LGA Corporate Peer Challenge - Forest of Dean District Council

Corporate Peer Challenge (CPC) is a highly valued improvement and assurance tool that is delivered by the sector for the sector. It involves a team of senior local government councillors and officers undertaking a comprehensive review of key finance, performance and governance information and then spending three days at Forest of Dean District Council (FODDC) to provide robust, strategic, and credible challenge and support.

CPC forms a key part of the improvement and assurance framework for local government. It is underpinned by the principles of Sector-Led Improvement (SLI) put in place by councils and the Local Government Association (LGA) to support continuous improvement and assurance across the sector. These state that local authorities are: Responsible for their own performance, Accountable locally not nationally and have a collective responsibility for the performance of the sector.

CPC assists councils in meeting part of their Best Value duty, with the UK Government expecting all local authorities to have a CPC at least every five years.

Peers remain at the heart of the peer challenge process and provide a ‘practitioner perspective’ and ‘critical friend’ challenge.

This report outlines the key findings of the peer team and the recommendations that the council are required to action.

FODDC has fantastic staff who impressed the peer team with their passion for being part of the ‘Forest Family’. They are a real asset at this council and the focus on improvement was evident both in the warm welcome the peer team received but also the proactive engagement of staff during the peer challenge; everyone is keen to pull together to help the council improve.

The new chief executive is making a good impression on his peers, is seen as approachable by staff and the relationship with the council Leader is strong.

To build upon this strength the peer team would now encourage more visibility from the wider senior team of councillors and officers so that leadership is manifested across the council.

FODDC has high levels of ambition for the district as set out in the council plan 2024 – 2028.  which was approved by the council in December 2023. Alongside the council plan is a council plan delivery plan 2024-2028, which sets out the how the council’s priorities will be achieved. Prioritising the actions in the delivery plan will be key to successful delivery and achievement of priorities.

The council has good arrangements in place to review the effectiveness of its service delivery. It uses a Power BI dashboard and benchmarks against LG Inform. Performance against both the council priorities and service delivery are monitored. There are examples of areas of service delivery where the performance of FODDC is better than the average of the comparison group, such as waste and planning, but one area where performance is worse than the comparison group is the Upheld Ombudsman complaints.  In the view of the peer team FODDC should look to address this in the interests of both minimising reputational damage, but just as importantly ensuring it demonstrate its continuous learning and focus on service improvement. In the future, it will help the council manage capacity, resilience and resource planning more effectively if the performance management data included staffing metrics such as staff sickness, recruitment, retention and staff satisfaction data.

The peer team heard from a number of partners who spoke positively about working with FODDC and are willing to explore partnership working further in the future. Partnership opportunities should be grasped as they will help the council to deliver services and priorities. Partners referred to positive relationships with the senior officers of the council and more visible political leadership will further strengthen bonds between partners and help the council to raise its profile both within the district and more widely.

The council has been seen as leading the way in activity to address the climate and nature emergency. The council plan is underpinned by the strapline of ‘Responding to the Climate and Nature Emergency for a Fairer, Greener Forest’ and there are examples later in the report of innovative actions the council has taken towards this.

There are a number of projects being undertaken to support achievement of priorities and a framework of project, programme and business case management will help to co-ordinate the council’s activity and monitor capacity and resource requirements. The framework is important as it is clear that capacity is stretched, and not everyone is clear on priorities, and further the council should ensure that it is not diverted to undertake activity that does not support the agreed priorities in the council plan.

FODDC is recognised as one of the first councils to apply Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) principles to community engagement and third sector partners speak highly of the council.  More consistent application of ABCD principles could increase community capacity and help the council to achieve community resilience rather than community reliance. 

Finances at FODDC are well managed and whilst there is some understanding of the challenges that lie ahead, including the levelling up fund project at Five Acres and the draft National Planning Policy Framework with revised housing target figures, a greater focus on the supporting business cases, risk registers and savings plans are needed in advance, to ensure councillors are able to make fully informed decisions. This in turn should enable the council to address such challenges more ably.

