The Performance Plan 2006

The Audit Commission and our external auditors have carried out the following assessments.

Prioritisation and Performance Management Study.

A joint study in 2005 into our processes and systems to identify priorities and targets and into how we manage performance at all levels to deliver those targets. The study set out a number of strengths and weaknesses, which are summarised in 6.4 below.

Use of Resources Judgement.

The Council received an overall score of 2 (on a scale of 1-4), with the following individual scores: -

Judgement Element	Score
Financial Reporting	3
Financial Management	2
Financial Standing	2
Internal Control	2
Value for Money	2

Where 2 represents adequate performance and 3 represents performance consistently above the minimum requirement. More detail is given in section 6.4.

Annual Audit Letter and Inspection Letter.

The joint letter from our Audit Commission Relationship Manager and our External Auditors brought together their views on our accounts, financial standing, systems of internal control and our performance or Direction of Travel.

Overall the quality of the services provided by the Council was seen as varied, but had improved in 2004/05 with 49% of national PIs above the median of district councils.  The Council was on track to implement the outstanding actions in the CPA Improvement Plan and was placing significant reliance on the Transformation Project. A key issue for the Council was to manage the change programme effectively and ensure that it has the capacity to achieve improvement. The Council has a largely adequate internal control environment with some scope for improvements.

The letter confirmed that: -

• We had met the statutory deadline for the submission of the 2004/05 accounts.
• The 2004/05 accounts had been given an unqualified audit.
• The Performance Plan 2005 had been given an unqualified opinion, but there was scope for improving the PI data presented for audit.

The letter identified the following key actions to be addressed by the Council: -

• Identify savings to meet the requirements of Gershon and capping and revising the MTFS.
• Ensure that appropriate legal and other advice is obtained in relation to the Transformation Project.
• Maintain a focus on meeting the earlier deadlines in 2006 for submission of accounts.
• Continue to strengthen the financial and performance management framework to underpin the effective use of resources.
• Strengthen the arrangements for preparation of the Performance Plan and accuracy of PI data.
• Focus on service improvement while implementing the Council’s change programme.
• Ensure that the Council has the capacity to deliver service improvement.