Local Criminal Justice Board Effectiveness
A survey into effective performance management and local performance
This paper summarises the findings from an investigation into the characteristics associated with high performing Local Criminal Justice Boards (LCJBs). The aim is to provide LCJBs with good practice guidance based on a checklist of factors linked to both effective performance management and effective local performance.
Title: Local Criminal Justice Board Effectiveness - A national survey into effective performance management and local performance
Author: Lawrence Singer
Series: Ministry of Justice Research Series 3/08
Number of pages: 24
Date published: March 2008
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The investigation was built around finding answers to three questions.
- Is there a performance management model that can be applied to LCJBs?
- How closely do LCJBs operate according to the principles of this model?
- How strong is the association between adherence to the model and high performance?
The key findings from the investigation are as follows.
A proven performance management model, conceived by Jack Maple and applied to police organisations and non-crime pubic services across North America can be applied to the LCJB context. The key features of the model are:
Accurate and timely information
Most LCJBs collect both national and local performance data, which potentially allows them access to information that is both accurate (national cleansed data) and up to date (local proxy measures).Effective tactics
All LCJBs make use of sub-groups, which are most commonly theme-based, and mostly include operational staff from the range of stakeholder agencies. An effective sub-group structure is important to give LCJBs the capacity to consider and agree tactics for delivering priorities.Rapid deployment of personnel and resources
Most LCJBs meet monthly or every six weeks, positioning them to consider medium or longer term priorities, rather than rapid deployment. Crucially, responses indicated that the majority of LCJB members have authority to make decisions on behalf of the agencies they represent, giving LCJBs the ability to influence working practices and access to resources.Relentless follow-up and assessment
Most areas thought their LCJBs performance management systems were effective, which is a key enabler to continuing to monitor and assess performance. The majority of respondents thought that their LCJB was quite effective in holding Criminal Justice System (CJS) agencies to acount.
The majority of LCJBs operate according to the key principles of this model. However, it was not simply the case that the more of these characteristics possessed by an area the higher their performance. Instead, analysis of the data collected suggests that the possession of the characteristics associated with Maple’s four principles represent a necessary but insuficient basis for effective performance management and effective local performance. The missing ingredient, identiied in interviews, appears to be a performance culture factor. This refers to a culture characterised by novel cross-agency working and underpinned by mutual respect and trust and driven by the passion and commitment of the chief officers of the member organisations. As one chair of a high performing LCJB put it:
You’ve got the people who are leading the change process, who are aware of what the culture change needs to be. And by their behaviour, they’re trying to demonstrate it and that’s precisely what we’re doing. The material we’re using here is causing people to work together and work properly… This isn’t just about how we change our systems and processes.
Alongside this performance culture factor, the research identified four further characteristics of good practice.
The active presence of chief officers on the LCJBs is both symbolically and substantively important.
The strategic role of the LCJB needs to be mirrored by specialist sub-groups tasked to implement speciic aspects of the local strategy.
To work effectively and efficiently, LCJBs require a person or persons to perform both the business manager and the performance oficer functions.
Effective communication about local criminal justice performance needs to be organised around a need-to-know principle involving targeted audiences and tailored messages.
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Last update: Monday, April 14, 2008