-long valley from Blaenafon in thenorth through Pontypool to Cwmbran in the south. The most eastern ofWelsh valleys, it is an area of great diversity, with the communities havingbeen originally shaped from the forces of the iron and coal industries. It isalso an area of great geographical contrast, with raw, well-beaten landscapesand attractive rolling hills and meadows complementing the areas ofindustry and commerce. It covers an area of approximately 126 squarekilometres and has a population of some 90,700.

On its creation, the new unitary authority, which has a large Labourmajority, developed a clear vision supported by a statement of values, whichguided its progress and development through local governmentreorganisation. It agreed a mission statement from the outset in 1996,reflecting the elements of continuous improvement, which now lie at the

Brian James and Joseph Field, Torfaen County Borough

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120 MANAGING LOCAL SERVICES: FROM CCT TO BEST VALUE

heart of Best Value, namely: 'To Improve the Quality of Life in Torfaen,Significantly and Continuously.' The Council's vision and values emphasisea strong customer focus and the need to represent the aspirations of thepeople of the area.

Upon local government reorganisation, the authority was required,through the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994, to produce a servicedelivery plan for its first full year of operation. The main objective of thisprocess was to achieve a seamless transition of services from the pre-reorganisation authorities to the new unitary council. A subsequent studyconducted by the District Audit Service judged that the transition had beensuccessful and that the authority had performed to a very high standard inall the major aspects of the reorganisation process. Whilst it was not astatutory duty to produce service delivery plans in subsequent years, theauthority made a conscious decision to continue with the process and tomaximise the opportunities that this embryonic planning activity offered.By the time the Best Value initiative emerged in the summer of 1997,Torfaen had successfully completed its second service delivery plan and theservice planning process had become an integral part of the authority'sculture. The process has since continuously developed and the authority's1999/2000 community service and performance plan includes separatecommunity plans for the three main conurbations within the countyborough. These plans highlight the distinct and diverse issues which affecteach of these principal communities. The 1999/2000 plan also includes fourseparate community focus initiatives, which are aimed at addressingspecific community safety and community development issues in areas ofgreatest need.

In addition, the plan examines each aspect of Torfaen life, it reports onthe current year's performance against targets as well as the objectives fornext year. Finally, the plan details how the council aims to improveperformance in each of the 21 service areas reviewed in Phase I of the BestValue evaluation study in 1998.

DEVELOPING THE CONCEPT OF BEST VALUE

The Corporate Commitment

Following the government's announcement of the introduction of the newconcept of Best Value (Armstrong, 1997), Torfaen set out to develop aprocess of staged discussion in order to determine how the initiative shouldbe introduced and developed within the authority.

Firstly, and armed with the original 12 principles of Best Value(Armstrong, 1997) and the report of the Welsh Office's Best Value ProjectGroup (Welsh Office, 1997), the corporate management team and senior

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TESTING AND DEVELOPING BEST VALUE 121

managers met for a full day to consider the likely implications of the newinitiative. The exercise, which involved presentations and discussiongroups, incorporated a review of the authority's previous performance, anassessment of its position at that time, together with an examination of howBest Value could link in to the authority's developing service planning andperformance management processes. As a separate exercise, the electedmembers and corporate management team convened a seminar, againfacilitated through presentations and workshops, to look at the strategicimplications of Best Value for the authority. The two sessions proved to beinvaluable in providing an opportunity to examine the concepts of BestValue, in engendering constructive debate on the key issues and in assessingoptions for its incorporation within the authority. A strong shared viewemerged that Torfaen could provide a distinctive approach to Best Value. Itwas felt the authority could make a positive contribution to the introductionand development of Best Value within local government generally. It wasalso considered the authority was well placed to adopt a whole-authorityapproach for testing the framework in the Wales and DETR evaluationstudies.

Organisational Arrangements

In order to take the initiative forward in a purposeful and systematicmanner, the council established a Best Value committee, comprisingprimarily the chairs of the main committees. A Best Value focus group,consisting of a selection of first-tier and second-tier officers from each ofthe authority's departments, was created for the purpose of managing andimplementing the process internally. This group is led by the Director ofContract Services, with the support of the Performance Management andBusiness Planning Officer. The progress of the focus group is guided andoverseen by a senior officer project board, under the direction of the ChiefExecutive, as illustrated in Fig. 1. The Best Value focus grouprepresentatives are responsible, with the support of their departmentalmanagement teams, for driving, supporting and monitoring thedevelopment of Best Value within their departments. However, theindividual directors retain accountability for managing and implementingthe initiative in their departments.

