Highland Council first adopted PSIF in 2010 and quickly had 24 EFQM qualified staff to support PSIF implementation in council services. The challenge implementing the model was the time commitment and duplication of questions which resulted in a reluctance to use PSIF. The council moved in 2015 to using an in-house model of options appraisal and peer review for council resign and Lean methodology.
Highland continued to keep up to date with the Improvement Service’s development of PSIF. The council’s internal assessment in preparation for its Best Value Assurance Report (BVAR) identified self-assessment as a weakness in terms of having a comprehensive overall model applied across the council. The council attended a PSIF development meeting in Glasgow in January 2020 where the checklist approach impressed including a new version for front line staff.
Further research was carried out into the options available and a recommendation was made to adopt the new and more streamlined PSIF checklist approach. This provided the necessary response to the expected area for improvement in the council’s BVAR and then into the council’s BVAR Improvement Plan.
During March 2022, the Improvement Service supported a pilot PSIF of the council’s new Customer Resolution and Improvement Team (CRIT). The aim was to test the use of the PSIF checklist approach and to provide induction for the council’s Corporate Performance Team. This would enable the council to develop and deliver in-house a programme of self-assessment across council services as part of a new approach to corporate performance management using an also new Corporate Performance Business Partner model.
The pilot has successfully concluded with positive feedback from the staff involved. The process provided a structure to discussion the checklist survey findings. Consensus on improvement actions was reached and these will support CRIT continue to develop their new role in the organisation.
Next steps will be work with service senior management teams to agree a three-year programme of assessments for the council using PSIF to ensure that all key functions and teams have the opportunity to focus time on continuous improvement.
Contact: Evelyn Johnston, Corporate Audit & Performance Manager