The council has a wish to be more progressive in external consultations to improve the decision making process by using a more holistic approach with members of the public and third sector organisations. Further embedding the ABCD principles will help to achieve this. The effectiveness of internal communications is reported as mixed. Whilst the Chief Executive’s quarterly briefings are valued, opportunities for two way communication and staff voices to be heard would be appreciate, especially now given the transition of staff from Publica which is one of the most significant projects that the council is undertaking. A strategic communication and engagement plan would provide the foundation to improve internal and external communications.

With new councillor and officer teams in place, appropriate induction plans and an ongoing programme of learning and development will help to ensure roles, responsibilities, accountabilities and acceptable behaviours are understood and demonstrated. A requirement for training for both audit and overview and scrutiny committee members was identified to further strengthen and support the effectiveness of both committees.

The council is one of the few nationally to have 2022/23 accounts audited. An annual governance statement and action plan, and a strategic risk register, are regularly presented to audit committee. More detail included in the risk register and information on how to bridge the future savings gap would provide councillors with the ability to make informed decisions and have oversight of issues related to capacity and risk.

The council is in the process of transitioning staff back to FODDC from Publica, and the challenges of doing this cannot be underestimated. The peer team found a lack of clarity around the business case, the timetable and preparation for staff in advance of the transfer date of 1 November 2024 for Phase 1 of the project.

Given the above, the peer team recommend a strategic board to oversee the transfer of staff and services to FODDC, and to ensure corporate oversight of capacity and risks. The board should be made up of the executive leadership team with the addition of a human resources representative and should bring together all aspects of the transfer so that all costs, risks and people related impacts are fully understood and owned. The peer team also recommend a workforce/people plan that will make sure the council is ready to support staff and take decisions. It should relate to performance management data and include:

• An equality, diversity and inclusion strategy and action plan.
• A staff training and development plan.
• Behavioural expectations, Values and the council’s clear vision for the workforce.
• Ways of working policy, thinking to the future workforce.
• Health and wellbeing programme to have happy, health staff.
• Technology solutions for learning and sharing together.
• Recruitment and retention.
• Employee engagement and recognition.
• Culture and leadership.

Staff need to feel engaged and valued through the transition process and frequent communication at this time will be key to a successful transition. Expectations through the creation of the above need to be managed and staff need to be fully engaged in the process.

 
There are a number of observations and suggestions within the main section of the report. The following are the peer team’s key recommendations to the council:

1. Prioritise delivery

FODDC should prioritise actions within the council plan delivery plan 2024 – 2028 so that they can be appropriately resourced and delivered well to meet the ambitions of the council.

2. Build on strong partner relationships

FODDC has strong relationships with partners locally and building on these along with the leadership of the council becoming more visible will raise the profile of the council outside of the district providing further opportunities for partnership working.

3. Communications and engagement plan

The council should develop a fit for purpose communications and engagement plan to improve internal communication. It should also improve external communication using consistent application of Asset Based Community Development principles, using residents’ surveys and a citizen’s panel for example.

4. Improve programme, project and business case management

FODDC should improve programme, project and business case management to provide complete and thorough information to enable strengthened decision making.

5. Focus on finance

FODDC finances are well managed but to ensure financial sustainability a greater focus on the impact of key decisions is needed along with a more detailed risk register and a plan to meet the future budgetary gap.

6. Develop a workforce plan

A workforce plan is required as the council moves from commissioning to direct delivery to strengthen governance so that the organisation is ready to support staff, develop staff for the future, manage risk and take decisions. Include creation of a strategy and action plan around equality and diversity and link to performance management data on staff.

7. Establish a strategic board and ensure capacity through transition

The peer team recommend the council establish a strategic board to oversee the transition of staff and services to ensure corporate oversight and understanding – both for Phase 1 and 2 of the programme of change. The transition of services needs capacity to make sure there is no interruption in delivery; take time to engage and involve staff. Learning the lessons from Phase 1 will be key.

8. Focus on people

Deliver an effective induction plan for staff to welcome them to the ‘Forest Family’, listen and engage with them to ensure they feel valued.

9. Member Development Programme

Develop a robust member development programme that incorporates an understanding of roles, responsibilities and acceptable behaviour.

