Page 79 Appendix Three Top Quartile performance benchmarking exercise at Gravesham Borough Council By Hardip Dhaliwal Version 1 19 September 2006
1. Objectives
1.1 To outline an approach to evidence costs for service delivery with top quartile performance.
2. Top Quartile Performance
2.1 For 2005-06, Gravesham Borough Council achieved top quartile performance in 24 BVPIs, compared to latest available data in 2004-05. (See Appendix A).
2.2 Of these, three BVPIs are compared with costs 1 in this document. These are BVPI 175, BVPI 82a and BVPI 84a.
2.3 Comparative groups are taken from the CIPFA nearest neighbour unless otherwise specified.
3. Racial incident reporting.
3.1 BVPI 175 shows top quartile performance in 2005-06.
2004-05 BVPI BVPI 174 - No. racial BVPI 175 - Percentage performance incidents per 100,000 of incidents resulting in population. further action. Bedford 0.00 N/A Gloucester 0.00 N/A Gosport 0.00 N/A Havant 0.00 N/A Wyre Forest 0.00 N/A South Bedfordshire 0.87 100.00% Ashford 1.80 100.00% Rushmoor 2.00 100.00% Rugby 2.24 100.00% Gravesham 3.15 100.00% Kettering 3.56 100.00% North Hertfordshire 4.19 100.00% Charnwood 4.60 100.00% Dartford 6.00 100.00% Colchester 6.30 100.00% Wellingborough 15.00 100.00% Braintree 0.00 * 0.00% *
Top Quartile 100.00% Medium Median 100.00% Bottom Quartile 99.25% CiPFA Average 3.11 100.00%
Note: A “*” symbol next to a figure shows that doubts expressed about the reliability of the council’s arrangement for producing the data.
1 Sourced from the Audit Commission Value for Money Toolkit. http://vfm.audit- commission.gov.uk/ Page 80
3.2 Comparing racial incident reporting with Community Safety cost per head for Gravesham Borough Council, shows that whilst the number of racial incidents reported is close to the average for it’s nearest neighbours, the Community Safety cost per head is higher than the average spend.
2004/05 7
6
5
4
3 per head per 2
Community Safety £ 1 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 BVPI 174: No of racial incidents per 100,000 population
GBC Doubts expressed Average
3.3 Correlating the proportion of the population from a black minority ethnic (BME) community, with the reporting of racial incidents shows evidence of a linear correlation: 2
2004/05 15 R2 = 0.5575
10
5 population incidents per 100,000 incidents 100,000 per BVPI of174: No racial 0 0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% BVPI 17b: % economically active population from BME community GBC Average Outliers
3.4 Outliers were not included in the correlation, but are highlighted on the graph. This was because they reported zero racial incidents. Further investigation would be required to assess whether zero reporting indicates good community relations. In fact at Gravesham Borough Council, a
2 An R 2 of 1.0 indicates 100% correlation. An R 2 value of 0.0 indicates no correlation. In social analysis such as the examples shown here there is more than one variable at work, so correlations above 0.3 have been considered significant. Outliers excluded from the R 2 calculation are stated.
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proactive approach is taken to encourage reporting to i) ensure reporting reflects actual incidents in the borough ii) evidence increase confidence of the local community in handling such complaints.
3.5 The linear correlation would suggest that the incidents of racial reporting are lower than expected for the authority. This reflects that the above average Community Safety spend relates to a more positive and proactive approach to Community Safety.
4. Waste Collection
4.1 BVPI 82a and BVPI 84a show top quartile performance in 2005-06.
BVPI 82a- BVPI 82b - Percentage of Percentage of BVPI 84- No. 2004-05 BVPI performance household waste household waste kilograms per sent for sent for household BVPI 86- Cost of recycling. composting. collected. Waste Collection Bedford 10.51% 7.01% 484.00 £31.98 Gloucester 11.26% 0.00% 471.10 £40.77 Gosport 21.40% 1.40% 330.90 £34.70 Havant 21.33% 0.00% 381.00 £43.74 Wyre Forest 24.30% 0.00% 360.70 £38.64 South Bedfordshire 14.98% 0.50% 429.50 £40.00 Ashford 13.36% 0.60% 413.90 £37.51 Rushmoor 19.03% 0.00% 365.00 £47.72 Rugby 11.22% 4.60% 461.10 £44.62 Gravesham 20.42% 0.00% 369.20 £23.31 Kettering 11.02% 2.88% 452.20 £33.59 North Hertfordshire 14.60% 5.29% 450.00 £44.19 Charnwood 21.23% 2.75% 323.70 £47.09 Dartford 14.40% 0.00% 464.00 £32.43 Colchester 17.30% 12.50% 402.00 £45.57 Wellingborough 12.99% 5.17% 432.80 £42.24 Braintree 19.17% 9.28% 415.50 £65.40
Top Quartile 18% 10% 396.70 £35.31 Medium 0% 0% Median 15% 5% 436.80 £40.96 Bottom Quartile 12% 1% 489.90 £48.13 CiPFA Average 16% 3% 412.15 £40.79
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4.2 Comparing cost of waste collection with BVPI 82a and 82b performance in 2004-05 shows Gravesham Borough Council has the lowest cost per head of waste collection amongst its nearest neighbours. 3 Performance for BVPI 82a and BVPI 82b is the fourth highest for the same period.
