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CAIRNGORMS NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY 
Audit Committee Paper 1 01/11/07 

CAIRNGORMS NATIONAL PARK AUTHORITY 


FOR DISCUSSION 


Title: BEST VALUE SELF ASSESSMENT 

Prepared by: DAVID CAMERON, HEAD OF CORPORATE SERVICES 

Purpose 

To present the Committee with the Authority’s Best Value Self Assessment and resultant 
action plan and to seek member’s views on these documents. 

Recommendations 

The Committee is asked to: 

a) Consider the Best Value self-assessment and action plan set out with this paper. 

b) Consider whether the Best Value action plan should be added to the standing items 
presented to Committee. 


Executive Summary 

The Authority is under an obligation to consider its achievement of Best Value in the 
delivery of public services and, through that, to consider how we may best approach 
“continuous improvement” in service delivery. The Scottish Executive developed a 
characterisation of Best Value as comprising 9 key components: commitment and leadership; 
governance; accountability; management of resources; responsiveness and consultation; 
review and option appraisal; sustainable development; equal opportunities; and joint 
working. To assist in the consideration of an organisation’s position on each of those 9 
characteristics, the Scottish Executive also developed a self-assessment questionnaire to help 
structure an organisation’s position against key elements of these 9 best value 
characteristics. 

The completed best value self assessment for the Authority is set out at Annex 1 to this 
paper. The Management Team agreed this self-assessment in October 2007. The main focus 
for the exercise is to determine which areas of the authority’s services or practices require 
improvement action, rather than ensuring all items of appropriate evidence are identified. 
The Best Value self-assessment is not an end in itself: the main purpose is to develop a basis 
for developing forward action plans that will drive continuous improvement in service 
provision. 

The Authority’s Action Plan arising from this self assessment is set out at Annex 2 to this 
paper. The Management Team agreed this Action Plan in October 2007 and also agreed to 
include it within standing quarterly monitoring papers on operational plan and organisation 
performance.