Safer Communities in Scotland

5. Programme management: developing the strategy

Developing the programme

5.1 Chapter 4 discussed how the partnership would develop a strategy for achieving its objectives. To deliver this, it is necessary to develop and carry out a focussed programme of work consisting of a range of measures to deliver the primary objectives.

5.2 Good programme management practice is the key to successful implementation. It is essential that the programme of work is tightly managed and regular management information is available to allow the corporate partnership group to monitor progress.

5.3 An action plan will be needed to set out the interventions necessary to meet each objective, required inputs, and target outputs and outcomes, with performance indicators.

5.4 An action plan should be drawn up annually with regular progress checks. An annual report should be produced which sets out achievements against targets. The Scottish Executive Crime Prevention Unit will be pleased to receive copies of the three year strategy and annual reports.

The action planning process

5.5 The corporate partnership group will have to set a time scale for the action planning process, allowing for community participation and to consider resource allocation for initiatives.

5.6 Some partnerships may adopt a task group approach to preparing the action plan. If the proposed objectives have prioritised particular communities they should be involved in the action planning process.

5.7 The action plan will specify the delivery of each objective and include:

• information on the problem to be addressed, the baseline position
• interventions or actions that will make up each intervention package
• required inputs (resources) for each intervention
• output and outcome targets, with suitable performance indicators
• clear reporting procedures

5.8 Once the elements of the action plan have been developed (steps 5 to 6) the plan should be reviewed to make sure that:

• programme of work will achieve the objectives
• output and outcome targets are realistic, achievable, affordable
• interventions that could add to the impact of the plan have not been omitted

5.9 In summary, the action plan will specify: what is being done, who is doing it, when, and with what resources, to meet the targets set by the partnership.

Setting targets

5.10 Setting targets helps to make sure that action plans turn into reality, gives a clear understanding of what is needed, and allows accountability in a transparent and objective way. Effective target setting can:

• give direction and focus to the strategy
• elicit agencies' ownership of the strategy
• allow for assessing achievement and exercising accountability

5.11 Setting targets is not an exact science. The partnership should set challenging targets after considering a number of factors, including:

• the level of the problem and trends over recent years
• what the partnership would like to see as a result of its actions
• what is possible with the given resources, time, etc available

5.12 All outcome and output targets should meet the SMART criteria [see Box 5.3]. Outcome targets should initially be set during the preparation of the strategy. It will not generally be possible to set output targets until the action planning phase. The corporate partnership group should identify in the action plan the outputs that must be achieved to meet the objective and set output targets accordingly.

5.13 Following preparation of the action plan, it may be decided that the preliminary outcome targets were unrealistic, neither achievable nor challenging enough, and they may be modified at this stage.

5.14 Members of the partnership with responsibility for implementing the strategy need to be consulted about targets, and need to commit themselves to achieving them.

5.15 Outcome targets can be framed in varying ways according to the scale and nature of the problem, including:

• absolute falls in recorded incidents: eg reduce the number of neighbour nuisance complaints on the Tighmore estate recorded by the Housing Department by 10% over the next year
• fall relative to comparison rates: eg reduce the number of household fires on the Tighmore estate from three times to less than twice the district average over the next three years
• savings related to costs: eg reduce the cost of vandalism to schools in the district by spending £20,000 on introducing risk management and security procedures to produce an anticipated saving of between £100,000 and £150,000 per year

5.16 If precise outcomes cannot be specified, a range would be acceptable as an initial target, eg reduce serious road accidents as recorded by the police on the M80 by 10-15% over the next three years. This could then be fine-tuned from the experience gained from implementation and particularly from the feedback provided through the performance indicators.

5.17 Some objectives may lead to increases in the recording of incidents, eg initial domestic violence and racial harassment interventions are likely to encourage increased reporting and improve information about, and access to, support services for victims. This is likely to increase reporting in the short to medium term and initial targets must take account of this 'positive' increase.

5.18 If targets are expressed in terms of recorded crime, the difference between recorded and actual crime should be taken into account. Falls in recorded crime can reflect changes in reporting to the police and changes in recording practices as well as real reductions. The proportion of incidents recorded varies for different categories of crime. The same caveat can apply to incidents reported to other agencies, such as housing nuisance complaints, noise complaints to environmental health, etc.

5.19 Setting deadlines is another important element of target setting. Interventions must be implemented on time if the partnership is to meet the objectives in its three year strategy and deliver the annual action plan. It can also be useful, particularly for new initiatives, to set milestones for reaching key stages. Progress in the development stages can be monitored and the partnership will be able to judge whether the initiative is on course.

Performance indicators

5.20 Performance indicators are used to measure outputs and outcomes and must be in place to allow targets to be set.

5.21 The limitations of performance indicators mean that it is important not to rely on single measures but rather to develop 'baskets of indicators' for output and outcome targets [see Box 5.5].

5.22 There are benefits in establishing sets of performance indicators that relate to a range of agencies ('cross-cutting' performance indicators). This will make sure that partnership work is measured and help agencies to 'own' the strategic objectives.