The authority recognised at an early stage that Best Value would notsucceed without the commitment and support of all staff. To achieve thiscommitment it was essential to assist staff in gaining a clear understandingof the new concept, to consider how they would be affected by itsintroduction and to determine their role in contributing to its successfuldevelopment. An authority-wide cross-departmental diagonal staff andtrade union seminar served to explore options for getting the message

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across. The recommendations arising from this seminar allowed a corporateBest Value communications strategy to be developed for guidance tomanagers. The strategy incorporated:

• departmental awareness-raising/induction sessions;

• the inclusion of Best Value in all departmental, divisional and sectionalmanagement meetings and team briefings;

• its inclusion in all one-to-one performance review discussions (InvestorsIn People);

• its inclusion in departmental newsletters and briefing sheets;

• regular monitoring through further and periodic authority-wide diagonalslice review seminars.

The Strategic Platform

Upon local government reorganisation in Wales in April 1996, Torfaen haddeveloped an integrated authority-wide approach to service planning and toits internal organisational development. The process combined twocomplementary and inter-related components. The first part, the communityand performance plan, enabled the key service stakeholders, through anextensive mechanism of consultation and review, to contribute toformulating the authority's key objectives for the subsequent financial year.The resulting plan essentially becomes the service contract between theauthority, its customers and other service stakeholders. The process, whichhas been reviewed and refined over three annual planning cycles is nowwell established across all departments. Secondly, the departmental serviceand organisational development plans are also produced annually andprovide details of the key objectives of each department. They outline themethodology for achieving the objectives, focusing specifically on team andindividual accountabilities.

Performance Management

The council's performance management strategy was developed to ensurethe objectives of the departmental service and organisational developmentplans are being achieved with the aim of fulfilling the needs of the overallcommunity and performance plan. The strategy involves a range ofprocesses which have already been developed to varying degrees across alldepartments. They include:

Investors In People: The council has committed itself to the nationalstandard. Considerable progress has already been achieved with seven of

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the authority's eight departments anticipating formal recognition by early1999.

Performance Assessment: A performance assessment scheme for chiefofficers and assistant directors involves agreeing annual objectives with theofficers and regularly reviewing their progress. The annual reviews areconducted by the elected members.

Quality Systems: A number of quality initiatives are being tested andincorporated into different parts of the organisation. These include ISO9000, Charter Mark and EFQM.

Service Level Agreements: The third annual cycle of the internal servicelevel agreements is presently under way.

Customer Involvement: The distribution of a corporate customer care guideto all staff was accompanied by an intensive induction and trainingprogramme. In addition, the authority took the brave step of engagingMORI, shortly after its establishment in 1996, to assess public perceptionsof its services and general performance. A repeat exercise carried out inmid-1998 recorded measured and genuine improvements on levels ofsatisfaction across almost all areas of service delivery and customer care.Further biannual polls are planned with the aim of both identifyingweaknesses and establishing whether continuous improvement across allservice areas is being achieved.

Employee Evaluation: Through the Investors In People initiative, the one-to-one achievement and development interviews allow staff at all levels ofthe organisation to comment openly on the strengths and weaknesses of theservice performance. Monthly team briefings, which are also carried outthroughout the organisation, also serve to highlight problem areas formanagement's consideration and action.

The Whole-Authority Approach

Torfaen's original Best Value pilot study submission was based on a 'whole-authority' approach. In doing so, it was proposed that the wholeorganisation would aim to work within a Best Value framework and wouldbe subject to the challenges and disciplines of the Best Value regime.

In undertaking the first round of reviews in both the DETR and theWelsh Office Evaluation Studies, it was proposed to review 21 services.This represented approximately one-fifth of the council's budget. Byselecting at least one service from each of the authority's departments, theopportunities for innovation, learning and sharing experiences throughout

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the whole organisation were expected to be maximised during the course ofthe pilot study.

The council also set out to test the framework of Best Value itself byposing a number of fundamental questions, including:

• Does a whole-authority approach to Best Value work in terms ofimproving performance in all service areas?