The peer team

Peer challenges are delivered by experienced elected member and officer peers. The make-up of the peer team reflected the focus of the peer challenge and peers were selected by the LGA on the basis of their relevant expertise. The peers were:

• Chief Executive Peer - Maxine O’Mahony, chief executive, Breckland Council
• Member Peer (Green Party) - Cllr Natalie McVey, Worcestershire County and Malvern Hills District Councils
• Member Peer (Independent) – Cllr Julian German, Cornwall Council
• Officer Peer - Lindsay Barker, deputy chief executive and executive director place, Colchester City Council
• Officer Peer - Sarah Pennelli, executive director (s151 Officer), Blaby District Council
• LGA Peer Challenge Manager – Kathryn Trant, regional advisor, LGA

Scope and focus

The peer team considered the following five themes which form the core components of all Corporate Peer Challenges. These areas are critical to councils’ performance and improvement.

1. Local priorities and outcomes - Are the council’s priorities clear and informed by the local context? Is the council delivering effectively on its priorities? Is there an organisational-wide approach to continuous improvement, with frequent monitoring, reporting on and updating of performance and improvement plans?
2. Organisational and place leadership - Does the council provide effective local leadership? Are there good relationships with partner organisations and local communities?
3. Governance and culture - Are there clear and robust governance arrangements? Is there a culture of challenge and scrutiny?
4. Financial planning and management - Does the council have a grip on its current financial position? Does the council have a strategy and a plan to address its financial challenges? What is the relative financial resilience of the council like?
5. Capacity for improvement - Is the organisation able to bring about the improvements it needs, including delivering on locally identified priorities? Does the council have the capacity to improve?

As part of the five core elements outlined above, every Corporate Peer Challenge includes a strong focus on financial sustainability, performance, governance, and assurance.

The peer challenge process

Peer challenges are improvement focused; it is important to stress that this was not an inspection. The process is not designed to provide an in-depth or technical assessment of plans and proposals. The peer team used their experience and knowledge of local government to reflect on the information presented to them by people they met, things they saw and material that they read.

The peer team prepared by reviewing a range of documents and information in order to ensure they were familiar with the council and the challenges it is facing. This included a position statement prepared by the council in advance of the peer team’s time on site. This provided a clear steer to the peer team on the local context at FODDC and what the peer team should focus on. It also included a comprehensive LGA Finance briefing (prepared using public reports from the council’s website) and a LGA performance report outlining benchmarking data for the council across a range of metrics. The latter was produced using the LGA’s local area benchmarking tool called LG Inform.

The peer team then spent three days onsite at FODDC, during which they:

• Gathered evidence, information, and views from more than 40 meetings, in addition to further research and reading.
• Spoke to almost 100 people including a range of council staff together with members and external stakeholders.

This report provides a summary of the peer team’s findings. In presenting feedback, they have done so as fellow local government officers and members.

FODDC is a highly ambitious council, and these ambitions have been translated into the newly adopted council plan. The strapline of ‘Responding to the Climate and Nature Emergency for a Fairer, Greener Forest’ underpins the entire plan, which ‘aims to mitigate the impacts of climate breakdown and the collapse of nature and to transform the district into a model of environmental stewardship and community resilience’.

The plan has three core values of Engagement, Inclusion and Kindness and four underlying principles of Social Value, Public Engagement, Value for Money and Financial Sustainability.

The plan contains three priorities:

• Thriving Communities
  • Decarbonisation and Nature Recovery
  • Sustainable Economy.

In addition, there is a fourth internally facing priority to be an Enterprising and Effective council.

Achievement of the council priorities is through the actions set out in the comprehensive delivery plan, however, there are more than 100 actions listed. It is unlikely that there will be enough capacity to achieve all of the actions and therefore the council will need to prioritise activity and resource to ensure that what the council does, it does well. It will also be important to ensure that the limited resources and capacity available are not diverted to activity outside of the agreed council priorities. The council should be conscious of aspiration and ambition against deliverability; ensuring the council plan delivery plan is linked to the MTFS will direct resources to the council’s agreed priorities.

FODDC has been recognised by local partners as leading the way in tackling climate change, for example it was the first district council in England to declare a climate and nature emergency and is the first council in Gloucestershire to use electric kerbside recycling vehicles. The council can build on this position by having a strong focus on outcomes in both the council plan and the climate action plan to ensure they still lead the way and share and develop others learning within the wider local government family.

