Comprehensive Performance Assessment

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council March 2009

Contents

Introduction 3

Executive summary 4

Areas for improvement 7

Summary of assessment scores 8

Context 9

What is the Council, together with its partners, trying to achieve? 11

What is the capacity of the Council, including its work with partners, to deliver what it is trying to achieve? 16

What has been achieved? 22

Appendix 1 – Framework for Corporate Assessment 26

Introduction

Introduction 1 Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) is the means by which the Audit Commission fulfils its statutory duty under section 99 of the Local Government Act 2003 to make an assessment, and report on the performance, of local authorities. Corporate assessment is one element in the overall assessment that leads to a CPA score and category. 2 The purpose of the corporate assessment is to assess how well the Council engages with and leads its communities, delivers community priorities in partnership with others, and ensures continuous improvement across the range of Council activities. It seeks to answer three headline questions which are underpinned by five specific themes. What is the Council, together with its partners, trying to achieve? • Ambition • Prioritisation What is the capacity of the Council, including its work with partners, to deliver what it is trying to achieve? • Capacity • Performance management What has been achieved? • Achievement and Improvement

3 Tunbridge Wells Borough Council

Executive summary

Executive summary 3 Tunbridge Wells Borough Council has made exceptional progress since its corporate assessment in 2004. It is now an 'excellent' council. It has engaged effectively with partners to formulate a clear vision for the borough that is supported by challenging but realistic ambitions. Both the vision and ambitions are informed by comprehensive consultation with residents, including minority and other seldom heard groups, and thorough research. There is good alignment between the strategic plans of the county local strategic partnership (the Kent Partnership) and that of the borough, Tunbridge Wells Together (TWT) as well as other partner organisations. This means that partners are focussed on what is important to residents and there is effective coordination of effort to deliver shared priorities. 4 The Council has successfully created an organisational culture that places emphasis on effective management of well motivated staff delivering high quality services, improved customer satisfaction and value for money. As a result the Council has improved 68 per cent of key performance indicators since 2003/04 and now has 57 per cent of these among the best performing councils nationally. A residents' survey in 2007/08 showed that 76 per cent of residents were satisfied with the Council and the Council achieved the highest possible score of '4' - performing strongly in its recent annual value for money assessment. 5 Political and managerial leadership is strong. The Leader and the Chief Executive have both worked successfully to re-launch TWT. This organisation is now inclusive and proactive at recognising and responding to the needs of the community. It published the community strategy 'Enhancing the Quality of Life for All' in 2006. This document is informed by extensive consultation, particularly with groups and individuals from minority communities including people with disabilities, people from different faiths, young people and older people. The views of these groups are added to by thorough and ongoing research to ensure that the partnership continues to have an excellent understanding of what is important to all residents. The community strategy links to other strategic plans in the county, notably the county wide community strategy and local area agreement (KA2), and is supported by service specific plans tackling issues such as community safety and waste management. Although most joint strategies are supported by detailed action plans and associated targets there are some examples where these have yet to be finalised or lack detail. Overall it is very clear what the partnership intends to achieve and how it will achieve it. 6 The Council has clear priorities underpinned by three customer focussed values. The priorities are described in the Council's 'Strategic Plan' and link logically to the ambitions of TWT. They reflect a good understanding of local needs, particularly those of minority communities. These are examined in detail through good community engagement and a programme of equality impact assessments linked to strategic and service delivery plans. Council values focus on effective management, high quality services delivering customer satisfaction and value for money. Medium term spending plans reflect corporate priorities meaning that resources are moved from non-priority services such as the theatre and back office functions to support priorities such as housing, waste management and community safety.

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council 4

Executive summary

7 Community leadership is strong and councillors are prepared to take difficult decisions. Initiatives such as 'Ward Walks' and 'Councillor Call for Action' support councillors' understanding of local issues and demonstrate their commitment to tackle issues that are important to residents. At borough level councillors demonstrate leadership by taking difficult decisions relating to resource allocations. Recent examples include the introduction of town centre car parking charges on Sundays, a new grants regime to improve targeting of scarce resources and reducing subsidies for leisure and cultural facilities. Within the sub region the Leader has been instrumental in obtaining government funding for improvements to the A21 trunk road by coordinating the actions of all councils between Sevenoaks and Hastings that are served by this important route. These examples demonstrate how councillors understand their communities and are prepared to take action to secure improvement. 8 Governance structures support effective decision making. Relationships between councillors and officers are positive and professional contributing to prompt and transparent decision making by Cabinet and effective challenge from overview and scrutiny committees. The percentage of independent members of the Standards board (60 per cent) exceeds the recommended level of 25 per cent ensuring a good level of external scrutiny. The Council has recently been praised by the local government Ombudsman for its treatment of complaints and there are good governance arrangements in place for the main strategic partnerships such as Tunbridge Wells Together, the Community Safety Partnership and West Kent Partnership. 9 The Council makes good use of its financial and human resources. Its finances are sound with high levels of reserves and relatively low levels of council tax. It has improved its financial management and reporting and this has been recognised in its recent Use of Resources assessment where it was judged to be 'performing well'. The Council achieves excellent value for money. Staff are well managed and work effectively with partners and colleagues to deliver good quality services. There are frequent training and development opportunities for staff and councillors and the Council encourages innovation and a flexible approach to problem-solving. This helps ensure that staff are well motivated, hard working and committed to continuous improvement. 10 The Council makes good use of performance management to deliver sustained improvement. Its performance management framework ensures that councillors, senior managers and staff are well informed about what is working well and what needs to be improved. This facilitates recognition of good performance and effective corrective action where necessary. The Council seeks and is responsive to challenge. Overview and scrutiny committees contribute positively to policy development and comment constructively on service delivery. The Council is working with partners to improve partnership performance management.

