Have they got targets for how well they are meeting their targets?

The Mid Devon Star reports "PERFORMANCE at Mid Devon District Council is improving, a new report shows. Figures going before members of the authority's executive committee on Thursday show 58 out of 80 'best value performance indicators' are on target, above target, or well above target.The remaining 22 are below or well below target. The report states that over the last 12 months, 37 of the indicators have improved. It adds: "Of concern are those below target showing no improvement."

This means that only 72% of their BVPIs are on or above target. Surely they should be aiming for 90 or 95%!? And it means that 28% of their performance indicators are below target. And that only 46% have shown improvement.

The article goes on to report on one of those above target "The percentage of council tax collected - 98.5% against a target of 98%. Next year's target is 97%". So next year's target has reduced from this year's. So that's a relief.

You can bet your bottom dollar that lots and lots of management time is being wasted playing the performance against targets game, as opposed to examining how council services get delivered and actually working on real improvement.

You can read the full article at http://www.middevonstar.co.uk/display.var.2256782.0.council_performance_improving.php

HOSPITAL STAFF REWARDED WITH £25 VOUCHERS

The "Exeter Express & Echo" carried this story about how thousands of staff at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital have been given Marks and Spencer's vouchers as a bonus for reaching it's targets. It's been criticised by someone from the Tax Payers Alliance. But I wonder how the staff themselves feel about it. Do they feel "Great - at last I'm getting something from this organisation to say thank you for all the hard work I put in that helps them meet their targets"?
Or do they think "What a waste of money! - Why don't they put this money towards something that is going to make my job easier and help me care for patients better? Then I would get more satisfaction and joy from the work I do"?

One reader commented on the article "i have been employed by the nhs trust for many years i earn my living by working for the nurse bank and i and all other nurse bank nurses did NOT get any sure gesture or even a kind word and the reason being nobody knows so not every one employed by the trust got the £25.00 as stated in your news paper today".

The article starts "Thousands of staff at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital have been given Marks and Spencer's vouchers as a bonus, the Echo can reveal.The board of the RD and E NHS Foundation Trust has presented each of its 5,250 members of staff a £25 gift as a thank you for reaching its targets. But the gifts, which total £131,250 of taxpayers' money, have been criticised by Mark Wallace, campaign director for the Tax Payers' Alliance.He said: "It's remarkable that the trust feels it has so much money that it can afford to just give it away."While just over £100,000 might not seem much to someone running a budget in the hundreds of millions of pounds, it is a reasonable amount to someone who is waiting for a hip replacement or for an urgently needed course of treatment."This money could undoubtedly have been spent on urgent cases elsewhere."Mr Wallace said that while it was good to reward people for doing their job, there had been salary increases over the years."

The full article at http://www.thisisexeter.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=136993&command=displayContent&sourceNode=231418&home=yes&more_nodeId1=137002&contentPK=20546107#views

How Police Plan to cut crime - they won't count vandalism

Everyday in the newspapers there are examples of people distorting the (so-called) performance data they are judged (rewarded and punished) upon to give the illusion of achieving targets imposed upon them by government. This sort of effect has been pointed out to those in authority time and time again over the years, and yet for some reason it continues. When will they realise that this is simply getting in the way of people working together to get some genuine improvement going?

"Police officers are being ordered not to record criminal damage as crime.
A leaked memo has revealed that rank-and-file officers in the Norfolk force have been told that incidents such as car vandalism should not be classed as an offence when there is "no idea how it happened".
The disclosure brought accusations last Details of the policy emerged in the memo from an inspector in Norwich, which said that one of this year's targets was to "keep recorded crime down to 1,500". It is believed the inspector was referring to a sector of the city.
It added: "We appear to be making things difficult for ourselves by 'criming' things which aren't actually crimes.
"One example is where a car window is found to be damaged, no entry to vehicle, no witnesses and no idea how it happened.
"This has been recorded as criminal damage, even though there is no evidence to suggest it fits the definition. If there is no evidence of someone intending to destroy or be reckless then there is no crime."
The memo added: "Please ask yourself if there is evidence of a crime or if it is more appropriate to deal with it in a different way." night that the force is trying to massage crime figures by ignoring acts of vandalism. "

You can read the full article at http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23482482-details/How+police+plan+to+cut+crime:+They+won't+count+vandalism/article.do