All effective organisations measure their performance in order to know how well they are performing and to identify opportunities for improvement. In 2000 the Audit Commission published the papers Aiming to Improve and On Target, which described the basic principles of measuring performance and devising performance indicators. In 2001 the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) published a briefing on effective performance management All in a Day's Work and it has recently published a guide for local authorities titled Making Performance Management Work. This paper, which has been jointly researched and written by the Audit Commission and the IDeA, builds on these papers and looks at the practical experience of local authorities of using performance indicators to improve services. It addresses the difficulties that have been encountered, and describes the solutions that authorities have developed.
This paper is aimed at authorities that would like to improve their use of performance information and to start 'acting on facts'. While the paper focuses on developments in English local government, its messages are relevant to people who are responsible for developing and using performance indicators in the health service and in central government. In Wales, the Commission is working closely with the Local Government Data Unit and the Welsh Local Government Association in order to prepare a portfolio of support material around the performance management aspects of the Wales Programme for Improvement.
Included in this report:
- the importance of performance measurement: the national context
- how are authorities using performance information?
- gaining understanding and acceptance - creating a performance culture
- linking corporate objectives to service plans and personal goals
- devising a balanced set of indicators and improving quality
- setting ambitious but achievable targets
- monitoring and acting on performance information