Performance

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best Value Findings 2008/2013

 

  • The council is improving customer service, making better use of technology and implementing a new system for customer complaints. However, the pace of change needs to increase, and greater senior commitment is required. It is not clear how new approaches to customer service will sit alongside the many existing over-the-counter facilities.
  • Education, social work, housing services and transport are performing well and this provides a sound base to deal with the key strategic issues facing these services in the years ahead. Performance in other areas such as planning and leisure is more mixed. In areas covered by SPIs, overall performance is currently middling and at risk of falling behind other Scottish councils.
  • The council has a clear performance management framework in place and has improved its approach to monitoring and reporting performance.
  • Elected members have a greater focus in scrutinising the council’s performance.
  • The council does not systematically collect, monitor and report on benchmarking activity to help it identify where it needs to improve.

Where are we now?

BV Full Narrative

  • Aberdeenshire Council has a comprehensive range of performance information aligned to its Council Plan and Priorities. Performance is regularly reported to and scrutinised by senior management, Policy Committees and Area Committees. The council has a robust approach to public performance reporting.
  • Aberdeenshire Council has a Feedback Team in place who process comments, compliments and complaints from customers, in line with the Scottish Public Service Ombudsman’s guidelines. Feedback data is reviewed by Chief Officers and used as a tool for continuous improvement.
  • Aberdeenshire Council has a Customer Service Charter and a Customer Service Strategy that were revised in 2019. Customer Service Training framework is also currently being implemented. A programme of work is underway to automate many routine transactions, enabling the customer to interact with services directly via online channels.
  • From the 2014/15 Local Government Benchmarking Framework (LGBF) reporting phase, Strategic Leadership Team (SLT) agreed its aim to achieve 50% or more indicators in the upper two quartiles of Scottish performance rankings.
  • Revised committee reporting arrangements are currently in place and being implemented for Policy and Area committees, to reflect the new political priorities of the administration.
  • We are committed to a comprehensive range of self-evaluation approaches including the ‘How Good Is Our…’ toolkits. Policy Committees are more engaged with utilising these approaches and services are making use of the service assessment methodology, which is focussed on continuous improvement.
  • The Local Scrutiny Plan reflects a council that is performing with confidence whilst knowing the areas where improvement is required
  • Local Government Benchmarking Framework (LGBF) is an important measure of our performance, along with a range of other measures that we use to recognise strengths and identify priorities for improvement.

What are our key challenges?

 

We must strive to be clearer in setting out what we are aiming to achieve against our outcomes, sharing that information widely and evidencing the difference we are making through our council priorities. We recognise the challenge of maintaining a focus on our priorities in the face of the financial challenges ahead. A robust performance reporting process will enable local decision-making and provide local communities with appropriate support and services. Continued scrutiny of our performance must be encouraged and welcomed by services as a way to drive continuous improvement.

 

Where are we going?

 

  • We will continue to deliver the council outcome delivery plans which support council priorities
  • We will maintain the focus on outcomes that we’ve developed in consultation with residents and findings from our strategic assessment;
  • We will look to make better use of information and data both locally and nationally (including LGBF) to scrutinise, maintain and improve performance outcomes;
  • We will continue to regularly review progress and performance, and emerging issues, to allow us to adjust our approach where necessary;
  • We will proceed to use a range of qualitative and quantitative data to evaluate success;
  • We will ensure that everyone understands the part they play in delivering better outcomes for Aberdeenshire
  • We will remain accountable for performance at every level of the organisation;
  • We will continue to work together with our partners and others to make best use of our resources and deliver on our outcomes;
  • We will ensure we have robust and appropriate governance, scrutiny and decision-making arrangements in place and we will regularly review and publish our findings;
  • We will continue to maintain an open and transparent approach to public performance reporting using a range of different tools;
  • We will continue to use a range of self-assessment tools to help us identify relative strengths, potential areas for improvement and opportunities for service transformation.