5 Tunbridge Wells Borough Council

Executive summary

11 Access to services is good and improving. The Council makes good use of information technology to underpin service delivery and promote good customer access. It has implemented a customer relationship management system with Sevenoaks and Tonbridge & Malling councils to improve the way that it manages customer information and enhance information available to frontline staff. The Council's website is informative and its services are accessible through digital TV. In partnership with the county council, voluntary sector and others the Council has recently opened the 'Gateway' one stop shop in Tunbridge Wells. This facility supplements rural offices in towns such as Cranbrook and a mobile office shared with the county council which covers rural areas. 12 The Council is delivering improved outcomes to benefit local people. It achieves best quartile performance for processing housing and council tax benefits; the speed with which it processes planning applications; the amount of waste recycled; keeping the cost of household waste collection low; visits to museums; participation in sport; removing fly posting and clearing litter from streets. In contrast the Council has yet to implement effective waste minimisation practices. The Council is improving the availability of housing in the borough by exceeding its targets for both general and affordable housing. In addition in 2007/08 it helped 103 people with disabilities benefit from disabled adaptations helped reduce fuel poverty by supplementing 'Warm Front' grants and through its Energy Doctors initiative enabled 205 vulnerable residents to receive advice about insulation and heating improvements. The Council is also working with partners to reduce crime and disorder by tackling anti-social behaviour, alcohol and drug misuse and supporting vulnerable people. Examples include support for victims of domestic violence which has been provided to over 100 women and outreach workers helping young people at risk of offending and people misusing drugs.

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council 6

Areas for improvement

Areas for improvement 13 The Council should ensure that joint strategies are supported by detailed action plans and associated targets. 14 The Council needs to work with partners to implement coordinated action to reduce the amount of household waste produced in the borough.

7 Tunbridge Wells Borough Council

Summary of assessment scores

Headline questions Theme Score* Weighted score

Ambition 3 6 What is the Council, together with its partners, trying to achieve? Prioritisation 3 6

Capacity 3 6 What is the capacity of the

Council, including its work with partners, to deliver what it is trying to achieve? Performance 3 6 management

Achievement and What has been achieved? 3 Improvement 21

Weighted score 45

CPA category

*Key to scores 1 – below minimum requirements – inadequate performance 2 – at only minimum requirements – adequate performance 3 – consistently above minimum requirements – performing well 4 – well above minimum requirements – performing strongly

**Banding thresholds for determining CPA category

Category Required score Excellent 45-60 Good 36-44 Fair 28-35 Weak 21-27 Poor 20 or less

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council 8

Context

The locality 15 The borough of Tunbridge Wells is in the south east of England in the county of Kent. It covers an area of 331 square kilometres in west Kent on the border with East Sussex. It also shares borders with the Kent districts of Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and Malling, Maidstone and Ashford. There are 15 town or parish councils in the borough. The borough is primarily rural with almost three quarters of its area being designated as Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and ten sites of special scientific interest. 16 In 2007 the borough had a population of 105,600. Over half (55 per cent) of these people live in Royal Tunbridge Wells. The remainder live in the towns of Cranbrook, Paddock Wood and Southborough and smaller towns and villages. The population is mostly white with 95.1 per cent of people describing themselves in this way. The next largest proportion is the 1.5 per cent of the population who describe themselves as Asian or Asian/British and 1.2 per cent of the population consider themselves to be Black or Black British. 17 The borough is relatively affluent. Unemployment levels in the year ending August 2008 were consistently below one per cent. This is less than both the regional average (range 1.3 to 1.5 per cent) and the national average (range 2 to 2.5 per cent). Average weekly earnings for full time workers in 2007 were £492.10 which exceeded both the regional (£480.70) and national averages (£458.60). The majority of people are employed in service industries with 28 per cent working in distribution, hotels and restaurants; 26 per cent in public administration and 23 per cent in finance and information technology. The town of Royal Tunbridge Wells has a strong retail economy including almost one fifth of town centre floor space devoted to the evening economy. 18 Levels of deprivation in the borough are low. The area ranks 273rd out of 354 (where 354 is the least deprived) in the Indices of Multiple Deprivation. Despite this there are some areas of relative deprivation with parts of Sherwood and Broadwater being included in the most deprived 20 per cent of wards in Kent and Medway. In both areas more than a third of the population have no qualifications. 19 The average house price in the borough in November 2008 is £322,256. This makes Tunbridge Wells the second most expensive place to live in Kent with only Sevenoaks experiencing higher prices. House prices in the borough have fallen in the past year reflecting national trends. Despite this the availability of affordable housing remains an important local issue, particularly in rural areas where a scarcity of suitable land adds to the difficulty of meeting demand.

9 Tunbridge Wells Borough Council

Context

The Council 20 Tunbridge Wells Borough Council consists of 48 councillors representing 20 wards. The Council is controlled by the Conservative Group which has 44 councillors. There are four Liberal Democrat councillors. 21 The Council operates the Leader and Cabinet style of governance. The Cabinet is made up of the Leader supported by five portfolio holders with responsibility for Housing and Community Access - Corporate Services - Planning and Development - Safer and Stronger Communities and Environment and Street Scene. The Council has also appointed Lead Members with responsibility for youth issues, community issues, 'Every Child Matters', health and older people and environment and street scene. 22 The Council's Overview and Scrutiny function is carried out by three Select Committees, coordinated by a Management Group. The Select Committees have responsibility for Corporate Services; Environment, Safer and Stronger Communities and Local Economy and Housing. The Management Group coordinates the work of the three Select Committees and oversees the publication of the annual 'Overview and Scrutiny Report'. Development control decisions are taken by two area-based Planning Committees. Other statutory functions are discharged by the Licensing, Standards and Audit Committees. 23 The Council's officer structure is led by the Chief Executive who manages the performance management, overview and scrutiny and communications functions. She is assisted by three Directors with responsibility for Services to the Community, Change and Business Support and Planning and Development. There are nine Heads of Service. 24 The Council employs 396 people and its net revenue budget for 2008/09 is £14.5 million with a further £8 million to be spent on capital projects. The revenue budget represents a Band D council tax of £134.79 which is the lowest in the county and among the lowest in the country. Historically the Council has relied on investment income generated by reserves of £30 million, much of which was acquired through the sale of the Council's housing stock. 25 The Council works with public, private and voluntary sector organisations in a range of different partnerships. It is represented on the Kent Partnership which works across the county to deliver the Kent Community Strategy. The Council also works with Tonbridge and Malling and Sevenoaks councils and other private, public and voluntary sector organisations in the West Kent partnership. This group focuses on areas of mutual interest such as skills and learning, the local economy, housing and health. Within the borough the Council leads Tunbridge Wells Together. This partnership comprises representatives from county, borough, parish and town councils, health authorities, the voluntary sector, and Kent police as well as local interest groups focussing on business development, housing, the environment and leisure. 26 The Audit Commission assessed the Council as 'weak' in 2004.