The council evidenced numerous examples of activity to support its priorities. These included:

• Climate change adaptation work in partnership with some town and parish councils to consider the emerging risks that climate change is presenting locally together with creating plans to address these risks.
• Work with the Forest Economic Partnership to deliver a thriving economy in the district by connecting businesses, peoples, ideas and resources.
• Partnership working with Strengthening Local Communities to deliver community facing initiatives based around local priorities that positively influence wider determinants of health and tackle health inequalities.

FODDC is aware of the challenges it faces in achieving its priorities and continuing to deliver services. These include the need to prioritise across the many projects being delivered, completion of levelling up fund development sites, the housing delivery numbers in the draft revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and a potential review of the local plan. The transition from Publica is one of the most significant challenges potentially impacting the council’s ability to achieve its priorities.

Councillors’ awareness of these challenges, having sight of project business cases and being mindful of limited resources and uncertainty around future funding will support informed and effective decision making on project delivery.

Performance

Delivery against council priorities and service delivery performance is managed by the Executive Leadership Team (ELT), through monthly reviews of performance data. The ELT is currently made up of the Chief Executive, s151 officer, and interim monitoring officer and post transition will include two new directors, one of Communities and Place and the other Corporate Governance and Legal Services.

A comprehensive quarterly performance report is then presented to both Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Cabinet to give councillors effective oversight. Councillors speak positively of the performance reports which have recently been updated to include Power BI dashboards to reflect progress against both the council plan priorities and service area performance KPIs.

Where performance of a project or service is not on target, the report presented to councillors currently does not outline the reasons or mitigating actions being taken. Whilst it is acknowledged that discussions will have taken place with lead officers to ascertain the reasons, it is important that this detail is included within the report presented to councillors to give them up to date information on issues, capacity impacts and risks to delivery.

The council benchmarks activity against Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) near neighbours and Office for Local Government (Oflog) similar councils and uses LG Inform for this purpose. There is evidence of good service delivery against these standards, for example:

• In the 24 months ending Q1 2024, the council processed 96.4 per cent of planning applications for major developments on time compared to 86.3 per cent in England and 91.6 per cent in the CIPFA comparison group.
• For both major and non-major applications, FODDC had a lower number overturned on appeal than their comparison group, indicating a good quality of decision making.
• FODDC sent 52.5 per cent of household waste for reuse, recycling and compost during 22/23, compared to the comparison group median percentage of 43.05 per cent.
• Similarly, the amount of residual household waste was 395.6Kg which was below the median for the comparison group of 456.4Kg.
• The percentage of waste contamination was only 2.11 per cent for FODDC against the median for the comparison group of 6.1 per cent.

However, upheld Ombudsman complaints of 11 per 10,000 for 23/24 are almost double the mean of the comparison group which is 6 per 10,000. This is an area where the council may wish to consider its role in how this can be addressed to ensure complaints are properly handled and there is no risk of reputational damage to FODDC.

The peer team recommends that the council takes a more holistic view of performance in the future, for example, ensure that performance management standards include staffing metrics. Adverse staff sickness performance will impact on capacity to deliver services, and equally the council will want to do what it can to address the impact and will need performance management data to do so.

FODDC understands the importance of local partnership working to achieve delivery of services and achievement of priorities. A clear example is the work with Cinderford Town Council which has resulted in a total of £880,000 spent on regenerating a number of key buildings and bringing them back into use to provide modern co-working spaces for start-up businesses and new community facilities, arts and events space.

As well as working with partners within the district, the council could consider strategic partnerships outside of the district to leverage resource, investment, skills and knowledge to support achievement of its priority outcomes. The council was successful in obtaining Levelling Up Funding and partnership working could help to provide the capacity to see those projects to fruition.

A range of partners that the peer team met spoke positively about working with FODDC. For example, the council is entering into an innovative partnership approach with Ubico, the council’s waste and recycling provider, regarding the sale of the council’s recyclate. From this arrangement the council benefit from a partner that is willing to develop ideas delivering an effective waste service whilst also meeting the council’s climate change agenda and maximising income from recyclate material.

Local authority partners welcome the council’s engagement and are ready and willing to work with the council. There could be opportunities for more efficient service delivery and shared services with those partners which could be explored as an alternative to the Publica arrangement.

