How well is the council doing?
Service Improvement
Best Value
Best Value is a statutory requirement on local authorities to ‘deliver the quality of service that local people expect at a price they are willing to pay’.
In practice it is the search for continuous improvement in the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of all of the Councils Services to the public.
In East Hampshire our reviews are known as 'Continuous Service Improvement Reviews', because we are constantly looking for ways to improve, not just when we are being reviewed.
Each review must address a specific set of elements, known as the 4c’s:
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We must challenge the service – why and then how should the service be provided and by whom? Members, staff, partners, service users and non-users and other stakeholders must be involved in this element.
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We have to compare ourselves with other providers in the public, private and voluntary sectors. Benchmarking identifies the best and is then used to find out why they are the best and how they do it
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We have to consult to find out what service users, local residents, partners, businesses, stakeholders etc really want and need from the service. We ask them to challenge the service in terms of its quality, efficiency, effectiveness and cost.
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We must ensure services are competitive. This part of the review asks the questions 'Should open competition be used to identify the ‘best value’ service? Could the service be provided by others, solely, jointly or in partnership?'
Find out the results of the reviews since 2000/2001.