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council 10

What is the Council, together with its partners, trying to achieve?

Ambition 27 The Council is performing well in ambition. It has worked well with partners to create a clear vision for the future that focuses on improving the quality of life of residents. This shared vision is informed by good engagement with all sections of the community that has identified what is important to residents. The partners have linked this information to effective research and statistical analysis to ensure that it understands current issues in the borough and future challenges. This has enabled them to identify nine thematic ambitions that describe aspects of life in the borough that are particularly important to residents and consequently provide a suitable focus for the partners. Strategic plans to deliver these ambitions are in place and are aligned to county wide plans to deliver improvement. The Council provides good community leadership. 28 The Council and its partners have a clear vision supported by challenging ambitions. The community strategy ‘Enhancing the Quality of Life for All’ covers the period 2006 to 2011. It describes the shared vision in terms of the quality of life that residents should expect to enjoy in nine important elements of their lives including environment, housing, economic prosperity, social inclusion and learning. These nine elements form the nine shared ambitions of the Local Strategic Partnership and the community strategy describes specific aspects of each ambition that the partnership will tackle during the life of the document. The nine ambitions effectively link national themes such as health and community safety with locally important issues such as transport and leisure opportunities. This makes it clear what the partnership intends to achieve and how it will achieve it. 29 The shared ambitions are based on effective and thorough community consultation. This was done during the year preceding publication of the community strategy and included a stakeholder conference, a borough-wide survey, residents’ focus groups and workshops with parish and town councils. TWT also actively involved groups such as young people and gypsies and travellers to supplement input from other groups representing people with particular needs. More recently TWT has strengthened the involvement of groups such as the Access Group, Minority Ethnic Advisory Group, Sexual Diversity Advisory Group and the Faith Forum as part of preparing for its next community strategy. These activities ensured that current and future community strategies are informed by a wide spectrum of views representing all sectors of the population.

11 Tunbridge Wells Borough Council

What is the Council, together with its partners, trying to achieve?

30 TWT makes good use of ongoing research and information gathering to inform its decisions. The Council employs a research and information officer who coordinates an annual residents' survey which is supported by surveys targeted at groups such as older people, BME communities and migrants. The Council has recently commissioned an independent group to develop and implement a questionnaire to be used in face to face interviews with a representative sample of individuals. This supplements the research work being done by another independent consultancy to position the borough regionally and nationally in key indicators such as employment, transport, health and deprivation as part of the activity to prepare an updated community strategy. Partner organisations share information with examples including the 'Tunbridge Wells Health Inequalities Profile' and the level of crime recorded in the borough. This information helps the partnership understand what is happening in the borough, the views of residents and identify the needs of emerging communities such as migrant workers. 31 There is good alignment between the plans of the county and borough strategic partnerships as well as those of partner organisations. The community strategy explicitly describes how the activities of the Kent Partnership and TWT complement each other and contribute to the recently agreed local area agreement (KA2). Council strategic plans are produced centrally by the same team that represents the Council on the Kent Partnership. This helps ensure that plans complement each other and are well coordinated. In addition the Council has recently produced a local action plan that maps the vision for Kent to KA2 and links to the borough LSP. This action plan will be reflected in the Council's 2009/10 corporate plan refresh and associated service plans. The Council works with the neighbouring councils of Sevenoaks and Tonbridge and Malling in a 'West Kent' alliance that focuses on issues of mutual interest such as housing, health and transport. This approach secures effective coordination of activity and good use of resources. 32 The Council provides strong community leadership. Senior politicians and managers are ambitious and committed to improving life in the borough and have successfully re-energised the strategic partnership. In addition the Leader has worked with the Member of Parliament to create a coalition of all councils served by the A21 trunk road from Sevenoaks to Hastings. This group has successfully campaigned for government funding to make this trunk road dual carriageway to be brought forward from 2015 to 2011. The Council has implemented the ‘Councillor Call for Action’ initiative allowing councillors to act on behalf of residents to resolve a local issue of concern. This initiative enables residents to identify issues of local concern and commits the Council to resolve those issues, if necessary by involving partners. Examples of improvements include highlighting the existence of a post office in Pembury to attract business from the busy A26 road and tackling local environmental issues.

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council 12

What is the Council, together with its partners, trying to achieve?

33 Joint strategic planning arrangements are adequate. In addition to statutory joint strategies such as the community strategy and the community safety strategy, the Council has worked with partners to produce joint strategies to tackle issues such as homelessness, management of the High Weald AONB, waste management and investing in the rural economy. Many joint strategies are supported by detailed action plans and associated targets but in some cases these have yet to be finalised or lack detail. Examples include the Substance Misuse Action Plan and the voluntary sector compact prepared with Sevenoaks and Tonbridge and Malling councils. Consequently, although most joint strategic plans lead to coordinated action with partners, there are examples where this is not the case.

