Best Value

| Why Best Value? | Best Value principles | Framework for Best Value | Service Review Timetable for Year 1-5 | Plan of Action

BEST VALUE Derry City Council Staff Newsletter June 2000

The purpose of the Best Value leaflet is to provide information on Best Value and bring you up to date with the results of the Best Value Consultation with councillors, staff and residents.

Why Best Value?

At the moment we are in Year One of this programme and services such as Leisure, Performing Arts Visual Arts, Dog Control, Public Conveniences, Lisahally Mart and Building Maintenance are going through the Best Value Process.

Consultation is an important element of the Best Value process. As part of the Council's consultation programme we collected comments and ideas from councillors, staff and residents to ensure that everyone is involved in this important improvement programme for Council. We also gathered information from users of Performing Arts, Visual Arts, Dog Control, Public Conveniences, Lisahally Mart and Building Maintenance. The University of Ulster helped us with the design and implementation of the research programme.

At present we are finalising the Year One Corporate Performance Improvement Plan which will be available for councillors, staff and residents. In addition we are preparing a newsletter for circulation in the District that introduces Best Value and highlights Derry City Council's intentions to improve services.

Best Value is an ongoing process that involves everyone. It brings the concept of consultation and constant review into the core delivery of all Council services. The fact that we have engaged with this process shows that we are committed to improvement. As part of our strategic priorities we are committed to recognising and empowering our staff as our primary resource in the delivery of services and we welcome your involvement and suggestions as part of the Best Value Programme.

Best Value principles

The Best Value concept is based on 12 principles. These principles are the driving force behind continuous improvement and place an obligation on Local Government to commit to Best Value and demonstrate how they have matched their services to the needs of the local population that they serve.

The following are the 12 Best Value principles:

1. Councils owe a duty of Best Value to local people
2. Best Value is about effectiveness and quality as well as Economy and Efficiency
3. The duty of Best Value applies across all Council Services and not just to those subject to CCT
4. There is no bias in favour of either direct Council provision of services or contracted provision from other providers
5. Competition can help deliver Best Value
6. Central Government will continue to set the basic framework for service provision
7. Local targets, based on national targets and performance indicators, should support competition between Councils.
8. Targets should be built on performance information
9. Performance information should be capable of being audited…and should be audited
10. Auditors will report publicly on Council's Best Value performance
11. External intervention will be an option for poorly performing or failing Councils
12. The form of intervention will be appropriate to the nature of failure

The Framework for Best Value

The Best Value Process as we have outlined for our Council is based on an overall framework that has been provided by Local Government Division. The framework presents steps that we must follow. We are now at stage four, "Producing Performance Improvement Plans", for our Year One Services. Already we are looking towards Year Two services and they will shortly begin their performance review with the help of the Best Value Co-ordination Group.

Stages in Best Value

• Stage 1 Corporate View Council's "view of the world" and an outline of what it wants to achieve.
• Stage 2 Review Programme A high level review of Council Services from a Best Value perspective, and a review programme covering five years.
• Stage 3 Performance Review A detailed review of around one-fifth of Council services each year using national standards, satisfaction surveys and auditors reports.
• Stage 4 Performance Improvement Plans Action Plans, showing how services will be delivered, monitored, evaluated and improved.
• Stage 5 Audit Check robustness of Review Programme and Performance Improvement Plans.
• Stage 6 Reporting and Networking Publication by Councils of an annual Best Value Report and sharing of experiences across Councils.

The Service Review Timetable for Year 1-5 is:

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