Committee
Local Government and Regeneration Committee 24 February 2016
24 Feb 2016 · S4 · Local Government and Regeneration Committee
Item of business
Local Government Benchmarking Framework
Colin Mair (Improvement Service)
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Linking with what Malcolm Burr said, and looking forward a bit, we are now working quite closely with colleagues who are involved in the national improvement framework for education and the framing and measurement of national health and care outcomes. The local government framework will therefore need to adjust over time, to take account of the fact that much more of a council’s work is now done through partnership vehicles of one sort or another. We need to have a clear look at how the framework fits in with the developments that are taking place in such areas. We are also interested in looking much more deeply at the economic impact of local public services, in terms of employment, procurement, asset distribution and so on. Again, that is work that benefits from a partnership focus as well as a focus on councils. The second strand that we are aware of is that changes within councils themselves are calling into question some of the service classifications that the framework is built around. Increasingly, the distinctions between services are being overtaken by the merger or integration of those services locally. We need to be careful that what we are reporting to Parliament and to the public is up to speed with what people are doing in the organisation and delivery of services. The final matter for us is a very important piece of legislation that was passed by Parliament last year: the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015. We will need to look at a range of things in order to see how councils and their local partners are progressing with that, and that will be part of the work strand going forward. I think that we have established a solid enough base but that that will need to change with the pattern of reform that is going on.
In the same item of business
The Convener
SNP
Item 2, which is our first substantive item, is evidence on the local government benchmarking framework. I welcome Malcolm Burr, chair of the Society of Loca...
Malcolm Burr (Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers Scotland)
On behalf of SOLACE, I say that we are very pleased to note the continuing collective commitment to the framework. It is not very old in terms of benchmarkin...
Colin Mair (Improvement Service)
Linking with what Malcolm Burr said, and looking forward a bit, we are now working quite closely with colleagues who are involved in the national improvement...
The Convener
SNP
Miss Lynch, do you have anything to add?
Emily Lynch (Improvement Service)
I have nothing to add at this stage.
The Convener
SNP
Thank you. Let us start by looking at some of the intelligent intelligence, as Mr Burr called it, and how certain things are measured. We will take an examp...
Emily Lynch
There are a couple of different elements. There are some factors that make the measures different that are important in driving the improvement. There are s...
The Convener
SNP
We understand all that, but let us say that I am a member of the public, looking at the benchmarking figures for a number of areas; I have picked upon burial...
Colin Mair
I suspect that part of that will be policy choice—whether or not elected members are wholly aware of it. Some people will be running services, such as burial...
The Convener
SNP
Mr Burr, do you have anything to add?
Malcolm Burr
Very briefly, convener. Such a difference may also give rise—I think that this shows the benefits of the framework—to questions about how a service is organi...
The Convener
SNP
That is exactly what I am trying to get at, because it is not currently spelled out whether the reason for a difference is policy choice or the cost delivery...
Colin Mair
There are two things to reassure you on. The way in which the data is compiled within the benchmarking framework is strictly in line with the criteria for th...
The Convener
SNP
I understand all that, Mr Mair. I am trying to keep this as simple as possible. I can now go and compare a number of things, look at the family groupings, ge...
Colin Mair
The second point that I was going to make was that—as you will know, because we have abused your hospitality by boring you to death on this point over a numb...
The Convener
SNP
You have said that a number of councils have used the framework to examine what has happened elsewhere and have made changes. Can you give us some examples o...
Malcolm Burr
I can give you a couple of examples from my council: one at a strategic level and one at an operational level. The operational example concerns the rate of c...
Emily Lynch
As you will have seen from the responses that you have received from a number of authorities, the framework is being used in a number of different ways acros...
The Convener
SNP
You are painting an extremely positive picture of how the framework is being used. However, if we look at the evidence from councils alone, in response to th...
Colin Mair
I guess that the answer depends on who responds to such consultations. If I was the performance officer of Dundee City Council, I would probably look at the ...
The Convener
SNP
The question about who filled in the questionnaires is interesting. Our correspondence goes to chief executives and to council leaders. To be frank, I someti...
John Wilson (Central Scotland) (Ind)
Ind
We had feedback from the councils on the benchmarking family groups, and East Ayrshire Council and North Ayrshire Council made similar comments about conside...
Malcolm Burr
The family groups will always need to be adapted and reviewed. As councils deliver services in different ways and as partnership working increases, not just ...
The Convener
SNP
Neither am I. Try again, Mr Wilson.
John Wilson
Ind
I am trying to find out what is happening in relation to the family groups. To be honest, I was surprised when Mr Burr talked about fragile area groups and m...
Malcolm Burr
My apologies—I have clearly emphasised the exception rather than the rule. The family groups are vital and, as I indicated with our council tax example, we u...
John Wilson
Ind
Why would a local authority need to review the family groups? We are talking about a local authority, not the benchmarking family, reviewing how it interacts...
Malcolm Burr
Simply to reflect any demographic and other changes to our—
The Convener
SNP
That is fair enough, but the point is that it does not matter what joint procurement or joint service delivery you are doing because, at the end of the day, ...
Malcolm Burr
Simply to reflect changes in localities and in, for example—