Council and Committee Services Best Value Review

Background

The review supports the view that the Administration Services Team is presently providing a good quality low cost service to Clackmannanshire Council. The exercise has also served to identify opportunities for reducing costs and/or improving the level of service provided. This review was completed between January 2000 and February 2001 and was reported in May 2001.

Satisfaction

There is a relatively high level of satisfaction amongst customers with the Service supporting the decision making process of the Council. In summary, users confirmed that:

the Admin team can be easily contacted and provide a sound responsive service:
research requests are efficiently processed;
meeting room accommodation is always fully prepared on time for scheduled start times;
the accuracy of recorded decisions (meeting minutes) meets all expectations;
the development of computerised lists for committee memberships, circulation lists for meeting papers, and performance indicators have increased team effectiveness;
the cost of providing a service is amongst the lowest in Scotland, and around 50% of the Scottish average;
the admin team has a sound record in the timely production and issue of meeting papers which is appreciated;

Challenges

Members of community groups express very little interest in information about Council business. It may be that they are insufficiently informed, or genuinely uninterested.
Occasional barriers to the quick and smooth transmission or release of information are identifiable. Adapting to, and capitalising on the opportunities offered by the Council’s Intranet should greatly enhance service provision.
Enquirers to the service are not always given the advantage of the scope to agree response times.
Aspects of identified best practice in other authorities could provide benefits in Clackmannanshire.

Improvements

Action Plan highlights:

That the management and dissemination of information could be improved. There are benefits in terms of the speed of information delivery, targeting of information and costs to be realised by capitalising on IT (Information Technology) facilities. This particularly, but not solely, relates to Intranet usage, and development will depend greatly on the level and quality of input from the Council’s own IT Services.
The Best Value benchmarking process almost exclusively involved other local authorities. Benefits may arise from a further comparison with private sector organisations and this is planned through ongoing involvement with the established benchmarking group.
Efforts require to be put in hand to ensure community group members are fully informed about Administration Services and the decision making process of the Council. The Team will involve officers in other Services to help identify and target individuals and organisations.
A series of good practice indicators have been identified across the Scottish Benchmarking group. The indicators applicable in Clackmannanshire are largely met, while others require to be investigated and implemented to increase the value of the service. These are addressed in the action plan.
In comparison to the alternative methods of service delivery identified it is suggested that the Team contribution represents good value.
It is recommended that the Action Plan is implemented with the various tasks and necessary reporting being incorporated into Administration and Legal Services Service Plan, in accordance with established Service practice. It is further recommended that the input from the service required to complete the review be acknowledged.

Conclusion

The Final Report confirms that resources available are fully utilised in providing the existing service. The resources required are largely driven by the democratic decision making process adopted by the Administration – costs flow from cycles of meetings, the number of cycles per year, and the number of committees meeting.

The review panel were impressed by the report and felt that the assessment team had responded well to points made at the interim stage. The benchmarking materials were particularly persuasive, and showed that staff were performing particularly well.