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Status of the Guidance and audit requirements
1. This document is the revised Guidance issued by Scottish Ministers on the duty of Best Value, placed on Accountable Officers of the Scottish Administration and Accountable Officers of other public bodies. It summarises the duty of Best Value and the 9 key characteristics of a Best Value organisation.
2. The Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act (2000) sets out the rules for spending money, accounting requirements, accountability of officials and auditing arrangements. The main responsibility for ensuring adequate control is given to Accountable Officers, via the Memorandum to Accountable Officers from the Principal Accountable Officer and the Memorandum to Accountable Officers of Other Public Bodies. Accountable officers are personally answerable to the Scottish Parliament and the duty of Best Value is listed as a specific duty in both Memoranda, which are published in the Accountability section of the Scottish Public Finance Manual. Since April 2002, there has been a duty on Accountable Officers, "to ensure arrangements are in place to secure Best Value".
3. Scottish Ministers expect all Accountable Officers of the Scottish Administration and Accountable Officers of other public bodies to comply with the duty of Best Value placed upon them. Compliance with the duty of Best Value is an auditable requirement under the terms of the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000.
Other guidance and advice materials
4. This Guidance to Accountable Officers is part of a suite of Best Value guidance and advice materials issued by Scottish Ministers. The related Secondary Guidance gives greater detail on each of the nine Best Value characteristics, and articulates how each of these individual characteristics work together to support one another. Best Value Toolkits on particular characteristics will offer further suggestions on potential ways that organisations can secure Best Value, whilst a Self Assessment Questionnaire will assist organisations in improving their performance.
Public services and continuous improvement
5. The Scottish Executive's ambition is for world class public services, designed to make sure the interests of those who use them come first. In the context of rising demands for higher quality public services and long term demographic pressures, the public sector must continue to pursue continuous improvement and lead the way in efficiency and innovation, to deliver highly effective services where and when they are needed.
6. Effective public service delivery means having a clear sense of priorities and effective delivery mechanisms to achieve them. Public services must promote social justice and equality; and must build for the future, by fostering sustainable change, which supports a growing economy, a better environment and strong communities. This is achieved by:
- User focus - putting the customer first, giving service users and communities a stronger voice and greater control over resources;
- Joining Up - responding to customers' needs to provide modern, personalised, joined-up services;
- Efficiency - rigorously considering opportunities to improve efficiency (including resource efficiency) and productivity;
- Quality & Innovation - securing an appropriate balance between the quality, cost and sustainability of services;
- Accountability - balancing trust, accountability and risk.
7. In short, Best Value provides a common framework for continuous improvement in public services in Scotland and is complemented by other aspects of Public Service Reform activity, such as Efficient Government and Community Planning.
The duty of Best Value
8. The duty of Best Value is as follows:
- To make arrangements to secure continuous improvement in performance whilst maintaining an appropriate balance between quality and cost; and in making those arrangements and securing that balance,
- To have regard to economy, efficiency, effectiveness, the equal opportunities requirements, and to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development.
The characteristics of a Best Value organisation
9. There are nine characteristics of Best Value that public service organisations are expected to demonstrate, as summarised in the diagram overleaf. These characteristics are described in full detail in the Secondary Guidance, which should be read in conjunction with this document.
10. Any organisation which has a duty of Best Value must be able to demonstrate how it achieves each of these characteristics. It must also strive for continuous improvement around each characteristic, prioritising where change is necessary.
11. There are three cross-cutting themes to the Guidance. These are joint working, equal opportunities and sustainable development. They should inform and influence every aspect of Best Value work - from planning to delivery and review. An organisation which fully embraces these concepts will manifest them in its management structure, its corporate planning and derived plans, its consultation with stakeholders, its communications with staff and others, its codes of governance, its allocation of resources, and its review practices.
The nine characteristics of Best Value
Implementing the Duty
12. This guidance identifies the characteristics of an organisation that wants to secure Best Value. It does not specify process. It is drawn from a philosophy of creating a Best Value regime which is descriptive rather than prescriptive. Each organisation is free to determine the route by which it intends to achieve Best Value and arrive at the identified goals. It is the outcome of these efforts that matters, and not the detail of the processes.
13. Best Value should be appropriate to, and proportionate to, an organisation's:
- priorities
- operating environments
- scale of business
- nature of business
and should be implemented accordingly.
Further advice
14. Further practical suggestions and case studies on implementing the Best Value duty are contained within the Secondary Guidance and Toolkits that accompany this Guidance to Accountable Officers (a glossary of terms referred to in this guidance is given at Annex A and links to useful sources of information are given in Annex B). The Guidance and Toolkits do not replace existing business management, improvement or change frameworks - e.g. European Foundation for Quality Management ( EFQM), International Organisation for Standardisation ( ISO), Investors in People ( IIP), and Chartermark. It is likely that organisations which systematically employ such frameworks across their full range of activities will be well aware of improvement opportunities. Applying that knowledge is an essential part of achieving Best Value.
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