Continuing professional development is widely acknowledged to be of great importance in the life of schools, contributing to professional and personal development for staff and to improvement in teaching and learning. The research showed that it was taking place in all the schools surveyed. Participant satisfaction is a key element in development, but it was only evaluated in 35% of schools. Value for money was evaluated in 51% of schools. The least frequently evaluated aspect was change in pupil attitude with only 24% of schools carrying out an evaluation. The types of evaluation employed by schools were found to be restricted by their interpretation of CPD. The narrower the interpretation, the more basic the forms of evaluation employed. CPD leaders reported feeling unprepared for the role. They also highlighted that learning from experience was better preparation for the role than formal preparation opportunities.The report is available at: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RR659.pdf

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The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has produced a series of Voluntary Toolkits for service sectors and crosscutting workstreams. They are intended to help identify areas where local authorities might be able to make efficiency gains and they describe how they could be measured. The toolkits cover the areas of: procurement, process transactions, corporate services, supporting people, social housing and productive time. Calculators are also available for low value efficiency and absence cost.The toolkits are available at: http://www.rcoe.gov.uk/rce/core/page.do?pageId=10106

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By Peter C. SmithThe collection and use of performance data in the UK health system has seen massive changes in the last 25 years. Performance measurement offers major potential benefits for clinical professionals, managers, regulators, politicians, researchers, patients and citizens. However, uncritical reliance on performance data can lead to a number of unintended and adverse consequences. This article summarizes the history of performance measurement in the NHS, assesses its effectiveness to date, discusses the major challenges in deploying performance measures, and highlights priorities for policy-makers.

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This report on Local Strategic Partnerships was commissioned by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. The evaluation shows that LSPs are making good progress in developing organisational structures and processes, but as yet there is little evidence to show that they are making a discernable difference. Some LSPs are starting to produce outcomes in terms of improvements in strategic capacity and community legitimacy.The report highlights the shortage of resources compared to the policy agenda with which they are faced. There is a warning that partnerships could fail if they are overloaded with responsibilities. LSPs are playing a significant role in the development of community leadership and the attitude of local authorities is vital in carrying this forward.

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By Rodney Mcadam and Timothy WalkerThis paper examines the use of Balanced Scorecards as an approach to implementing Best Value in UK local government. It critically evaluates approaches to implementing Best Value so that local government can determine how to achieve the service performance levels laid down in the framework. The paper describes an exploratory multiple case research study followed by participant-observer research on Balanced Scorecard development in a Best Value context. The findings show that the Balanced Scorecard can play a key role in Best Value implementation. Moreover it is also useful in linking other improvement initiatives. The audit functions of the Business Excellence Model go some way to providing the necessary organizational and environmental information.

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This paper from the National e-procurement Project sets out the findings by Deloitte’s who were commissioned to analyze the use of e-purchasing, procurement cards, e-tendering and e-auctions in twelve pilot authorities. The document provides practical support and guidance to help authorities plan the stages of an e-procurement implementation and it also describes the key stumbling blocks on the route to an implementation.Projected benefits for e-procurement are estimated at 1.1 billion pound reduction in the costs of goods and services across local government. E-tendering efficiencies in processing are estimated at 725 staff with a further reduction of 8 million pounds savings in e-tendering overheads, such as accreditation of suppliers. e-Purchasing and the use of procurement cards are predicted to deliver a reduction of 2,560 staff.

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This programme is now available to view on egovtv.tv, the online television

channel for public service modernisation. It reviews the key areas where a
closer working relationship and integration of operations can deliver
improvements. It also looks at the organisational and technical challenges
of integrating business processes, information and systems.

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People are living longer but are less likely to have the support of an extended family. Over the next fifty years the number of people over 65 will rise from 9.3 million to 16.8 million. Telecare offers the promise of enabling thousands of older people to live independently, in control and with dignity for longer. This document from the Department for Health provides local authorities and their partners with guidance in developing telecare services for their communities. It sets out the purpose of the Preventative Technologies Grant and the expectations for the use of the grant.It also outlines two separate models developed to support social service departments in the development of strategy and business cases for local telecare projects. This is to support councils in making decisions about how to spend the Preventative Technology Grant. Supplementing these models is a detailed guidance document on how to use the models. The models are provided are only an aid, which councils are free to use if they so wish. The Department does not intend to provide training nor ongoing support in their use.

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This report from the Institute for Public Policy Research warns that transforming society through technology is in danger of happening too quickly and leaving the public behind. It claims that the government has prepared the UK well for the 21st century but remains seduced by vague notions of a “knowledge economy” and is too often driven by innovation for its own sake.The report argues for directing technological advance to meet social and economic benefits and ensuring that legal and constitutional priorities – including privacy and democratic participation – are not undermined.

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This survey from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development reveals that sickness continues to hit public sector employers harder than the private services sector. The gap between the number of sick days taken in the two sectors has widened by more than half a day since last year’s survey. Average absence levels in the public sector stand at 10.3 days per employee per year compared to 6.8 days in private services sector. The cost of absence in the public sector is 645 pounds per employee each year, rising to 1060 pounds within the health sector.Stress is one of the leading and growing causes of absence in the public sector with around a half of organisations citing stress as a leading cause of long-term absence for non-manual workers. Meanwhile, more than four in ten public sector organisations say that their stress levels have increased during the past year. Absence levels are highest in local government and the health sector. There are a high proportion of particularly challenging public facing roles in the public sector such as police, healthcare, teaching, and social services which contribute to higher than average levels of absence.

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