Data Standards
The Council has developed a Data Quality Strategy to ensure a high level of data quality assurance on key performance information.
Why data quality matters
- Consistent, high-quality, timely and comprehensive performance information is vital to support effective, decision-making and management of resources to ensure that the improvements, outcomes and impacts we and our partners aim to achieve within the locality are delivered.
- Good quality performance information is vital to ensure that customers and stakeholders can have confidence that our published performance provides a reliable basis for them to judge us.
- Performance information is being used increasingly by external bodies to assess Council performance, often as an alternative to inspection. This places a greater emphasis on data quality. Indicators which are proven under inspection to be incorrectly expressed or calculated can be discounted completely which can seriously affect the score arising from the assessment.
- The National Performance Framework introduced during 2008/9 gives greater flexibility in the use of performance data locally and fewer nationally prescribed indicators. With that comes a greater responsibility on Local Authorities and their partners, to ensure that the information used to manage and report performance can be relied upon and is based on a robust data quality framework. External regulators will expect such a framework to be in place and will wish to satisfy themselves about its effectiveness before basing judgements on locally produced information.
The Data Quality Strategy was agreed and adopted by Leicestershire Together. The purpose of this strategy is to outline the Council’s approach to ensuring data quality for Performance Indicators (PIs) across the Council and where agreed, its partnerships. The document is split into two sections, the first sets out the strategic policy and principles that Leicestershire County Council has adopted in relation to arrangements for Data Quality performance information; the second, “Policy into Practice”, sets out how those aspirations are to be achieved.
For more information on Data Quality or to request Data Quality templates please contact Leicestershire County Council’s Corporate Performance Team or call 0116 305 7038
Page Last Updated: 20 July 2011
