Best Value: outcomes of self-assessment

Transcription

1 ACC/17/03 Agenda item 6 30 March 2017 Best Value: outcomes of self-assessment To provide the Committee with a report on SFC s compliance with the principles of Best value and the results of a Best Value self-assessment exercise undertaken by the executive. Recommendations Note the contents of the paper. Financial implications There are no financial implications arising from this paper.

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3 Best Value: outcomes of self-assessment Purpose 1. To provide the Committee with a report on SFC s compliance with the principles of Best Value and the results of a Best Value self-assessment exercise undertaken by the executive. Background 2. SFC has a duty to comply with the principles of Best Value. Under the terms of the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000, Accountable Officers have a specific responsibility to ensure that arrangements have been made to secure Best Value. The Boards of public service organisations also have a corporate responsibility for promoting the efficient and effective use of staff and other resources in accordance with the principles of Best Value. Compliance is subject to audit by Audit Scotland. 3. As background, Best Value has its origins in the process of Compulsory Competitive Tendering, which was introduced in local authorities in the 1980 s as a means of securing better value-for-money in public services. That process was regarded by many as being too prescriptive and, ultimately, unsuccessful; for example, it often led to cost savings, but did not necessarily deliver better public services. 4. Compulsory Competitive Tendering was replaced by the UK Labour Government in 2000 with the concept of Best Value, which was intended to provide a more flexible framework for delivering improvements in public services (taking into account both the cost of the service and the quality). In Scotland, the duty of Best Value has been in place since 2002 and includes public bodies as well as local authorities. What is Best Value? 5. Best Value is intended to provide a common framework for continuous improvement in public services in Scotland. The formal definition of Best Value, as set out in the Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM) is (our emphasis in bold): To make arrangements to secure continuous improvement in performance whilst maintaining an appropriate balance between quality and cost; and in making those arrangements and securing that balance, to have regard to economy, efficiency, effectiveness, the equal opportunity requirements and to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development. 1

4 6. In simple terms, it means that an organisation should deliver its functions effectively, and in a way that provides value-for-money, achieves high-quality outcomes and demonstrates continuous improvement. Given its remit for monitoring the Council s arrangements to secure value-for-money, Best Value is therefore clearly relevant to the work of the Audit and Compliance Committee. Best Value themes and characteristics 7. In March 2011, the Scottish Government published guidance for Accountable Officers on the duty of Best Value in Public Services. 8. The guidance identified seven themes, which define the expectations placed on Accountable Officers by the duty of Best Value: Vision and Leadership. Effective Partnerships. Governance and Accountability. Use of Resources. Performance Management. Equality (cross-cutting theme). Sustainability (cross-cutting theme). 9. Against each of these themes, the Scottish Government has identified characteristics which a Best Value organisation should be able to demonstrate, or has plans to demonstrate. (The characteristics are set-out in the attached self-assessment questionnaire). 2

5 How does the Council meet its duty? 10. The Scottish Government guidance is clear that there is not a one-size-fits-all approach to achieving Best Value and that: Each organisation can determine the route by which it intends to achieve Best Value and arrive at its identified improvement goals. The strategic focus should be on achieving continuous improvement in performance and outcome. 11. In practice, SFC uses a range of mechanisms for securing Best Value in its operations, which is to be expected given the diverse functions of the organisation and complexity of the work undertaken. These mechanisms are described in the self-assessment questionnaire attached in the Annex. Best Value self-assessment 12. We assess our compliance with the principles of Best Value by undertaking periodic self-assessment exercises; previous exercises were undertaken in FY , and We have now carried out a further self-assessment exercise. The exercise was undertaken by means of questionnaires, which asked relevant senior staff across the organisation for a qualitative assessment of our performance against the characteristics of the seven Best Value themes (in total, there are 77 characteristics; 76 of which are relevant to SFC). 14. Against each characteristic, we have provided: An assessment of how well we demonstrate the characteristic - using the descriptions: Well-developed, Under development or To be developed ). Evidence to support our assessment including, where appropriate, proposals for improvement. 15. The results of the self-assessment are provided in the Annex. A summary of the results is shown in the table below. 3

6 16. The results show that SFC is able to demonstrate that the characteristics are either Well-developed or Under-development across all of the seven themes, with no areas To be developed. The particularly strong results for the themes of Governance and accountability and Use of resources probably reflect the maturity of the organisation, and the strong focus that we have given in recent years to developing our accountability arrangements particularly through the introduction of the Outcome Agreement process and the way in which we use our resources (for example, the significant amount of work that we have put into developing our procurement arrangements). 17. The themes of Vision and Leadership, and Effective partnerships both show some room for development, and reflect work that is underway, such as: Developing leadership and management skills in the organisation. Introducing a culture of continuous improvement. Looking for opportunities to align our work with that of Skills Development Scotland and the other enterprise and skills agencies. 18. The cross-cutting themes of Sustainability and Equality are both work-inprogress, with potential for development. In particular, we need to Review whether our monitoring of progress with Outcome Agreements is effectively capturing progress in sustainable development in the sectors. Continue to improve our collection and analyses of data to help us understand equality and diversity issues in the sectors. Include measures on equality and diversity within the SFC Performance Report. 19. However, it should be noted that both of these themes show significant improvement since our last Best Value self-assessment in

7 20. As a result of the self-assessment exercise, we have identified nine actions for improvement, which will be brought together to form a Best Value Improvement Plan, and will be incorporated into our Operational Plan for Concluding remarks 21. One of the main purposes of Best Value is to improve public services in Scotland; and although approaches to Best Value often quite rightly consider issues of detail, it is important not to lose sight of the larger picture. 22. In the case of SFC, since the last self-assessment, we have engaged in a major programme of reform in the college sector, which is already delivering transformational change with potentially major benefits for learners and employers and have introduced significant new initiatives in the university sector to improve innovation in the economy. It is clear from recent Scottish Government s announcements that this work is contributing significantly to the Government s plans for public sector reform and improvement, and the delivery of its Economic Strategy. Risk assessment 23. There are no risks associated with this paper. Equality and diversity assessment 24. An equal opportunity and diversity assessment has not been carried out. Recommendation 25. The Committee is invited to note the report on the Council s compliance with the principles of Best Value, and the results of the recent self-assessment exercise undertaken by the executive. Financial implications 26. There are no financial implications arising from this paper. Publication 27. This paper will be published on the Council website following the Council meeting. Further information 28. Contact: Richard Hancock, Assistant Director, Strategy (tel: ; rhancock@sfc.ac.uk). 5