Criteria For Designation

2013-12-10T15:55:11Z

Richard, I'm glad that I'm not quite alone on this!

"Average" has a very particular mathmatical meaning and dictionary definition. The calculation made by the DCLG involves no averaging at all.

When I first read the DCLG document I assumed that it meant that the performance percentage would be calculated for each of the eight quarters and then averaged. I still believe that that was a logical and, dare I say, correct interpretation.

If an LPA's performance percentage is fairly consistent for all eight quarters, then the two methods of calculation do not produce significantly different figures. However, if performance fluctuates a fair bit from quarter to quarter then averaging them can produce a significant difference. In the case of my LPA, averaging improves our performance by 10%!

Criteria For Designation

2013-12-03T13:06:32Z

I raised this at the time, and offered up a couple of different ways this could be interpreted.

I was told that it was the average for the assessment period as a whole, not the average of the figures for each quarter.

Quite how the word "average" is earning its keep in that sentence is unclear to me.

Criteria For Designation

2013-11-20T09:05:27Z

The DCLG publication "Improving Planning Performance" says that the measure for the speed pf decisions will be "the average percentage of decisions .....". Note the use of the word average.

The perfomance tables published by the DCLG however seem to use a simple percentage calculation using the total number of majors decided within the two years and the total number decided within 13 (or more if extended) weeks.

What was "average percentage" meant to mean and, given that the designation criteria were approved by Parliament, did the DCLG act unlawfully in using the simple percentage? I just throw that little thought out there for discussion!