• Can Best Value provide an effective overall framework within which tointegrate a variety of management and organisational processes, that is,is Best Value the organising framework or is it simply anothermanagement tool?

• What are the implications of Best Value, within a whole-authorityapproach for: innovation in service delivery; achieving demonstrablecompetitiveness; staffing; relationships with customers; the role andengagement of members; internal and external audit?

• What contribution, if any, can Best Value make to the modernisation oflocal government, generally?

As the phase I reviews are completed we hope to be able to enlighten these,and other associated questions, and collate the views of all those involvedin the process.

DEVELOPING THE PERFORMANCE PLANS

Once the council's pilot bids had been accepted by the Welsh Office and theDETR, it set about preparing its phase I performance plan. Whilst the BestValue committee and the project board guided and monitored the process, thepreparation of the individual service plans was delegated to the focus group.In order to engender a common understanding of the evolving process and thedifferent components of Best Value, the project board arranged a series ofseparate away days for the corporate management team and the focus group.Separate information sessions were also arranged for the Best Valuecommittee and the focus group on specialist subject areas, includingcommunication, partnering, competition, consultation and customer surveys.

The tight timescale of the performance plan preparation period, coupledwith other competing demands within the authority's agenda of change, notsurprisingly, generated evidence of organisational strain, particularly on thefocus group members. The frustration which emanated over the somewhatblurred and continuously evolving agenda of Best Value and the urgencyassociated with the completion of the phase I plans posed an enormouschallenge to the officers concerned. Nevertheless, out of the frustration andinternal debates grew a clearer understanding of the evaluation study

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process itself. The transition to eventually gaining a common purpose anddirection was considered by the project board to be largely attributed to thegradual integration of Best Value into the authority's management andorganisational processes.

The final performance plans, which were completed by the end of March1998, reflected the different approaches and the varying levels ofunderstanding within the individual departments. As such, they containedboth strengths and weaknesses. Most plans gave clear information on thekey service review issues, including methodology, timescales andaccountabilities. Some, however, failed to address adequately the issues ofdemonstrable competitiveness, equalities, the Welsh language and theidentification of relevant service performance indicators. Whilst theseweaknesses were subsequently attended to during the early part of theservice reviews, the different approaches and resulting varying quality ofthe performance plans were considered to be an inevitable facet of thewhole-authority approach. The continuously evolving learning processundoubtedly assisted in broadening the levels of understanding and insecuring commitment across all departments.

MANAGING THE SERVICE REVIEWS

Immediately following the submission of the performance plans to theWelsh Office at the end of March 1998, and prior to embarking in earneston the service reviews, the focus group allowed itself a brief but well-deserved respite. The intensity of the performance plans preparation processhad, regrettably, drawn review managers away from some elements of theirroutine service delivery roles. As such, the completion of the performanceplans provided the service review managers an opportunity to return to theirrespective service delivery routines at the expense of injecting the necessaryimpetus into the Best Value reviews. Nevertheless, within a few weeks,most departments returned to the serious business of carrying out the servicereviews.

In light of a number of competing pressures and of the extent of theirrespective service review programmes, two departments acquired specialistshort-term consulting support to assist in carrying out their reviews. Thesedepartments also benefited from these arrangements through the adoption ofgreater objectivity into the challenge and competition processes of theirreviews than experienced elsewhere across the authority.

The authority's 21 phase I service reviews were largely completed by theend of November 1998. The unevenness of approach witnessed in preparingthe performance plans appears to have been replicated in the servicereviews. Most departments achieved creditable progress within the

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restricted timescale, in undertaking two of the 4C's of Best Value (WelshOffice, 1998), namely consultation and comparison. However, and incommon with a majority of pilot authorities, many service review managersdemonstrated reluctance in incorporating the challenge and competitionelements of Best Value to the levels suggested in the White Paperguidelines.

It was always anticipated that service managers would find itparticularly difficult to take a sufficiently impartial view of challenging whyand how their services should be performed. The Project Board attemptedto address this weakness by requiring each director to present a broad rangeof service delivery options to their respective committees for criticalconsideration.

