SSRG Newsletter - September 2004
Evaluation of the long-term impact of the Best Value regime: Baseline report
This report was published on 4th August and summarises the results of the ‘baseline
phase’ of the long-term evaluation of the impact of Best Value. What
follows has been abstracted from the report.
The study was commissioned by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and
is being undertaken by a research team led by the Centre for Local and Regional
Government Research at Cardiff University. It aims to provide an objective
evaluation of:
- the approaches by which local authorities implement the Best Value
regime; and
- the impact the regime has upon authorities’ capacity to
deliver continuous improvement in service delivery.
The research focuses
on:
- Best Value processes – the ways that councils in England
implement the regime;
- Process outcomes – the impacts that the
regime has upon the internal processes and structures of authorities. Process
outcomes include changes in organisational structure, culture and strategy.
- Performance
change - the impacts that the regime has on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness
of local authority services. Performance is being measured in terms ofBest
Value performance indicators (BVPIs), residents’ perceptions of their
authorities and the views of a large sample of local authorities officers
and elected members
The main conclusions to be drawn from this study are
that:
- Implementing Best Value is seen as having been a major challenge
for most authorities though many respondents saw Best Value processes
as having had a positive impact, for example by enhancing interdepartmental
working;
- Most authorities developed a corporate framework for implementing
Best Value before or during the first year of the regime and those that
did not develop these frameworks made slower progress with the regime
- District
councils were less likely to have comprehensive processes for implementing
Best Value in place than other types of authority, suggesting that the
regime has been more of a challenge for them.
- Many Best Value reviews had
taken longer thanexpected and some officers reported that they had struggled
to fit reviews in around ‘day jobs’, or their time and attention
had been diverted onto other new initiatives.
- Performance management
systems are perceived to have improved in most authorities and many officers
and members believe that this will lead to improvement in services.
- Best
Value performance plans (BVPPs) contained new local performance indicators
alongside ambitious targets but. there was scepticism about the usefulness
of BVPPs as tools for internal management.
- Whilst Best Value is a
drive for change it is imposing substantial additional burdens and costs
on authorities, notably through the new inspection requirements.
- On
the whole, the regime is seen as having led to an increase in the amount
of bureaucracy.
The full report can be found at: www.odpm.gov.uk/stellent/groups/odpm_localgov/documents/page/odpm_l ocgov_030272.pdf
