Monmouthshire County Council

Assessment of Performance

Alex Rawlin

Agenda Item: 8

January 2014

Assessment of Performance Slide 2

Purpose of work

• To undertake the audit of Council’s assessment of performance for 2012-13 (findings set out in IAL2 and will be summarised in the Annual Improvement Report 2014)

• Assessment of the processes and evidence that the Council has used to form its view of success/progress (findings set out in the remainder of this presentation) – Planning for Improvement– Managing performance– Assessing performance (including progress made against

WAO proposals for improvement) – Reporting performance

Site work

• Interviews• Focus groups• Observations

• Document review• Proposals for Improvement

follow-up

Assessment of Performance Slide 3

Site work used Improvement Objectives related to regeneration and modernising the council as “tracers” to test self evaluation

Tracers used to test self-evaluation arrangements

Improvement Objective tracers to assess approach to self evaluation We want to provide a joined-up and comprehensive approach to area

regeneration and development. Continuing from last year, we will work in partnership with key organisations to either review existing or develop new holistic area regeneration plans for our key towns of Abergavenny, Caldicot, Chepstow and Monmouth. We will also use this approach in developing smaller communities starting in Llanelly Hill and Overmonnow.

• We want to modernise the way the council is run to improve the way we work. More specifically we will focus on changing the culture of our organisation to make sure that we listen to what our communities want and become more responsive and innovative in meeting those needs.

Assessment of Performance Slide 4

Planning For Improvement

Findings

• Single integrated plan based upon a unified needs assessment

• Joined up approaches through Whole Place to engage partners, communities about priorities and area plans being developed

• Outcome based performance score cards reported to Senior Leadership Team, Cabinet and Scrutiny committees bi annually

• Collaboration considered when planning improvement

Presentation title Slide 5

Planning for Improvement

Areas for Improvement• Align and embed improvement planning with all other strategic planning activity, (e.g.

MTFP, Whole Place, and System Thinking Reviews)• Greater clarity about:

– what the Council is trying to achieve as a result of its activity. (i.e. what will success look like),

– the links between activities, current and intended performance measures, – performance targets (not just NSIs) and the rationale for target and any changes,

and– timescales and milestones for delivery.

• Use a broader and more comprehensive range of measures which link to the intended outcome (not just NSI’s) with accurate baseline information to enable to the Council to evaluate, monitor and report progress against.

• Clearly define intended benefits and outcomes from the collaboration and partnerships and establish baseline information and measures that will enable the Council to evaluate, monitor and report progress against.

Presentation title Slide 6

Performance – analysis of NSIs and PAMs

Presentation title Slide 7

• Slides 8 to 12 graphically illustrate the Council’s performance in 2012-13 as measured by the national strategic indicators (NSIs) and also the Public Accountability Measures (PAMs)– NSI and PAMs compared with previous year– NSI and PAMs compared with the Welsh average– NSI ranking– PAM ranking

Performance – NSI and PAMs

Assessment of Performance Slide 8

Summary 2012/13National Strategic Indicators:

Number of NSIs 30

Number with actual value that have got BETTER 12Number with actual value that have got WORSE 6

Number with RANKING that have got BETTER 9Number with RANKING that have got WORSE 6

Number ABOVE Welsh average 15Number BELOW Welsh average 14

Number with TARGET aiming to get BETTER 5Number with TARGET aiming to get WORSE 1

Public Accountability Measures:

Number of PAMs 14

Number with actual value that have got BETTER 8Number with actual value that have got WORSE 5

Number with RANKING that have got BETTER 7Number with RANKING that have got WORSE 5

Number ABOVE Welsh average 9Number BELOW Welsh average 4

Number with TARGET aiming to get BETTER 0Number with TARGET aiming to get WORSE 0

NSIs and PAMs compared with previous year (green improved red declined)

Presentation title Slide 9

Percentage change in the NSI value compared with previous year

Percentage change in the PAM value compared with previous year

NSI and PAMs compared with Welsh average(green better red worse)

