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Best Value Performance Plan 2001

Community consultation

When the Council was established in 1998 we made the following commitment to the people of Worcestershire:

In addition to our own commitment we are required to consult with the public, representative organisations and interest groups to ensure that we provide best value services.

Last year our auditors told us that we should develop a corporate consultation strategy that would offer guidance and support to our officers involved in consulting the public.

The strategy is now in place and it will make our consultation results more effective. We have also created a consultation database that is helping us to plan and co-ordinate future consultation.

Some of the proposals upon which we have consulted during the year include:

• the Council's budget strategy - we consulted council taxpayers, business ratepayers, service users and a wide range of special interest groups. Their views were fed into the budget making process and helped the Council to determine its budget strategy for the forthcoming year.
• best value reviews - we are committed to consulting users and others affected by our services as part of the Best Value Review process. Throughout the year there has been detailed consultation with interest groups in relation to all Best Value reviews. In all cases the views expressed during consultation have been used to inform the outcome of reviews.
• the impact of flooding in Worcestershire - following the severe flooding of Worcestershire during Autumn 2000, the County Council consulted the public and its staff about what can be done or what should be done to reduce the impact of flooding in future.

Many people took the time to tell us what they thought. All the ideas were collected together and put into a paper that was sent to the Prime Minister and other people who have responsibility for the effects of flooding in the County.
The County Council has represented the people of Worcestershire in negotiations with the organisations with responsibility and will convene a monitoring conference in the spring to monitor progress.

• citizens' panel - we also consulted our standing panel of 2,000 residents. On two occasions we surveyed their opinions and used the information to help determine our future priorities and design our services.
• political structures - the Government has asked local councils to change the way they make decisions. During February and March 2001, we worked in partnership with four of the six district councils in the County, to undertake a wide-ranging public consultation. The purpose of the consultation was to ask residents to vote on which of three options for decision-making they believed to be best for their district council and the County Council.

Questionnaires were sent to households throughout the County, a web page was installed on the CountyWide Information System (available at all libraries), and local newsletters also asked people to vote.

In addition, presentations were made to parish councils, business forums, and other 'stakeholder' groups and 'communities of interest'- such as tenants' groups, local volunteer networks and support groups in all six district council areas, so that everyone had the chance to voice their opinion.

The results of the consultation will not be available until May and taking account of the views expressed, we will decide in June our proposals for the way in which decisions are taken by the Council in future.

What you have told us - and what we've done about it

The May 2000 Citizens' Panel revealed that:

Street lighting

• 73% of panel members feel that the street lighting in their road is good/ adequate.

We think that this is a good starting point from which to improve. We will now review the service during 2002, incorporate these findings and examine potential areas for improvement.

• 79% said that the current level of delays at junctions controlled by traffic lights was acceptable.
• Overall respondents felt that repairs to traffic lights should take less than two hours.
• Suggestions were made for additional facilities for disabled persons at existing crossings and where new crossings should be sited.

The time we take to repair traffic lights will now be reviewed as part of a new contract being negotiated. Tactile aids are being fitted to all crossings where sound 'bleepers' may be dangerous for the partially sighted or blind persons to use, and we are investigating suggestions for additional crossing points.

Lifelong learning

• 84% of respondents had seen information about lifelong learning courses and training in the newspaper but only 20% had made use of it.
• 22% of respondents were actively involved in some form of learning.

Working with partners we have set up additional community based learning opportunities in Worcester, Redditch and Bromsgrove, and appointed officers in Malvern Hills, Wyre Forest and Wychavon to offer initial advice and guidance.

Libraries

• Only 10% of respondents said that they had used the Internet facilities that the Council provides free of charge in libraries.

We have introduced taster sessions tailored for individual needs at those branches with terminals. In addition, the introduction of a considerable number of terminals throughout the library network is being promoted through a marketing campaign to increase take up and awareness of this service.

Sustainability

• 60% of people aged over 65 claim to know what sustainability is, whereas only 48% of people aged 18 to 29 do so.

We have now developed an Education for Sustainable Development strategy and we are researching how we can best assist local business in supporting the sustainability agenda. We have also produced a good news guide to promote best practice in sustainability, invited parish, town councils and community groups to attend our sustainability training programme, worked with the business community to improve sustainability performance and established an annual award to recognise sustainability improvements in business.

In November 2000 we carried out the second Citizens' Panel survey of the year. The purpose of the survey was to seek views of satisfaction with council services. All other councils have carried out the same survey but few results have yet been published. We have therefore compared our results with the results of a national pilot study conducted by MORI (an independent market research company).

From the research undertaken by MORI it has been possible to compare our results with other county councils, in some cases, but in others (because the data is not available) we have compared our performance with that of all local authorities including district councils. Where the results are compared with the results of all types of local authorities we have underlined the word council. In all other cases the comparison is with other county councils.

The survey revealed that:

• 67.5% of the public are satisfied with the council as a whole compared to MORI results of a county council average of 54%.
• 32.8% of the public are satisfied with complaint handling of all departments compared to MORI results of a county council average of 31%.
• 73.5% of the public are satisfied with the overall civic amenity site service compared to MORI results of a council average of 69%.
• 68.5% of the public are satisfied with the Council's performance in keeping public land free from litter compared to MORI results of a council average of 56%.
• 56% of the public who had seen it are satisfied with public transport information compared to MORI results of a council average of 58%.
• 47.5% of the public who had used local bus services in the last year are satisfied with the service compared to MORI results of a council average of 51%.
• 77.7% of the public who had used the library service were satisfied with the service compared with MORI results of a council average level of satisfaction of 80%.

We are very pleased that so many of you are satisfied with the services we provide as a whole. We will continue to do the best we can to maintain your satisfaction and to continue to deliver best value services building upon the progress we have made during the last three years.

Although we have not yet had the opportunity to analyse the figures in detail, we will try to improve on all these results. In particular we will look at those areas where we fell below the average to see how we can improve and ensure that you are satisfied with those services. You will see from the performance indicator section later in this document the detailed targets for improvement we have set ourselves.

Future consultation

We intend to build on the progress we have made in consulting the people of Worcestershire. Our priority areas for development include:

• improving information provision about the County Council and its work so that people are better informed about what we do.
• increasing face to face contact with the public.
• strengthening links with the business community.
• developing IT links.
• working with schools to develop community links.
• developing links with hard to reach groups.

During 2001/02 we will also introduce a new consultation database to provide us with information on planned consultation exercises. This will enable all staff to see at a glance what is being proposed. This information can then be used by staff to consider whether there would be any benefit in participating in any of the planned consultation exercises for their own purposes and whether other partners should be invited to join in the consultation.

If you require details of our consultation strategy or about individual consultation exercises please contact the Policy Unit at County Hall. Tel: 01905 766680.