Best Value

Best Value is a key element of the Government's programme to modernise local government and places best value authorities under a duty to seek continuous improvement in the way in which they exercise their functions. The Local Government Act 1999 sets out the legislative framework and the Government supplements this with annual revisions to guidance on performance planning and reviews.

At the heart of best value is a statutory performance management framework, which provides for annual reporting of a set of national performance indicators. Best value utilizes two types of performance indicators: corporate health indicators, which give a snapshot of the authority's overall performance, and service delivery indicators, which reflect the national interest in the delivery of local services.

The indicators are meant to enable authorities to compare their own performance over time and against that of similar service providers. For some indicators, targets are set centrally by Government, for others the authority is left to decide for itself. To aid comparison and target setting, fire brigades are allocated one of 5 family groups: West Sussex Fire & Rescue is in group 2 and makes extensive use of group 2 data when setting targets.

The Service produces an annual performance plan, incorporating targets for the year ahead and a report on performance to date, which is then published as part of the West Sussex County Council annual performance plan.