Local Government Act 1999

6 Best value performance plans

(1) A best value authority must prepare a best value performance plan for each financial year in accordance with any order made or guidance issued under this section.

(2) The Secretary of State may by order specify matters which an authority must include in a plan for a financial year; and in particular an order may require an authority—

(a) to summarise the authority’s objectives in relation to the exercise of its functions;

(b) to summarise any assessment made by the authority of the level at which and the way in which it exercises its functions;

(c) to state any period within which the authority is required to review its functions under section 5;

(d) to state the timetable the authority proposes to follow in conducting a review;

(e) to state any performance indicators, standards and targets specified or set in relation to the authority’s functions;

(f) to summarise the authority’s assessment of its performance in the previous financial year with regard to performance indicators;

(g) to compare that performance with the authority’s performance in previous financial years or with the performance of other best value authorities;

(h) to summarise its assessment of its success in meeting any performance standard which applied at any time in the previous financial year;

(i) to summarise its assessment of its progress towards meeting any performance standard which has been specified but which does not yet apply;

(j) to summarise its assessment of its progress towards meeting any performance target;

(k) to summarise any plan of action to be taken in the financial year to which the plan relates for the purposes of meeting a performance target;

(l) to summarise the basis on which any performance target was set, and any plan of action was determined, in relation to a function reviewed under section 5 in the previous financial year.

(3) An authority must publish its plan for a financial year before—

(a) 31st March of the previous financial year, or

(b) such other date as the Secretary of State may specify by order.

(4) The Secretary of State may issue guidance on the form and content of plans and the manner in which they should be published.