RD364 - The Virginia Report 2014


Executive Summary:
This report was prepared pursuant to § 2.2-2686 of the Code of Virginia, which requires the Council on Virginia’s Future to: “develop and submit annually to the General Assembly and the Governor and publish to the public a balanced accountability scorecard containing an assessment of:

• current service performance,
• productivity improvement, and
• progress against long-term objectives.”

This report presents a high-level assessment of Virginia’s progress in areas that are important to its quality of life; it is based on and complements information contained in Virginia Performs. It is issued annually to help track progress over time, to highlight challenges, and to provide analytic information for leadership and decision-making.

The main report consists of four sections. The first section, A Profile of Virginia, provides a brief snapshot of the Commonwealth.

The next section, How Is Virginia Doing?, is divided into three parts. The first, "How is Virginia Doing? Outcome/Indicator Highlights," examines the progress being made toward long-term goals for both Virginia and its state government by reviewing progress on the 49 indicators included in the Scorecard at a Glance.

A revised sub-section, "Are We Getting Results On Our Highest Priorities?," discusses our expanded focus on assessment of high-priority issues and the development of issue-focused report cards. Also included are the Enterprise Strategic Priorities recently developed by Governor McAuliffe and his team. These provided input into agency strategic planning and priority setting for their 2014- 2016 strategic plans.

This would normally be followed by a sub-section, "Are We Improving Government Services and Operations?," which provides a high-level assessment of the progress being made toward state government’s key objectives and productivity targets. However, due to an extended planning cycle, agency performance information was not available at the time this report was being developed. An addendum, which will include important agency performance data, will be published soon after the planning process is completed.

The third section, A Regional Perspective, provides a discussion of selected regional indicators and presents newly developed Scorecards at a Glance for the Council’s eight regions.

The final section, Council Areas of Emphasis, includes a brief introduction to the Council on Virginia’s Future and a summary of recent developments in the evolution of Virginia Performs.