The second problem area experienced was that of competition, or ratherthe lack of a real appreciation of how the principles of demonstrablecompetitiveness should be applied to local authority services. The WelshOffice/Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) Best Value ProjectGroup strongly encouraged local authorities to explore innovativealternatives to market testing which could pass the test of demonstrablecompetitiveness. The White Paper, however, simultaneously providedopportunities for disinclined authorities to make use of benchmarking as acredible alternative to competition rather than genuine market testingthrough competition itself. The inevitable and somewhat disappointingresult has been that the majority of local authorities have warmly courtedthe more politically acceptable yet managerially cumbersomebenchmarking option rather than the more radical and effective competitionroute.

Under CCT, the principles and boundaries of competition were clear.The regulations allowed local authorities little choice and limited room formanoeuvre. Under Best Value, however, the government is encouraginglocal authorities to abandon their traditional hostility to enforcedcompetition and to use the market enthusiastically as an essential process toimproving quality and achieving value for money. Whilst this approachappears to be less prescriptive than CCT, the government may well find itnecessary, in the face of increasing reluctance to adopt competitionseriously, to adopt a more rigid approach to competition under Best Value.

The issue of demonstrable competitiveness is undoubtedly becoming themost difficult component of Best Value for local authorities to come toterms with and to address satisfactorily. Torfaen adopted a thorough andinclusive process in determining its approach to incorporating demonstrablecompetitiveness within the Best Value Pilot Scheme. Initial detailedconsideration was given by the corporate management team. This wasfurther developed by the elected members at a specific Best Value policy

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day. The process involved establishing clear guiding principles across all 21phase I service review areas, irrespective of their previous performance orexperience of competition. The guidelines included a commitment todeveloping methods for achieving demonstrable competitiveness whichinvolved a willingness to tender voluntarily and the use of other appropriatemethodologies such as maintaining multiple suppliers and having flexiblemeans to meet peaks and troughs, either in-house or via the market. The keyprinciples included:

• Applying rigorous performance management processes and tests ofcompetitiveness to all services;

• Examining the potential value that exposure to competition provides toa service as a means of determining appropriate tests of competitiveness;

• Where internal processes fail to remedy under-performance, the marketwill be used to effect service improvement;

• Applying partial or periodic exposure of a service to competition, wherethere is a well developed market;

• The use of Best Value contracts, without the constraints of CCT. Thesewould focus, in addition to price, on the essential Best Value componentsof quality, consultation, continuous improvement and flexibility. Sucharrangements could be facilitated through mutually beneficialpartnerships rather than more adversarial traditional contractingprocesses.

Not surprisingly, the term flexibility, as it relates to staff, prompted the tradeunions to enter the 'demonstrable competitiveness' debate. They viewed theintroduction of the term 'flexibility' as a threat to traditional localgovernment employment practices, having the potential to undermineseriously the conditions of employment of their members. The authorityhowever, remained clear in its view that Best Value's primary objective is tomeet the needs of citizens and service users. In retaining its commitment tobeing a good and fair employer, whilst simultaneously applying theprinciples of competitiveness within Best Value, the authority wouldincorporate measures to cushion the effects of change by protecting staff,wherever possible. This would be achieved through extensive consultation,training, identifying opportunities for suitable alternative employment andthrough the application of detriment schemes, where considered appropriate.

The authority also faced some difficulty in meeting the demanding andsomewhat inflexible pilot study timescales, which were set by both theDETR and the Welsh Office. The dramatic changes to the traditionalpolitical culture needed, above all, space and time. For the radical concepts

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of Best Value to be willingly adopted by local government, elected membersand officers needed a period of acclimatisation to gain a clear understandingof the issues. In particular, the process of transforming an authority fromone of resisting competition, as was largely the case under CCT, to one ofwarmly embracing demonstrable competitiveness, under Best Value, cannotbe achieved overnight or through a single policy meeting. Whilst localauthorities are generally wholeheartedly committed to Best Value, if theinitiative is to succeed, the facilitators of its implementation, particularlyelected members and staff, need to be comfortable with the process withinan acceptable and workable timescale.

The introduction of Best Value has also placed a number of additionalnew challenges on the authority. The traditional, introverted, top-downhierarchical management styles of senior managers are gradually beingopened up within the corporate desire to allow all staff to gain a clearunderstanding of the new initiative. Commitment to continuousimprovement and opportunities for innovation cannot occur without athorough understanding of the concept throughout the whole organisation.In order to achieve this corporate understanding, Torfaen is activelypromoting a fifth ' C of Best Value - communication - as an internalmarketing exercise for ensuring that managers place the necessary emphasison developing and monitoring more effective internal communicationchannels throughout.

