Scottish Borders Council’S Corporate Plan and Performance Management Framework

ITEM 9 Scottish Borders Council’s Corporate Plan and Performance Management Framework Report by Chief Executive Scottish Borders Council 25 April 2013 1 PURPOSE AND SUMMARY 1.1 This report seeks approval for a Corporate Plan for Scottish Borders Council (2012/13 – 2017/18) as well as an updated Performance Management Framework. 1.2 The Council’s ambitious vision is to “Seek the best quality of life for all the people in the Scottish Borders, prosperity for our businesses and good health and resilience for all our communities” 1.3 To make progress in achieving its vision requires the Council to be clear about its priorities, set challenging targets and have in place a mechanism that enables it to monitor and challenge performance to ensure it is able to deliver on commitments to the community. 1.4 Underpinning this is a Corporate Plan which clearly sets out a vision, values and standards as well as priorities for the coming years. A performance management framework that allows Elected Members and officers to assess how well work is progressing towards addressing these identified priorities must underpin this Corporate Plan. 1.5 The Corporate Plan, presented in Appendix 1, addresses a number of important issues including: o The complex local context within which SBC operates; o The financial pressures that both SBC and partners face; o Key legislative and national policy changes that will affect SBC delivery of services. Against this backdrop, the Plan presents the vision for SBC, underpinned by a set of values and standards that should guide everything it does, from the policies and strategies that are approved, to the work undertaken by an individual within a service department. 1.6 Eight priorities are then presented in the Plan, a number of which can only be addressed if the Council changes the way it works and in many cases, works closely with partners. Annex 1 to the Corporate Plan covers each priority in detail, showing the key policy drivers that will influence what is Scottish Borders Council, 25 April 2013 done, as well as listing the key pieces of work that need to be undertaken either- o through transformation projects within SBC; o in partnership; o through continually improving high quality service delivery. 1.7 Members, officers and indeed the communities served will only be able to gauge how successful the Council is as an organisation if there is a robust and transparent performance management framework underpinning this Corporate Plan. Although a framework was approved by Elected Members in 2010, corporate and administrative changes, combined with a hugely changed external context, mean that reporting arrangements need strengthening. Annex 2 to the Corporate Plan presents an updated Performance Management Framework (PMF) and covers the reporting arrangements for both SBC and the Council’s new Service Committees. 2 RECOMMENDATIONS 2.1 I recommend that the Council approves this Corporate Plan for 2012/13 – 2017/18 and the associated Annex 1, and the Performance Management Framework presented in Annex 2. Scottish Borders Council, 25 April 2013 3 Context for the Development of a new Corporate Plan for Scottish Borders Council 3.1 The previous corporate plan produced by SBC was its Council Priorities 2009-2012 document. This was structured around a large set of local outcomes that formed the Scottish Borders Single Outcome Agreement (SOA) with the Scottish Government. Whilst it did attempt to articulate SBC’s priorities, it presented a very large set of performance measures which were not always consistent in type. Some indicators did indeed demonstrate the impact our activity was having (i.e. they were true outcome indicators) whilst others were simply counting the activity that was undertaken (i.e. they were output indicators). Whilst counting the outputs can be important at a business level, it did not give the Council a measure of the impact of actions and was therefore not entirely appropriate at a strategic level. (Since the last SOA and Corporate Plan were produced, both national and local understanding of outcomes and indicators has matured). 3.2 At the time of approving the Council Priorities document, Council also approved a “Performance Improvement Framework” which detailed the approach to monitoring, reporting and delivering the Borders SOA and, in turn, the Council Priorities. Too much emphasis was perhaps placed on the local outcomes and indicators that related to the SOA and not enough on the needs of SBC as a changing organisation and as an employer, and on how individuals could see their work in the corporate context. 