Prioritisation 34 The Council is performing well in prioritisation. Its priorities link logically to the ambitions of TWT and are understood and shared by council staff and other stakeholders. Corporate priorities reflect local needs and address the needs of minority communities through effective equality impact assessments. The delivery of council priorities is supported by a robust planning framework in which corporate, financial and service plans are well coordinated and complement each other. The Council systematically moves resources to priority activities away from those of a lower priority and councillors are prepared to take difficult decisions to support delivery of council priorities. 35 The Council has identified priorities and values which clearly set out where the Council intends to focus. These are described in its Strategic Plan and are: • to promote and maintain a thriving and diverse local economy; • care for the environment; • have housing suitable for local people; and • develop safer and stronger communities. These priorities are underpinned by three Customer Service Commitments which outline the Council's values. These are to develop high quality services; to improve customer service and satisfaction and to ensure that the Council is well managed, proactive and delivers value for money. 36 Corporate priorities reflect local needs. In addition to the consultation and research done to support the community strategy the Council has commissioned structured, independent needs assessments for both housing and community cohesion. It has convened 'councillor conventions' which bring together parish, borough and county councillors to discuss common issues and instituted a programme of ‘Ward Walks’ in which councillors, officers and partners meet with residents to discuss issues of local concern. The Leader meets regularly with parish council Chairs and members of the public are invited to contribute to specific topics such as future waste and recycling arrangements. These initiatives are valued by local people and are a useful way to make sure that the Council understands and is responsive to local need.

13 Tunbridge Wells Borough Council

What is the Council, together with its partners, trying to achieve?

37 Staff and other stakeholders understand and share the Council's priorities for improvement. Council priorities are prominently displayed in Council buildings and feature in publications such as the borough magazine, councillor briefings and newsletters to parish councils and other partners. Staff appraisals make specific reference to corporate priorities and targets for individual members of staff are limited to two or three that directly support them. As a result partners and other stakeholders are aware of council priorities and a recent staff survey showed that 92 per cent of managers and 89 per cent of staff understood what was expected of them and how their actions supported council priorities. 38 The Council effectively takes into account the specific needs of minority communities when developing and improving services. It published its first Equality Scheme in 2007 covering the three years to 2010. This document and associated action plans were developed with involvement from the public, voluntary and community organisations. The Council has nominated a portfolio holder with responsibility for equalities and two equalities and diversity 'champions'. In addition the Chief Executive chairs the Corporate Equalities Monitoring Group responsible for promoting the equalities agenda. Examples of specific improvements include setting aside an area of the cemetery for the local Muslim community, providing companion passes for carers and special household waste collection arrangements for elderly people and those with disabilities. The Council’s borough wide survey in 2008 revealed that 66 per cent of all people interviewed felt that the Council treats all people fairly with 81 per cent of over-65s and 77 per cent of people from ethnic minorities agreeing with this finding. 39 Corporate, financial and service plans effectively support delivery of Council priorities. Each portfolio holder produces an annual portfolio statement which sets out their individual responsibilities and describes how activity in their portfolio will help deliver council priorities. These plans describe opportunities and challenges in each portfolio and describe specific action to be taken. Portfolio statements are also used to inform the service-planning process and help ensure that service development is aligned to council priorities. The medium term financial strategy (MTFS) links to other key plans and strategies including the Asset Management Plan, the ICT Strategy, Housing Strategy and Economic Development Strategy and makes specific reference to priority activities. The Corporate Improvement Plan brings together improvement initiatives from external assessments such as Use of Resources, data quality and service inspections and ensures that improvement action is effectively monitored and coordinated. This planning framework ensures that activity is focussed in support of council priorities and continuous improvement.

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council 14

What is the Council, together with its partners, trying to achieve?

40 The Council systematically moves resources to support priority activities. The MTFS defines criteria to ensure that all growth bids are assessed against the degree to which they support council priorities as well as other criteria relating to value for money, risk management and the impact on customer satisfaction. It includes criteria to challenge base budget assumptions to identify spending on non priority areas. The Council has released additional funding by disinvesting in non priority services such as the theatre and back office functions and created a strategic reserve funded by investment interest exceeding budget. The introduction of Sunday car parking charges also resulted in an additional £200,000 a year. This money has been reinvested in priority services. Examples include more money for disabled facilities grants, the creation of a regeneration company and a multi agency facility (TN2 centre) in Sherwood ward. These actions help support improvement in priority services and demonstrate the Council values of promoting high quality services and value for money. 41 Councillors take difficult decisions in support of their priorities. Examples of difficult decisions include development of some rural housing sites - the introduction of a new grants regime to improve the way the Council commissions services from the voluntary and community sector and target grants to those groups most in need - the closure of under used Council offices in Cranbrook in the face of intense local opposition - the introduction of car parking charges in Royal Tunbridge Wells town centre on Sundays and reduction of the subsidy for the theatre. These decisions were taken to support delivery of priority services or to improve value for money by releasing funding to support priority services.

15 Tunbridge Wells Borough Council

What is the capacity of the Council, including its work with partners, to deliver what it is trying to achieve?

Capacity 42 The Council is performing well in this area. A sustained drive to change by senior managers and politicians has been well received by staff and resulted in many improvements. Governance structures are sound with a robust ethical framework behind decision-making. Staff are engaged with change and work well towards corporate priorities. The Council manages its finances well and achieves excellent value for money. Partnership working is strong and access to services is good and improving with a strong focus on users and greater attention to diversity and equality issues. 43 The Council has sustained an impressive managerial and political drive to improve. Political and managerial leaders have successfully engaged staff through good communication and openness to secure effective strategic planning, consistently good services and an open, responsive and customer focused organisation. This has been achieved through a well managed programme of change that has included some redundancies, staff development and upskilling and different ways of working. Good performance is rewarded and recognised. As a result Council staff are well motivated to achieve improvement. 44 Governance structures are clear and support effective decision-making. Cabinet members work constructively with officers, showing clarity of roles and good division of responsibilities. Cabinet decision-making processes are transparent and result in decisions being taken promptly. Independent (non-Council) members comprise 40 per cent of the Standards Committee, which is higher than the recommended minimum of 25 per cent and the Council has recently been praised by the local government Ombudsman for its approach to complaints. There are good governance arrangements in place for the main strategic partnerships such as Tunbridge Wells Together, the Community Safety Partnership and West Kent Partnership. The LSP is chaired by the Council Leader, who is well respected by the other partners.

