Peer collaborative improvement (PCI) represents a maturing in local government’s approach to sector led improvement, and a significant shift towards self-improving councils.
The approach provides an opportunity for local government to build on existing sector-led approaches to improvement and accountability, including the LGBF and self-evaluation. There has never been a greater requirement for working with and learning from each other, and the LGBF provides the essential platform to support councils in this. This approach is fully supported by the wider local government sector, with endorsement from Solace and COSLA Leaders.
This important new approach demonstrates clear links with the Local Government Transformation Programme to realise the full benefits of Crerar for local government. Peer collaborative improvement is also a vital element of the Scottish Local Government Assurance and Improvement Framework.
Peer collaborative improvement (PCI) supports local authorities to improve a specific area of focus with guidance and collaboration from peer local authorities. Peer collaborative improvement is carried out by a team comprised of the host local authority, the Improvement Service and peer reviewers. The peer collaborative improvement will be led by the host local authority, coordinated, managed and facilitated by the Improvement Service, and peer reviewers will be from other local authorities or partner organisations, who have the necessary subject expertise to understand and drive improvement. The PCI approach has been informed by the well-established approach to collaborative improvement developed by ADES and Education Scotland. It also reflects learning from previous work the IS undertook on peer review.
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 roll-out of a wider process in due course. A pilot of PCI has been run successfully on the Scottish Welfare Fund. A second pilot is currently taking place on housing voids.
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.