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ITEM EX7

EXECUTIVE – 15 MARCH 2005

RAISING OUR PERFORMANCE 2

Report by County Council Management Team

 

Introduction

  1. This is the fourth formal quarterly monitoring progress report on RoP2 implementation, and covers progress between 1 October and 31 December 2004.

  2. A full monitoring report showing the details against each of the success criteria is in the Members’ Resource Centre and is available for public inspection.

    (RAISING OUR PERFORMANCE 2 FOURTH QUARTERLY MONITORING REPORT - Schedule - download as .doc file)

    3. Executive Summary

  3. Significant progress has been made towards Oxfordshire’s goal of being an outstanding local authority in 2004 as a result of the RoP2 improvement plan. At the end of the year many of the challenging and aspirational success criteria have been fully achieved, with several more on track to be achieved in the immediate future.

  4. Notable successes include:

    • an improved Oxfordshire plan with fewer, more focused, priorities and robust plans for delivery;

    • service plans that provide staff with clear and achievable objectives and performance indicators to enable organisational improvement;

    • a significant improvement in the quality of the appraisal process combined with a very significant improvement in the proportion of employees who have appraisal;

    • excellent progress towards the community strategy, voluntary sector compact and community safety objectives;

    • strong progress on improving corporate governance within the authority;

    • the development and implementation of customer service, HR, finance and procurement strategies.

Current Position

  1. The third quarterly report recorded that, out of four success criteria with achievement dates between July and September 2004, one had been fully achieved, two had been largely achieved and one was not achieved. During the period of October to December out of twelve success criteria with achievement dates in this quarter six were achieved, one was not achieved, two were partly or largely achieved and three are on track to be achieved but have not been to date.

  2. The overall position of all success criteria in RoP2 to date shows:

    • 54% of RoP2 targets have been achieved/ partly achieved – an increase of 16% since the third quarter;

    • 31% of RoP2 targets are on track to be achieved – a decrease of 14% since the third quarter, which reflects the increase in targets achieved;

    • 10% of RoP2 targets are deemed too early to say – the same as the third quarter;

    • 5% of RoP2 targets have not been achieved or are unlikely to be achieved – the same as the third quarter.

  1. The one area where the success criterion was not achieved during the fourth quarter was Action 1.3: CPA core service score of 3 achieved for Social Services.

  2. Success criteria were partly or largely achieved in the following two cases:

    • Action 3.1: Priorities have robust plans for delivery - on the whole this criterion has been achieved with the exception of an action plan for Safe and Supportive Communities.

    • Action 14.1: CPA score of 4 achieved in Auditor Scored Judgement for ethical framework and legality was not wholly achieved. Whilst the score of 4 was achieved for implementing new legislation the Audit Commission were unwilling to increase the overall score of three for legality. A score of four was given for ethical framework.

  1. Three actions are considered on track to achieve their success criteria but have amended target dates:

    • Action 1.1: CPA rating improved from Fair to Good has been delayed due to the appeal against the original CPA judgement.

    • Action 1.2: All auditor scored judgements for Use of Resources to be 3 out of 4 is on track to be achieved in 2005. Actions required to address known weaknesses have been incorporated into action plans.

    • Action 9.1: Users believe MIS is working more effectively was given an original target date of October 2004, but this date has since been revised to May 2005. Progress against this criterion continues, but success is dependent on the progress of phase two.

  1. For criteria with achievement dates in 2005 and beyond:

  • Action 11.3: 90% of targets achieved remains unlikely to be achieved. At the second quarterly monitoring just 56% of BVPIs were on target to be achieved. The mean average of all corporate targets currently stands at 41% achievement.

  • Action 11.5: Corporate approach [to project management] implemented remains unlikely to be achieved. It is anticipated a corporate approach will be achieved in 2006, but incremental progress towards this goal will be made throughout 2005.

Overview of RoP2 over 2004

  1. Analysis of achievement over the year shows that 15 (44%) of the actions have been fully achieved; three actions (9%) have not been achieved (at least one success criterion has not been achieved); 10 (30%) of the actions are predicted to be fully achieved but have not been as yet; and 6 (17%) of the actions are still deemed too early to judge.

  2. The analysis of progress against the action points highlighted the issue of revised target dates. In total twelve (34%) action points were given revised completion target dates across the quarters, some more than once. The reason for this high level of alteration to targets can partly be attributed to the targets in the plan not fitting with the SMART methodology, with many targets being highly aspirational.

  3. Having completed the first year of RoP2 this is an opportune time to undertake an analysis of the plan with a focus on the targets within the plan to ensure future improvement targets are SMART and to learn from other local authorities with Excellent status to consider what improvements could be made. CCMT have commissioned Performance & Review to undertake such a review in partnership with Business Managers and key workstream managers.

    4. Schedule for progress reports

  4. Arrangements are under way to amalgamate the reporting schedule for RoP2 and quarterly performance monitoring. It is currently intended that the two be aligned at the fourth quarter in the financial year (the fourth quarterly performance report) with a report on outstanding criteria coming to the Executive on 6 September 2005.

    5. RECOMMENDATION

  5. The Executive is RECOMMENDED to note the report, and in particular the proposal to analyse RoP2 leading to recommendations for the next organisational improvement plan.

County Council Management Team

Background Papers: Nil

Contact Officers:
Sue Hunt Tel: (01865) 816036
Susan Roberts Tel: (01865) 815425

March 2005

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