Percentage variance in NSI value against Welsh average

Percentage variance in PAM value against Welsh average

Presentation title Slide 10

-150%

-100%

-50%

0%

50%

100%

150%

NSI rankings

Ranking of NSIs in 2012/13 (low is best)

Change in ranking of NSIs since 2011-12 (green is improvement)

Presentation title Slide 11

31 2

19

15

19

13

6

1

22

17

1

22

7

20

7

15

1

21 20

6

#N/A

20 19

12

5

1

18

2

0

11

22

-22

-11

0

11

22

PAM rankings

Ranking of PAMs in 2012-13 (low is best)

Change in ranking of PAMs since 2011-12 (green is improvement)

Presentation title Slide 12

NSI targets

Change in NSI target compared with previous year (green target improved red reduced)

Presentation title Slide 13-20%

-15%

-10%

-5%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

Managing performance

Findings• Central team supports service areas.• Strong focus on managing financial performance.• Staff involvement and awareness of change.• Information is proactively used by some services e.g. Social Services.• System Reviews set up to address under performance.• Council’s Internal Audit quality controls NSIs Data.• New performance management framework is being developed that

includes:– Arrangements to evaluate and score performance against Improvement

objectives. – Corporate health indicators, and – Ffynnon performance data repository and reporting being established.

Assessment of Performance Slide 14

Managing performance

Areas for Improvement• Clearer accountability for the quality of performance information within

service areas.• A broader range of information is needed to enable a full evaluation of

progress or achievement against intended outcome. • The quality of performance data needs to improve. • Arrangements to challenge and agree performance planning, monitoring

and reporting need to strengthen:– Clarify roles and responsibilities– Validate all performance data– Establish procedures and controls for performance targets

• A Staff appraisal system in place but it needs to align with Council’s Strategic plans.

Assessment of Performance Slide 15

Assessing Performance

Findings

• Council is changing its approach to delivering services primarily to make savings, focus is on innovation and looking for new ways of working

• Cabinet members recognise that they need to challenge more.

• Some good examples of strong scrutiny

• Some examples of good evaluations against activity reviews in SIPs. E.g. Housing

Assessment of Performance Slide 16

Assessing Performance

Areas for Improvement• Assessments need to be more consistent and balanced. • Scrutiny committees to seek assurance that the information they are provided with is

accurate and consistently reported• Consistently assess:

– How effectively the authority uses its resources to support improvement?– Whether people most in need of public services are receiving them?– Whether services are being delivered quickly enough?– Whether services are being delivered to the required quality/standard?– Whether strategic objectives are being delivered?– Whether critical success factors are being met?

• The Council needs to openly compare itself with others with a similar demographic profile in addition to looking for global solutions.

Assessment of Performance Slide 17

Progress made against WAO proposals for improvement

• WAO PFIs are reported Bi annually to Audit Committee in March and Sept. There are some weakness in arrangements identified in IAL1 which make it difficult for members and senior officers to assess progress and hold those responsible to account because there is : unclear lines of accountability, unclear timescales for delivery of actions and improvements, and no evaluation of the Council’s progress in addressing the

proposals for improvement.

Presentation title Slide 18

Reporting Performance: Compliance

We found that:

• The Council has discharged its improvement reporting duties under the Measure.

• However, it should ensure that it acts more in accordance with Welsh Government guidance.

Presentation title Slide 19

Reporting Performance

Findings

• Published an assessment of its performance before 31st October 2012.

• Reports available in a variety of formats and in Welsh.

• Bi Annual outcome based score cards reported to SLT, Cabinet and Scrutiny.

• Strong focus on financial information.

Presentation title Slide 20

Reporting Performance

Areas for Improvement

• Reporting needs to be more accessible to all audiences– using plain language, – avoiding the use of jargon,– and by ensuring that the hyperlinks it uses on its website and in

its press release can be opened using a variety of internet browsers.

• The links between the Council’s improvement activities and the level of performance achieved need to be reported more clearly.

Presentation title Slide 21