Guildford Borough Council has a statutory duty and responsibility to ensure ‘Best Value’ in the way our services are provided to the local community. The Government asks us to establish the type of services that are needed, determine service levels and to provide a process of continuous review. We must ensure that our services are provided as economically and effectively as possible by setting realistic goals and comparing our performance against national targets.
Of great significance for 2003/04 is the forthcoming initiative from central Government, Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA). This is the latest, and most extensive initiative within the Local Government Modernisation programme and is designed to measure and improve the quality of local government services. Best Value will constitute a significant factor, together with the work that the Council has developed in conjunction with its key partners to enable the creation of the first Community Plan for Guildford and the development of the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP).
This year’s service reviews have been cross-cutting to cover the areas of Management of Public Space and Balancing the Housing Market/Decent Homes Standard. It is these that form the CPA thematic review areas and will certainly help when the Council is assessed by the Audit Commission in December 2003.
Our review programme
The Council has now completed a five-year programme of Best Value service reviews for all services. In all cases, action plans have been prepared forming the basis of continuous service improvement.
In order to ensure that the objectives of CPA are complied with in detail, the Council considered it prudent to reconsider the timing of Best Value reviews and effect them in a way that cross-cutting benefits can be maximised.
This year, the service reviews have been scheduled to emulate the major cross-cutting themes of the CPA – ‘Balancing Housing Markets and the Decent Homes Standard’ and ‘Management of Public Space’. A summary of Best Value activity is defined and provides current status, together with actions and service improvements, either taken or planned.
Copies of Action Plans for this range of services will be available on this website from early September.
Our performance this year
The Government now sets national targets for public services to ensure continuous improvement in quality and cost. All local authorities must aim to be in the top 25% in terms of national performance. Full details of Guildford’s current level of performance are set out in the Best Value Performance Plan. Many of Guildford’s services are already performing within the top 25%. In these cases, the Council is setting even higher local targets to ensure continuous improvement. In some other cases the Council’s services still need to improve to reach the top 25% and details of our proposals to achieve this are also set out in our Best Value Performance Plan.
Best Value Summary Performance Plan 2003
Archive: Summary Full report
Best Value Performance Plan 2002
Archive: Summary Full report
Best Value Performance Plan 2001
Archive: Summary Full report
What is best value?
‘Best Value’ is a national programme of consultation, review and planning which aims to ensure that local councils provide the right services to the right standards at the right costs. The Government has asked all local councils to undertake an extensive performance review of the services they provide in order to assess whether Best Value is being achieved. Services are being measured against national targets, and the four key points below are below addressed in every area. A different range of Guildford’s services will be looked at in each year of the review programme.
The 4 Cs
Challenge: Why do we provide each service and why do we provide it the way we do? Could it be delivered more efficiently and effectively?
Compare: How does the standard and cost of Guildford’s services compare with others?
Consult: What does the whole community – young and old, residential and business, professional and voluntary – really think about Guildford Borough services?
Compete: How competitive are the Council’s services in comparison with providers of similar services?
Guildford Borough Council is striving for Best Value in all its activities and is committed to providing services according to its Core Values and Strategic Priorities, for the benefit of all who live or work in Guildford as well as visitors to the Borough.
Although Best Value itself is a relatively new process, the idea behind it is not. Guildford Borough has always tried to provide high quality services at very competitive costs. Under the previous regime of compulsory competitive tendering for services, the Council was very proud of its 100% record in winning all contracts to supply local services.
The annual Best Value Performance Plan
The Government legislation requires all councils to produce an annual Best Value Performance Plan. The full plan provides a framework for achieving Best Value by looking at individual service areas and identifying:
where we are now
what are we trying to achieve
how are we going to do it
Over the life of the review programme, all services will be subjected to a Best Value Service Review, either independently or in a cross-cutting review. Each will be looked at against the 4C’s mentioned above and will be reviewed within the framework of Best Value.
Community Planning and Local Strategic Partnership (LSP)
The Government requires all local authorities to produce a Community Plan for their area. The purpose is to improve and promote the economic, social and environmental well being of the whole community.
Working separately, local authorities, agencies and voluntary organisations can only tackle issues in part, sometimes creating gaps in the services that you receive. So we joined forces with Guildford & Waverley Primary Care Trust, Guildford Police and Surrey County Council to produce a much more unified approach to serving our local community.
Together we carried out extensive consultation - over 800 people took part in a series of public meetings and around 250 voluntary and community organisations have been involved. Consultation also included a Citizens’ Panel and Residents’ Survey along side the ‘Building a Better Guildford’ features within the Surrey Advertiser.
Nine key themes emerged:-
- Business
- Community Well-being
- Culture
- Disadvantaged & Vulnerable People
- Environment
- Health
- Housing
- Public Safety
- Traffic & Transport
Following a further round of consultation focusing on the nine themes, the first Guildford Community Plan was published in May 2003 and distributed to all households within the borough.
In order to implement more effectively the priorities contained within the Community Plan a Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) has now been developed. This incorporates the LSP Executive, Community Plan Action Groups (one for each of the nine themes identified above) and a Community Advisory Forum.
Membership of the LSP Executive is wider than the original four public agencies and includes the following organisations:
Guildford Association of Voluntary Services
A Guildford faith representative
Guildford Borough Council
Guildford & Waverley Primary Care Trust (also representing Woking Area Primary Care Trust)
Guildford Business Forum
Guildford Community Learning Partnership
Guildford Environmental Forum
Surrey County Council
Guildford Youth Council
Surrey Police
The LSP Executive has adopted the first Guildford Community Plan and their purpose is to ensure that the Community Plan is implemented in a coherent way that reflects its aims and priorities and makes a positive improvement to the development of our community. Updates in respect of progress made against the nine themes contained within the Community Plan are reported regularly through the LSP Update within the Council’s newspaper About Guildford.
For more information about the Guildford Community Plan and Local Strategic Partnership please contact Anne Wood, Senior Management Support Officer [email protected] .
Continuing to consult
For a number of years, Guildford Borough Council has encouraged local people to have a say in the planning of service provision in the Borough. In 1998 the existing consultation programme was expanded to fulfil the requirements of Best Value; the aim is to provide the framework for co-ordinated planning of Council services generally and individually.