3.3 Much has changed within the past year that meant both the corporate plan and the performance management arrangements that underpinned it needed reviewed: x The external context has changed, and is continuing to change, significantly economically, socially and environmentally (for example continued economic downturn, reforms to the Welfare system, a clear focus on low carbon); x Whilst SBC and partners find themselves under continuing financial pressures, they still have significant resources to spend locally to improve quality of life; x The Christie Commission report has been the catalyst for a number of national policy changes, with a clear focus on prevention as well as partnership working; x Various Bills, for example Integration of Adult Health and Social Care, are set to radically alter the way services are delivered into the future; x SBC’s Administration set a clear direction of travel with is “Ambitious for the Borders” partnership statement and a clear focus on the economy, young people and services for older people; x The Scottish Government has published revised SOA guidance in light of the agreed Scottish Government/Cosla “Statement of Ambition”, calling for transformational change within community planning partnerships and clear evidence of the value added by working collaboratively. 3.4 Audit Scotland recently undertook an early audit of Community Planning Partnerships, of which the Scottish Borders Community Planning Partnership was a part. Although set in the context of partnership working, the report highlighted weaknesses within our performance management arrangements but has recognised that both corporately and within the partnership, steps are being taken to improve the situation- Scottish Borders Council, 25 April 2013 “Following a recent review, it is now implementing a number of important changes to improve its governance and performance management arrangements. This should help ensure that the partnership is working more effectively and is better able to demonstrate its impact on improving outcomes1” 4 Moving Forward 4.1 Recent restructuring within SBC has provided a renewed focus and lead for strategic and corporate planning, monitoring and reporting. Within the Chief Executive’s Department, a new Head of Strategic Policy will ensure a corporate approach to strategic and business planning, linked directly to delivery. 4.2 The work detailed in Annex 1 to the Corporate Plan has been shared with the Head of Transformation Projects within the Chief Executive’s Department, ensuring that the necessary resources are allocated to significant transformational programmes and projects, whether undertaken by SBC alone or in partnership. Annex 1 will be updated on a regular basis, ensuring that activity across SBC is aligned to corporate priorities. 5 Performance Management Arrangements 5.1 In order to ensure that progress against the corporate plan is being monitored, the Performance Management Framework in Annex 2 to the Corporate Plan details various levels of performance reporting in order that Elected Members, community planning partners and the public can see the impact of the work SBC is involved with. 5.2 Under each of the eight Council priorities, a set of performance indicators is being developed in order that reporting can be undertaken for various purposes and at various levels. These indicators vary, from the more strategic outcome indicators that are contained within the Scottish Government’s “National Menu of Local Outcome Indictors (as part of the SOA) to more process orientated indicators that will be of real interest to Council Service committees. For example, under Priority 1: Encouraging sustainable economic growth: o Median earnings (£s) for workforce based in the local authority area will be monitored at both SOA and Corporate Plan level by both the Community Planning Partnership and SBC Executive; o Number of planning applications received will be monitored at both a departmental and Service Committee level. 5.3 Covalent, SBC’s performance management system, will be restructured around the eight Council Priorities and each indicator will be labelled within the system according to its relevance e.g. to the SOA, to a Service Committee etc. This will ensure consistent, efficient use of resources, with performance information being entered and updated only once, but able to be used for a variety of purposes. Reporting tools within Covalent have improved and officers will work with Elected Members to ensure that the reports are tailored to the needs of various boards and committees. 1 Community Planning in Scottish Borders Partnership, Audit Report: A report by Audit Scotland prepared for the Accounts Commission and Auditor General Feb 2013 Scottish Borders Council, 25 April 2013 5.4 Public reporting also forms an important part of this updated Performance Management Framework. The Council currently places a large range of performance information in the public domain but it is often difficult to find. For example our annual report on Statutory Performance Indicators does not sit alongside Quality and Standard reports from departments. A consistent annual report that gives people a clear sense of direction of travel is required, alongside an area within SBC’s website that pulls the full range of performance reports together. The Council will commit to regularly and consistently reporting over the 5 years of the Plan in order that progress can be monitored.

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