30 2004-05 25 20 15
per head per 10 5 Waste Collection/ £ 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 BVPI 82a and b: Household waste recycled and composted
GBC
4.3 Comparing cost of waste collection with BVPI 82a performance in 2004-05 shows Gravesham Borough Council has the lowest cost per head of waste collection amongst its nearest neighbours. Performance for BVPI 82a is the fourth highest for the same period, which is top quartile performance.
2004-05 30 25 20 15 head 10 5
Waste Collection/ £ per 0 10% 15% 20% 25% BVPI 82: Percentage of household waste sent for recycling
GBC TQ BQ
3 Note – The VFM toolkit highlights BVPI 82a and b performance combined. A query to the Audit Commission has been sent, to clarify method of calculation of this combined result.
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4.4 Comparing cost of waste collection with BVPI 84a performance in 2004-05 shows Gravesham Borough Council has the lowest cost per head of waste collection amongst its nearest neighbours. Performance for BVPI 84a is the fourth lowest for the same period, which is top quartile performance.
60 2004-05 50 40 30
per head per 20 10 Waste Collection/ £ 0 300 350 400 450 500 BVPI 84: kg of household waste collected per head of population
GBC TQ BQ
4.5 This reflects that the top quartile performance for Waste Services is achieved with a low Waste Collection cost per head.
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Appendix A: Top Quartile Performance Indicators 2005-06 (compared to latest available quartile data – 2004-05)
Strategic Aim 1: A safer place BVPI No. Description BVPI 175 The percentage of racial incidents reported to the local authority that resulted in further action.
Strategic Aim 2: A cleaner and greener environment BVPI No. Description BVPI 82a (i) Percentage of household waste arisings which have been sent by the authority for recycling. BVPI 84a Number of kilograms of household waste collected per head of the population. BVPI 86 Cost of waste collection per household.
Strategic Aim 3: Healthy and diverse communities BVPI No. Description BVPI 2b The quality of an Authority’s Race Equality Scheme (RES) and the improvements resulting from its application. BVPI 156 The percentage of authority building open to the public in which all public areas are suitable for and accessible to disabled people.
Strategic Aim 4: Excellent Housing BVPI No. Description BVPI 63 The average SAP rating of local authority-owned dwellings. BVPI 66a Rent collected by the local authority as a proportion of rents owed on Housing Revenue Account (HRA) dwellings. BVPI 183a The average length of stay in bed and breakfast accommodation of households that are unintentionally homeless and in priority need BVPI 184a The proportion of local authority dwellings which were non-decent at the start of the financial year.
Strategic Aim 5: Community- led regeneration BVPI No. Description BVPI 109a Percentage of major planning applications determined in 13 weeks. BVPI 109b Percentage of minor planning applications determined in 8 weeks. BVPI 109c Percentage of other planning applications determined in 8 weeks. BVPI 179 The percentage of standard searches carried out in ten workings days.
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BVPI No. Description BVPI 204 The number of planning appeal decisions allowed against the authority’s decision to refuse on planning applications, as a percentage of the total number of planning appeals against refusals of planning applications. BVPI 205 The local authority’s score against a ‘quality of planning services’ checklist.
Strategic Aim 6: An excellent Council: A model employer with improved accommodation and top quality performance. BVPI No. Description BVPI 10 The percentage of non-domestic rates collected by the authority in the year. BVPI 11b The percentage of the top 5% of local authority staff who are from an ethnic minority. BVPI 16a The percentage of local authority employees with a disability. BVPI 17a The percentage of local authority employees from ethnic minority communities. BVPI 76a The number of housing benefit claimants in the local authority area visited, per 1,000 caseload. BVPI 76c The number of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit (HB/CTB) fraud investigations carried out by the Local Authority per year, per 1,000 caseload. BVPI 78a The average processing time taken for all new Housing and Council Tax Benefit (HB/CTB) claims submitted to the Local Authority, for which the date of decision is within the financial year being reported. BVPI 157 The number of types of interactions that are enabled for electronic delivery as a percentage of the types of interaction that are legally permissible for electronic delivery.
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