Agenda item

Part 6 of the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021 introduced a new Self-Assessment based performance regime for Principal Councils.

 

The new performance regime was intended to build and support a culture in which councils continuously seek to improve and do better in everything they do, regardless of how well they were performing already. It was the expectation of the Act that councils would always be striving to achieve more and seek to ensure best outcomes for local people and communities. One way of doing this was to continuously challenge the status quo and ask questions about how they were operating.

 

There were 5 specific duties for Councils introduced by the Act:

 

•Duty to keep performance under review

•Duty to consult on performance

•Duty to report on performance

•Duty to arrange a Panel Performance Assessment

•Duty to respond to a Panel Performance Assessment

 

The Act sets also out the integral role that the Governance and Audit Committee play in the Self-Assessment Process. This role involves the Committee:

 

•Receiving the Council’s draft Self-Assessment Report

 

•Reviewing the draft Self-Assessment Report and making recommendations on the conclusions or actions the Council intends to take

 

•Receiving the final Self-Assessment report when it was published, including commentary on why its recommendations are accepted or not accepted. 

 

Currently, the Draft Self-Assessment Report had now been produced and was presented to the Committee for consideration.

 

The Report had been developed by assessing a wide variety of evidence including internal reports and reviews, external regulatory and inspection reports and crucially engagement and consultation activities. The Council adopted a set of key questions or “Key Lines of Enquiry” to ensure the process was focused on outcomes, the organisation-wide view of performance and was evidence-based. Workshops were run during April and May with Members and Officers of the Council to evaluate current performance, the opportunities that exist for improvement and the specific actions we intend to take. The findings were recorded in the Self-Assessment Matrix document which was used to help produce the Self-Assessment Report and Action plan, and was available on request.

 

Although the Self-Assessment Report was the key output from the process the work on improving outcomes was an ongoing year-round activity. Throughout the year we conduct consultation in support of self-assessment, we collate evidence to inform the workshops, deliver the actions in the Self-Assessment action plan and  monitor the progress towards completion.

 

It is important to note that the Report discharges the requirements of both:

•The Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021 – the duty to report on performance

•The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 – to set and review progress against our Corporate Well-being Objectives

 

 

Part of the new Self-Assessment Performance Regime was the duty to undertake a Panel Performance Assessment once in every election cycle.

Panel Assessments were intended to provide an independent and external perspective of the extent to which the Council was meeting the performance requirements of the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021. The aim was to support Councils to achieve their aspirations through developing and understanding how it was operating and how it could ensure it was able to deliver effective services long-term.

 

The Council’s first Panel Performance Assessment was being organised for the first quarter of 2024/25 and supported by the Welsh Local Government Association. Preparatory work, such as appointing the Panel and scoping the Assessment would be conducted over the next several months.

 

Following questions from the floor, it was AGREED:

(i) to note the content of the report;

(ii) the Draft Self-Assessment Report would be updated based on the recommendations of the Governance and Audit Committee,and

(iii) the final version would be reported to its meeting on 24 January 2024.