Partners and stakeholders also shared positive feedback about the council’s public facing teams, for example the communities team was mentioned positively several times.

FODDC is recognised as one of the first councils to apply the Asset Based Community Development approach. It works effectively and could be applied more consistently to increase community capacity as the council strives to achieve delivery of projects and services with limited capacity and resources. For example, working with third sector partnerships to address food dignity and using ABCD principles to know where they need to be strong, where to ‘lean in’ and when to step away.

The council works proactively with the voluntary and community sector and has a number of initiatives to support the community. Recent examples include the availability of grants to community groups to help with active travel solutions and free wellness events provided across the district throughout August, both of which relate to the council plan priorities. This activity will support the council’s position to make communities resilient not reliant and support delivery of council priorities at the same time.

As referred to earlier, the peer team heard that the council is seeking to be progressive in its approach to consultation as this will ensure FODDC are seeking the views of underrepresented groups and therefore be in a stronger position to incorporate a wide range of opinions and values which will inform policy development. There are ways to improve community engagement that could be considered such as a resident’s survey or a citizen’s panel, both of which would help to collect resident’s views on policy proposals and forthcoming decisions.

One area where consultation has taken place is the draft local plan 2041. The consultation closed on 19 August 2024. Councillors understand that having the local plan will put the council in a strong position to deliver sustainable growth in the district. However, it is also acknowledged that it may be necessary to make changes to the local plan as a result of the revised NPPF. Ongoing support will be needed to assist with capacity if changes are required.

The Chief Executive is making a good impression on his peers, is seen as approachable by staff and his relationship with the Leader is clearly strong and purposeful. This is a strong foundation to now ensure more visibility from the wider senior team of councillors and officers to demonstrate collective leadership of the council and we were told that this would be welcomed by staff and partners alike.

The staff that the peer team met are a real asset to FODDC and demonstrated that they care passionately about what is best for the district. That loyalty and passion is priceless. The change brought about by insourcing from Publica has impacted them greatly, and whilst some staff are clear about where they will be post transition on 1 November 2024, others are not. Staff who know they are transferring are conscious of colleagues who are being ‘left behind’ within Publica. There is now a need to ensure the council keeps staff engaged through the change process and ensuring the internal communications is effective will help with that.

Developing and acting on a communication and engagement plan in the short term, given the level of change envisaged, would be welcomed by managers and staff, and is a clear recommendation of the peer team. It would give managers clarity and the ability to stabilise and reassure teams and would give staff a wider understanding of the transition process and timelines. It should also give the opportunity for staff voices to be heard and understood.

The peer team heard staff talk of the ‘Forest Family’, and putting effort into welcoming staff back to FODDC with an effective induction plan would demonstrate how they are valued. There are a couple of simple examples to support staff on their return such as having an area where staff can meet and eat lunch, and making sure the kitchens are properly equipped. Cabinet and the ELT should consider taking the lead on applying the values from their own council plan of Engagement, Inclusion and Kindness in a structured manner to reinforce the importance of staff and to foster that ‘Forest Family’ culture.

The peer team met with a range of councillors across the spectrum of roles and political parties. Councillor learning and development was a topic of discussion and responses about the effectiveness of the induction after the elections in May 2023 were mixed. The peer team are suggesting that perhaps a working group of councillors could be asked to design a councillor induction programme in time for the next election. Then an ongoing programme of learning and development could be established that would be of benefit to both councillors and officers to include understanding their different roles and responsibilities, accountabilities and acceptable behaviours.

Staff welcome the quarterly briefings held by the chief executive. However, we were told that staff felt the briefings did not give the opportunity to offer their views. Internal communications could be improved by facilitating more two way communication opportunities as well as regular ‘top down’ updates. The holding of regular feedback/engagement sessions with Forest employed staff and frequent staff pulse surveys along with an annual survey just for Forest staff is crucial to benchmark and see improvement.

FODDC produces an annual governance statement and a corresponding action plan which identifies areas for improvement to be delivered the following year. It is presented to councillors at the audit committee for oversight and this committee monitors progress of activity against the action plan.

