The briefing brings together results from reviews of the Fleet Management arrangements at 50 Welsh public sector bodies. It also follows on from the launch of the Wales Audit Office Good Practice Exchange guide to Fleet Management - which was launched on its website in July.

The briefing found that the approach to Fleet Management across Wales does not yet make best use of resources to support effective service delivery. For example, most organisations do not have robust Fleet Management strategies and have not fully considered environmental issues. The briefing also concludes that procurement arrangements could be improved through better joint working.

In all, the Welsh public sector operates around 16,000 vehicles which, in the last financial year, cost over £200 million to run. The main areas of expenditure are fuel, leases and hire, repairs and maintenance. However, these figures do not include the ‘grey fleet’ which are private vehicles used for business purposes.

Effective fleet management can improve service delivery, enhance driver and public safety, reduce operating costs and minimise the environmental impact of the fleet. In order to promote improvement, the briefing highlights a number of good practice examples from across the public sector, including:

• Swansea and Carmarthenshire councils jointly procured 12 refuse vehicles, making a saving of over £180,000;
• Denbighshire County Council has installed accident kits in 100 of its vehicles which have significantly reduced the time taken to process insurance claims; and
• North Wales Police Force has made efficiency savings by ensuring that an optimum residual value is obtained when disposing of a vehicle.

The briefing makes a number of recommendations to the Welsh public sector around more effective joint working, environmental considerations, better procurement and ensuring value for money. It also makes recommendations to the Welsh Assembly Government to provide further incentives and direction to help the Welsh public sector work together more effectively in Fleet Management.

The Auditor General for Wales, Jeremy Colman, said today:
“It is essential that the public sector manages it fleet resources effectively, particularly in this current climate of rising fuel costs and tight budgets. This guide draws out some important findings from the work we carried out at 50 public sector bodies in Wales, and the lessons learned are applicable to a much wider audience.”

Wales Audit Office Chief Operating Officer, Anthony Snow, said today:
“Our report celebrates the many things that are being done well around Fleet Management in Wales. It also highlights areas where public services should sharpen up their approach. The Wales Audit Office is all about promoting improvement, sharing good practice and making recommendations for change. Fleet Management is an important area where even small changes can make a big difference to service delivery.” 

Notes to editors:

• The Wales Audit Office is carrying out a study to examine asset management across the Welsh public sector over a 3 year period. The first phase of the work, which examined Fleet Management, was completed earlier this year. This briefing details the findings from this work.
• The Good Practice Exchange is a web-based facility, launched in 2007, which shares the knowledge of the Wales Audit Office’s work around identifying and sharing good practice. It includes an online guide to Fleet Management, which complements this briefing paper. The online guide includes good practice principles based on the fleet lifecycle, self assessment tools, case studies, and a directory of terms.
• The Wales Audit Office is also hosting a Fleet Management Conference on 25 November at Cardiff’s SWALEC Stadium. Journalists are welcome to cover the event. If you wish to attend, please contact a member of the Communications team.
• The Wales Audit Office is committed to improving public services across Wales by helping organisations find good practice and implement it. Because of our unique position in Wales, which involves a relationship with every public body, we can observe good practice in one organisation and identify other organisations where its application might be beneficial.
• The Wales Audit Office is independent of government and is responsible for the annual audit of some £20 billion of annual public expenditure and some £30 billion worth of public assets. Its mission is to promote improvement, so that people in Wales benefit from accountable, well-managed public services that offer the best possible value for money.