Overall, there has been little change in the risk profile of services across Wales with some evidence of service improvement. The report emphasises the need to link risk assessments firmly to business planning and to realise the full benefits of the performance measurement framework so that it gives a comprehensive and consistent picture of performance.

The report also highlights the need to increase capacity and capability to respond to new challenges and to focus effectively on meeting the needs of the whole community. Specific challenges faced by local authorities include managing waste, meeting the Welsh Housing Quality Standard and improving asset management.

Auditor General for Wales, Jeremy Colman said today:
“The Wales Programme for Improvement has continued to provide a framework for helping local authorities improve their services. While there is evidence of improvement and no significant change in the risks that local authorities are facing, it is right to ask how the WPI framework can best develop. The challenge is to move beyond an approach based largely on risk reduction and put the emphasis firmly on effective performance measurement that really supports improvement.”

Notes to editors:

• This report sought to answer the question: ‘Does the Wales Programme for Improvement provide assurance that local government services are improving?’
• The Wales Programme for Improvement was established in April 2002 by the Welsh Assembly Government and is the vehicle through which it, along with the Wales Audit Office and Welsh local government itself, stimulates and supports change and improvement in Welsh councils.
• WPI is based on a risk assessment of service areas and corporate functions agreed jointly by the local authority and its regulators which, in turn, informs an authority’s Improvement Plan.
• The Performance Measurement Framework is made up of a set of national strategic indicators, on which local authorities must report, and a set of core indicators which authorities must collect and may decide on how to use.
• The Wales Audit Office, with other regulators, considers annually, the question of whether the outcomes of the WPI process demonstrates that local authorities are achieving continuous improvement and whether they are applying the WPI framework appropriately.
• The Wales Audit Office is independent of government and is responsible for the annual audit of some £19 billion of annual public expenditure.
• The Wales Audit Office 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 staff from the Audit Commission in Wales and National Audit Office in Wales to his employment.