By David Scott in Edinburgh
A new method of reporting council performance, including the introduction of a grading or points system, is being considered by Scotland’s public spending watchdog.
A new method of reporting council performance, including the introduction of a grading or points system, is being considered by Scotland’s public spending watchdog.The proposal is included in Audit Scotland’s wide-ranging plans to reform the Best Value audit scheme, which assesses councils’ management and the quality of local services.
Changes planned for the next phase of Best Value (BV2) include ‘a more proportionate and risk-based audit’; assessments that would be undertaken with other local government scrutiny bodies; and clearer judgements on council performance.
There will also be a stronger focus on partnership working and on the way councils assess and respond to the views of local service users.
According to a consultation document issued by the watchdog, a further reform is likely to result in ‘peer involvement’, with senior officers and elected members from other bodies included in audit teams.
But it is the plans for a grading or points system that could be the most controversial. There would also be a ‘direction and pace of change judgement’, which will report on a council’s record in improving services, and a ‘capacity for future improvement’ judgement’.
Views are being sought on three assessment options. One is a grading system using a form of words to assess performance. For ‘pace and direction of change’, the assessments would range from ‘improving strongly’ to ‘not improving adequately’. For prospects of improvement, the range would be ‘strongly placed’ to ‘poorly placed’.
A further option is a ‘bespoke’ assessment, whose judgements would be expressed without using standardised language – similar to the current system.
The final option is a scoring system similar to that used in England’s former Comprehensive Performance Assessment.
Audit Scotland emphasises that while a scoring system would be clearly understood by the public, there would be a risk of councils distorting their priorities to try to improve their score.
The consultation document states: ‘We are considering whether to introduce clearer judgements for reporting council performance. We do not favour using a single score for a council but we are keen to introduce clearer formal Best Value audit judgements.’
An Audit Scotland source said there were arguments for and against a grading system, adding: ‘That said, those who support a grading system believe it will introduce a more rigorous valuation and provide a clear judgement on a council’s performance.’