The council has a strategic risk register, and this too is presented to audit committee on a quarterly basis. The peer team view is that the risks listed appeared to be quite general and the council may want to give consideration as to whether the risks around major projects that have council wide implications should be listed. This would support informed decision making and highlight to councillors any potential capacity and resource impacts at an early stage.

Audit and scrutiny committees are seen by councillors and officers as improving. Training for the wider committees’ memberships will help to further improve performance, for example, scrutiny training will enable councillors to better engage with the decision making process and support the scrutiny function to add value.

Cabinet members each have portfolio areas for which they act as lead councillors. Whilst the focus on each area is important, there needs to be collective responsibility for decision making across the district so that decisions are taken for the benefit of the whole district. As a new team, perhaps the cabinet may wish to consider some external support to help improve the strategic direction and leadership to the council and wider community.

Whilst the peer team were not asked to take any additional areas into scope for the corporate peer challenge, it became apparent that the transition of staff from Publica is a major factor in the future of the council and therefore the following section highlights points for consideration regarding the transition that the peer team wished to raise.

• As the council moves from being a commissioning council to a direct employment organisation, it will be essential to have in place the right organisational development framework that has an appropriately skilled strategic resource.
• The peer team recommend a strategic board is established to oversee the transition of staff and services and ensure corporate oversight and understanding of risks.
• Developing a workforce plan, mentioned elsewhere in this report, will be essential to ensure the change is being managed effectively and impacts on staff are being considered, including wellbeing, equality and diversity, agile working for example.
• The peer team found some confusion as to who will be transitioning on 1 November 2024, and where they fit into the council structure. Clarity is needed, it will give confidence that the organisation is ready and understands the impacts of the transition project.
• The council has a unique opportunity to create the conditions to encourage staff to work in the office and make FODDC an employer of choice, whilst at the same time understanding that the ability to work flexibly will benefit recruitment and retention.

In terms of Phase 2 of the transition from Publica, the peer team heard from a number of stakeholders that this will be more complex than Phase 1 as there is no clear decision as yet on which services will transfer. Indeed, staff raised worries and concerns about a range of risks including around shared roles, who will go where, managing vacancies, losing expertise and impact on finances etc. FODDC needs to ensure the capacity and resource are in place to manage this, that lessons from Phase 1 have been learned and staff are engaged throughout the process to support design of the solutions.

The council should maximise the relationship with Publica to ensure that FODDC voice is heard, most especially that the opportunity to ensure that the vision for FODDC from Phase 2 of the transition and beyond is clear; and that decisions related to the transition should be made on an informed basis and regularly reviewed. A realistic timetable will be essential so that all impacts can be widely understood across the organisation and managed by the council.

FODDC has a thorough budget setting process that allows councillors the opportunity to scrutinise and understand the budget before setting. The council forecasts the future financial position in a medium term financial strategy (MTFS) and appreciates the need to keep this regularly updated, so that it is able to monitor and respond to funding fluctuations.

The council’s MTFS sets out the council’s forecast financial position from 2024/25 to 2028/29 and identifies a funding gap of £0.5m in 2025/26, rising to £1m in 2026/27, £1.9m in 2027/28 and reaching £2.8m in 2028/29.

Some savings have been identified but there isn’t evidence to see how substantial future gaps might be filled nor that councillors have a sense that gaps may materialise. The peer team recommend that a plan is put in place to bridge the funding gap for the life of the MTFS.

The council has healthy levels of reserves that would allow a structured approach to be taken to address those future budget gaps. However, it needs to be stressed that reserves can only be spent once, and an invest to save approach may be more effective. The s151 officer recognises this in his Section 25 report as part of the 2024/25 budget papers as he refers to the council ‘developing a more commercial approach to service provision’.

The council’s finances are well managed, and the council has a good record of publishing accounts within statutory deadlines. It is one of few councils to have met the statutory deadline for having audited accounts for 2022/23.

The council has good budget monitoring arrangements in place with regular reports to councillors that include explanations for variances. However, transfers into reserves may mask the true outturn positions and variances. For example, variances are often shown after transfers to/from reserves under s151 delegation.

There is high confidence in and reliance on the s151 officer from across the organisation. Sharing of understanding and some shared ownership of the budget around the senior councillor and officer leadership team may help the s151 officer as there should be collective responsibility for the budget.

