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To Members of the Best Value Committee

Notice of Meeting

Chris Impey
Assistant Chief Executive

2 December 2003

Membership

Chair – Councillor Dermot Roaf

Councillors:

Co-opted Members:

The agenda follows. Decisions taken at the meeting will become effective at the end of the working day on 18 December 2003 unless called in by that date for review by the appropriate Scrutiny Committee.

AGENDA

1. Apologies for Absence and Temporary Appointments
2. Declarations of Interest
3. Minutes

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 22 October 2003 (BV3) and to receive for information any matters arising therefrom.

4. Petitions and Public Address
5. Implementation of Best Value Reviews:

(a) Personnel and Developing Our Staff

10:10 Designated Member: Councillor David Wilmshurst
Executive Member: Councillor Margaret Godden
Corporate Governance Scrutiny Committee Chair: Councillor Ken Harper
Lead Officer: Director for Resources

At its October meeting the Committee deferred consideration of a report (BV5(a)) setting out progress on implementing the Developing our Staff Best Value review, and instructed the Chief Executive and the Director for Resources to attend this meeting to discuss the paper further.

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to:

1. note the progress that has been already made especially in respect of the Personnel review;
2. agree that future monitoring should focus on the action plan for Developing our Staff and to request a further report in 6 months time;
3. identify whether there are any matters in the report which should be drawn to the attention of the Executive Member; and
4. ask the Chair of the Corporate Governance Scrutiny Committee to consult the Deputy Chairman on Scrutiny Committee consideration.

(b) Best Value Review of Training & Development

Lead Officer: Director for Resources

On 18 June 2003 the Committee agreed a two year best value review programme, including four reviews to take place in 2003/04. The Committee has agreed specifications for the reviews on Heritage, Learning Disability Services and Customer Services in Environment & Economy, but has not yet agreed a specification on the review of Training & Development.

The report (BV5(b)) sets out the case for this review now not being conducted as a Best Value review, but as a project to implement part of the Developing Our Staff review.

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to:

1. agree that the proposed Best Value review of Training & Development be now carried out as a project to implement part of the Developing Our Staff review;
2. agree that the Learning and Development Network be tasked as the project team to undertake this work, and to include any members interested in participating; and
3. request officers to report back in due course on proposals for a corporate approach to training and development.

6. Implementation of Best Value Review: Property Services

11:10 Designated Members: Councillor Sylvia Tompkins
Executive Member: Leader of the Council
Corporate Governance Scrutiny Committee Chair: Councillor Ken Harper
Lead Officer: N. Monaghan (Resources)

Report by Head of Property (BV6).

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to:

1. agree if and when there is a need to report back to the Committee on further progress;
2. identify whether there are any matters in the report which should be drawn to the attention of the Executive Member; and
3. ask the Chair of the Corporate Governance Scrutiny Committee to consult the Deputy Chair on scrutiny committee consideration.

7. Implementation of Best Value Review: Impact of Central Education Services on the Quality of Leadership and Management in Schools

11:30 Designated Member: Councillor Neville F. Harris
Executive Member: Councillor Tony Crabbe
Learning & Culture Scrutiny Committee Chair: Councillor Robert Evans
Lead Officer: R. Howard (Learning & Culture)

Report by Director for Learning & Culture (BV7).

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to:

1. agree if and when there is a need to report back to the Committee on further progress;
2. identify whether there are any matters in the report which should be drawn to the attention of the Executive Member; and
3. ask the Chair of the Learning & Culture Scrutiny Committee to consult the Deputy Chair on scrutiny committee consideration.

8. Implementation of Best Value Review: Behaviour, Attendance and Exclusions

11:50 Designated Member: Councillor Bob Johnston
Executive Member: Councillor Tony Crabbe
Learning & Culture Scrutiny Committee Chair: Councillor Robert Evans
Lead Officer: S. Bingham (Learning & Culture)

Report by Director for Learning & Culture (BV8).

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to agree that the review outcomes have been implemented satisfactorily and that ongoing progress will be appropriately monitored in future through the various mechanisms that are in place and that, therefore, no further progress reports should be brought to the Committee.

9. ‘Changing to Improve’-ODPM Evaluation of the Best Value Regime

12:10 The Director for Resources reports as follows:-

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) has recently published its report "Changing to Improve: Ten Case Studies from the Evaluation of the Best Value Regime". Oxfordshire’s review of Library Services has been included as one of the case studies to illustrate where best value has led to change and early signs of improvement. This report sets out the main findings of the ODPM report, a copy of which has been deposited in the Members Resource Centre.

Background: The ODPM report draws on the first two years of qualitative research gathered as part of its four year evaluation of Best Value. This research involved selecting 49 reviews to track across a range of local authorities. Two rounds of case study visits were carried out to monitor key changes in corporate structure, culture and process, with key officers and members involved in reviews interviewed and surveys of authorities’ records.

