PAPER B
REASON FOR SELECT COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION
To ensure Members are informed on
the current situation within Emergency Planning concerning the production,
monitoring and maintenance of Performance Measures.
BACKGROUND
For many years Emergency Planning
has been carrying out its various duties and functions under Central Government
guidelines. As part of the Modernising Agenda the Government encouraged the
setting and reporting of robust, meaningful targets and monitoring mechanisms.
Under the Home Office, Emergency
Planning nationally was set a number of standards that it was expected to
achieve. An attempt was also made to set a series of targets against the
standards, but agreement was never reached on whether they could be made to
work across all Local Authorities and so the idea was shelved.
The Emergency Planning department
compiled a series of outcome based, work related targets and these are
incorporated in the Service Plan 2004/5.
Under the Draft Civil
Contingencies Bill, which aims to modernise Emergency Management across all
levels of Government and responding organisations, the Government states that
the new legislation will bring performance management of civil protection
activity within mainstream audit processes.
It is proposed therefore, that
Members await new guidance that should be issued as a result of the publication
of the Civil Contingencies Bill. At
that point it is anticipated that meaningful, challenging targets will be
produced that would assist in the setting of objectives and also enable the
Isle of Wight to carry out benchmarking initiatives with other authorities.
RELEVANT PLANS, POLICIES, STRATEGIES AND PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
An undertaking was given in Emergency Planning’s Best Value Report that a set of achievable targets would be developed by 2004. It is anticipated that guidance issuing from the Civil Contingencies Bill will support the achievement of this undertaking.