The IS has developed a Peer Review Framework, which is a tool to help an organisation drive forward change and focus on improvements in service delivery. A peer review is carried out by a Peer Review Team, which is independent of the team responsible for the development and delivery of the service being reviewed. This team is trained and supported in the use of the Peer Review Framework.
Using the IS Peer Review Framework, the peer review team:
- provides a ‘critical friend’ assessment of a service
- identifies areas for improvement within the service
- supports change and improvement within the service
- facilitates the exchange of ideas and good practice
The IS has facilitated successful peer reviews on Glasgow City Council’s Council Tax collection service and Renfrewshire Council’s rent collection service. We are now keen to work with non-commercial organisations to further embed the Peer Review Framework as a key continuous improvement tool in the Scottish public sector. This would involve us making the Peer Review Framework available to other non-commercial organisations to enable them to facilitate peer reviews using the IS Framework. We would also provide training to relevant officers on implementing the Framework. Once the peer reviews were completed, we would publish the summary reports on our website to facilitate knowledge sharing.
Further information is provided on the IS Peer Review Framework below.
If you are interested in finding out more about using the Framework to facilitate peer reviews, please contact Sarah Gadsden on sarah.gadsden@improvementservice.org.uk or 01506 775570.
Background information
Peer review processes have become an established part of the public sector improvement agenda in recent years. Peer reviews are undertaken in services that have identified a need for development and, more importantly, are committed to changing and improving their effectiveness.
It is important to stress that a peer review is not an inspection or audit of a service – it is a supportive review process designed to help identify areas for improvement and to aid a service’s capacity to change.
A peer review is carried out by a Peer Review Team, comprised of Peer Reviewers who are generally officers from other organisations who have relevant experience in the service under review. The value that Peer Reviewers bring is their excellent working knowledge of the legislative and policy context within which the service operates, which enables them to make realistic and achievable recommendations.
The IS Peer Review Framework assesses a service against four key areas: leadership and governance; stakeholder management, performance management and organisational development. The areas covered by the Peer Review Framework are shown in more detail in the following diagram:
The key outputs from a Peer Review are:
- key review findings from the Peer Review team
- report prepared by the Peer Review team, with recommendations for improvement
- improvement plan prepared by the service being reviewed
- presentation to organisation by Peer Review team, on key findings and recommendations
- publication of summary report on the IS website
- publication on IS website of good practice guide on the area being reviewed
- ongoing support to assist the organisation with the implementation of review recommendations
