10 February 2012
The Wales Audit Office (WAO) has published its Annual Improvement Report for Blaenau Gwent Council.
Every year, the Auditor General reports on how well Welsh public sector bodies are planning for improvement and delivering their services. The report on Blaenau Gwent Council was published today and presents a picture of improvement in the county borough over the last year.
It concludes that ‘the Council reports its progress but it is not always clear how this results in improvement for citizens.’ While the Council is making progress on developing the measures it uses to assess impact since setting its first improvement objectives in 2010, more work is needed to further develop these.
In its report, the WAO highlighted that the Council’s performance has improved in some priority areas but reminded the Council that its ‘prospects for major improvement will depend upon how it tackles its current problems’.
Although sustained good performance in many aspects of work with children and families was noted by the WAO, the findings of the 2011 Estyn inspection were underlined. The Auditor General reiterated that education services for children and young people are unsatisfactory. The Council is currently delivering on an action plan developed with a Task Force from Neath Port Talbot and with the support of Commissioners, to improve educational outcomes for all learners in Blaenau Gwent.
The WAO also reflected the issues it raised late in 2011 in the Council’s corporate assessment, when it judged that no external intervention into the running of the Council was needed at the time. In December, the Council made its initial response to the statutory recommendation – well within the required 30 days – and will shortly submit a full action plan setting out the short and longer term actions it will take to boost the scale and pace of improvements.
The Annual Improvement Report noted that since setting its first improvement objectives in 2010 – alongside all Welsh local authorities – the Council has refined these and is strengthening arrangements to support their delivery.
Coun John Mason, Leader of Blaenau Gwent Council, said:
“The Annual Improvement Report presents a clear assessment of where the Council is improving, and where we need to do more in delivering better outcomes for Blaenau Gwent’s communities. It further reinforces the Council’s commitment to work together to drive forward improvements, both in our response to the Estyn report and the corporate assessment.
“We are also working hard to strengthen the arrangements we have in place to consistently measure the impact we are creating for citizens, and I am encouraged that the WAO has recognised the progress we’ve made in developing new measures since 2010.
“Many of the foundations on which we will secure continuous improvements are already in place, and we look forward to continuing to work constructively with the Wales Audit Office.”
The full Annual Improvement Report is available from the WAO website at www.wao.gov.uk