In terms of managing the Best Value pilot scheme internally, the servicereview lead officers are becoming increasingly frustrated with thecomplexities of the reporting and monitoring processes with which they arehaving to comply. Internally, periodic reports are required for departmentalteam meetings, corporate management team, service committees and theBest Value Committee. Furthermore, in addition to the overall objective ofproviding detailed service reviews and action plans, the pilot schemeevaluators, Cardiff Business School, require periodic self-evaluationreports, and the study monitors, District Audit, require verification of allinformation and data associated with the foregoing processes throughout theduration of the exercise. In Torfaen there are the added requirements of theDETR study by Warwick Business School. Nevertheless, in spite of theplethora of recording, evaluation and monitoring processes associated withthe Best Value pilot studies, there remains a strong and positivecommitment within the authority to make the initiative work. The vastmajority of elected members and staff at all levels view Best Value as a mosttimely and welcome measure, and are prepared to put up with theadministrative burdens inherent within the Pilot Scheme, in the interests ofthe oft-repeated adage - 'No pain - No gain'!

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A DEPARTMENTAL PERSPECTIVE

This section focuses on a practitioner's view of the Best Value initiative. Wehave discussed the corporate framework for the management of Best Valueand in this section we now explain the management processes within theenvironmental management department of Torfaen County BoroughCouncil.

The environmental management department is essentially a marriage oftraditional district council technical services and environmental healthdepartments with the highways, transportation and trading standardsfunctions inherited from the Gwent County Council on reorganisation. Thismix of services was unique in Wales at the time of reorganisation; however,Monmouthshire County Council now has a similar structure.

Many of the staff forming the department were experienced in markettesting. The department has the client functions for highways maintenance(1980 Act) and grounds maintenance, refuse and cleansing services (1988Act). It undertakes highways, drainage and general municipal engineeringcapital projects and manages the select list of contractors for the council asa whole. Furthermore, an engineering consultancy section was establishedin the department at reorganisation in anticipation of CCT for the definedactivity of 'construction and property related services'.

The department also inherited staff with experience in qualitymanagement: a number of staff were qualified lead assessors. Highwayengineers from Gwent County Council were able to transfer the ISO 9001quality system to the unitary authority with the agreement of Lloyds QualityAssurance subject to audit. The need to prepare the in-house consultancy forcompetition also provided the incentive to introduce a computerised timemanagement and project management system and to develop scale fees andproject costing for internal service level agreements and a small amount ofwork undertaken for other public bodies. The senior manager responsiblefor the consultancy also produced a business plan for the first time in April1998. In parts of the department it can be seen, therefore, that performancemanagement was an everyday reality, albeit without the rigour and breadthof the Best Value regime. However, Best Value required a strengthening andbroadening of what already existed rather than a fundamental shift inculture.

Once the decision had been taken to pilot Best Value on a whole-authority basis, each department was asked to put forward two or threeservices for first-phase performance reviews. The director, followingconsultation with the staff involved, put forward housing grants, groundsmaintenance and the work of the traffic and development team for first-phase review. Housing grants were chosen particularly as the department

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provides an agency service for those successful in their applications forgrant and the director was concerned about the lack of performancemeasures in place both relating to the work load of surveyors and the'profitability' of the team. Problems with budgetary control had also beenexperienced. The grants agency team, with the enthusiastic support of itsmembers, had been identified as a pilot for process benchmarking prior tothe 1997 general election. The grounds maintenance service was chosenbecause it had been decided to create a comprehensive service for thecouncil, which, amongst other things, required transfer of staff from anotherdepartment and the preparation of a new contract specification. The trafficand development team were chosen particularly because of concern aboutperformance in street lighting.

The environmental management department was also a leader in thedevelopment of annual service planning. The third service andorganisational development plan was produced in April 1998 and covers thefinancial year 1998/99. The involvement of staff in the development ofobjectives for the plan was also in line with principle of Best Value relatingto staff consultation on service delivery and performance.