(BV9(download as .doc file))


From the 49 case studies tracked, 10 have been selected for inclusion in the ODPM report. These do not necessarily illustrate best practice, but are examples of where the experience of carrying out the review provides useful learning for others. For Oxfordshire, the Review of Library Services has been selected as a case study, which the ODPM report judges has lead to ‘significant change’. An extract from the report setting out the case study of Oxfordshire is attached (BV9 Annex 1).(download as .doc file)

Conclusions: An extract from the report setting out the common themes emerging from the research is attached (BV9 Annex 2) (download as .doc file), and is summarised below:

1. Good reviews lead to change – there is a association between the quality of the review process and the generations of proposals for change
2. Inspection empowers the Best Value regime – without the prospect for inspection, best value reviews have a lower profile and less weight in organisational change
3. Reform isn’t rocket science – the main options for reform are not as boundless as unstructured reviews would suggest, and fall into the main categories of partnership, service re-definition, process re-engineering and centralisation/decentralisation
4. Much of the impetus for change comes from challenge, comparison and consultation rather than competition – competition has a low profile as it is better suited to reform than the others which are research functions
5. Best value works best in alliance with other drivers for change – rather than being the only driver for change, Best Value seems to work better as a catalyst providing a framework for deliberation
6. Change takes time and money – rushed reforms can lead to the deterioration of performance
7. Leadership counts – research shows that good reviews had project leaders with a reputation for doing Best Value well and driving change
8. Best Value needs realistic member involvement – reviews conducted without elected member ownership often fail to translate into plans for improvement
9. Scoping matters – narrowly scoped reviews hemmed in by other reviews or awaiting other decisions are destined to make only modest proposals for change
10. A corporate approach is key – authorities which are good at Best Value have good corporate Best Value processes

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to:

1. note the conclusions of the ODPM report; and
2. congratulate Mr Harris and team for the Best Value Review of Library Services being included in national research on Best Value.

10. Implementation of Best Value Review: Library Service

12:30 Designated Member: Councillor Jim Moley
Executive Member: Councillor Neil Fawcett
Learning & Culture Scrutiny Committee Chair: Councillor Robert Evans
Lead Officer: R. Harris (Learning & Culture)

Report by Head of Cultural Services (BV10).

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to:

1. agree if and when there is a need to report back to the Committee on further progress;
2. identify whether there are any matters in the report which should be drawn to the attention of the Executive Member; and
3. ask the Chair of the Learning & Culture Scrutiny Committee to consult the Deputy Chair on scrutiny committee consideration.

11. Audit Commission Whole Service Inspection of Cultural Services

12:50 Report by Head of Cultural Services (BV11)

1. note the outcomes of the Audit Commission’s Whole Service Inspection of Cultural Services; and
2. approve the draft improvement action plan at Annex 2.

BREAK FOR LUNCH

12. Appointment of New External Auditors

2:00 Officers will give an oral update at the meeting on the proposed change of External Auditor.

13. Statement of Auditing Standards-(SAS) 610

2:10 The Director for Resources reports as follows:-

SAS 610 provides guidance on ‘the communication of relevant matters relating to audit of financial statements between the auditors and those charged with governance of an entity.’

The Council has already determined that this Committee will discharge this responsibility and the District Auditor planned to report to Committee on 10 December 2003. This date was chosen because the Commission must issue a 610 report before they sign-off the accounts - which should be done by 31 December 2003.

The 610 report, following completion of the audit, should report findings for six areas. These are:

1. expected modifications to the auditor’s report;
2. unadjusted misstatements;
3. material weaknesses in the accounting and internal control systems identified during the audit;
4. their views about the qualitative aspects of the entity’s accounting practices and financial reporting;
5. matters specifically required by other Auditing Standards to be communicated to those charged with governance; and
6. any other relevant matters relating to the audit.
   
   

The District Auditor will present his report at the meeting.

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to determine action required in the light of the District Auditor’s report.

14. Implementation of Fire Service Best Value Reviews:

2:30 (a) Fire Service Procurement

1. agree if and when there is a need to report back to the Committee on further progress;
2. identify whether there are any matters in the report which should be drawn to the attention of the Executive Member; and
3. ask the Chair of the Community Safety Scrutiny Committee to consult the Deputy Chair on scrutiny committee consideration.

(b) Fire Service Command & Control

15. Best Value Review of Road Casualty Reduction

Report by Director for Environment & Economy (BV15).

2:50 Following the decision of the Council on 9 September 2003 to welcome the provisional decision of this Committee in June to conduct a Best Value Review on Road Casualty Reduction during 2004/05, the Committee officers reported to the October meeting on the difficulties of bringing this Review forward.

Following the Committee’s strong view that the review should be brought forward, the report sets out how this can be achieved.

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to agree that the review of Road Casualty Reduction should proceed in accordance with the proposed timetable contained in the report.

16. Children’s Services Best Value Review

3:10 The Director for Social & Health Care reports as follows:-