Australia's National Local Government Newspaper Online

Council survey on continuous improvement

The National Office of Local Government (NOLG) is proposing to conduct a survey of councils to get some feedback on the impact of its support for benchmarking and other continuous improvement activities in local government. Through the Local Government Development Program (LGDP) the Office has funded a range of projects that encourage councils to become involved in benchmarking.

Direct funding has been provided to assist councils to carry out benchmarking in key functions such as local building approvals, children's services, libraries, waste collection, civil engineering and plant utilisation.

The development of best practice/ benchmarking databases and state and national training and education seminars on benchmarking has also been supported. The NOLG is keen to get advice from councils on the effectiveness of Commonwealth support to date and to identify areas where further support might be targeted.

The national survey seeks to shed light on these issues and will include questions related to which councils have carried out benchmarking and with whom, what functions have been benchmarked, and what impediments may exist for councils (such as lack of training or knowledge of benchmarking) in participating in benchmarking.

The survey also seeks responses to questions about other continuous improvement techniques being used by councils. It is expected that the survey will be conducted over August/September 1997. Check your fax for a chance to provide us with your views on these issues.

For further information, please contact Jan Baker at the National Office of Local Government on (02) 6274 1857.

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