Report of the Advisory Panel on Beacon Councils Recommendations to Ministers on Beacon Authorities for Round 6 Report of the Advisory Panel on Beacon Councils Recommendations to Ministers on Beacon Authorities for Round 6 Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Eland House Bressenden Place London SW1E 5DU Telephone 020 7944 4400 Internet service www.odpm.gov.uk © Crown copyright 2005. Copyright in the typographical arrangement and design rests with the Crown. This publication (excluding the Royal Arms and logos) may be reproduced free of charge in any format or medium provided that it is reproduced accurately and not used in a misleading context. The material must be acknowledged as Crown copyright with the title and source of the publication specified. Further copies of this report are available from: ODPM Free Literature PO Box 236 Wetherby West Yorkshire LS23 7NB Tel: 0870 1226 236 Fax: 0870 1226 237 Textphone: 0870 1207 405 E-mail: [email protected] This document is also available on the ODPM website Published by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Printed in the UK, March 2005 on material containing 75% post-consumer waste and 25% ECF pulp. Product Code 04LRGG02888/PNL. CONTENTS Report of the Advisory Panel 5 Introduction 5 The Recommendations 6 The Panel 6 Declarations of Interest 7 The Assessment Process 7 Service Theme Performance 7 General Performance 8 Feedback 9 Dissemination 9 Reflecting the Diversity of Local Government 9 Conclusion 9 Annexes 10 A. Recommendations 10 B. Panel Members 13 C. Declaration of Interests 18 D. Interests Declared 20 E. Advisory Panel Sub-groups 23 F. Theme Reports 25 –Affordable Housing 26 – Asset Management 44 –Effective Environmental Health 60 – Getting Closer to Communities 63 –Healthy Communities 85 – Integrated Children’s Services 93 – Promoting Racial Equality 109 – Supporting Carers 123 – Supporting New Businesses 142 – Sustainable Energy 153 Report of the Advisory Panel Introduction The Advisory Panel on Beacon Councils is pleased to recommend 48 English authorities to receive the Beacon Council Award. This report presents the reasons for our final recommendations and describes the process that we have undertaken to arrive at our decisions. The 48 authorities are recommended for a total of 44 separate applications; 43 sole applications and one joint. Applications were made against ten new themes for this, the sixth round, of the Beacon Council Scheme. This brings the total number of themes covered by the Scheme to date to 59. This year’s themes offered every best value authority opportunities to be recognised for their innovation and excellence in themes ranging from Affordable Housing to Sustainable Energy. The Panel is confident that the successful Beacons will offer their colleagues in other authorities numerous opportunities to improve services for the communities they serve. A wealth of imaginative, practical and exemplary work has been demonstrated throughout the exacting selection process. The standard of applications has been extremely high, and many of the authorities that have not been recommended for Beacon status are commended for their energy, hard work and achievements. Round 6 of the Scheme continued to attract a high level of interest, with 210 applications being received. This year a number of authorities applied for Beacon status for the first time, leaving but a handful of English authorities that have yet to make an application. The Panel wishes to extend its gratitude to the Specialist Panel Members who provided invaluable expert advice and opinion throughout an intensive assessment process. Thanks also go to the Government Theme Leads who also worked so hard to define the themes and contributed to the selection process. Without these people to underpin the Scheme, it would lack the credibility and robustness that make it so valued. The Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) has increased its role this year, taking on the responsibility for the application and assessment process from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM). This is in addition to the Agency’s existing role of supporting Beacon authorities in their efforts to disseminate their key messages to peer authorities throughout the country. This positive change means a single point of contact for authorities, whether they are applying for an award, undertaking learning activities as a successful Beacon, or in search of learning opportunities from Beacon authorities. The Agency is also well positioned to integrate Beacon authorities to the wider improvement agenda and initiatives that are operating throughout the sector. The Beacon Council Scheme has achieved a great deal since its inception, six years ago, and its popularity among users continues to rise as the Scheme develops. But there is much more that can be done in the future. The Panel was delighted to accept an invitation from Nick Raynsford, Minister of State for Local and Regional Government, to undertake a thorough review of the Beacon Council Scheme. Working with the IDeA, the Panel