The SOLACE-led ‘Improving Local Outcome Indicators project is now well on course and it is anticipated that the updated ‘Menu of Local Outcome Indicators' will be published, as planned, at the end of October.
The updated publication will represent a substantive improvement on the existing Menu. Key areas of improvement will include:
- a significantly revised list of outcome indicators
- detailed metadata for each indicator
- improved presentation
- accompanying guidance
The intention is that all of the updated outcome indicators will be accessed via the new Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics local outcome indicators downloading tool. This will help to ensure consistency and that the most up-to-date data is always used.
The project grew out of a discussion between the Improvement Service and SOLACE, who were keen to rationalise the large number of indicators used in SOAs, by focusing on those indicators that were most robust and relevant to local outcomes.
David Hume, Chief Executive of Scottish Borders Council and Chair of the Project Board for the ‘Improving Local Outcome Indicators' project said "In an era of reducing administrative and reporting burdens, there was a worry that the SOAs were in danger of creating a whole new bureaucracy. It is absolutely right that the delivery of SOAs should be well managed and reported on in a transparent manner. The aim, however, is to get the balance right, ensuring a proportionate approach. The project assists this by identifying the core outcome indicators that meet key criteria of relevance to outcomes and statistical robustness."
The Local Outcome Indicators Project Board includes senior representation from all statutory Community Planning partners (Councils, NHS, Police, Fire, Regional Transport Partnerships and Enterprise Agencies). In addition, it also includes the Scottish Government, Audit Scotland, COSLA and the Improvement Service.
David Hume said: "By working together across all the key sectors, we are building consensus on what are the most robust and meaningful outcome indicators that will be of genuine use in assessing progress made in the delivery of local outcomes. By approaching this as a joint national project, which engages all of the main sectors, it avoids ‘re-inventing the wheel' several times over. It will be a more effective use of public sector resources and will deliver a useful end product that will help improve the robustness and consistency of SOA reporting."
To date, the project has directly engaged with approximately 400 individuals. This has been achieved through three major workshops, followed by a series of one-to-one meetings with particular stakeholders on a range of policy outcome areas.
The project is also assessing the usefulness of more subjective indicators in SOAs to complement objective data. This is regarded as a useful additional dimension as considerations of quality of life, wellbeing, and ‘happiness' are at the heart of many local outcomes.
The project is also assessing the usefulness of more subjective indicators in SOAs to complement objective data. This is regarded as a useful additional dimension as considerations of quality of life, well being and 'happiness' are at the heart of many local outcomes.
The project is also assessing shortcomings and gaps in existing data. Consideration of how such data gaps might be addressed will take place beyond October.
In terms of how the updated Menu will be used, Colin Mair, Chief Executive of the Improvement Service said: "One of the key messages in the SOA Guidance was that SOAs should not be static documents but, rather, they should be subject to continuous improvement. Part of this is ensuring that CPPs have a relatively small number of key outcome indicators that are capable of focusing the partnership effort and tracking the progress made in the achievement of the agreed outcomes. If we can identify better, more robust and more relevant outcome indicators that help with this, it will be important that CPPs actually adopt those that are directly relevant to their outcomes."
For further information on the ‘Improving Local Outcome Indicators' project contact Andrew McGuire at the Improvement Service.
