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Strategic Direction The strategic aim is:
Best Value is a key element in the Government's plans for modernising local government and are described in the White Paper Modern Local Government - In Touch With the People which sets out a vision of Local Authorities listening to the people they serve, building up their communities, working in partnership with others and delivering efficient services to a high standard. General Commentary The purpose of Best Value is to make a real and positive difference to local services. The Government wants services that are efficient, high quality and responsive to the community's needs and aspirations. It is also looking for a well planned, long term approach to development that pulls together all the local stakeholders in a co-ordinated effort towards common aims. Performance will be judged against national performance indicators which have been established for specific local authority services. The key measures in relation to health and social care are set under the National Priorities Guidance, Social Services Performance Assessment Framework and the Citizen's Charter. In addition to national standards local authorities will be expected to develop local measures of performance through consultation. Best Value is given practical expression in two ways, firstly through a Best Value Performance Plan and secondly through a programme of Best Value reviews of all council services. All local authority services must be reviewed every five years. The Best Value Performance Plan, to be published annually in March, covers the whole local authority every year and will be externally audited to show that it is reliable and accurate. It will inform all sections of the community of how well the council is performing and enable people to comment. All directorates within the local authority have assessed the current performance of their services which has provided the rationale for deciding which services should be reviewed in which order over the five year cycle. Year one and two reviews have been confirmed and will be service based. Further information can be obtained by downloading the full text version of the Health Improvement Programme for Doncaster 2000 - 2003. Any comments on this section should be submitted to the theme lead, Ms Jemima Sparks, Policy & Performance Review, Directorate of Social Services, DMBC, The Council House, College Road, Doncaster, DN1 2DA. email: jemima.sparks@doncaster.gov.uk |