IDeA Report 2000
Local Government Improvement Programme - Visit to Somerset County Council
15 – 19 May 2000
Summary
Somerset County Council (SCC) provides high quality core services to its community. It has above average, and rising, educational attainment levels at GCSE, with approximately 50 per cent of pupils achieving 5 A-C passes. Its most recent joint review concluded that Somerset social services was “overall serving people well, with good prospects of sustaining improvement”. Its 1999 social services’ Quality Protects plan was also rated by the Department of Health as one of the strongest plans in the country.
The county council also has a national profile for the work it has undertaken within the new regional structures. Its leader was the first chair of the regional chamber and its chief executive played a leading role in the setting up of the chamber and in effecting its successful merger with other bodies.
SCC has devised a vision for the community in consultation with the public. Whilst this represents an important step forward for the authority in considering its long-term aspirations for the area, the priorities which it currently comprises cover almost all of the county council’s activities. It needs to identify more clearly the key areas on which it is to concentrate, and then to ensure that these are reflected fully in its programmes, plans and budgets.
Internally SCC has been proactive in implementing new and interesting political structures. It has recently introduced executive and scrutiny functions in line with the government’s modernising agenda. It has, however, also retained its successful and popular policy commissions which formed part of its previous structure. These allowed in-depth consideration of cross-cutting issues and have now been re-titled as theme-based policy development committees. Given that this will be the third set of political arrangements which has been operated within SCC in as many years, it will be important to ensure that members are fully supported in operating them.
The county council has been successfully involved in a wide range of innovative projects which address the needs of different sectors of the community. It needs now to ensure that it spreads the learning from such initiatives across the authority, and that it evaluates the outcomes of projects more fully.
SCC has made great progress in the field of consultation and is thought of as being a “listening council”. However, its consultation needs to be better co-ordinated. SCC needs to be clear about when consultation is required, which mechanisms are the most appropriate and the impact that it will have on decision-making. There also needs to be clarity surrounding action to be taken following consultation. Much work has already been done in this area which can be built upon.
Given the above agenda, plus a challenging programme of best value reviews, and a commitment to make early progress towards e-government targets, the authority will need to ensure corporate, consistent performance and project management systems are in place to assist it in achieving all of its objectives.
There are a number of key areas in which the council could effect improvements. It needs to look at:
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Reinforcing the corporate leadership of the authority, by identifying the key priorities within the current vision for Somerset and ensuring they are embedded within the authority’s programmes, plans and budgets
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Introducing mechanisms for learning through innovation and for evaluating the outcome of projects
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The adoption of a more strategic approach to partnership working
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Ensuring that there is adequate member training and support in relation to the new political structures
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Adopting a more corporate approach to both internal and external communication in order to promote the county council and its work more fully and to celebrate its successes
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Clarifying the purpose and role of consultation in decision-making
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Ensuring that clear and consistent corporate performance management and financial management systems are in place to complement existing departmental systems
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Introducing a consistent approach to project management to ensure that changes are introduced effectively and on time, and that outcomes are set and evaluated.
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