How are we doing?

Measuring the performance of community safety partnerships 'Safe and sound', published in May 2000, reported the findings of an Accounts Commission study of community safety partnerships. s The report identified the progress made to date, highlighted good practice and made a number of recommendations. The report found that across Scotland, community safety strategies are generally at an early stage of development, and most partnerships have still to develop measures to track their progress. s To be effective, partnerships need to track the progress of their strategies, action plans and initiatives and the impact their work is having on the community. s Partnerships need to account for their activities and expenditure by informing stakeholders about their performance and progress. This bulletin provides practical guidance on performance measurement, using the concept of a balanced scorecard. s The scorecard is based on four different perspectives of effectiveness – impact on the community, external processes, partnership management and improvement, and use of resources. s By selecting performance indicators for the different perspectives, partnerships will be able to build a comprehensive picture of their performance.