From 1st April 2009, all local councils - including even Haringey - will have their performance judged against a (fairly) common set of criteria. This should make it easier for us to get a better sense of how they're doing.

These new criteria are called National Indicators. Whilst what I know about them would be a speck on the tip of an iceberg, here's what I've found out. (As for the rest that we Joe Public might need to know, I'd welcome hearing from any informed voices.).

The  National Indicator Set (NIS) contains 198 performance indicators that apply across a range of public sector organisations. The indicators are designed to measure progress on national priorities where they are delivered by local councils acting alone or in partnership. Councils have to select up to with up to 35 core priorities to be chosen from the indicators Local targets can also be included which 'will not be seen as "second order" by Government Offices' and which 'carry equal weight  . . . . as the other targets'. A further 17 statutory education and early years targets will also be used.

The national indicators will be the only indicators against which local authorities' performance, alone or in partnership, will be reported to Central Government. They will therefore be the only measures against which Government can agree targets with a local authority or partnership, through Local Area Agreements (LAAs), and the only trigger for performance management by Central Government, other than concerns highlighted by the inspectorates in the Comprehensive Area Assessment or other inspection activity.

The Set contains 25 indicators which are informed by citizens' views and perspectives. To reduce the number of surveys being undertaken by local authorities, 18 of these will be collected through a single Place Survey to be administered by each local authority. The results of the first survey are, I think ready. I'm just trying to get hold of the Haringey part. Might have some interesting stats/info on our borough.

The previous emphasis on service delivery is now combined with a requirement to consider strategic priorities.

Government Offices (GOs) will be the arbiters between central and local government agreeing the targets.  (For us, that means the Government Office of London).

Haringey’s chosen Indicators can be seen here (from page 19 on) at the back of their Local Area Agreement 2008-2011 document. 

The results of the 2008 survey, including Haringey's are posted on HoL here.