First agreement on what 'excellence' looks like for regulators

11 February 2010

A new, standard framework designed to clarify and simplify the system within which local authority regulatory services operate has been launched today.

The Excellence Framework is set to be launched by Kevin Brennan, the minister for Further Education, Skills, Apprenticeships and Consumer Affairs, at the Year Ahead for Regulatory Services conference. The event is organised by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH), LBRO, LACoRS and the Trading Standards Institute (at the Barcelo-Hinckley Island Hotel, Hinckley, today Thursday 11 February.

The framework is the result of long and close co-operation between LBRO, the public body for better regulation, local authorities and LACoRS, with contributions from national regulators, central government and professional bodies.

LACoRS and LBRO say the framework is: rigorous, being based on research into a number of recognised standards; thorough, covering service delivery in its entirety; and practical, reflecting the views and experiences of practitioners.

Graham Jukes, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, said:

"The CIEH supports fully the Excellence Framework for local authorities. We believe that the framework will help local authorities aspire to reach the best standards in local authority regulation."

As well as providing a basis for assessing service delivery, the Excellence Framework is intended to provide a benchmark for national bodies, business and consumers to be reassured of the quality of services.

LBRO chairman Clive Grace said:

"The value of this framework is that it is the product of local and national agreement of what high quality services look like. This is hugely important given the many different performance schemes in place and the need to change regulatory culture across the system to deliver outcomes rather than outputs.

"We're confident the framework will be the keystone for delivery of local regulatory services, particularly with increasing emphasis on delivering high quality services and value for money."

And the Trading Standards Institute's chief executive Ron Gainsford said:

"The Excellence Framework is a very useful and timely initiative in these financially difficult times where trading standards and other regulatory bodies really need robust tools available to them to be able demonstrate the invaluable outcomes they are achieving, both for consumers and businesses.

"It is fitting for it to be launched at the Year Ahead conference as a reflection of the joined up way we are approaching the unprecedented challenges facing the regulatory professions."

How the Excellence Framework can be practically and cost-effectively self-assessed is the subject of the LBROs Regulatory Services Peer Challenge project, which is currently being piloted with 50 local authority regulatory services. It is due to be completed in March.

Once the pilot has been evaluated, a detailed Excellence Framework toolkit will be produced, highlighting the links to all the relevant evidence sources for other frameworks. Options to sustain peer challenge across local authority regulatory services will be explored. Local regulators will be expected to take ownership for identifying issues and taking action to improve, in line with the approaches encouraged by the Improvement and Development Agency for Local Government.

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