It's a universal gripe among workers in the public sector: "We spend more time filling in forms than teaching, nursing or catching criminals." So they will welcome this week's report from an influential Commons committee declaring that central pressure to meet targets is threatening the quality of services. This sentiment will be shared by metropolitan councils recovering after their comprehensive performance assessments, or district ones dreading theirs.
The other side of the coin, of course, is that targets do have their place – the government cannot pour billions into the public sector without measuring performance in some way. The problem comes when the pursuit of targets comes at the expense of common sense and good judgement. The committee alighted on the tragic case of Bristol Eye Hospital, which became so intent with meeting targets for seeing new patients that it delayed follow-up appointments for others, causing 25 people to go blind or have their sight impaired.

In local government, where the consequences of target chasing are not usually so tragic, some common sense has been exercised. This week, the government confirmed that it would be cutting red tape and rewarding high-performing councils with more freedoms and inspection holidays. What's needed now is a little more logic to be applied in the CPA process for district councils, at least as far as housing provision is concerned. The programme being piloted assesses councils with housing stock to see how well they comply with the decent homes standard; those without stock are scrutinised for how they balance the housing supply with demand.

Districts without stock may have no influence over the housing market; councils that have stock may be better able to influence it by, say, using new planning powers to increase or restrict supply. Is the distinction between the two justified, or is this another case of setting targets for the sake of it?

What’s needed now is a little more logic to be applied in the CPA process for district councils

Every little helps
The riots in Bradford, Burnley and Oldham two years ago, and the Cantle report that followed, have spawned a whole industry churning out strategies, protocols and guidance documents on tackling race issues. Amid this whirlwind of paper, it's worth bearing in mind that beneath every successful policy document there are practical, and often very simple, steps that can bring people together. Last week, Trevor Phillips of the Commission for Racial Equality stressed the importance of casual contacts in supermarkets or at the school gates; this week, there's a charity in Northern Ireland that hopes to draw that fractured community together on the building site.

Source

Housing Today