has taken this opportunity to further enhance the Scheme seriously. Input to the review has included: • A full consultation has been undertaken which closed on February 9th 2005 5 Report of the Advisory Panel on Beacon Councils • A series of regional Round Table briefings • A future-visioning event • A survey of the Applications and Assessment processes • Interviews with officers, members and relevant stakeholders • Research commissioned from Warwick University Business School • A breakfast meeting with the Minister for Local Government and key national stakeholders The Panel has been considering the evidence, advice and suggestions emanating from these sources and submitted its proposals for improving the Beacon Council Scheme at the beginning of March. The Panel would like to extend its thanks to the many individuals who have given heir time to complete surveys, attend review events and submit responses to the consultation. Thanks also to our colleagues at the IDeA for their enormous hard work in bringing this together against very short time restraints. The Panel looks forward to implementing these reforms to allow the Beacon Council Scheme to achieve even more in the future. The Recommendations We have set out our recommendations for each of the ten themes in the list at Annex A. We recommend that 44 applications from 48 authorities should be awarded Beacon status. Detailed assessments of all the authorities on our shortlist announced in November 2004 are included in the Annex F, which covers each of the themes, along with a summary of the criteria used in the assessments. Reaching these judgements was not easy. The Panel was very aware that the circumstances of individual authorities, and the environment within which they work, would lead to different levels of performance or improvement. We also considered how differences in the characteristics and circumstances of authorities might account for differences in practice within service themes. We have taken note of the need for the successful Beacons to reflect the diversity of local government and for there to be Beacons from which all in local government have the opportunity to learn. We were particularly mindful of the need to consider the challenges facing small, rural, district councils and the learning opportunities that they can offer to other similar authorities. The Panel The Advisory Panel on Beacon Councils is an advisory Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB). The Panel is chaired by Marianne Hood, with Clive Grace acting as Deputy Chair. A further eight people make up the core membership of the Panel. In addition, 11 specialists were appointed for the duration of Round 6 – one for each theme except Affordable Housing, where two specialists operated a job-share. A full list of all Panel members and their backgrounds can be found at Annex B. 6 Declaration of Interests In line with Cabinet Office guidelines the Panel has adopted a set of principles and procedures to identify any interests of Panel members that should be declared and action to be taken in respect of such declarations. These principles and procedures are set out in Annex C. A register of members’ interests has been maintained. The interests declared and the actions taken are recorded in Annex D. The Assessment Process Applications were received from authorities in September 2004 by e-mail. The first stage of the assessment process was for each application to be assessed by the specialist and officials from the relevant government department. Following this, a first sift report on each applicant was drawn up. Core Panel members formed scrutiny panels to ensure that applications were assessed to a consistent standard across all themes. Government offices were invited to comment on the applications from authorities in their regions. Any user satisfaction survey evidence submitted by applicants was analysed by expert advisers (MORI) working to an ODPM contract. The advisers provided the Panel with a baseline and context against which to assess user satisfaction evidence, and provided an assessment of the robustness of the data. General performance was considered separately by officials from ODPM (see below). The Panel met in November 2004 to consider all the available evidence and to produce a shortlist of applicants. The shortlist was published on 10 November 2004. All authorities on the shortlist were visited by the specialist, an official from the relevant government department and an IDeA consultant. For some themes a representative from the regional government office also attended. The purpose of the visit was to investigate and clarify any issues arising from the original written application. The team produced a short report that was used by Panel members in the remaining stages of the process. Following the visits, the shortlisted authorities met members of the Panel (theme sub-groups) in London for a presentation and discussion. These presentations took place in January. Each authority was invited to make a short presentation outlining the case for it to be awarded Beacon status.