DATA LABEL: OFFICIAL PERFORMANCE COMMITTEE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BENCHMARKING FRAMEWORK REPORT BY DEPUTE CHIEF EXECUTIVE A. PURPOSE OF REPORT The council participates in the Local Government Benchmarking Framework (LGBF) Network comparing performance on a number of performance indicators. The data has been collated and analysed by the Improvement Service and published in an annual report. This report provides a summary comparative analysis of the council’s 2015/16 performance against the previous years and other local authorities. B. RECOMMENDATIONS The committee is asked to note the contents of the report. C. SUMMARY OF IMPLICATIONS I. Council Values Focusing on customers’ needs Being honest, open and accountable II. Policy and Legal Compliance with the Code of Corporate Governance requirements III. Implications for Scheme of None Delegations to Officers IV. Impact on performance and The council is required to publish Specified performance indicators Performance Indicators in accordance with the Local Government (Scotland) Act 2003 V. Relevance to Single Outcome None Agreement VI. Resources (Financial, Staffing and From existing budget Property) VII. Consideration at PDSP/Executive None Committee required VIII. Details of consultations None 1 D. TERMS OF REPORT D.1 Local Government Benchmarking Framework Overview The Local Government Benchmarking Framework (LGBF) is focused on providing a consistent approach to benchmarking local authority performance, with a standard data set reported each year to the public. The comparative performance of the 32 Scottish local authorities is published in an annual report that identifies national trends across eight thematic categories of council activity. The report also highlights local challenges and priorities, how this varies across councils and the subsequent impact on performance. The fifth National Benchmarking Overview Report contains 2015/16 data and can be viewed on the Improvement Service website via the following link. D.2 LGBF Annual Report 2015/16 The overview report 2015/16 was published by the Improvement Service and compares councils’ performance across 81 performance indicators, an increase on the 56 used to compare 2014/15 performance. The performance indicators remain grouped under the following eight categories: Adult Social Care Children’s Services Corporate Services Corporate Assets Culture and Leisure Environmental Services Housing Services Economic Development The information across the categories generally focuses on how much councils have spent on particular services, the service performance and how satisfied people are with the major services provided by councils. Table 1: composition of PIs in LGBF dataset 2015/16 Category Cost Effectiveness Satisfaction Total Adult Social Care 2 2 3 7 Children's Services 5 24 1 30 Corporate Asset - 2 - 2 Corporate Services 3 7 - 10 Culture and Leisure 4 - 4 8 Economic Development 1 4 - 5 Environment 6 6 2 14 Housing 0 5 - 5 Total 21 50 10 81 The type of measures is important when considering the relative value of each category and the performance changes within that category. D.3 LGBF Average Ranking 2015/16 The overall average ranking of West Lothian Council in Scotland in 2015/16 was 2 fifth, a change from second in 2014/15. East Renfrewshire Council was ranked top overall. The council’s average ranking and the top ranked local authority in the eight categories of LGBF have been analysed and summarised in table 2. Table 2: average ranking – calculated as an average of 81 PIs WLC Ranking WLC Ranking Category 2014/15 2015/16 Top Ranked Authority Adult Social Care 20 30 Dumfries and Galloway Children’s Services 9 6 East Renfrewshire Corporate Services 5 6 East Lothian West Lothian and North Corporate Assets 3 =1 Ayrshire Environmental Services 7 5 Moray Housing Services 3 2 North Ayrshire Economic Development 14 11 Perth and Kinross Culture and Leisure 2 5 Orkney Overall 2 5 East Renfrewshire The overall ranking in table 2 is calculated as a simple average of the ranking in all 81 performance indicators in the LGBF dataset. No weighting is applied to signify the relative value of the 81 performance indicators to the organisation, or to account for variation in the number or type of performance indicators across the eight LGBF categories. The increase in the number of schools-focused performance indicators in the Children’s Services category from 7 in 2014/15 to 26 in 2016/17, when using a simple calculation to identify good performance across the framework, has impacted the composition of the top 5 councils. Authorities with strong performance in the schools measures feature prominently in the top ranking councils in the LGBF. Table 3: top 5 