Whilst the framework described above was good preparation for the BestValue initiative, much more was required, as will be described. Whilst therewere some areas of good practice in the department, it was necessary to ensurethat performance management techniques were more widely understood andutilised. The first task was to decide how the initiative would be managedwithin the department. The director was a member of the Best Value projectboard and the assistant director (engineering services) represented thedepartment on the Best Value focus group. Therefore, representation andinvolvement at a corporate level was good. It was necessary, however, toestablish structures within the department which would enable the range ofprofessional disciplines and a range of junior to senior staff to be involved. Theapproach taken was to form four departmental working groups as illustrated inFigure 2. All of the staff, in groups of around 25, were given a presentation onBest Value by the assistant director and director. At the end of each sessionstaff were invited to complete a simple questionnaire using 'smiley faces' totest their understanding of the concept and their level of personal commitment.The results were very encouraging, as will be seen from Figure 3.Subsequently staff were invited by memorandum to volunteer to sit on one ofthe departmental working groups. The number of volunteers was less than thenumber who had expressed themselves willing when they completed thequestionnaire, nevertheless there were sufficient for the groups to operate. Inorder to ensure that the work of the groups was relevant and supportive to thefirst phase review services a joint training session for members of the groupsand staff involved in first phase reviews was held in May 1998.

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One of the advantages of effective corporate management in a localauthority is that departments can assist each other, addressing strengths andweaknesses and sharing best practice. This is only really effective whenthere is a spirit of trust. No one would be ready to acknowledge weaknessesif the response were to be punitive or even if a colleague was to takeadvantage of the situation. Torfaen has a very supportive corporatemanagement team and Best Value has provided many opportunities for co-operation. The performance plans produced by the environmentalmanagement department for the first-phase reviews were made available toother departments as a possible model. The director made presentations onperformance plans and process benchmarking to meetings of the Best ValueCommittee and contributed to the 'front end' of the council's performanceplan document. He was responsible for preparing a paper on 'demonstrablecompetitiveness' for consideration by the corporate management team. Healso attended a social services department training day as an 'expert' inprocess benchmarking. A number of staff from other departments togetherwith external specialists were available to syndicate groups set up on the

FIGURE 1

BEST VALUE ORGANISATIONAL FRAMEWORK

CORI

Tl

'ORATEGEMENT3AM

COUNCIL

BEST VALUE COMMITTEE

BEST VALUEPROJECTBOARD

BEST VALUEPROJECTBOARD

SPECIALIST ADVISERSFINANCE, PERSONNEL

ETC

DEPARTMENTAL TASKGROUPS

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FIGURE 2

DEPARTMENTAL BEST VALUE FRAMEWORK

ABBREVIATIONS

DMT

MTWGITPI'SCG, BJ&JJF =

Departmental ManagementTeamManagement TeamWorking GroupInformation TechnologyPerformance IndicatorsInitials of Chief Officers

FIGURE 3

BEST VALUE - DISCUSSION WITH STAFF FEB'98 - FEEDBACK(Numbers relate to staff returning forms at Feedback Sessions)

1. Do you understand what is meantby Best Value?

2. Do you think you can contribute to BestValue?

3. Do you think you can see how BestValue may relate to your own v, ark?

4. Would you be interested in cont ibutingto the Departmental Topic Grou >s?

61

52

43

37

32

36

42

21

1

3

10

26

1

4

0

21

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training day should they have needed advice in areas of performancemanagement. Senior staff of the department have been made available toadvise other departments on quality systems, customer surveys, projectmanagement and process benchmarking.

A FOCUS ON TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES

Reference was made in the previous section to some of the performancemanagement tools and techniques in use in Torfaen. We will examine someof these in more detail, again using the experiences of the environmentalmanagement department by way of illustration.

Service Planning

Torfaen has been developing and refining its service planning processessince the requirement on reorganisation for each Welsh unitary authority toproduce a service delivery plan. Whilst it was no longer a statutoryrequirement of the councils to produce a service delivery plan after the firstyear, Torfaen decided to continue to produce plans whilst aiming to improvethe process of consultation with the public and the reporting of servicetargets and performance. The plan, now known as the community andperformance plan to reflect the change in emphasis, forms the head of theplanning hierarchy, as illustrated in Figure 4. It contains broad objectiveswithin generic topic areas rather than mirroring exactly the departmentalstructure.

