Performance and Improvement

How we measure our performance to keep improving our services.

**Please Note - A project to review our Performance and Improvement Framework and Tools is currently underway. Elements of our guidance, strategies, plans and reports will be updated and replaced once they have been approved. As a result there may be documents within the Performance and Improvement pages that require updating and may not provide the information you require. If this should occur please email performance@argyll-bute.gov.uk where someone will be able to assist you. Thank you.**  

Argyll and Bute Council works every day to deliver services that touch on all aspects of life in Argyll and Bute, and by working with partners helps to build a prosperous future for Argyll and Bute. Here you can find information on how your council is benefitting the lives of people who live, work and visit the area.

As of 1 April 2016 The Argyll and Bute Health and Social Care Partnership is the body that oversees the delivery of Adult Care and Children and Families services. Performance will be reported through the Partnership. You can find information on the Health and Social Care Partnership here. Read performance information prior to 1 April 2016

From 1 October 2017 Community and Culture services are delivered by LiveArgyll. You can find current performance information on the LiveArgyll Website.

Argyll and Bute Council isn't a social housing provider. Social housing and other housing options within the area are managed by several social housing providers. You can access information on the providers and the services they provide along with advice on the HOME Argyll website.

If you have any questions or queries regarding the Performance and Improvement information contained within the following pages please email performance@argyll-bute.gov.uk with your enquiry. If you require accessibility with these performance pages please click on this link for additional information. Thank you.


 Performance Reporting and Scrutiny

We share an joint over-arching vision with our Community Planning Partners - Argyll and Bute's economic success is built on a growing population. We are all committed to delivering our Vision.

Our Corporate Plan sets out our mission to deliver on the shared vision - Making Argyll and Bute a place people choose to Live, Learn, Work and do Business. For the Council this is delivered through the 6 Outcomes in the Corporate Plan.

These Outcomes in turn contribute to the delivery of the Argyll and Bute Outcome Improvement Plan (ABOIP) - previously the Single Outcome Agreement 2013-23.

The ABOIP sets out the 6 local outcomes that the Council working with our Community Planning Partnership are all committed to achieving. 

We have a dedicated section of the website where you can view information on our Community Planning Partnership and the ABOIP. In this section you will find details of the ABOIP, annual reports, detailed delivery plans and performance reports.

Argyll and Bute Council's Performance and Improvement Framework (PIF) is fundamental to our approach for continuous improvement and service delivery. This Framework along with our performance management system and information makes it easier to understand how those outcomes are being delivered. Working within the Performance and Improvement Framework ensures that services are focused on continuous improvement and best value.

Read our latest Best Value report from Audit Scotland.

All elected members and council employees have access to our live performance management system. The system contains financial, risk, improvement and high level action plans. It also contains all of our service delivery plans (Service Plans) including the target, timeline and benchmark detail. These are displayed as Scorecards and are used to monitor and scrutinise performance. As the system is live it encourages and enables scrutiny from elected members or council employees as and when required. It also ensures our performance is transparent.

Our performance framework ensures that our elected members and senior management have the information that allows them to effectively scrutinise the Council’s performance against the key priorities and objectives. Scrutiny occurs on a regular basis, from 6-weekly by Managers, quarterly by Senior Managers and Strategic Committees and 6-monthly at the Audit and Scrutiny Committee.

All Strategic Committees are responsible for making decisions about the work of the Council, reviewing performance against agreed objectives and monitoring improvement programmes. The Audit and Scrutiny Committee has a non-political approach for carrying out its scrutiny activities in order to promote good, internal control, financial and risk management, governance and performance management.

We also have a number of Strategic Boards. Our Strategic Boards focus on specific sections of the council or the councils work and can include either policy or operational matters.

You can view papers and minutes of all the Strategic Committees and Boards from here.

Where ever possible we use plain English however, to help explain some of our achievements we have put together a glossary of the most commonly used terms. Some of the terms within the document are links that will take you to further information that may be useful..

Just as our performance is effectively scrutinised at Council committees we want to ensure that everyone can assess our performance against the Council's plans, understand the actions the Council takes to address any areas of concern and compare our performance with other Scottish Local Authorities in a relevant and timely manner. Below you can view our Plans and Reports, read information about our Improvements and Transformation projects, and how we use Benchmarking to continually improve our performance.  


Plans and Strategies

The Council has various plans that support decision making and service delivery. In the following section you can access the high level strategic documents.
Plans and Strategies >

Reports

Throughout the year we regularly report on how each Service is performing, as well as overall Council performance. Our external auditors also report on how we are performing. 
Reports >

How we compare and improve

We view benchmarking as a crucial tool to help us improve as well as a variety of improvement tools. We attend and contribute to all the national groups and networks as well as the Local Government Benchmarking Framework (LGBF) which all local authorities participate in.  Benchmarking >

Improvements and Transformation

Here you will find information about some of our improvements and transformation projects, along with examples of good practice and how we use our consultations to help us form the improvements.
Improvements and Transformation >

Sustainable development and climate change

We are committed to taking a sustainable approach to delivering our vision and key objectives whilst reducing our carbon footprint. Sustainable development >

Equality and fairness

As a council we believe in the principle of equality and opportunity: everyone should have the chance to succeed. 
Equality and Fairness >

Did you know:-

  • Argyll and Bute is the second largest local authority area in Scotland (690,899 hectares), and covers almost 9% of the total Scottish land area
  • We have a population of 86,260 (National Records of Scotland Mid Year Estimate MYE 2018)
  • We have more inhabited islands than any other council in Scotland (23 inhabited islands).

Here you will find more facts and figures and maps of Argyll and Bute.       

You can find all the latest council news along with an extensive archive in our news section.

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