Part 8: Identifying and monitoring community outcomes

Matters arising from the 2009-19 long-term council community plans.

8.1
In this Part, we provide background information on community outcomes and then discuss:

8.2
We also briefly discuss regional collaboration and legislative reform.

Summary of our findings

8.3
Most 2009-19 LTCCPs were based on the community outcomes developed for the 2006-16 LTCCPs, which met the requirements of the Act. There was a significant improvement in the links between local authorities' performance frameworks and community outcomes compared with the 2006-16 LTCCPs.

8.4
However, there is still much that local authorities can do to ensure that their plans and reports effectively disclose how well they are performing on service delivery, the well-being of their communities, and outcomes.

Background and legislative requirements

8.5
Community outcomes for a city, district, or region are those priorities that have been identified as important to the current and/or future social, economic, environmental, or cultural well-being of a community.

8.6
Community outcomes provide the overall framework on which all other aspects of the local authority's direction are based, such as the selection and focus of the local authority's activities.

8.7
Therefore, community outcomes are a core part of the community engagement and accountability framework required by the Act. They should sit at the heart of a local authority's planning processes and are crucial to identifying community expectations.

8.8
The local authority's reporting against community outcomes is the monitoring system by which the community holds the local authority to account for delivering the community's expectations.

8.9
The Act requires local authorities to carry out a process to identify community outcomes for the intermediate and long-term future of their district or region at least once every six years.60 A local authority may decide on the process that it uses to identify community outcomes. However, the Act currently requires local authorities to take steps to:

  • identify other organisations and groups that are capable of influencing community outcomes (section 91(3)(a)(i)); and
  • secure the agreement of those organisations and groups to the process and to the relationship of the process to any existing and related plans (section 91(3)(a)(ii)).

8.10
Local authorities are required to monitor progress on achieving community outcomes. Every three years, they are required to report on this. The reporting should show how achievements during the three years are progressing community well-being and the desired community outcomes.61 To show how the local authority is contributing to community outcomes, the local authority is required to report in the annual report each year how the activities it carries out result in the furthering of community outcomes.

8.11
The measures disclosed in the LTCCP are a critical component of the performance framework, because monitoring against these measures allows local authorities to show the extent to which their activities are furthering community outcomes and/or well-being. Information disclosed in the LTCCP needs to communicate how the identified outcomes are being achieved, with reference to the current state of the outcome and the measures that will be used to assess change in the state of the outcome over time.

8.12
The Act requires the local authority's auditor to report on the extent to which the LTCCP complies with the requirements of the Act and on the extent to which the forecast information on proposed performance measures will provide an appropriate framework for the meaningful assessment of actual levels of service provision.62

8.13
Therefore, during the LTCCP audit, the auditor assesses whether the local authority has made the appropriate disclosures required by the Act. The auditor specifically forms a view on the quality of:

  • the measures the local authority proposed to use to assess progress towards achieving community outcomes;63 and
  • the information on how the local authority will monitor and report on the community's progress towards achieving community outcomes.64

Community outcomes in the 2009-19 LTCCPs

Updating outcomes used in the 2006-16 LTCCP

8.14
As part of the self-assessments (see paragraph 10.11 for more detail on the self-assessments) that local authorities completed, we asked them about their intentions to revise their community outcomes as part of preparing their 2009-19 LTCCP.

8.15
We found that, at the time of preparing the self-assessment, most local authorities did not intend to carry out a process to update community outcomes as part of their 2009-19 LTCCP process. Most of the 2009-19 LTCCPs were to be based on the community outcomes developed for the 2006-16 LTCCP. This meets the requirements of the Act because the review of community outcomes must be completed not less than once every six years.65

8.16
Some local authorities indicated that they would consult with the community about whether the community outcomes that were in place were still appropriate. These local authorities later disclosed in their 2009-19 LTCCP that the work had identified that the community was still happy with the outcomes set before the 2006-16 LTCCP. However, some changes were made to measures and/or targets and sometimes to the wording of some of the outcomes.

8.17
Very few local authorities went through the process of creating new community outcomes as part of preparing their 2009-19 LTCCP.

Three-yearly reporting against community outcomes

8.18
All local authorities were required to have community outcomes in place by 30 June 2006 at the latest. Therefore, the first three-yearly monitoring report should have been completed by 30 June 2009.

8.19
We asked local authorities, as part of their self-assessment, about whether they had produced, or when they intended to produce, a monitoring report.

8.20
About a quarter of all local authorities had reported against their community outcomes before completing the self-assessment. Most local authorities completed their monitoring reports during the 2008/09 financial year, with at least one local authority including the monitoring report in its 2009-19 LTCCP.

8.21
We observed that the link between community outcomes and the local authority's performance framework in the LTCCP was particularly clear when the community outcomes were reported on in the 2009-19 LTCCP.