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council 16

What is the capacity of the Council, including its work with partners, to deliver what it is trying to achieve?

45 The Council has improved the management of its financial resources and is taking action to deal with the local effects of economic instability. The Council's 2008 score for use of resources improved in each category (that is, financial reporting; financial management; financial standing; and internal control) and is now assessed to be as 'performing well'. Its financial capacity is enhanced through external funding with all external funding applications linked to corporate priorities. The Council has a robust approach to capital spending and most capital expenditure is financed by reserves, currently £30 million, or external funding. This means that Council borrowing is low. Cabinet is closely monitoring the effects of the down-turn in the economy and making adjustments to budgets supporting services such as development control and housing benefits in response to changing demand and to end 2008/09 with a balanced budget. It is also seeking opportunities to bring forward its own capital projects to offer work to local businesses at a time when private sector work is expected to be scarce. 46 The Council performs strongly in managing and delivering value for money. Its costs compare favourably with similar councils and services as measured by national indicators are of a high standard. Clear corporate priorities inform spending decisions which are targeted to poorer performing services and corporate priorities. The Council is exceeding its own targets for achieving efficiency gains which it does through reviewing service delivery processes, good partnership working and effective procurement. One example of this is outsourcing leisure provision which has resulted in private sector investment, increased usage and cost reductions totalling £7 million over the life of the contract. This kind of action has resulted in the Audit Commission's annual value for money assessment of the Council improving to the highest possible level in 2008. 47 The Council makes good use of its staff and councillors. It has a comprehensive and systematic approach to workforce planning and knows what human resources it needs to deliver its corporate priorities. It has a robust approach to staff development with regular staff appraisals and frequent training and development opportunities demonstrating clear investment in maximising staff potential. This approach is mirrored in a similarly systematic and robust approach for councillors. Middle managers were helped to manage change associated with major restructuring by a training programme on leadership and change management. Extra resources were made available while the workforce planning and reorganisation programme was being implemented. The Council encourages innovation and a flexible approach to problem-solving among staff as part of the change process. These initiatives have helped the Council to successfully deliver change and ensure that staff and councillors potential is developed. 48 Staff work effectively across directorates and with councillors to achieve the Council's ambitions. The Council has a set of published and widely-accessible corporate customer and tailored service standards which are monitored through local and management performance indicators. Standards are reinforced at staff inductions and throughout the year. Regular staff appraisals mean that each member of staff has at least two points in the year when they can discuss progress and development needs/objectives. There are cross-council working parties, such as for safeguarding children, and sustainability initiatives such as travel planning. Services take the opportunity to learn from each other. Such initiatives help to ensure that 'silo working' does not occur.

17 Tunbridge Wells Borough Council

What is the capacity of the Council, including its work with partners, to deliver what it is trying to achieve?

49 The Council has successfully managed the risk of 'initiative overload' by good project management. Standard project management techniques have been applied to all major projects. The Council engages effectively with staff during change programmes and has introduced support to help them deliver. Dedicated project managers have been appointed to oversee the change programme and more recent projects such as the opening of Gateway and the implementation of customer relationship management (CRM) systems. Additional staff resources have been brought in to support change programmes, and resources have been moved as necessary to ensure adequate capacity. These initiatives have helped secure continued improvement. 50 Extensive and effective partnership work with external partners supplements internal capacity and contributes to improved outcomes for the community. The Council shares services with Maidstone, Sevenoaks and Tonbridge and Malling councils as well as the county council. It has engaged a private sector partner to assist with developing master plans for the town centres. The successful TN2 community centre has been delivered in partnership with the county council, YMCA and a local housing association. The Council has worked in partnership with the county council to open the Gateway centre to provide services from a wide range of agencies including the voluntary sector. The Council targets grants to the voluntary and community sector to those organisations that support priority services. There is an innovative partnership between the police and council traffic wardens through which wardens are accredited to report directly back if they see illegal or anti-social behaviour. Cooperation with parish and town councils is good, particularly on housing and planning issues, and is enhanced by regular meetings involving key politicians. These varied initiatives help the Council to deliver more for the community. 51 The Council makes good use of information technology to improve service delivery and customer access. The Council's IT strategy is linked to its corporate priorities, is reviewed annually and focuses on the need to deliver applications that improve services for citizens. The Council's website works well and it has implemented a CRM system purchased with Sevenoaks and Tonbridge & Malling Councils. The new Gateway facility was opened in Tunbridge Wells town centre in November 2008 and gives the public a single point of access to services available from the county and borough councils and other partner agencies. Digital TV is available to 85 per cent of the population and can be used to access the Council's services. A Kent CC van regularly visits rural areas and with Borough Council presence links by satellite to the main offices. Consequently the Council is improving access to services for customers by embracing technology as well as tackling barriers to physical access.

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council 18

What is the capacity of the Council, including its work with partners, to deliver what it is trying to achieve?

