To report progress against the action plan that was developed as the Authority’s response to the audit of its performance management arrangements in the autumn of 2006, and the associated communications action plan.

THAT:

(a)              the report be noted; and

(b)       it be agreed that the plan be updated, submitted to Cabinet in April 2008, and progress reported every six months.

In the autumn of 2006 the Audit Commission conducted a major audit of the authority’s performance management arrangements.  The audit was a response to the findings during the 2005 Corporate Assessment that scored performance management at 2 out of 4 – the weakest element of the authority’s corporate arrangements at that time.

The audit confirmed that many of the required processes were in place but found that there was still a long way to go before the authority had a performance management culture with the processes embedded within the working practices and behaviours of individuals.  The attached action plan (Appendix A) was developed in response to the audit’s 14 recommendations.  These are listed according to their strategic significance, not numerical order.  The Communications Action Plan (Appendix B) was developed in response to recommendation 2 of the audit.

Not applicable.