Partnership and performance policy

Topics: partnerships, performance management, targets, PSAs, LAAs, policy

Phil Woolas gave an interesting speech about local government and partnership policy the other day. Not a departure, or even a shifting of emphasis - but it does underscore the Government's committment to partnership working and the idea of double devolution

...we put in place a pretty heavy-handed top-down performance regime. Local government responded and began to improve its performance in many ways - not least in delivering better quality services and in managing its performance.
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now we need to move on, to a new devolutionary era. In this era, the focus is on place - not on individual players and providers. It is on the positive difference you are making for your area - not on the detail of how you and your partners might be doing it.

Local government must be the place shaper and place maker. That means working across the whole landscape, not just being confined to silos of service delivery or particular spheres of influence.

He then goes on to describe some interesting practice in Local Area Agreements (LAAs) and other ways of pooling budgets and working together.

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Over at the Treasury, Ed Balls has made some pronouncements about a leaner, meaner system of targets. In its own way, it's quite an interesting speech.

In 1998 we set over 600 performance targets for departments - our first attempt systematically to articulate the Government’s goals. And, not surprisingly for a first attempt, we did not get it all right

What he says they didn't get right was not enough consultation with front line staff and too much emphasis on inputs and processes. Result: micro-management from the centre. But they've learned from all that.

We also learnt the importance of a relentless focus on delivery. Setting a target is not an end in itself.

They're also promising more emphasis on outcomes, greater attempts at joint-working and boundary crossing, a process of target setting that will involve those who actually manage and do the delivery, and a much, much greater emphasis on customer and citizen satisfaction.

But these are PSAs (public service agreements) that affect all of Whitehall - how will this trickle down to local government?

Ruth Kelly will soon publish the Local Government White Paper, which touches on many of these important issues in relation to local services. So we have been working very closely with colleagues in DCLG and across government to ensure our approach fits with and complements the proposals she will outline on local performance management.

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As I said, I don't think any of this is a big surprise. The Government has been signalling this way for a while. But I still think it will be a really big challenge (or maybe opportunity) when local government and its partners really are held jointly accountable for area outcomes - and there are no process rules to either bind or blame.

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