52 The Council places great importance on user focus and equalities and diversity. It has achieved level 3 of the LG equality standard; only one-third of councils have reached this level or higher. Customer service is an important attribute for all staff, and is assessed at each appraisal. The Council has worked with the Access Group to produce a guide to the borough for people with disabilities and encouraged transport providers to introduce accessible buses on major routes. It has worked with partners to organise a 'Mela' festival featuring culturally diverse activities. There is recognition of 'international awareness' days with tailored events for the groups concerned. The Council is working to address under-representation of groups such as older people and those with disabilities in its own work force through succession and workforce planning. These examples illustrate the Council's positive approach to all users and its emphasis on equality and diversity. 53 The Council takes care to manage risks in all it does, and decisions are taken within the context of a strong ethical framework. The Council's thorough risk management procedure informs key corporate and strategic planning, including the main partnership plans and objectives. There are sound principles around evaluating and regularly updating risks to ensure business continuity. Risk management is integral in planning major projects, such as the Gateway and cinema site.

Performance management 54 The Council is performing well in this area. Performance management has a high profile which reflects its importance to the Council's journey of improvement. Its performance management framework ensures that people are clear about what the Council wants to achieve and how they are expected to contribute. Councillors, senior managers and staff are committed to continuous improvement and are well informed about what is working well and what needs to be improved. This facilitates early corrective action which itself is subject to good performance management. Overview and scrutiny committees contribute positively to policy development and comment constructively on service delivery. The Council is responsive to external challenge and suggestions as to how services can be improved. This positive approach has contributed to a sustained period of significant improvement for the Council. Partnership performance management arrangements are adequate and the Council is working with partners to improve them. 55 The Council has an effective performance management framework. There are strong links between corporate priorities, service plans and individual and team targets making it clear what the Council wants to achieve and how people individually and collectively are expected to contribute. Performance monitoring is good with on line information available to service managers, monthly reviews by senior managers and quarterly reports, linking performance and financial information, to Cabinet. Overview and scrutiny committees receive information relating to key performance indicators and the Audit Committee monitors delivery of the Corporate Improvement Plan. Summary performance information reports are published in the annual report of overview and scrutiny. These processes ensure that there is good coordination of activity to deliver corporate priorities and that councillors and staff are aware of areas of underperformance and can take prompt corrective action when required.

19 Tunbridge Wells Borough Council

What is the capacity of the Council, including its work with partners, to deliver what it is trying to achieve?

56 The Council uses its knowledge of performance to drive continuous improvement. The 'First Group' comprising the Chief Executive, Directors and Heads of Service meets monthly to review performance information and address underperformance. Where targets are identified as being in danger of being missed, an action plan is developed with service heads and portfolio holders who undertake to secure improvement. This approach helps to sustain a constructive focus on improvement and ensures that prompt corrective action is taken as necessary. As a result the Council improved its performance in 68 per cent of key performance indicators in the three years period ending in March 2008 exceeding the district council average of between 57 and 59 per cent. 57 Councillors, senior managers and staff are focussed on delivering improvement. The Corporate Improvement Plan brings together all recommendations for improvement from internal and external service reviews, inspections and annual assessments such as use of resources and data quality. Each recommendation is supported by an action plan based on a thorough and open assessment of what needs to be done to secure the required level of improvement. Action plans include targets that are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-limited) and in many cases are based on comparative information from councils that are performing well. Implementation of these action plans is achieved through well directed programme and project boards consisting of councillors and officers and trained programme and project managers. These in turn are supervised by a central 'Delivery Unit'. This systematic approach has been used to secure a nine per cent reduction in average sickness absence from 10.8 days per employee in 2006/07 to 9.8 days in 2007/08, and to speed up the processing of planning applications from the level of the worst performing in 2003/04 to the level of the best in all categories in 2007/08. 58 Overview and scrutiny committees make a positive contribution to performance improvement. They are actively involved in formulating Council policies and have recently contributed to improving recycling and waste management; reviewing the Council's housing allocations policy and alterations to the arrangements for making home improvement grants. Overview and scrutiny committees have also brought about changes in the way the Council delivers services including those for migrant workers, changes to subsidies for rural bus services and re-designing the Council's logo to improve its public profile. They constructively challenge Cabinet decisions such as those in relation to proposals to close Council offices in Cranbrook and extend town centre car parking charges. These activities contributed to the Council's scrutiny function being highly commended by the Centre for Public Scrutiny in July 2008.

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council 20

What is the capacity of the Council, including its work with partners, to deliver what it is trying to achieve?

59 The Council uses feedback from users and other stakeholders to shape service delivery. Examples include the Council producing a DVD to improve understanding of people with learning disabilities. This was in response to concerns from the Speaking Up Group (a service users' group representing people with learning difficulties) about bullying. The Council also responded to residents' concerns about anti social behaviour in Calverly Grounds by appointing a youth worker to work with health professionals to provide diversionary activities and health advice to young people frequenting the area. This initiative led to a reduction in reported incidents and positive feedback from the young people involved. The Council had similar success in dealing with the concerns of Rusthall residents as reported through the Partners and Communities Together (PACT) group. Recent ideas from the staff suggestion scheme include energy-saving 'intelliplugs' for computers and a jargon buster database on the intranet. These examples illustrate that the Council is responsive to stakeholder feedback. 60 The Council makes good use of learning from other organisations and benchmarking to help it improve. Its decision to use a development partner to regenerate town centres in the borough was informed by joint working with Mid-Sussex District Council which faced similar constraints. Similarly the Council's membership of the English Historic Towns Forum has enabled it to learn from councils such as Cambridge City Council. The Council invited the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) to review its achievements in 2007. It responded positively to its findings by improving its approach to diversity and equalities, consolidating organisational change, strengthening overview and scrutiny and improving community engagement. Council staff are involved in national initiatives such as IDeA peer reviews, mentoring initiatives, the Leadership Centre and SOLACE. The Council uses comparative benchmarking information from organisations such as CIPFA and the Audit Commission to help it set service delivery targets, and participates in a benchmarking exercise with other councils in Kent to produce an analysis of the best combination of cost and performance. 61 Partnership performance management is adequate. Currently the Council receives information from partners and inputs it to its performance management system. This enables it to produce performance monitoring information for TWT illustrating performance against the 198 national performance indicators and the 132 actions in the Sustainable Community Plan twice a year. This information supplements service specific information submitted by partners such as crime statistics held by police. However the processes involved are inefficient and not conducive to early identification of good and poor performance. Consequently the Council is working with partners to allow them to input information directly to the Council's main performance management system and subsequently allow them on-line interrogation of performance information. This will significantly improve partnership performance management.

