Independent research carried out by the National Computing Centre has revealed that Performance Management in UK local authorities is fast maturing, but there is a need for more information sharing both locally and with central government to ensure that the overall effectiveness of Performance Management improves in the future.
The findings are published in the NCC Research Report, /Performance
Management in Local Authorities/ which also revealed that the UK’s adoption of Performance Management is typically more mature than that of France, Germany and Norway. The research examined the role of technology in helping Local Authorities meet the emerging Performance Management agenda, as well as how to best align this with the needs of the organisation as a whole, its staff and citizens.
Six UK and three overseas Local Authorities contributed to the research in March 2007. Performance Management was universally championed by all who took part. With the emphasis on service delivery at the front-end of their activities driven by the citizen, Performance Management is critical for decision-making at the most senior levels within Local Authorities and the performance measures that are used have implications on strategy, decision-making and delivery of services to the citizen.
Although all the Authorities who participated in the research do use a combination of score cards and traffic light indicators to support Performance Management, there is a need to have a common understanding and approach for the requirements their external stakeholders have, so that when Local Authorities are audited they are measured correctly and compared consistently.
Stefan Foster, Managing Director of NCC said, “The people and process side of Performance Management is a challenge for many organisations, not least because of both the complexity and diversity of the data, but also the changes from CPA to CAA in the coming year or two. Central Government and Local Authorities need to work together to ensure that there is a common understanding of both the importance and measurement of performance in Local Government and best practice is identified and encouraged.”
He continued, “The private sector are generally more advanced in the area of Performance Management and sharing and applying these practices could provide the Chief Executives of many Local Authorities with the ability to balance the requirements of Central Government with the very local demands that come from their staff and citizens.”
Respondents to the research were members of the Shared Learning Group (a
collaboration between Microsoft and eleven local authorities aimed at improving services). This group meets regularly to share best practice across a range of issues as both Central Government and the Report’s conclusions recognised this type of activity as a positive step to be encouraged.
Note to Editors:
The following Local Authorities were interviewed for the Report:
London Borough of Bromley
London Borough of Lewisham
Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council
Sunderland City Council
Wakefield Metropolitan District Council
Warwick District Council
Molde, Norway
Salzgitter, Germany
Drancy City, France
The Report is available at www.ncc.co.uk
About The National Computing Centre
The National Computing Centre (NCC) is the single largest and most diverse corporate membership body in the UK IT sector. NCC champions the effective deployment of IT to maximise the competitiveness of its members' business, and serves the corporate, vendor and government communities.
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