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chapter seven: Fundamentals of reform - strengthening accountability
70. The process of devolution has been a huge advance in accountability. We now wish to consider how to further strengthen accountability for Scottish public services delivered locally.
71. In a formal sense, almost all devolved public services (apart from those exercising judicial functions) are democratically accountable - directly to the Scottish Parliament, through Scottish Ministers to the Parliament, or through elected local councils. But we believe more needs to be done if the general public are to feel that services are demonstrably accountable - local people and communities need to know that they can have access to decision makers, participate in democratic involvement in major decisions affecting them, and obtain proper recourse where dissatisfied with service provision.
Strengthening democratic accountability
72. Our aim is to empower existing democratic representatives, to avoid the addition of unnecessary elected tiers, and to create the conditions for local flexibility and local initiative.
73. Clearly there must be a balance struck between national and local accountability. Some strategic decisions - for instance where a national or regional overview is required; the provision of specialist services; or the allocation of resources - should remain with Ministers and the Scottish Parliament.
74. However, at a local level we believe there is further potential for local authorities and local councillors to act as advocates and guardians for their community, in a world where services are not delivered by a single agency but by a range of providers, in partnership, through networks and through contractual arrangements.
75. We are also interested in views on whether there might be new and better mechanisms for accountability of arms length public bodies ( NDPBs) to Ministers and the public, and on the role of the Scottish Parliament in holding services to account.
Accountability for performance
76. We need to examine carefully what decisions require to be democratically accountable, and in what way. Flexible, efficient and modern services cannot be delivered through a model which depends on referring all decision-making to the top. Expertise about delivery generally lies at the point of delivery - whether with professionals like doctors and teachers, or local management.
77. So we need to ensure that, in addition to democratic oversight, there is proper and fair accountability for management decisions, and effective accountability for organisational performance. This means strengthening the systems which measure performance - both on costs and quality, while reducing the burden of collecting unnecessary data. In particular, we wish to examine the potential for clearer and more transparent benchmarking against alternative providers or comparable organisations of cost and quality of service.
Accountability for performance - Citistat
The Scottish Executive is currently supporting the piloting of the Citistat model of performance management within two local authorities (Aberdeen City and City of Edinburgh) and two Health Boards (Ayrshire & Arran and Tayside). The model, originally pioneered in Baltimore USA, is being adapted to test its applicability to the Scottish political and social context. It is based on four key principles:
i. Having the right data for managing performance and identifying improvement;
ii. Undertaking thorough analysis of the data in the context of strategic objectives;
iii. Regular sessions, led from the top, to rigorously review the data and associated performance;
iv. Immediate follow up of forward actions.
The pilots are being evaluated. Preliminary evidence suggests that organisations are seeing the benefits of the model. Senior management is able to use better quality performance data to support their strategic management role and direct actions on the basis of a greater knowledge of their organisations' operations. In turn, staff and managers tell us they have a greater understanding of leadership priorities and are themselves using CitiStat information to solve problems and make service improvements.
Accountability of senior managers
78. Senior managers in the public service hold responsible and relatively well remunerated roles. Their influence on the performance of their organisations is enormous. They have a duty to give professional advice to politicians, take responsibility for the staff their organisations employ, and ensure the organisations deliver the priorities set for them. We want to consider options for strengthening their accountability for those responsibilities and ensuring there are proper sanctions when managerial authority is not exercised.
Accountability to service users
79. The Scottish Consumer Council recently commented that, compared with other forms of accountability (democratic accountability to voters, managerial accountability through audit, and financial accountability);
'direct accountability to service users was the weakest in terms of how mechanisms to maintain and enhance such accountability have been developed, funded and supported.' 8
80. Although this comment referred specifically to local authorities, the issue is relevant across the public sector.
81. We wish to explore a range of ways in which we can ensure that the views of those who use services really count. Many local authorities and NHS and other public bodies have pioneered ways of measuring customer satisfaction, for instance, NHS Boards are already holding their annual reviews in public. But there is more we can do to ensure that customer satisfaction is a key component of how we measure high performance consistently across public services; alongside transparent and consistent standards for efficiency and quality.
Discussion points:
- What role should elected councillors have in relation to public services - whether or not delivered by the local authority?
- What should be the relationship between local authorities and other agencies delivering public services in their area?
- How can we strengthen the accountability of Chief Executives and senior managers of public bodies for high performance and for achieving agreed outcomes?
- How can we develop strong, consistent and non-bureaucratic systems which will:
1 Improve the reporting to the public of the performance of public bodies?
2 Ensure that customer satisfaction and user experience are measured and used to drive performance improvement?
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