Department service plans form the next level of the planning hierarchy.The environmental management department's plan contains a statement ofthe accountabilities of the departmental management team - a kind ofcorporate job description. This is followed by a section for each team whichlists the members of the team, accountabilities, an account of performancein the previous year against performance indicators where they exist,service targets and organisational development targets. A departmental A-Zcompletes the plan. Whilst its primary purpose is for internal management,it is copied to members who are able to use it for reference purposes. Targetsin the plan are endorsed by the environmental management committee,which also receives a report on performance at the end of the financial year.

The targets in the plan are developed in team meetings and participationof all members of each team is encouraged. Senior managers review thedraft targets and revised targets are negotiated if necessary. When the planis completed (April) the targets in schedule form are put on the departmentalserver and are therefore accessible to all staff. The schedules should beupdated monthly for a report to the departmental management team. Therecord for the completed month is then archived and made read-only. This

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FIGURE 4

PLANNING HIERARCHY

TORFAEN COUNTY BOROUGH COUNCILKEY AIM

TORFAEN COUNTY BOROUGH COUNCILSTATEMENT OF VISION AND VALUES

COMMUNITY AND PERFORMANCE PLAN

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEESTATEMENT OF VISION KEY OBJECTIVES

DEPARTMENTAL FINANCIAL STATEMENT

SERVICE OBJECTIVES AND ORGANISATIONALDEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES

PERFORMANCES PLANS FOR SERVICE REVIEWS

process was new to the staff of the department on reorganisation and anumber of teams were over-optimistic in setting targets. Furthermore, someteams were more disciplined in their performance monitoring than others,discussing performance at monthly team meetings and keeping schedulesupdated. The targets for the 1998/99 plan were produced in the light of twoyear's experience and were considered to be both challenging andachievable. Targets would cover such matters as the introduction of newsystems by a particular date and the percentage of food premises inspected.Performance monitoring and reporting has improved but there is still muchroom for improvement. A new element of the procedure is to require eachteam to undertake a formal mid-financial year review of performance inNovember and to report to the departmental management team. At the samereview meeting, each team will commence discussion of the proposedtargets for the following year.

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Process Benchmarking

The director of environmental management began discussions aboutprocess benchmarking with the council's audit manager from District Audit.However little progress was made until the autumn of 1997 by which timeit had become clear that process benchmarking would play an important rolein the Best Value regime. In fact, with an effective and experiencedfacilitator, the use of process benchmarking can ensure that performancereview is thorough and comprehensive. It was agreed that Torfaen wouldtake the lead in inviting local authorities to participate in the club, inproviding a venue and administrative support. District Audit agreed tofacilitate the meetings, advise on the validity of data and establish adatabase of authorities and performance indicators. A decision was taken torun two clubs back to back for (i) administration of housing grants and (ii)housing grants agency (a consultancy service to grants applicants operatedas a business unit). Four Welsh authorities and two English authoritiesagreed to join the club. Whilst it was most probable that this small samplewould not include the best practice authority in England and Wales, theintention was to develop a set of key performance indicators which a widergroup of authorities would be invited to use. This wider group would bebased on the Audit Commission family authorities of club members.

At the first meeting of the clubs the audit manager, with two colleagues,gave an explanation of the technique of process benchmarking. Followingthis the groups broke into the two clubs which spent most of the daydiscussing and agreeing critical success factors and key performanceindicators for their services. At the following meeting they were to returnwith a process map and their performance indicators. The process mappingcreated little difficulty, although some authorities provided the informationin flow chart form and others in textual form. However, there wereconsiderable difficulties with the performance indicators. It became clearthat there were two main problems; first the definition of the indicators hadnot been sufficiently precise and, secondly, the financial managementinformation available to the officers was in some cases very poor. This isalso a problem for the citizen's charter performance indicators, but it is lessapparent as practitioners tend not to share detailed information on the datawhich underpins the national indicators. It was relatively easy to redefinethe performance indicators, but it will take time and tenacity to realise theimprovements to financial management information systems.

The indicators that are now being shared, together with the processmaps, give the best guide at present to relative efficiency and effectivenessand some clues to how to improve. The same comments apply to thebenchmarking club for grounds maintenance which has a membership of

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TABLE 1KEY INDICATORS FROM BENCHMARKING EXERCISE

Groups Maintenance Housing Grants

Urban grass annual cost/hectare Number of grants processed/person/annumUrban grass cost/head Time from approval to completionBowling green annual cost % of unforeseen worksBowling green cost/user Average value of grantsAnnual cost soccer pitch Staff costs as a % expenditure on grantsSoccer pitch cost/user Satisfaction with council administrationRugby pitch cost/user Satisfaction with contractor

nine Welsh authorities and commenced work in April 1998. Details of thesekey performance indicators are given in the department's action plansproduced at the end of the Best Value service reviews. Some of the keyindicators from both benchmarking exercises are shown in Table 1.

