Peer collaborative improvement (PCI) represents a maturing in local government’s approach to sector led improvement, and a significant shift towards self-improving councils.
Peer collaborative improvement (PCI) supports local authorities to improve a specific area of focus with guidance and collaboration from peer local authorities. It is carried out by a team comprised of the host authority who lead the process, peer review councils with the necessary subject expertise, and the Improvement Service who coordinate and facilitate the process. The approach builds on established methods from ADES and Education Scotland, as well as previous Improvement Service work. It strengthens existing approaches like the LGBF and self-evaluation, and responds to the need for greater shared learning across local government. PCI is supported by the wider sector, including SOLACE and COSLA Leaders. It also links to the Local Government Transformation Programme and plays a key role in the Scottish Local Government Assurance and Improvement Framework.
Benefits of peer collaborative improvement
The benefits of peer collaborative improvement for local government are as follows:
- Peer collaborative improvement is managed and delivered by the sector for the sector, and our ambition is for all 32 local authorities to adopt the approach as a key part of their improvement architecture. It supports local government to deliver sector-led improvement in a range of service/policy areas.
- It encourages a sense of collective responsibility for the performance of the sector as a whole, with local authorities actively supporting each other to improve by sharing learning and practice.
- It helps build a national overview of common themes facing key service areas, which can feed into future policy-making and decision-making, including identifying opportunities for service transformation at a national, regional and local level.
This approach is currently being piloted to inform the roll-out of a wider process in due course. Two pilots of PCI have been run successfully on the Scottish Welfare Fund and housing voids. We are in discussions with a small number of councils about the next two pilots and will be sharing more details in due course.
We had already thought of and discussed with the team some of the suggestions made already - however a lot of these changes were not acted on (change can be painful and the status quo is often reverted back to). The fact that other authorities showed how these can work and aid staff greatly in their task and role was fantastic.
The willingness from all involved to develop and provide the best service for its users. The host authority firstly with the 'buy in' from all levels from frontline staff to management and the willingness to improve. This also was apparent from the review team authorities, in that although they were selected due to their high performance, it was clear that all involved were happy and willing to review their own provision, what works and how, what could be done better and taking note of other points that could still provide benefits to their own service. The willingness from all to improve what they do.
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Local Government Benchmarking Framework
The LGBF brings together a wide range of information about how all Scottish councils perform in delivering services to local communities.
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Public Service Improvement Framework
The Public Service Improvement Framework (PSIF) is a self-assessment approach to support improvement in organisations.
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The Crerar Review
Report of the independent review of regulation, audit, inspection and complaints handling of public services in Scotland.
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Case Study: Peer Collaborative Improvement at Falkirk Council
When a review of the LGBF data showed Falkirk Council’s Scottish Welfare Fund (SWF) was underperforming in key areas, the council took part in a peer collaborative review with the IS, COSLA and high-performing councils to identify and implement improvements.