21 Tunbridge Wells Borough Council

What has been achieved?

Achievement and improvement 62 The Council is performing well in achievement and improvement. Since 2004/05 key performance indicators have improved significantly. Overall customer satisfaction is in the top twenty five per cent, as is satisfaction with street cleaning and leisure. The Council's performance in its priority services is good. Its activities have contributed to a high level of business start ups and employment opportunities in tourism, retail and commercial activity as well as supporting the rural economy. Future initiatives include major developments in Royal Tunbridge Wells as well as regeneration activity in each of the town centres in the borough. Environmental services are good and the Council works constructively with residents and community groups to improve the urban and rural environments. The Council is working successfully with partners to increase the supply of new housing in general and affordable housing in particular. It is improving the quality of existing housing in the borough. Through the crime and disorder reduction partnership, the Council is tackling crime in general with a focus on reducing anti social behaviour and substance misuse and protecting vulnerable people. 63 The Council's performance as measured by performance indicators is good and improving. Using data from 2007/08 the Council has 57 per cent of key performance indicators in the best 25 per cent of councils nationally. This exceeds the district council average of 33 per cent. The Council performs particularly well in the processing of council tax and housing benefits - planning - household waste collection and recycling - street cleaning and leisure where key indicators place the Council among the best performing councils nationally. The Council performs less well when recovering benefit over-payments (below average nationally) and waste minimisation (worst performing). 64 Customer satisfaction levels are good and improving. In 2006/07, 62 per cent of residents were satisfied with the Council overall, among the best performing councils nationally. The Council also recorded high levels of customer satisfaction for the cleanliness of public spaces and for its culture and sports provision. In contrast, customer satisfaction with planning (59 per cent) and household waste collection (68 per cent) were both at the lowest level nationally. More recent unaudited data for 2007/08 shows that satisfaction with the planning service has increased with 69 per cent of applicants being satisfied with the service they received. However, satisfaction with household waste collection has deteriorated to 65 per cent, despite the service registering best quartile performance for the level of service and lowest cost.

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council 22

What has been achieved?

To promote and maintain a thriving and diverse local economy 65 The Council works well with partners to deliver its priority for a thriving local economy. By offering business start up advice and assistance the Council contributed to 125 new business start ups in 2007/08. Tourism in the borough has increased by 3 per cent since 2004 which has delivered an estimated 223 new jobs. By supporting schemes such as the North Farm retail and industrial site the Council has enabled the creation of 52,271 square metres of industrial and commercial floor space in the last three years with the potential to support approximately 1,700 jobs. Working with Sevenoaks and Tonbridge and Malling councils the Council has secured £1.8 million from the South East England Development Agency and the Rural Development Programme for England to support the rural economy of west Kent over the next five years. Specific initiatives include support for rural tourism, and to encourage innovation and diversification in West Kent’s land based sector. One example of this is the Council's support to enable a small local farm to expand from traditional fruit farming to supply a wide range of locally sourced products from up to 58 small businesses through its farm shop. 66 The Council has created a public/private sector delivery vehicle to take a lead role in regenerating town centres in the borough over the next ten years. It granted planning permission in November 2008 for a £50 million development of the former cinema site featuring retail and office accommodation and a 140 bedroom hotel. These initiatives will provide further employment initiatives and consolidate the town's position as an important retail centre serving south west Kent and east Sussex.

Care for the environment 67 The Council delivers good environmental services. In 2007/08 it achieved performance at the level of the best councils in England for the amount of waste recycled or composted (46 per cent) and the cost of household waste collection (£27.38 per household compared to the average of £51.29). All dwellings in the borough benefit from kerbside collection of recyclable material. In contrast, the amount of waste collected is very high and public satisfaction with household waste collection in 2006/07 was among the worst performing councils. The Council achieved comparatively strong performance in 2007/08 for the removal of litter and fly posters and above average performance for the removal of graffiti. This good performance is reflected in high levels of public satisfaction with 82 per cent (top 25 per cent nationally) of the public registering overall satisfaction with the standard of street cleanliness in 2006/07. 68 The Council effectively targets problem areas. It has created a multi-disciplinary team to tackle 'Grot Spots' in the borough. These are neglected sites or buildings that are having a detrimental visual impact on an area. The team coordinates council services to make sure that corrective action is prompt and appropriate. The Council has also introduced the 'Love Where We Live campaign' which encourages residents to take pride in their local environment. These initiatives have resulted in substantial improvements to open spaces in the borough and provided valuable opportunities for community involvement.

23 Tunbridge Wells Borough Council

What has been achieved?

69 The Council maintains the local environment to a high standard. Planning practices promote protection of the green belt and areas of outstanding natural beauty and almost all new homes (98.7 per cent) were built on previously developed land in 2007/08. The Council has secured 'Green Flag' awards for Dunorlan Park, the Grove and Woodbury Park Cemetery and has invested £127,000 of developer contributions in St John's Recreation Ground to install an area for BMX and skateboarding, new footpaths and fencing, a multi-ball area for football and basketball and a children's play area. The Council has also worked with Speldhurst and Pembury parish councils to provide high quality children's play areas.

