Under the new performance management framework for local authorities from April 2008 every single tier and county council Local Strategic Partnership will report on performance against a single set of national indicators.

This consists of 198 performance indicators that reflect the government’s national priorities, including 6 culture and sport specific national indicators. 185 of the indicators will be reported on from 2008/09. The remaining 13, including two culture and sport indicators (NI57 and NI199), are still under development and reporting will commence in 2009/10.

The single set of national indicators final definitions were published by the DCLG in March 2008 in ‘National Indicators for Local Authorities and Local Authority Partnerships: Handbook of Definitions’. The indicators are grouped under 6 outcomes.

• Stronger communities (14 indicators)
• Safer communities (34 indicators)
• Children and young people (70 indicators)
• Adult health and wellbeing and tackling exclusion and promoting equality (32 indicators)
• Local economy (34 indicators)
• Environmental sustainability (14 indicators)

Local authority performance against these national indicators will form a part of the new Comprehensive Area Assessments due to be introduced in 2009.

Within this wider national performance framework is the Local Area Agreement (LAA) performance framework. For LAAs, local authorities will be required to report on up to 35 designated performance targets based on the single set of national indicators. These will be negotiated with and monitored by Government Office South East. There are also 16 statutory education and early years targets from the DCSF selected from the 198 indicators, although these are not formally part of LAAs.

In addition to the designated performance targets a number of non designated indicators and targets can be selected for inclusion in the LAA. These are based on local priorities drawn from the Sustainable Community Strategy. They are agreed and monitored by local partners only.

In any LAA one or more of the culture and sport national indicators may be selected to be among the 35 LAA designated or core performance targets. There are also a number of other national indicators, for example related to participation in volunteering and young people’s participation in positive activities, that culture and sport are likely to have a direct impact upon. There is further potential for additional local culture and sport performance measures to be included in the ‘non-designated’ indicators and targets.

New LAAs are underpinned by a statutory duty on named public sector bodies to co-operate to determine LAA improvement targets and a duty to have regard to those targets they have agreed in the course of their business.

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