performing councils – average ranking across all 81 PIs Overall Average Ranking Average Ranking in Council 2015/16 Children’s Services 2015/16 East Renfrewshire 1 1 Perth and Kinross 2 4 East Dunbartonshire 3 2 South Ayrshire 4 3 West Lothian 5 6 Table 3 shows that all councils in the top 5 overall are placing in the top quartile for Children’s Services. North Lanarkshire Council are the only council that placed in the top ranked councils for the Children’s Services category not to appear in the ranking of top 5 councils overall (an overall ranking of 9). Calculating the overall ranking using the average category rankings gives a top 5 with a different profile, with West Lothian and Perth and Kinross the only two consistent councils in both calculations. 3 Table 4: top 5 councils – average ranking across all categories West Perth and North Category Lothian Kinross Inverclyde Ayrshire Stirling Adult Social Care 30 10 3 24 20 Children's Services 6 4 17 19 7 Corporate Asset 1 13 6 1 4 Corporate Services 6 9 10 4 3 Culture and Leisure 5 13 12 6 2 Economic Development 11 1 4 17 18 Environment 4 11 20 14 29 Housing 2 16 - 1 7 Average category ranking 1 2 3 4 5 The relative positions under the simple average of all 81 performance indicators are: West Lothian (5), Perth and Kinross (2), Inverclyde (=6), North Ayrshire (12), Stirling (=6). A detailed view of the council’s performance in the LGBF in 2015/16 can be obtained in Appendix 1, which shows the performance and ranking of all 32 authorities in each performance indicator. Appendix 2 also provides the average ranking in each category of all 32 authorities. D.5 Summary of Change from 2014/15 The council’s 2015/16 performance in comparison to 2014/15 performance, and changes in ranking by performance indicator, are summarised in tables 5a and 5b. Table 5a shows a summary of the changes in the ranking in each category against the previous year. Changes in ranking will obviously provide an insight on changes in the council’s performance year to year relative to the other 32 local authorities in Scotland. Table 5a: Summary Position of Ranking 2014/15 to 2015/16 PIs that PIs that No Number of declined in improved No comparative Category PIs 2015/16 in 2015/16 change data Adult Social Care 7 5 1 1 0 Children’s Services 30 4 12 2 12 Corporate Services 10 4 3 2 1 Corporate Assets 2 0 2 0 0 Environmental Services 14 5 6 3 0 Housing Services 5 3 2 0 0 Economic Development 5 2 3 0 0 Culture and Leisure 8 3 4 1 0 West Lothian Council 81 26 33 9 13 Table 5b shows a summary of changes in the actual performance achieved in each category against the previous year’s value. 4 Table 5b: Summary Position of Performance 2014/15 to 2015/16 PIs that PIs that No Number of declined in improved No comparative Category PIs 2015/16 in 2015/16 Change data Adult Social Care 7 6 1 0 0 Children’s Services 30 6 12 0 12 Corporate Services 10 3 6 0 1 Corporate Assets 2 0 2 0 0 Environmental Services 14 6 7 1 0 Housing Services 5 2 3 0 0 Economic Development 5 2 3 0 0 Culture and Leisure 8 3 4 1 0 West Lothian Council 81 28 38 2 13 D.6 Summary of Change from 2014/15 by Category More detail on the performance change in each of the eight categories is provided in this section. Adult Social Care Category The council ranked 30 out of 32 (quartile 4) in the overall category ranking in 2015/16, a dip by 10 places from a ranking of 20 in 2014/15. The top performer in this category was Dumfries and Galloway Council. The mix of the type of performance indicators in this category is a consideration in this category. In that a view of the overall performance of Adult Social Care is provided that is largely based on the satisfaction levels of clients and the cost of services. The council’s performance declined in all but one satisfaction performance indicator in this category. Table 6a: Category Performance 2014/15 to 2015/16 No Type of PI Decline Improve No change comparison Total Cost 2 2 Effectiveness 2 2 Satisfaction 2 1 3 Total 6 1 7 Children’s Services Category The council ranked 6 out of 32 (quartile 1) in the overall category ranking in 2015/16, an improvement by three places from a ranking of 9 out of 32 in 2014/15. The top performer in this category was East Renfrewshire Council. The large increase in the number of effectiveness indicators in this category has led to a significant change in how councils are ranked. New attainment performance indicators and measures of primary school testing offer a more detailed position on the quality of learning and teaching in education services across Scotland. The council’s performance improved in 12 out of the 30 indicators, with 4 out of the 6 that declined due to an increase in the cost of providing Children’s Services.