One further important factor is the agreement to design commoncustomer satisfaction questionnaires. The benefit will be that inter-authoritycomparison of cost-effectiveness and customer satisfaction will be possible.The result will provide a new dimension for Best Value, that is, lowest costwith highest customer satisfaction. The district audit manager now aims toinvite other authorities to use the same performance indicators for housinggrants and for grounds maintenance in an enlarged database. As forexpanding this work, arrangements are being made at the end of 1998 tocreate a number of further clubs to cover technical services functions. Againthese will be facilitated by District Audit. Although Welsh-based, a numberof English authorities are expressing interest in this benchmarking activity.It will certainly be possible for these authorities to exchange data for the keyperformance indicators and it may be possible to invite some of them toparticipate as full club members.

CONCLUSION

It may be a little premature to draw categoric and firm conclusions from theprocesses which were adopted and from the lessons learned in participatingin phase I of the Welsh Office and DETR Best Value evaluation studies.

The whole-authority approach was deliberately adopted from the outsetto encourage all departments to work within a Best Value framework.Torfaen set itself a particularly demanding agenda in reviewing 21 of itsservices. Early indications suggest the corporate approach to the initiative,which links closely to developing community planning and performancemanagement processes, and which is supported by an extensive

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communications framework, has allowed the organisation to gain a broadunderstanding of the new concept. The sharing of experiences andcontinuous learning processes inherent within a whole-authority approachhave undoubtedly assisted in stimulating a genuine commitment to BestValue as well as in rousing a new culture of change throughout.

The timely introduction of the 4C's as a guiding mechanism provedinvaluable in developing a clear methodology for carrying out servicereviews. Service review managers appeared comfortable with and achievedgood early progress in consulting on and in comparing services. However,serious difficulties were experienced in coming to terms with and inapplying the challenge and competition components of Best Value. Servicemanagers, quite understandably, demonstrated a nervousness in openlychallenging their services. Arising from these difficulties, it is likely greateruse of independent facilitators or the adoption of the business excellencemodel will be encouraged in the phase II reviews.

Whereas the government has promoted market testing as the favouredmeans of demonstrating competitiveness, local authorities generally havefocused their attentions primarily on benchmarking during phase I. InTorfaen, the inclusive process in determining the approach to demonstrablecompetitiveness resulted in a broad and mixed economy of benchmarking,internal restructuring, market testing by means of partial and fullcompetition as well as through more innovative partnering contracts. It islikely, as the council moves into phase II it will explore furtheropportunities to take advantage of partnership sourcing within less formalcontractual arrangements in selected areas.

However, the critical issue of demonstrable competitiveness remains theAchilles' heel of Best Value. Whereas local authorities, generally, haveenthusiastically welcomed the replacement of CCT with Best Value, thereappears to be a determined reluctance to embrace competition as an essentialcomponent of Best Value. If local authorities continue deliberately tocircumvent competition by pursuing benchmarking and performanceindicators for demonstrating competitiveness, Best Value will not be achieved.In the final analysis, if the government perceives that local government isincapable of securing demonstrable competitiveness through its favouredmeans, it is inevitable that secondary legislation will include a compulsion toincorporate open competition within the Best Value framework.

REFERENCES

Armstrong, Rt Hon Hilary, 1997, Minister for Local Government, 'The 12 Principles of BestValue' (2 June).

Beecham, Sir Jeremy, 1998, Municipal Journal, 5 Dec.

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Local Government (Wales) Act 1994: Enacting Local Government Reorganisation in Wales(1996).

Torfaen County Borough Council's Best Value Pilot Scheme Performance Plans (April 1998).Welsh Office/WLGA, 1997, Report of the Joint Best Value Project Group entitled 'A Framework

for Developing Best Value in Welsh Local Government' (August).Welsh Office, 1998, Consultation Paper: Modernising Local Government in Wales - 'Improving

Services Through Best Value' (April).

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a whole‐authority approach to testing and developing best value

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