Policy and Performance
Best value is a national initiative, introduced in the Local
Government Act 1999, which seeks to improve public services. The
legislation requires all councils to review the way in which they
provide their services and to challenge whether they could be
provided differently with regards to cost, quality and
efficiency.
Best value places emphasis on the needs of local people and
local choices. Councils must seek the view of their residents and
consider feedback when developing their policy direction and future
services.
We have carried out a number of best value reviews of our services
and report our performance against a series of best value
performance
indicators. We also produce an annual Best Value
Performance Plan which sets out the Council’s performance
over the past year and our plans for the year ahead.
Reviews
Best value reviews are designed to be the principle means by
which councils consider new approaches to service delivery and set
demanding performance targets in order to deliver continuous
improvement. The reviews are a key process for achieving best value
and must consider:
- What the service currently provides, why, how and by whom;
- How the service compares with other service providers;
- Users and residents expectations of the service; and
- Fair competition as a means of securing efficient and effective
services.
Best Value Performance
Plan
Every Local authority has a statutory requirement to produce a
Best Value Performance Plan each year. The Plan contains
information where you can read about our main services and more
importantly, what we are doing to improve
them.