8.22
In our view, the information gained through the monitoring process should serve as a basis for explaining and interpreting a local authority's contribution to achieving community outcomes. Therefore, this information should provide context for a local authority's priorities and objectives, which are included in its performance framework.

8.23
A small number of local authorities did not complete their monitoring report within the legislative time frames. Where local authorities failed to finalise the three-yearly report in time to benefit the preparation of the 2009-19 LTCCP, there was a risk that the LTCCP failed to capture all the relevant information about its community. There was even a risk that it might need to amend its LTCCP once the monitoring report was completed, because there might be new information in the monitoring report that has a significant effect on the local authority's focus.

8.24
The measures for monitoring community outcomes that were included in 2006-16 LTCCPs were often expressed very generally. We expected the information on the measures for monitoring community outcomes to be more specific and focused in the 2009-19 LTCCPs. We found some improvements in the 2009-19 LTCCPs.

Integrating community outcomes into performance frameworks

8.25
Most local authorities, at the time of completing their self-assessment, were planning to revise the performance frameworks they had established in their 2006-16 LTCCPs.

8.26
Almost all local authorities revised their performance frameworks in their 2009-19 LTCCP, whether initially intended, or as a consequence of preparing the 2009-19 LTCCP.

8.27
As a result, the performance frameworks in the 2009-19 LTCCPs had significantly improved compared with the 2006-16 LTCCPs. Two aspects had especially improved:

  • linking community outcomes to levels of service and performance measures; and
  • disclosing specific measures and targets for community outcomes.

Qualified audit opinions related to community outcomes

8.28
Three local authorities (Central Otago District Council, Mackenzie District Council, and Taupo District Council) received qualified audit opinions on their Statement of Proposal because the auditor was not able to form a view on the quality of the local authority's performance framework, including its measures for community outcomes.

8.29
The number of qualifications decreased to one on the final 2009-19 LTCCP. Central Otago District Council received a qualified opinion on both its Statement of Proposal and the final LTCCP. The Council did not adequately disclose or explain the relationship between community outcomes, service levels, performance measures, and targets across the range of its activities. The Statement of Proposal and final LTCCP did not provide information to the readers about what the Council was trying to achieve in order to contribute towards the community outcomes.

8.30
Mackenzie District Council also received a qualified audit opinion on its Statement of Proposal because of the inadequacy of the performance information provided by the Council about what it was trying to achieve in order to contribute towards the community outcomes. Its Statement of Proposal also did not provide adequate information about what measures and targets it would use to assess progress towards achieving the community outcomes. These issues were resolved in the final LTCCP. As a result, we issued an unqualified audit opinion on the final LTCCP.

8.31
For Taupo District Council's Statement of Proposal, we concluded that the document did not provide enough clear and understandable information about what the local authority was trying to achieve in order to contribute towards the community outcomes. Its Statement of Proposal also did not provide adequate information about what measures and targets it would use to assess progress towards achieving community outcomes. The Council made changes , and we were able to issue an unqualified audit opinion on the final LTCCP.

8.32
A local authority's community should be able to clearly understand the accountability documents of their local authority. This includes having clear information on how community outcomes, which the community had previously been consulted on and which local authorities are required to plan to address, are expected to be achieved or managed.

Regional collaboration

8.33
Many local authorities have worked with neighbouring local authorities to identify and monitor community outcomes for their wider region. We see this collaboration as an opportunity for local authorities, especially those with limited resources, to fulfil their legislative obligations in an efficient way. We support the results of these efforts and, generally, we encourage this approach.

8.34
However, there is no "one-size-fits-all" approach. Therefore, we expect local authorities to customise any process for monitoring regional community outcomes by also addressing their own specific community outcomes and their community's local context.

Legislative reform

8.35
Community outcomes are under review in the legislative reform arising from the Transparency, Accountability, and Financial Management review (see paragraphs 1.49-1.51).

8.36
At present, local authorities are required to go through a process of preparing community outcomes, including identifying how the local authority will work with other organisations to further community outcomes.66 The proposals that are currently before Parliament remove the requirement for local authorities to include this broader perspective in the process of preparing community outcomes. The current proposals are enabling, so they still allow for local authorities to interact with other community organisations to identify outcomes if they choose to do so.

Preparing for 2012

8.37
Despite the significant improvements we have seen, there is still much that local authorities can do to ensure that their plans and reports effectively disclose how well they are performing on service delivery, the well-being of their communities, and outcomes.

60: Section 91 of the Act.

61: Section 92 of the Act.

62: Sections 84(4) and 94(1) of the Act.

63: Clause 1(f) of Schedule 10 of the Act.

64: Clause 1(g) of Schedule 10 of the Act.

65: Section 91(1) of the Act.

66: Clauses 1(e)(i) and (ii) of Schedule 10 of the Act.

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