Public inquiry - Sharing the burden of Best Value

4 Oct 01
Local Government Secretary Stephen Byers' promise to conduct a review of the Best Value regime, made at this week's Labour Party conference in Brighton, will be music to the ears of many of those who are in the frontline of delivering public services.

05 October 2001

Local Government Secretary Stephen Byers' promise to conduct a review of the Best Value regime, made at this week's Labour Party conference in Brighton, will be music to the ears of many of those who are in the frontline of delivering public services.

Intended to help 'reduce bureaucracy and focus on raising standards', the review will examine the usefulness of Best Value Performance Plans and also try to ensure that the regime is 'neutral as to whether services are best provided by the public, private or voluntary sectors'.

However, the monthly survey conducted jointly by Public Finance and Reed Accountancy Personnel shows that while many finance managers may be frustrated with the hoops they have to jump through, they appreciate the need for a system that encourages continuous improvement.

A surprising 78% of respondents agreed with the statement: 'Best Value should be introduced across all parts of the public sector.' Just 12% actively disagreed with the suggestion, while 10% were neutral.

Unsurprisingly, 77% of those working in local government said the regime should be extended, possibly in part because of a desire to see others shoulder a similar administrative burden.

But, interestingly, 80% of respondents working in the health service also support the extension of Best Value, as do 79% in education and 75% in central government.

Barry Elliott, director of finance at Barts and the London NHS Trust, was one of the survey participants who supported the suggestion.

'The one thing we need to start focusing on in the health service is continuous performance review and improvement,' he said.

'We tend to concentrate on growth of resources and spending extra money. We are not sufficiently focused on how to spend the existing budget. Best Value in a modified form could give impetus to this development.'

The desire to see Best Value encompass a wider range of public services could in part be motivated by a wish for a more streamlined inspection system.

Some 65% of survey respondents supported the suggestion that there are too many inspectors and watchdogs overseeing the public sector's activities.

Some 17% actively opposed the suggestion and 18% expressed no view.

The highest level of support for this position was expressed by local government staff, at 74%, but 57% of health service workers and 50% of those in central government also agreed.

Surprisingly, the lowest level of support came from education, where only 42% agreed that public services were too heavily policed.

On the other hand, opinion was quite evenly split on whether the Audit Commission and the National Audit Office should merge to form one audit body. Overall, 51% supported the suggestion.

In local authorities, 52% said the organisations should merge, compared with 53% in the health service; 50% in central government; and 42% in education.

Turning to the outcome of the inspection process, the survey participants were asked whether they thought government 'hit squads' could have a role in turning around failing institutions.

The opinions were mixed. Richard Richards, of Worthing and Southlands Hospitals NHS Trust, said: 'It depends on the quality of the hit squad but in general it's a very good idea.'

But Sue Bond, of Flintshire County Council, was less keen. 'It takes more than one hit to make a difference,' she said.

John Barker, of Oxfordshire County Council, occupies the middle ground: 'The use of hit squads as a term is emotive and counter-productive, in my opinion. Nobody should disagree with the concept of performance improvement. What is required is a mutually acceptable term.'

There was some hesitation over whether successful public services should 'franchise' their brand. Overall, 44% of respondents agreed that they should. But the response varied between sectors.

Local government staff expressed the highest level of support at 51%, with 21% strongly and 30% slightly backing the idea.

Health service workers were less keen, with 40% approving, while only 32% of education staff supported the idea.

These results suggest that, although there are things about the Best Value regime that frontline managers would like to see changed, there is a general acceptance of the principles on which it is based.

The government's review is an opportunity to iron out some of their more common complaints.

Joseph McHugh


PFoct2001

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