COUNTY BOROUGH OF BLAENAU GWENT
REPORT TO:
THE CHAIR AND MEMBERS OF THE AUDIT
COMMITTEE
REPORT SUBJECT: OVERVIEW OF THE SELF EVALUATION
ARRANGEMENTS OF THE COUNCIL
REPORT AUTHOR:
BERNADETTE ELIAS – HEAD OF POLICY AND
PERFORMANCE
LEAD OFFICER/
DEPARTMENT
CORPORATE SERVICES & STRATEGY
DIRECTORATE
Summary Report
1.0
PURPOSE OF REPORT
To provide the Audit Committee with an update on the self
evaluation arrangements of the Council.
2.0
LINK TO CORPORATE STRATEGIES
 Corporate Improvement Plan
 External Regulatory Reports
 Corporate Performance Management Arrangements
3.0
SUMMARY
A significant amount of work has been undertaken to strengthen
the self evaluation function across the Council as part of the
improvements being made to the Corporate Performance
Management arrangements.
This work has been informed by recommendations from external
auditors and findings of the national work on self evaluation that
has been undertaken across authorities in conjunction with the
Welsh Local Government Association.
Further developments to the self evaluation arrangements
following the first cycle are planned and are being progressed.
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4.0
RECOMMENDATION
That the Audit Committee note the contents of the report and
progress made to the self evaluation arrangements of the
Council.
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Detailed Report
1.0
BACKGROUND
1.1
A significant amount of work has been undertaken to strengthen
the self evaluation function across the Council as part of the
improvements being made to the Corporate Performance
Management arrangements.
1.2
The need for improvements in the self evaluation process has
been recognised by external auditors, specifically the Wales Audit
Office and Estyn who set out a number of recommendations as
part of their audit and inspection work.
1.3
The Council responded to these recommendations by developing
a new corporate approach to self evaluation.
1.4
This approach has been informed by the national work on self
evaluation being undertaken across local authorities in
conjunction with the Welsh Local Government Association.
1.5
The key characteristics of good self evaluation are recognised
nationally as being grouped under 4 key headings:
Corporate arrangements
 Development of strong Member and management ownership
acting as strong advocates of the process.
 Guided by common corporate guidance, advice and template.
Undertaking Self Evaluation
• Linking the self evaluation to the strategic priorities of the
Council.
• Use a comprehensive evidence base to inform the self
evaluation including data, business plans, peer learning,
consultation etc.
• Ensuring the self evaluation is underpinned by effective
engagement with customers, service users, partners, external
agencies, staff and members.
• Trying to make the self evaluation an honest and balanced
picture, based on outcomes or the end results for customers.
• Using self evaluation to identify service performance,
improvement scoping, service and corporate risks and
highlight resource implications for improvement.
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Internal challenge
• Outcomes from all self evaluations should be subject to
some form of robust internal challenge process.
Integrating self evaluations with other corporate planning
and performance management arrangements
• Self evaluation outcomes or judgements can be used to
feed strategic planning, such as the Medium Term Financial
Strategy, improvement reporting, risk management
planning, HR strategy, training and development,
leadership planning and other corporate processes.
2.0
PRESENT POSITION
2.1
An overview of the corporate approach to self evaluation which
has been developed to respond to and reflect the key
characteristics is set out below:
 Development of a self assessment template for service
areas built on the key characteristics of good self evaluation
developed as part of the national work.
 Development of a guidance document to assist service
areas and support from the corporate performance team.
 Analysis of the completed self evaluation templates was
undertaken to identify any gaps of information.
 Information contained within the self evaluation templates
was organised around the Council’s key priorities (set out in
the Corporate Improvement Plan).
 The self evaluation templates were used by services to
inform their business plans in place for 1st April 2013.
2.2
As part of the learning process following the initial self evaluation
cycle exercise a number of workshops were held with CMT,
Officers and Members to reflect on the process and discuss
areas of strength and areas for improvement.
2.3
A summary of the areas covered are set out below:
Examples of areas of strength
• All service areas engaged in the process and completed a
self assessment.
• Feedback that some service areas found the process useful
in shaping their business plans.
• There is now a better ‘corporate view’ of where we are as a
Council on self evaluation.
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Examples of areas to improve on
• Parts of the template did not help capture the information in
the right way but can be amended for next time.
• Some common issues identified e.g. target setting,
comparative information sources and the use of indicators.
• Undertake the process of self assessment earlier in order to
inform business planning and keep it live throughout the
year.
3.
NEXT STEPS
3.1
Revisions to the self evaluation arrangements have been
developed taking account of things that went well and areas to
improve. The intention is to continue to develop the process
including work which is currently in progress including:
 Development of an internal peer challenge approach which will
include a member of CMT, Heads of Service, relevant
Executive Member/s and Scrutiny Chairs and Vice Chairs to
provide a forum for constructive challenge on self evaluation
findings. It is proposed that this process will begin during the
latter part of 2013.
 Amendments to the self evaluation template to assist the
capture of information in a more robust way to inform service
and corporate planning.
 The forthcoming cycle of self evaluation is to begin during
October and will be used to inform the business plans to be
produced for 2014/15.
4.
CONCLUSIONS
A significant amount of work has been undertaken to strengthen
the self evaluation function across the Council, and progress
made has been recognised by external bodies.
Further
developments to the arrangement following the first cycle are
planned and being progressed.
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