With almost £50 million being spent on thousands of local projects in 2005/06, the Auditor General’s report, published today, found that monitoring and evaluation of spending from the Better Schools Fund could be improved. For example, Assembly Government guidance to LEAs does not provide specific practical advice on evaluation. Also, performance data collected by the Assembly Government provides insufficient evidence of the impact of funded activities, and the process of assessing LEAs’ spending plans needs to be more robust.  

Despite this, the Better Schools Fund does overcome a number of the shortcomings of the Grants for Education and Training (GEST) programme, which it replaced in 2004/05. There have been improved efforts to consult with LEAs and other relevant bodies on the development of the Fund. The Assembly Government has also adhered to all the key planning milestones for 2006/07 and is on target to confirm allocations to LEAs in January 2006. And it has tightened restrictions on the ability of LEAs to move resources between different parts of the scheme.

The GEST programme was found to be complex and LEAs had come to regard it as a source of recurrent funding rather than a specific grant for activities to raise standards. There were often delays in the GEST planning cycle, and some relevant parties in the education sector also felt they were not fully consulted.

The report makes 5 recommendations to help improve the administration of the Better Schools Fund. It includes calls for the Assembly Government to:

• consider funding the programme over a longer period, such as three years;
  
• devise and publish a programme of consultation to help ensure that all relevant parties are consulted at the appropriate time;
  
• draw up standards for quality of evidence to help determine whether criteria for the assessment of LEA spending plans have been met; and
  
• develop and issue practical and specific guidance on evaluation for LEAs and schools.

Auditor General for Wales, Jeremy Colman said today:

“With £50 million being spent on thousands of local projects each year, it makes sense for everyone involved to understand how well they are going. Evaluation is crucial. All parties have a role to play in this, but the Assembly Government needs to strengthen its guidance on assessment and evaluation in the first instance. There have been improvements in administration since the Fund was established and my recommendations are intended to build on this progress.”

Notes to Editors:

• The Wales Audit Office (WAO) set out to examine whether any improvements could be made to the way in which the Assembly Government’s Grants for Education Support and Training (GEST) scheme was being run.
  
• During the examination, GEST was replaced by the Better Schools Fund, following an internal review by the Assembly Government. Accordingly, work was refocused to also take account of what was done in the transition, and to identify what further improvements were needed to the administration of the new scheme.
  
• The Better Schools Fund provides targeted grant support for Local Education Authorities (LEAs) to assist them with the development of new initiatives for improving standards of teaching and attainment in schools. It may also be used by LEAs to assist with the implementation of their Education Strategic Plans.
  
• The WAO is independent of government and is responsible for the annual audit of some £19 billion of annual public expenditure.
  
• The WAO was created in April 2005 through the Public Audit (Wales) Act, 2004, which expanded the functions of the Auditor General for Wales and enabled the transfer of staffs from the Audit Commission in Wales and National Audit Office in Wales to his employment.

For more information please contact Rachel Harries (Communications and Media Officer) on 02920 262 675 or email rachel.harries@wao.gov.uk