FODDC needs to build robust business cases to ensure all projects and investments are fully understood. The peer team have seen evidence of some business cases, for example the insourcing from Publica Phases 1 and 2, where the business case is not robust enough to inform decision making and thereby ensure the MTFS is truly reflective of future costs and income.

The 2024/25 annual governance statement action plan includes an action to update the MTFS in light of changes to service delivery throughout the transition of insourcing services from Publica and to continue to align the MTFS to the council plan and associated delivery plan.

The council’s external auditors highlighted no significant weaknesses, and therefore no concerns were raised regarding their Value for Money opinion. There is evidence of audit recommendations being well monitored by the council to ensure they are addressed. The relationship between the council and both external and internal audit is healthy in an advisory capacity as well as for audit purposes.

Carrying out a review against the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) Audit Committee’s guidance for local authorities to consider best practice recommendations will be helpful to strengthen the effectiveness of the audit committee.

FODDC is a council with ambitions to achieve for the district, and it will be key to consider the capacity required to support the delivery of council priorities and ‘business as usual’ service delivery.

Whilst it is accepted that the council is currently in a state of transition prior to insourcing staff from Publica, the peer team did not see plans that would indicate resource requirements and service plans for the organisation moving forwards and this is important because service delivery can only be maintained with the right levels of capacity. Embedding the council plan and vision so that it is internally aligned not just with the MTFS, but also with service plans will provide the ‘golden thread’ between strategy and delivery. Once embedded, this will help to guide capacity and resources and consequently deliver actions to support council priorities and maintain service delivery.

In addition, development of a framework for programme, project and business case management is necessary to help identify in a co-ordinated manner the capacity and resources required to deliver projects, and more importantly, to ensure informed decision making.

Efficient service delivery can be further supported by using the opportunity of creating a workforce plan to identify the skills, knowledge and capabilities that exist across the organisation. This workforce plan will help to ensure you have capacity to manage contracts once the council moves to a direct employment model, including the ongoing relationship with Publica. The plan should be regularly reviewed in conjunction with performance management data regarding staffing metrics so that an up to date position on staff capacity is available. The workforce plan may also indicate that an opportunity exists to take advantage of the effective partnerships that the council has to build capacity where there may be gaps, or where partners could undertake activity more efficiently.

In the view of the peer team there is a lack of equality and diversity awareness across the organisation, and this should be addressed. Whilst the council can quote equality, diversity and inclusion statistics for the population of Forest of Dean, there is no evidence of such data across the staff cohort, and consequently no staff networks or knowledge of reasonable adjustments to support staff where appropriate. The peer team recommend development of an equality, diversity and inclusion strategy and action plan to be included as part of the workforce plan.

Recruitment to the Executive Leadership Team is in progress, in advance of the transition date of 1 November 2024. A capable strategic team with the right skills to lead the organisation to achieve priorities and manage change well will support the Chief Executive and provide that wider senior leadership team visibility that is not yet in place.

Once the statutory officer roles have all been recruited, it will be important to hold regular statutory officer meetings to ensure the ‘golden triangle’ is working effectively, and there is oversight of potential issues and risks as they arise.

Effective IT systems are key to supporting capacity and resource within a council. At FODDC, the IT performance, functionality and efficiency is mixed. For example, the peer team heard about the staff payroll system which requires manual input, is slow and unresponsive and therefore negatively impacts on available capacity. Applying an invest to save methodology by using reserves to invest in IT will pay dividends. A more customer focused approach will support the council more effectively and assist capacity issues with more streamlined processes.

It is recognised that senior political and managerial leadership will want to consider, discuss and reflect on these findings. The LGA will continue to provide on-going support to the council. As part of the CPC, the council are also required to have a progress review and publish the findings from this within twelve months of the CPC. The LGA will also publish the progress review report on their website.

The progress review will provide space for a council’s senior leadership to report to peers on the progress made against each of the CPC’s recommendations, discuss early impact or learning and receive feedback on the implementation of the CPC action plan. The progress review will usually be delivered on-site over one day.

The date for the progress review at FODDC will be before 3 August 2025.

In the meantime, Paul Clarke, Principal Adviser for South West, is the main contact between your authority and the Local Government Association. As outlined above, Paul is available to discuss any further support the council requires, [email protected].