Have housing suitable for local people 70 The Council is working successfully to deliver affordable housing in the borough. In the period 2001 to 2007 it exceeded its Development Plan target for all housing completions (290 a year) and achieved an average of 352 a year. During the same period the Council achieved an annual average of 67 affordable dwellings with a total of 403 completions, again exceeding the target of 391. It employs a dedicated affordable housing officer to bring forward sites for affordable housing development. It has reviewed its asset portfolio and is currently in negotiation with developers on eight sites. It has sold land at less than market value to registered social landlords (RSLs) on a number of sites, the most notable being the former council depot which will result in 58 affordable dwellings. The Council is working with the county council to provide 40 extra care sheltered housing apartments in a housing private finance initiative at Cranbrook. 71 The Council acts positively to enable the provision of affordable housing. In September 2007, it adopted planning guidance to facilitate the provision of affordable housing in the borough. The Council and its partners are also implementing a rural housing programme to identify opportunities for new affordable homes in rural areas and to developing rural exception sites for local people. This activity helped secure a rural exception site at Capel which has recently been approved for the provision of 17 affordable dwellings. Consequently, the supply of affordable housing in the borough has increased and is likely to continue to do so in the future. 72 The Council has secured substantial funding to improve housing in the borough. In 2007 it submitted a joint bid with seven other Kent local authorities for Regional Housing Board funding for the period 2008-2011. The partnership was awarded a total of £9.768 million of capital grant funding for the period 2008-2011, of which the Council’s allocation is £1.552 million. The Council is using this funding to improve energy efficiency through grants for solar powered water heating and to improve insulation in older properties - repayable grants to improve homes occupied by vulnerable people and secure compliance with the decent homes standard and repayable grants to bring empty properties back into use. These initiatives support private sector housing renewal and improve the quality of housing in the borough. 73 Working with partners the Council is improving the quality of housing in the borough. In 2006/07 it increased its budget for Disabled Facilities Grants from £200,000 to £490,000 and by a further £200,000 in 2007/08. By working closely with RSLs, the In Touch Home Improvement Agency and county council occupational therapists this scheme benefited 103 residents in 2007/08.

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council 24

What has been achieved?

74 The Council effectively supports initiatives to reduce fuel poverty and provide affordable warmth to residents. Its 'Coldbusters' scheme provides £45,000 a year to 'top up' funding from the government's Warm Front scheme for vulnerable people where the maximum grant of £2,700 is insufficient to fund all necessary work. The scheme supports the installation of heating systems for some vulnerable residents ineligible for Warm Front. The Council is also part of the ‘Energy Doctors’ initiative to reduce fuel poverty by providing face-to-face advice to vulnerable households and increase referrals to grant schemes for insulation and heating improvements. The Council supplements funding from the Kent Energy Centre, DEFRA and EDF Energy. Between May and July 2008, 205 visits took place in the borough.

Develop safer and stronger communities 75 The Council works effectively with its partners to reduce crime and disorder. Specific initiatives include alcohol control zones - a 'pub watch' scheme supported by advice and assistance to licensees - 'operation windscreen' in which traffic wardens alert motorists to the dangers of leaving valuable items in parked cars and cold calling control zones. 76 The Council is proactive in working with parents whose children have been identified by the police as being at risk of offending. In partnership with Sevenoaks and Tonbridge and Malling councils the Council funds the Wealden Centre which works with people misusing drugs and alcohol and also employs an outreach worker in Sherwood ward. 77 Since 2006 the Council and its partners have improved their approach to reducing domestic violence. Specifically they employ a coordinator to work with partners to provide support services based in children's centres - a 12-week programme for victims which has been used by over 100 women - a support group for victims and a perpetrators programme. The Council supports periodic awareness campaigns, a 24-hour reporting line and a refuge. 78 The Council works successfully with residents to build stronger communities. It worked with residents of Oak Road to tackle problems associated with an area of public open space used for anti social behaviour. In partnership with local residents the Council cleared litter, improved landscaping and installed a cycle path, children's play area and meeting place for young people. The area is now used by the community of the Oak Road estate as a venue for community events. The Council also supported a programme of sports and arts activities in priority neighbourhoods during the summer of 2007 in which 633 young people took part and the Summer Slam partnership event with Charlton Athletic Football Club which was attended by 1,500 young people.

25 Tunbridge Wells Borough Council

Appendix 1 – Framework for Corporate Assessment

Appendix 1 – Framework for Corporate Assessment 1 This corporate assessment was carried out under section 10 of the Local Government Act 1999, under which the Audit Commission has power to inspect local authorities’ arrangements for securing continuous improvement. The results of the corporate assessment contribute to the determination of the overall CPA category for an authority, which the Audit Commission is required to assess and report on under section 99 of the Local Government Act 2003. 2 The Council’s self assessment provided a key resource in focusing the assessment activity which included consideration of: • key documentation, including the Council’s improvement plan; • updated performance indicators and performance data; and • interviews and meetings attended. 3 The assessment for Tunbridge Wells Borough Council was undertaken by a team from the Audit Commission and took place over the period from 10 to 14 November 2008. 4 This report has been discussed with the Council, which has been given the opportunity to examine the Audit Commission’s assessment. This report will be used as the basis for improvement planning by the Council.

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council 26

The Audit Commission The Audit Commission is an independent watchdog, driving economy, efficiency and effectiveness in local public services to deliver better outcomes for everyone. Our work across local government, health, housing, community safety and fire and rescue services means that we have a unique perspective. We promote value for money for taxpayers, auditing the £200 billion spent by 11,000 local public bodies. As a force for improvement, we work in partnership to assess local public services and make practical recommendations for promoting a better quality of life for local people.

Copies of this report If you require further copies of this report, or a copy in large print, in Braille, on tape, or in a language other than English, please call 0844 798 7070.

© Audit Commission 2009 For further information on the work of the Commission please contact: Audit Commission, 1st Floor, Millbank Tower, Millbank, London SW1P 4HQ Tel: 0844 798 1212 Fax: 0844 798 2945 Textphone (minicom): 0844 798 2946 www.audit-commission.gov.uk